Best Small Soundbar for TV of 2024, Enhance Your TV Audio with Style

Imagine having a modest-sized TV, residing in a cozy tiny house, with limited space for your entertainment setup—it’s a dream come true. However, the disappointing audio quality from your TV or current sound system can mar the overall entertainment experience.

This is where small soundbars for TVs step in, designed to effortlessly fit into tight or confined spaces while delivering exceptional audio performance, effectively transforming your space into a miniature home theater.

These compact soundbars are user-friendly, offering various placement options for added flexibility. They’re not just limited to your living room but can also enhance outdoor parties, movie nights, and various gatherings, serving as the ideal device for streaming music.

Moreover, these soundbars boast aesthetically pleasing designs and a host of features to immerse you in dreamy soundscapes tailored to your content.

So, let’s dive into the world of the best small soundbars, unraveling the details, and elevate your music listening experience with these compact yet high-impact devices.

1. Bose 838309-1100

The Bose TV Speaker is designed for seamless connectivity to your TV through optical and HDMI cables. Its sleek, low-profile design makes it an excellent choice for compact spaces, perfect for enhancing outdoor gatherings and movie nights.

This elegant small soundbar excels in clarifying speech and improving overall TV audio quality through voice enhancement technology. Equipped with two curved full-range drivers, it delivers comprehensive and superior sound.

While it lacks a dedicated center channel for dialogue enhancement, the right and left drivers work harmoniously to produce satisfying performance. Our testing, particularly with news and TV shows, yielded non-disappointing results.

With built-in Dolby decoding, this portable TV speaker takes audio quality up a notch, providing a more immersive and enjoyable listening experience.

Designed with simplicity in mind, this small soundbar connects to your TV via a single optical digital cable or HDMI, starting up in a matter of minutes. Standing at just over 2 inches in height, the Bose TV Speaker is a lightweight soundbar that can be placed almost anywhere within your setup.

Tiny LED lights on the soundbar’s cover serve as visual indicators, turning on or changing colors to confirm when specific features are activated. They also respond with a flicker to volume adjustments.

Notably, the Bose TV Speaker is equipped with HDMI ARC technology, allowing it to sync with your TV through an HDMI cable. This means that when you power on your TV, the speaker automatically comes to life as well.

With this technology, you can continue using your existing TV remote to manage the soundbar’s volume. Additionally, the included remote control makes it simple to navigate settings, adjust treble and bass, control volume, and enhance dialogue delivery. The user-friendly design ensures a comfortable and convenient operation.

2. Hisense HS214

Hisense soundbars have gained recognition for their solid construction, impressive features, and affordability. This product boasts a compact, well-designed body and the capacity to deliver exceptional audio performance.

Hisense opts for a minimalist design, ensuring there are no distracting elements on the device. This understated profile is especially well-suited for bedrooms and living rooms where the soundbar is typically positioned beneath the TV.

Furthermore, the inclusion of up-firing drivers and a subwoofer contributes to a broad soundstage, capable of infusing cinematic vibes even in a small room. The subwoofer, while traditionally designed, packs enough weight to deliver powerful and punchy bass.

The soundbar offers three sound modes, intelligently optimizing sound performance based on the content being played. It automatically adjusts dialogue clarity, as well as treble, bass, and frequency output range to suit the diversity of content.

What’s particularly impressive about this soundbar is the range of connectivity options available at its price point. It provides HDMI ARC, optical digital, USB, AUX, COAXIAL, and Bluetooth pairing options, ensuring convenience and versatility. All the physical input ports are conveniently located on the side, with LED indicators on the front for quick and easy monitoring.

In terms of build quality, the mesh grille design not only enhances durability but also contributes to rich speaker performance. The strategically positioned woofer at the bottom effectively harnesses the sound from both sides, resulting in a more immersive audio output.

Designed for simplicity, it operates as a plug-and-play device, automatically remembering the last connected devices and resuming playback when they come within range. However, for more intricate control, a remote is also included.

3. VIZIO V20-J8

The Vizio V-Series stands out as a 2.0 channel sound system, making it an ideal choice for a compact TV soundbar, thanks to its stylish design and support for multiple audio formats.

Within its sleek and stylish compact frame, you’ll find two full-range drivers that are certified with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X technology, creating an expansive and immersive soundstage.

