You can’t always get what you want in the world of home entertainment. In an ideal world, we would all have a house with a bespoke home cinema, fully kitted out with in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, a serious 4K laser projector and some top-notch amplification.
Sometimes, though, you can get what you need as far as enjoying movies and sport at home goes. And that’s where this month's cover-star soundbar systems come in.
The summer is also a great time to invest in a premium Bluetooth speaker – especially if you want to do your music justice at home, while at the same time being able to take your tunes out and about with you in the fine weather.
Superb soundbar systems for serious home cinema sound
We have often wondered what it would be like to have your cake and eat it.
Of course, that phrase exists to describe the kind of best-of-both-worlds scenario that could never actually exist. Sometimes, though, it really is possible to get the best of both worlds, and in home cinema land, two sonic worlds coalesce beautifully in the shape of the soundbar system.
By supplying a ’bar together with a subwoofer and a pair of satellite speakers set behind your seating position, soundbar systems allow you to enjoy genuine surround sound without having to accommodate a collection of bulky boxes in your living room. Far from being a compromise, for many the impressive performance and neat convenience of such a set-up hits the home-cinema sweet spot.
The key to the neatness of this solution is that, in most examples, both the subwoofer and satellites are significantly smaller than those you would find in a conventional speaker package.
For this month's round-up, we have picked five models from a variety of price points to help you find the soundbar system that best suits your needs and budget.
So make yourself a cuppa, sit down and read on. And have some more cake.
The best Bluetooth speakers to take your tunes on the go
A Bluetooth speaker is one of the simplest and best ways to get your music playing wherever you roam. In fact, these wireless wonders can be stunningly versatile. Perhaps you want one in your office to help your working day along. Or as accompaniment to a sunbathing session in your back garden. Or maybe you’ll want to pop one in your backpack and take it further afield, to the park, the beach, or up a mountainside – or anywhere you want to take your tunes.
There are, of course, a huge number of capable Bluetooth speakers out there, of all shapes, sizes and prices. Here, though, we’re focusing on the upper echelons of this particular product category.
This month, we round up a quartet of our favourite premium wireless speakers from highly regarded audio brands Bose, Dali, Bang & Olufsen and JBL. All impressed our reviewers when we originally had them in for testing, and all remain at the top of their game for their spread of talents.
The models we have brought together for this Group Test add a hefty slice of style to their list of attributes too. Indeed, you may not even want to take them out for fear of getting them dirty – though all of them have been designed with rugged portability in mind. Either way, you’re sure to be the envy of everyone involved in your al fresco music party.
Can RGB Mini LED defeat the best OLED TV around?
There’s a war going on for your living room. The premium TV technology of choice of the last few years – OLED – is under attack from a new, stunningly bright and vibrant foe – RGB Mini LED.
Every major brand has either launched its first RGB Mini LED TVs or is about to. Hisense launched its first such models last year, but those were gigantic, 100-plus-inch sets. Now, though, it has become the first brand to submit to us a proper, mainstream RGB Mini LED TV, the UR9.
We’ve tested the Hisense UR9 and Sony Bravia 8 II side by side, feeding all of our favourite discs and streams into both simultaneously, and judging them on picture quality, sound quality, features, usability, design and price.
Find out which TV tech triumphs in August's What Hi-Fi?
Great prog rock albums that will give your system a work-out
Progressive rock is a staple in hi-fi circles, and for good reason. Explore it, and you’ll find everything from experimental, album-length tracks chronicling epic space wars to short and sweet, gentle ballads celebrating young love on a UK council estate. The only connecting factor between them is a progressive virtuosity focused on pushing sonic boundaries.
And, when done right, this means it’s a genre that can really stretch any hi-fi system, which is why it makes sense that our readers talk about it so much on our forums and social media pages. It’s also why more than a few of the What Hi-Fi? team have a soft spot for the genre and often listen to it for fun as well as work.
Here we offer our two cents on the top prog rock albums for hi-fi fans, based on those we frequently use for testing as well as some of our own personal favourites.
First with reviews
As always, our First Tests section is where you'll find What Hi-Fi?'s considered verdicts on the very latest hi-fi and AV gear.
We kick off this month with the return of an iconic hi-fi brand, with the aptly named Onkyo Icon A-50 streaming amplifier. Boasting expansive delivery and an organised sound, does the Icon indeed live up to its name? Find out in this month's What Hi-Fi?
TCL just keeps on reinventing the value rulebook with its TVs – and this month saw another of its crazy-good-value sets, the Q6C, pass through our test rooms. The Wharfedale Diamond name carries an impressive legacy, and the hi-fi firm's latest floorstanders, the Wharfedale Diamond 12.3i got the full review treatment from our team of experts this month.
In August's What Hi-Fi? we also take a thorough look at (and listen to) Sharp's RP-TT100 record player, Samsung's excellent S99H OLED TV, the JBL Go 5 portable speaker, Sony's 1000X The Collexion headphones, Apple AirPods Max 2 and more.
Find all these reviews in August's What Hi-Fi? – out now!
Now arriving at Temptation Station
Our Temptations section of the magazine is where you'll find the highest of the high-end of hi-fi and AV products.
This month, feast your envious eyes on the Esoteric N-05XE streaming preamplifier. At £13,000 it's not cheap, of course, but it mightily impressed our reviews team. "Stereo imaging is excellent," they reported, "with a broad and spacious soundstage populated by crisply focused instruments." Got that kind of money? Jump in!
Graham Audio has resurrected a classic, BBC-originated speaker with the LS5/9. Modern speaker design owes something of a debt to classic standmounts like these, and we were suitably awed.
Find out more in this month's What Hi-Fi?
Finally, don't forget to check out our Buyer’s Guide, featuring a definitive and freshly updated list of all the best home entertainment kit you can buy – including winners of 2025's What Hi-Fi? Awards. If you’re looking to purchase anything from a pair of the best wireless headphones to a home cinema speaker system, this section will tell you where to spend your money wisely.
Whatever you do, don't miss the August 2026 issue of What Hi-Fi?. Grab a copy today, or simply download it onto your tablet or smartphone. Enjoy!
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