Best Small Soundbar 2024: The perfect picks for limited space

Compared to the original Beam, the Beam Gen 2 has been updated to match the appearance of its bigger and more expensive sibling, the Arc. It comes with addition of an eARC HDMI port that allows it to play full-fat lossless Atmos soundtracks. That also means you’ll need an eARC compatible TV to get the best out of it. Otherwise, things remain the same with the Beam 2nd Gen, with it best suited for TVs up to and including 49-inches.

The current Beam supports Wi-Fi and the Sonos S2 app, which offers access to a multitude of streaming services such as Tidal, Deezer and Qobuz, as well as Sonos’ own Radio service. You can also call on voice assistance in Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, as well as initiate Trueplay (as long as you’ve got an iOS device), which optimises the Beam’s audio performance according to the environment it is in.

During testing we found it produced an excellent audio performance, offering a solid low end and a generally balanced sound across the frequency range. It also handled music impressively, with no noticeable distortion, handling more subtle elements with nuance. The addition of Dolby Atmos isn’t achieved through upfiring speakers but through virtual processing, and it offers a good performance with a decent sense of dimensionality when we watched Captain Marvel on Disney+. An alternative Atmos bar is the Polk Signa S4, which offers a good sense of height with its upfiring speakers, and while its cheaper it is not as compact.

There is a foot dangled in the direction of DTS but support for this audio format is not complete. The similarly compact and priced Polk Magnifi Mini AX and Denon Home Sound bar 550 do support DTS:X, and like the Sonos both can be paired with a subwoofer for added ‘oomph’. A slightly more expensive but still impressive alternative is the Sennheiser Ambeo Mini.

While the Beam 2 is not perfect, as a means of getting Atmos into the home, the Sonos Beam Gen 2 is a great way of doing so.

Reviewer: David Ludlow
Full Review: Sonos Beam Gen 2

The Samsung HW-S61B is an excellent compact soundbar, a more affordable rival to the Sonos Beam Gen 2.

Its a compact speaker cabale of producing a crisp, clear and punchy sound. It offers plenty of energy and outright attack that easily betters anything a TV can produce. Its built-in subwoofer provides impact to action scenes, and with Atmos content, the soundstage is bigger than the dimensions of the bar and TV, producing plenty of size and scale to go with Hollywood blockbusters.

It’s pretty solid performer with music content whether over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, though the former produces a clearer, more detailed performance. The lack of HDMI eARC is a disappointment as it means you won’t be getting the highest quality Dolby Atmos sound possible, and we’re not big fans of the design when it comes to placement of the LED screen. We can barely see it at the best of times given how small it is.

Features include Amazon Alexa voice control, though this would need another connected speaker to be able to use. AirPlay 2 is another means of playing audio to the system, while if you have a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, you can tap it on the surface of the soundbar and play music to it. If after you’ve bought the speaker, you’re looking to upgrade and add more, the S61B does support the SWA-9200S wireless rear speaker system. Anyone with Samsung Q-Symphony compatible TV can also take advantage of that feature, whereby the TV and soundbar speakers combine for a bigger sound.

There are other options in the market if you are looking for a soundbar and subwoofer combo, most notably the Polk MagniFi Mini AX, but its Atmos performance isn’t as convincing as the Samsung.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full review: Samsung HW-S61B

If you’re something with an older TV (say a Pioneer Kuro) or have a second, smaller TV that doesn’t have HDMI inputs, then the Sonos Ray is tailor made for you.

It only supports audio through an optical connection, so you won’t have to worry about the scourge of HDMI handshake issues. Audio through an optical connection keeps things simple enough, though you do miss out on advanced 3D audio like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. There’s only enough bandwidth for Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks.

It’s also not a smart soundbar either as it does not feature any built-in microphones for voice control from the likes of as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. You can still have those smart features, but you’ll need to connect the Ray to another smart speaker.

The design looks a little different from other Sonos soundbars with its lozenge-shaped look and curved ends. Our reviewer felt it was a less in-your-face design that makes the Ray better to blend in with its surroundings more. You can also fit it into an AV rack if you wanted to conceal it from view.

The sound is surprisingly wide for its size, with effective bass performance too. It offers a clear and obvious improvement on a TV with dialogue making audio tracks much easier to understand. With music we felt it sounded decent, perhaps not quite as good as it is with TV series and films, but passable enough. For its primary job of making audio clearer, the Sonos Ray does a brilliant job.

Reviewer: David Ludlow
Full review: Sonos Ray

While a small soundbar is helpful in terms of reducing space, its size isn’t always great for producing a more cinematic sound, especially when it comes to bass. The Polk MagniFi Mini AX has you covered in that respect.

This an ultra-compact Dolby Atmos/DTS:X soundbar from American brand Polk, and it differs from other options on this list in that it is not just an all-in-one effort but one that comes with sizeable subwoofer. This allows it produce and energetic and dynamic performance, and given the weight and power behind the subwoofer’s performance, it’s probably one that’s sure to alert the neighbours to what you’re watching.

In our opinion the Polk doesn’t full suffice as an immersive soundbar but performs better than the Creative Stage 360. It can do a decent impression of height effects but not with the greatest sense of definition, while its soundstage is front heavy, though you can add Polk’s SR2 surround speakers as real channels for a greater sense of space. Dialogue can be enhanced with Polk’s VoiceAdjust technology, although we found that while it did its job of boosting voices, it also had a tendency to raise surrounding noise as well.

Tonally we felt the soundbar sounded accurate and there’s good levels of detail and clarity to enjoy when the soundbar is put into its 3D mode, which also gives a bigger, wider soundstage to Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks. With music it’s a solid performer, playing music with a crispness that we found avoided sibilance or harshness.

It has an array of connections that’s greater than LG’s Éclair soundbar, with Chromecast available along with Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and a USB connection that can play MP3 music. With Atmos and DTS:X support for the same price as the Sonos Sub Mini, this is a good value soundbar/subwoofer combination.