The soundbar itself is plenty powerful and has up-firing speakers for immersive Dolby Atmos surround sound. The best price-to-performance pick among Vizio’s soundbars in 2022 is the M512a-H6. Even better, Vizio often bundles in the rear-channel speakers and floor-standing subwoofer that other companies require you to purchase separately. Vizio has long been the go-to recommendation for a quality soundbar that comes at a sensible price. Vizio M-Series 5.1.2 Premium Soundbar Best soundbar under $500 Vizio’s M512a-H6 delivers a complete Dolby Atmos soundbar system for only $500. If your TV is relatively new, it might be better to plug in external devices directly and use the soundbar exclusively for audio. Another thing to consider is whether you want the soundbar to support HDMI passthrough, which lets it function as a middle point between gaming consoles and your TV. In terms of future-proofing, we strongly recommend buying a soundbar with Dolby Atmos, as there’s now a massive selection of content across streaming services that supports the modern surround format. If you’re like most people and don’t want to completely break the bank when upgrading your TV (or prioritize video specs over built-in sound), the easiest way to beef up the audio of your movies and TV shows is still a soundbar.

Some TV makers like Sony offer legitimately great-sounding speakers in their most premium models, but they cost thousands of dollars. This ultimately comes down to physics: With TVs continuing to get slimmer and sleeker than ever before, there’s just not much room for powerful drivers. Even on sets that have gorgeous picture quality, the built-in audio rarely does the visual side justice. TV speakers continue to sound lousy and underwhelming in 2022.

Sony ht 380 soundbar hdmi passthrough