4 Underrated Soundbar Brands That Can Compete With Sonos

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Immersive home theater sound doesn't have to mean you've outfitted your living room with a massive armada of speakers and subwoofers. Many of the best soundbars on the market are fully capable of delivering an engulfing 5.1 experience or better, and one of the go-to brands for this level of power and sonic details is Sonos. Since the release of the Sonos Playbar in 2013, the prolific audio company has revolutionized the way we watch our favorite movies and shows, and that was after it revolutionized how we listen to wireless music.

Nowadays, Sonos' soundbar lineup includes heavy hitters like the Sonos Arc Ultra for the biggest home theater footprints. There's also the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) for small to medium-sized rooms, and even the Sonos Ray if you're interested in giving your guest room TV a boost in sound quality. But as you may have guessed, Sonos isn't the only celebrated soundbar maker on the market. There's plenty of competition, and many of the best options tend to dip under the radar.

We're talking audio titans like Nakamichi and JBL, along with a couple of other names in the premium AV sector. For your research purposes, we went ahead and picked out four underrated soundbar brands that can give Sonos a run for its money.

While soundbars may not deliver the same level of immersion as a proper surround sound, Sonos gets pretty close, and so does Nakamichi. The latter may actually be a stronger option when it comes to cinematic details and pure power, and systems like the Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 eARC Soundbar are a testament to the brand's home theater prowess. Delivering up to 1,300 watts, this monster soundbar bundle comes with two 10-inch subwoofers and four surround speakers.

It's the kind of 360-degree audio that a bar like the Sonos Arc Ultra does a decent job with, but the Shockwafe has more discrete channels and increased speaker separation. In most rooms, this should translate to a wider soundstage with convincing rear and spatial effects. It also costs more to purchase a comparable Sonos Arc Ultra bundle with a Sonos Sub 4 and just two Era 100 speakers ($2,311 versus $1,900 for the Shockwafe). Unfortunately, $1,900 is toward the lower end of Nakamichi's pricing, and there are a few tradeoffs, too.

While the Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 has three HDMI 2.0 inputs, digital optical, and a few other physical ports you won't find on the Arc Ultra, it doesn't support Wi-Fi. You'll still have access to Qualcomm aptX HD via Bluetooth, but you'll be missing out on features like multi-room audio, AirPlay, and ecosystem controls (e.g., Alexa, Google Home). Still, we'd be hard-pressed not to mention Nakamichi in a Sonos competitor roundup.

While Sennheiser may best be known for its premium microphones and headphones, the German manufacturer also makes a handful of soundbars that can go toe to toe with the Sonos arsenal. Unlike Nakamichi, Sennheiser soundbars focus a bit more on surround virtualization, leaning on up-firing and side-firing drivers built into the bar to create a three-dimensional audio experience.

Systems like the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus are more expensive than Sonos' cinematic Arc Ultra ($1,800 vs. $1,100), but the former has more physical connectivity, including two HDMI inputs, an LFE output for a dedicated subwoofer, and stereo L/R audio out. Not only are these inputs and outputs that can be hard to come by on a home theater soundbar, but the entire Ambeo lineup can be connected to the internet, too. That means native support for platforms like AirPlay, Spotify Connect, and Google Chromecast, as well as built-in Alexa support.

There's also the sub-$1,000 Ambeo Soundbar Mini, a smaller version of the Plus with fewer speakers and connections, but still enough room for two built-in woofers. Similar to the Sonos app, Sennheiser's Ambeo OS software also gives you access to expanded features and settings, including a room calibration tool for shaping the bar's performance to best match your theater space.

Klipsch has maintained a consistent presence in the home theater sector for decades. Revered for its signature horn drivers that double down on treble clarity, Klipsch carries this engineering over to many of its soundbars, making these systems particularly great for crisp, clear dialogue and vocals. But soundbars like the Sonos Arc Ultra and Sonos Beam (Gen 2) are just as good at spoken-word articulation, so what else can Klipsch soundbars do that Sonos should be worried about?

For starters, the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 5.1.2 Sound System (the Arc Ultra competitor) is the only soundbar on the market to feature Onkyo's Dirac Live room correction software. Using sound-correcting algorithms to analyze speaker placement and theater footprint, Dirac Live ensures your Flexus Core theater is as immersive as possible. Every bar in the Flexus Core lineup supports Dolby Atmos, too, and the Core 300 also supports DTS:X.

The Klipsch Connect Plus app is robust companion software that gives you access to music-streaming platforms like Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, AirPlay, and more. You'll even gain access to EQ presets, Night Mode, Dialogue Boost, and other advanced customizations. And should you want to build out your Klipsch soundbar experience, you can add Flexus Surr 100 speakers and a Flexus Sub down the line.

Portable audio has always been a strong point for JBL, an audio brand perhaps best known for its wide range of Bluetooth speakers. Over the last several years, JBL has been experimenting more with home theater gear, including soundbars and AV receivers. Our focus will be on the former, as systems like the JBL Bar 1300XMK2 are exceptional in more ways than one, while challenging Sonos in several key categories.

For $1,700, the XMK2 features JBL's PureVoice 2.0 and MultiBeam 3.0 audio tech for enhanced dialogue clarity and a wide, immersive soundstage. The system supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, whereas the Sonos Arc Ultra only supports Atmos, and the bar comes bundled with a powerful 12-inch subwoofer. While not as multi-room-friendly as the Sonos family, the XMK2 has a unique portability feature: Its battery-powered surround speakers are removable and can be connected to a Bluetooth device for music playback.

The XMK2 also has Wi-Fi support for access to services like AirPlay, Spotify, and Tidal, as well as room correction capabilities and built-in HDMI switching. If $1,700 is a bit too much, JBL sells lower-cost soundbars, too, including the $900 JBL Bar 700MK2, a 7.1 system that also has removable, battery-powered speakers.

Multi-room audio is one of the main perks of a Sonos system, whether you're buying one of the brand's flagship soundbars or a single Era 100 speaker. We knew right off the bat that it would be a challenge to find competitors that could do whole-home audio better than Sonos, so we decided to focus on other important criteria, namely, price and overall performance.

We also stuck to reliable audio brands with proven track records. Each of the products we chose scored 4 stars or higher on Amazon or on the manufacturer's site, and we made a point to compare them against recognizable Sonos products like the Sonos Arc Ultra and Sonos Beam (Gen 2).