Rob Sabin

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent stereo and spatial audio
Works as a standalone, in stereo pair
Use as rear surrounds with Sonos soundbars
Good "smarts" with Alexa, Sonos Voice
Bluetooth compatible
Impressive industrial design

Minus
No compatibility with Atmos tracks on Tidal
Does not work with Sony 360 Reality on Amazon
Sensitive to speaker placement

THE VERDICT
The Sonos Era 300 successfully brings high quality spatial audio to life in a compact, standalone package.

The Sonos Era 300 is the latest in a new generation of Atmos-compliant "spatial audio" speakers that bring a more immersive listening experience without the hardware and installation grief inherent with discrete surround systems. At $449 (in black or white), it costs more than its competition though, in typical Sonos fashion, it is engineered to a fare-thee-well and represents a considerable achievement.

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Stupendous bass without an external subwoofer
Outstanding timbre and dynamics
Easy to use via HDMI-CEC or Devialet app
Minus
No remote learning for optical connections
No voice integration
No DTS decoding

THE VERDICT
You'll pay for the privilege, but Devialet's Dione lives up to the full promise of an audiophile-quality, all-in-one soundbar.

From time to time I get to review an audio product that is so thoroughly engineered, so cutting-edge and so high performing that it leaves me in awe. And let's be clear, after three decades of doing this, I'm not easily impressed. But I'll tell you here that the subject of this review, the $2,400 Devialet Dione, is hands-down the best all-in-one soundbar I have ever heard, and undoubtedly one of the two best soundbars currently available. We'll get to that later, but for now, let's take a closer look.

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Atmos height effects from a high value soundbar
Easy to set up and use
Well-integrated small subwoofer
Good sonics for TV and movie watching
Minus
No expandability for surrounds
No network connection for music
No height channel level adjustment
Better for movies than music

THE VERDICT
Polk Audio’s Signa S4 makes some canny compromises to bring immersive audio to the masses at an affordable price.

When it comes to hi-fi and home theater, I'm a space hog. Some folks zero in on tight, room-shaking bass, others seek immaculate midrange accuracy or high frequency extension with gobs of etched detail. For me, it's always been about imaging and soundstage first. I can forgive a lot of sins if a system conveys the sense of a three-dimensional instrument, voice, or sound object in the listening room. This is what makes things real for me.

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
All-in-one 5.1.4 Atmos system
Stupendous dynamics
Great sound quality with music and movies
Class-leading 12-inch subwoofer
Minus
Ineffective surround processing of stereo music
No mic on remote or bar for Alexa and Google Assistant
No DTS decoding

THE VERDICT
The Klipsch Cinema 1200 is among the least expensive of today's high-end soundbar solutions and over-delivers on both sound quality and value.

Klipsch's new Cinema series soundbars are the latest effort of an iconic, 75-year-old speaker maker to push new performance barriers while delivering a product that is quintessentially, well, Klipsch. There are four systems, each with the real wood cabinetry and the signature Tractrix horn- loaded tweeters that have come to define the brand. These run from the entry-level Cinema 400 ($329), a 40-inch-wide 2.1-channel bar with an 8-inch wireless subwoofer, to the Cinema 1200 ($1,899) reviewed here—a 5.1.4 system with a 54-inch-wide Atmos-enabled bar, a wireless 12-inch sub, and a pair of wireless Atmos- enabled surrounds.