Setting up the A70 couldn’t be easier, one of the benefits of a single-cable optical connection. The bar nestles nicely in front of our 55in set, although the size difference did look a little odd – aesthetically, it’s better suited to TVs between 32 and 42in.

Most modern TVs detect a connection to an external audio device over HDMI and automatically default to it. Other TVs don’t, so you’ll need to dive into the settings to make sure. Once everything is set up and connected, play around with the position of the subwoofer by playing a bassy scene from a film you’re familiar with to find the best location/performance. Conventional wisdom suggests if you want more bass, place the sub next to a wall or in an enclosed area. The results aren’t always welcome, from either an overpowering sound to a boomy effect. You can hook it up to one of Sonos' subwoofers if you're looking for more bass in your music, but the Beam's built in speakers provide a rich sound that make it an ideal choice for those who are looking for their soundbar to double as a speaker.An ARC connection on a soundbar must be connected to the TV’s ARC connection. The same applies with eARC, and they will be labelled as such on the TV and soundbar. If you plug the soundbar into a different HDMI port, you won’t get the benefits of either ARC or eARC. For some TVs this doesn’t matter. For instance, all of the HDMI ports on LG’s OLED TVs are eARC compatible. The first is the size. You’ll want to make sure that your soundbar fits under—or next to, depending on your set-up—your TV. For example, the long Sonos Arc soundbar is designed specifically for large screens, so won’t look right with a smaller 50-inch TV. You’ll need to know the size of your current TV and the size of the space you have to fit it and compare those figures to the dimensions listed alongside the soundbar you want to buy. Taking centre stage in any Orbitsound review is the company’s spatial stereo technology and with the T9 it is no different. In a nutshell the claim is spatial stereo eliminates the geographic sweet spot for stereo in a room and instead allows it to be enjoyed from any position. The final way of connecting the soundbar to the TV is Bluetooth. The convenience is that it’s cable-free, but the sound quality won’t be as good, and there’s the possibility the connection may suffer from interference. Not every TV supports Bluetooth either. The best way to connect a soundbar to your TV is with an HDMI cable. You'll need to make sure you have an HDMI port on your soundbar and an HDMI ARC port on your TV. This allows you to use a cable to connect them.

You might be wondering how there can be a best soundbar for gaming; let us explain. If you're a gamer and find yourself with both the PS5 and Xbox Series X, on a large number of TVs you will often find you only have two HDMI 2.1 ports. One of these will be dedicated to eARC, the HDMI audio channel, leaving you with just one HDMI port for both consoles if you want the full 4K 120Hz experience. The main soundbar unit features five drivers: three fire outwards, including one 20mm tweeter, while two 5cm units fire sideways. These side speakers combine with sound processing, to produce Orbitsound’s SST (Spacial Sound Technology) which claims to help radiate sound all around your room.It may not be the biggest or most powerful soundbar, but in terms of music performance, we found that the Sonos Beam captures a balance musically that makes it perfect for music. Play audio through the soundbar and make sure it sounds good to your ears. If not, now’s the time to tweak the placement or fiddle with EQ settings/modes. An analog/AUX connection tends to appear on the most basic and cheapest of soundbars. Connection via this method won’t result in the same performance as HDMI or Optical, but it’ll suffice. You still get excellent stereo separation with the M12, though. Objects moving across the picture, sound as though they’re flying from left-to-right or vice versa. With the surround all around you, this stereo effect helps keep you engrossed in what you’re watching. Although the JBL Bar 1300X doesn't take up too much space, it is designed to fill larger rooms with sound so we wouldn't recommend it in smaller homes. This soundbar also isn't going to suit serious gamers. While there are multiple HDMI ports here, none of them have 4K 120Hz pass-through to support that resolution and frame rate when playing games on PS5 or Xbox Series X, a feature you can find on our choice on the best soundbar for gaming, the Sony HT-A7000.