The 20th annual Pocket-lint Awards, sponsored by EE, is just around the corner – our yearly celebration of the greatest products and devices in tech, across 21 different categories – from smartphones and smart home, to electric cars and TVs.
There are six products in each category, each picked out for being a formidable buying choice in 2023. To have made the shortlist, they must have been tested in full by the Pocket-lint team in the last 12 months, or have been a previous nominee or winner that remains one of the best in its product category.
Here, we are considering the very best soundbars of the year, and included in our selection is everything from petite one-box offerings to multi-speaker Dolby Atmos-capable sound systems. Each has their place in the right AV setup, but which one will the judges choose as their favourite? Find out on the 9 November when all of the winners will be announced.
The shortlisted nominees for Soundbar of the Year 2023 are:
Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar
Bose
The Bose Smart Ultra is an elegant and accomplished soundbar that delivers a solid front soundstage and some excellent smart features. Its ADAPTiQ room calibration is useful, the Bose Music app is highly effective, and the overall performance is impressive, especially considering it is a single-unit soundbar.
That one-box footprint may suit you, but you can also build the system over time, if you fancy it (and have deep enough pockets, of course). Still, this supercharged soundbar certainly doesn’t leave you wanting, and more than lives up to its Ultra name and flagship soundbar status.
JBL Bar 1300
Pocket-lint
JBL’s new flagship soundbar has a fair bit to shout about. Not only does the Bar 1300 (known as the Bar 1300X in some regions) manage to match a huge 11.1.4 channels of sound, but it also claims an almost absurdly huge total power output of 1170W.
It’s also one of a rare soundbar breed that conveniently features battery-powered wireless rear speakers that you can actually attach to the ends of the package’s main bar when you don’t want them cluttering the back of your room – or you need to recharge them.
It sounds incredible in action, with a colossal amount of power used to deliver colossal dynamics and a large and exceptionally precise, detailed soundstage – as well as blow your socks off volume.
Polk MagniFi Mini AX
If you’re looking for a compact TV audio solution, you’ll be hard-pressed to find something more impressive than the Polk MagniFi Mini AX.
There are other compact options, but this comes with a subwoofer – not a given at its price – and if you’re sticking to TV and movie watching (and not so much music, which the Polk doesn’t excel at), we think the Polk could well be the best compact option we’ve heard.
It sounds like a much larger system, somehow crammed into a tiny, sleek and attractive chassis. If AV is your priority, then this miniature soundbar won’t disappoint.
Samsung HW-Q990C
The Samsung HW-Q990C is the company’s latest and greatest Dolby Atmos soundbar, offering flagship specs at a flagship price. That means 11.1.4 wireless sound that aims to fill your living room with sound, from ceiling to sofa, and offers up a features list that is packed with all the good stuff you’d expect.
One of these features is the inclusion of two surround sound speakers, as well as a subwoofer, to really help the Dolby Atmos and DTS:X tracks sound as immersive as you’d expect. One of the most cinematic soundbar packages you’ll hear.
Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus
The Sennheiser Ambeo Plus is a fantastic soundbar which delivers one of the most cinematic performances that we’ve heard from a soundbar this size. It delivers the very best of what you’re listening to with an almost dogged determination and from a relatively compact, all-in-one design.
It gives a particularly good showing with Atmos content, delivering the added height and immersion you’d expect, while the Ambeo setting can also add a pretty solid spatial experience to non-Atmos content. It comes at a price, but it’s an effortless performer.
Sony HT-A7000
This year marks the third year that the A7000 has been in our shortlist – could it also be the third year this flagship Atmos soundbar scoops the prize?
The Sony HT-A7000 is a big, bold all-in-one soundbar solution that delivers a wide and tall soundstage that will elevate any TV’s audio output to the next level. Its ability to handle Dolby Atmos and DTS:X object-based formats puts a big tick in the box, as does the twin HDMI 2.1 inputs with 4K120/8K60/HDR passthrough. Not many soundbars offer such a great feature set.
As a straight out of the box solution, the A7000 is adept at delivering expansive and immersive sound quality from numerous sources, leaving this all-in-one soundbar package has little to rival it when it comes to immersion.
How the EE Pocket-lint Awards judging works
The winner for the Television of the Year category is decided by the Pocket-lint team, along with a panel of expert judges from publications across the industry. Following a vigorous scoring process, the Television of the Year for 2023 will be announced at an in-person event on 9 November 2023, along with the winners from the other 20 categories.
A Product of the Year winner will also be announced, chosen from the winners of the 21 categories, and a winner of a special new EE Award will also be revealed at the event. On the night, we will announce the results on the Pocket-lint Twitter handle as they unfold, and there will also be a feature detailing the winners once the Awards are over.
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