Juha Saarinen: The audio upgrade for your TV

Looking for improved sound? You won't need to buy a new TV. Photo / 123RF

OPINION:

Does sorting out better sound provide more bang for the buck than a new TV? After having a Sonos Beam soundbar for some weeks, I'm inclined to think so.

Most TVs have so-so sound, and to improve it, you needed expensive receivers and wired surround-sound speakers. Soundbars were a bit meh, audio-wise, in comparison.

The Sonos Beam looks unintrusive in its second-generation shape, and it changes all that while taking up way less space thanks to clever engineering and technology, without adding to the home entertainment wire chaos either.

For the updated Beam, Sonos added Dolby Atmos positional audio support, with faster processors to handle the 360-degree sound feature.

Dolby Atmos is by now 10-year-old tech that started out in cinemas; the idea being that audio engineers can add a height dimension to sounds, for a very realistic three-dimensional effect.

The tech itself is reasonably complex to understand, with additional information added to describe what sound objects do across up to 128 audio channels and 64 speakers. There's no need to delve into that complexity though, as Dolby Atmos works beautifully well on the Sonos Beam by default.

To get an idea of how Atmos works, go to Dolby's visualisation site and hear for yourself at https://www.dolby.com/atmos-visualizer-music/.

Atmos is not the only realistic surround-sound game in town; competitor DTS-X and Sony's Music 360 are others, but Atmos has started popping up everywhere. It is no longer confined to cinemas, with Apple, for example, adding support for the technology in its TV and movie offerings as well as the new Airpods 3.

Newer smartphones from Samsung and Oppo, for example, support the Dolby spatial sound tech, and games make particularly good use of it. Atmos is also starting to crop up for streaming music and now, home soundbars.

While the Dolby Atmos specifications call for speakers that fire upwards, the Sonos Beam doesn't actually have those. Instead, the soundbar uses electronic processing to create the illusion of sounds from above, and it works well.

My not-so-new and smallish Sony TV has an HDMI audio return channel connector, which you'll need, or the enhanced ARC port for lossless audio. The Beam has wired and Wi-Fi network support, ditto Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay 2 for music and, with the Sonos smartphone app, it's easy to set up and tweak to your liking.

It wouldn't be 2022 if the Sonos app didn't require an account to be registered but you get streaming radio services, optional YouTube Music and Deezer to go with it. Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are also built into the Beam, but not Siri, which Apple keeps to its own devices.

Adding a subwoofer for some deep rumbles to annoy the neighbours does seem an idea though, even though the bass response from the five-amp Beam, which retails for $799, is good as it is. Sonos sells a subbie too that adds $1299 to the total bought separately.

If you're going for a larger set up, the kit deal from Sonos for a Beam, subwoofer and two One SL rear speakers - all wireless - is better value at $2776. Other systems cost even more and, as in the past, you can spend a truckload of money on realistic surround sound.

Why stop there, though? While the Beam is compact and elegant, looking at the Dolby Atmos specs, it appears that home setups could have up to 34 speakers. Now that would be fun to build, if the budget allows it (mine doesn't).

An uber audio system like that would possibly be relationship-ending too, but can you imagine the sound you'd get while dodging Covid by going out even less? I'm seeing real upsides to this idea.