These built-in drivers are adept at producing powerful and clear audio, adapting seamlessly to different content categories such as music, movies, news, sports, and games. The result is a thrilling and exhilarating auditory experience that fills the room with lifelike sound, complete with vibrations and impactful audio output that will quickly captivate your senses.

During our testing, we cranked up the volume to its maximum levels and felt as if we were virtually vibrating or enjoying a relaxing back massage, thanks to the precision of the sound reproduction.

Remarkably, even without a subwoofer, the soundbar’s room-filling 360-degree surround effect significantly enhances your audio experience and rivals the sound quality of traditional speakers.

Setting up the Vizio V-Series is a breeze, designed with a plug-and-play approach that makes it a convenient companion for outdoor activities and travel.

What’s more, this soundbar offers a variety of connectivity options, making it a versatile addition to your audio setup. It can create a luxurious and seamless connection using Bluetooth, boasting a long signal range. Additionally, it supports Alexa voice control for effortless navigation, adding to its user-friendly features.

4. Sonos ARCG1US1BLK

The Sonos Arc stands as a renowned, intelligent, and high-end soundbar within the brand’s extensive lineup. It boasts dynamic audio quality that would satisfy the desires of any audiophile seeking to elevate their entertainment setup.

Notably, it’s the ideal device offering multiple equalizer modes for crafting a mini home theater experience, all without the need to break the bank.

The Sonos Arc delivers audio that’s crystal clear, resonant, and remarkably lifelike, breathing life into any form of entertainment. Thanks to its support for Dolby Atmos, the sound output is not only exceptionally loud but also possesses the ability to create a powerful audio atmosphere that seems to bounce off the ceiling and envelop you, emanating from various directions.

Setting up the Sonos Arc is a straightforward process, aided by the Sonos App, remote control, and voice control capabilities. We found the Sonos App particularly convenient, allowing us to manage the device from the comfort of our couch.

Utilizing these various control sources, we were able to set presets, adjust volume, tailor connections, and fine-tune the device according to our preferences.

What’s truly appealing is the Sonos Arc’s low-profile design with a matte finish, seamlessly blending into any environment while dramatically enhancing audio quality for an immersive listening experience.

While the soundbar itself doesn’t come with a subwoofer, it’s worth noting that you can purchase one separately if you’re looking to add a potent bass component to your setup.

In terms of connectivity, the Sonos Arc offers optical digital output, HDMI ARC, AUX, and WiFi support, ensuring a robust compatibility with both smart and traditional devices. However, it’s worth mentioning that the absence of Bluetooth connectivity is a notable limitation.

5. Bose 732522-1110

The Bose Solo 5 Soundbar operates as a 2.0 channel soundbar, which means it doesn’t have subwoofers to create true surround sound. However, it utilizes two channels to deliver a satisfactory audio performance.

Measuring at 55cm in length and 7cm in height, this soundbar is exceptionally compact and user-friendly. It’s perfect for individuals seeking a low-profile solution to place beneath their primary TV or to mount it in a tight wall space.

From an aesthetic standpoint, the Solo 5 opts for a simple and unobtrusive design, aiming to seamlessly blend with your room decor without drawing undue attention. It features a clean black grille at the front and plastic elements on the top and sides, ensuring a lightweight yet well-constructed feel.

The soundbar incorporates two LED status indicators that illuminate and change colors to alert you when specific features are activated. They also provide visual feedback by flickering when you adjust the audio volume.

Vocal clarity is a notable strength of the Solo 5, to the extent that we didn’t find the need to activate the included dialogue mode. Moreover, the overall sound profile carries more depth and richness, effectively countering the thin and lackluster audio that often plagues slim TVs.

The soundbar offers some standout features, such as an auto-wake function that activates the soundbar upon detecting an audio signal. It also has an automatic power-off feature, turning off after 60 minutes of inactivity to conserve energy.

Bose maintains a straightforward approach with the Solo 5. You won’t find an abundance of volume modes, EQ settings, or configurations to tinker with. It’s designed to be a plug-and-play solution, and in that regard, it excels.

Final Verdict

Compact soundbars can make valuable additions to your entertainment setup, doubling as portable speakers for outdoor parties and backyard movie nights. Their portability and easy setup make them a favored choice for those who seek versatile audio solutions while on the go.

We’ve thoroughly tested a range of outstanding products that cater to various preferences, accommodating your music streaming requirements. These offerings come in diverse sizes, budgets, and feature sets, providing you with ample options to select from and find the perfect fit for your needs.