Late last week, I helped review the Sky Glass Gen 2. The upgraded QLED TV pleasantly surprised the team and I, with a solid picture and an impressive built-in Dolby Atmos sound system that easily outperforms any other TVs we've seen at this price.
Despite that, we hooked up an affordable soundbar and confirmed our suspicions; even a basic soundbar elevates the TV's audio offering.
While that revelation came as no surprise, what did shock me was how effective the basic soundbar that we hooked up to the TV sounded.
We opted to use the Sony HT-SF150, a budget 'bar that the company launched back in 2021. On paper, this is about as basic as a soundbar gets. It's a two-channel solution with very few bells and whistles.
Dolby Atmos? Dream on. Streaming? Nope. Calibration? Not here. But, we reviewed it at £90 / $100 / AU$199 initially, and while that price has crept up to £99 recently (we're not sure why), we can excuse these omissions for the price.
In fact, this soundbar made me realise something important: sometimes less really is more with products such as these. We're often concerned with the biggest and best Dolby Atmos soundbars, which now sometimes come with external subwoofers and wireless satellite speakers.
These are complex beasts, often requiring substantial setup procedures and laden with proprietary apps and software.
While that's all well and good in a soundbar that costs ten times the Sony HT-SF150 (or more), it's when manufacturers attempt to include all of these features and functions in budget-minded soundbars that things begin to get awkward.
At the end of the day, you're buying a soundbar to get better sound out of your TV, and that's what the HT-S150 gets seriously right.
It was my first time listening to the plucky, affordable soundbar, which has taken lodgings in our product storage area for over four years now. But even with its long slumber, the moment we powered it up its clear, detailed and fairly punchy sound genuinely impressed me.
Now, it won't be replacing the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus that currently sits below my TV, but it performs its simple and humble function really quite well.
Despite lacking the Dolby Atmos support of the TV it was hooked up to, both I and our TV and AV Editor, Tom Parsons, agreed that it delivered a better sound than the Sky Glass Gen 2.
It doesn't try to do too much, or overextend itself with a subpar attempt at creating Dolby Atmos height channels or some other strange form of surround sound processing.
So, soundbar manufacturers, let this be a lesson. If you're in the process of making an affordable soundbar, consider whether it really needs support for 3D immersive audio, a comprehensive streaming system, or yet another app to control it.
Ultimately, a two-channel device that provides a detailed and engaging sound will always be preferable to one that tries Dolby Atmos and makes a mess of it, and the Sony HT-SF150 proves that.
MORE:
Check out our picks for the best budget soundbars
As well as our list of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars
And find the best soundbar deals here
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