Having trouble understanding dialogue on your TV? It might be time to invest in a soundbar to upgrade your audio experience, and these are the best options available.
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Ty Pendlebury
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Ty PendleburyEditor
Ty Pendlebury has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
ExpertiseTy has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast.Credentials
Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.
Not all TVs have great speakers, and that can seriously hinder your viewing experience. On top of that, sometimes you can barely hear the dialogue in shows or movies, with the volume cranked up only for music and sound effects. If you constantly find yourself adjusting the volume while watching your favorite shows, investing in a soundbar makes sense. There are plenty of other helpful tips and tricks to get better TV sound, but nothing works as well as adding a proper soundbar to your TV. It can seriously improve dialogue clarity, as well as provide more immersive sound and better audio quality overall for everything you watch.
Many soundbars today come with a dedicated speech mode, although some do it better than others. One company that stands out is Zvox. It specializes in dialogue, and most of its products have at least one voice enhancement mode (and some as many as 12). Another brand that has a focus on voice is Polk, with its excellent VoiceAdjust feature. Yamaha makes an affordable soundbar with similar options, too.
A soundbar can cost a lot less than some other home theater systems but can improve your TV's sound just as much. Whether you're looking for a budget speaker or something a little more premium, these are the best soundbars for dialogue.
The Zvox SB500 sound bar offers great sound quality and a simple setup process. Bass is plentiful despite the lack of a subwoofer. Styling is chic and the unit seems well put together.
Cons
It doesn't include a wireless subwoofer, or subwoofer output jack. Deep bass can cause the soundfield to collapse into mono. The bar is taller than most and may block your TV's IR sensor if you're not wall-mounting.
If you're looking for a soundbar that offers plenty of bass as well as crisp dialogue without using a subwoofer, the Zvox SB500 is a great buy. Even better, the company has added more levels of sound enhancement since I reviewed the SB500, which should make it even easier to dial in the dialogue the way you want it.
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Command Bar</a> -- the first soundbar that had <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href=https://www.cnet.com/tech/home-entertainment/best-soundbars-to-enhance-tv-dialogue/"https://www.cnet.com/home/smart-home/best-alexa-devices/">Amazon Alexa</a> on board -- and it offers an excellent mix of features and performance. Polk's VoiceAdjust is one of the better dialogue enhancement systems, and it's put to good use on this speaker.</p>" page-position linktext linkurl like dislike can-collapse="true" can-truncate="true" truncate-on-page-load="true" offer="{"id":"f3b024f7-d39a-440d-bbb2-86d0c7ad2a5c","label":"Polk React","slug":"polk-react","edition":["US","ES"],"imageId":"541003de-c4ec-4418-b3e5-4d848387490f","imgUrl":"/content/image/redirect/541003de-c4ec-4418-b3e5-4d848387490f/resize/75x56","typeLabel":"Series","objectType":"content_product_series","icon":"type-icon ct-cmg-tech-product-series ct-small"}" techobjectinfo overridecredit="Ty Pendlebury/CNET" overridecaption="<p></p>" imagegroup="{"uuid":"541003de-c4ec-4418-b3e5-4d848387490f","alt":"polk-react-1","caption":"<p></p>","credits":"Ty Pendlebury/CNET","imageData":{"id":"541003de-c4ec-4418-b3e5-4d848387490f","filename":"polk-react-1.jpg","path":"https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/a6bf620fc16245f2618558ccbb8c31d21d757881/hub/2021/05/04/541003de-c4ec-4418-b3e5-4d848387490f/polk-react-1.jpg?auto=webp&height=500","dateCreated":{"date":"2021-05-04 18:45:10.000000","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false},"size":"","float":"","lightbox":false,"imageUrl":"https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/a6bf620fc16245f2618558ccbb8c31d21d757881/hub/2021/05/04/541003de-c4ec-4418-b3e5-4d848387490f/polk-react-1.jpg?auto=webp&height=500","imageCaption":"<p></p>","imageCredit":"Ty Pendlebury/CNET","imageAltText":"polk-react-1","imageFilename":"polk-react-1.jpg","imageWidth":5472,"imageHeight":3648,"imageDoNotCrop":false,"imageDoNotResize":false,"imageWatermark":false,"imageDateCreated":"2021-05-04","imageParallax":"","imageCrop":"","imageEnlarge":false}" usepricing="true" ng-block="{"id":"c3t6e3ckcamlp24","type":"listicle"}" edition="us" data-key="cnetlisticle__de5e1e26-7f4f-4e83-a9b3-bc96e28bd6fc" index="2" contenttype="Best List - Precap" pagelayout="Default - Article Page" tagslugs="hv90,yamaha,bose" isbestlistredesign="true" imagecredit="Ty Pendlebury/CNET" imagealttext="polk-react-1" class="c-bestListListicle">
The Polk React is a follow-up to the Command Bar -- the first soundbar that had Amazon Alexa on board -- and it offers an excellent mix of features and performance. Polk's VoiceAdjust is one of the better dialogue enhancement systems, and it's put to good use on this speaker.
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HDMI ARC hookup</a> -- which is found on most newer TVs -- but also has a dedicated Clear Voice mode to make dialogue a little easier to understand. It's also the least expensive option on this list.</p>" page-position linktext linkurl like dislike can-collapse="true" can-truncate="true" truncate-on-page-load="true" offer="{"id":"50a611f2-65ec-4806-afdf-1478802c6da2","label":"Yamaha SR-C20A","slug":"yamaha-sr-c20a","edition":["US","ES"],"imageId":"3fed36b9-7b24-4ef2-ad83-0da03b5587de","imgUrl":"/content/image/redirect/3fed36b9-7b24-4ef2-ad83-0da03b5587de/resize/75x56","typeLabel":"Series","objectType":"content_product_series","icon":"type-icon ct-cmg-tech-product-series ct-small"}" techobjectinfo overridecredit="Ty Pendlebury/CNET" overridecaption="<p></p>" imagegroup="{"uuid":"37d7bfae-16e0-4fb7-87a4-7762c355dde8","alt":"A side view of a gray Yamaha soundbar on a wooden TV stand.","caption":"<p></p>","credits":"Ty Pendlebury/CNET","imageData":{"id":"37d7bfae-16e0-4fb7-87a4-7762c355dde8","filename":"sr-20a-5.jpg","path":"https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/c1abe23420920d0a45d986496310b3f4c24e0820/hub/2020/10/21/37d7bfae-16e0-4fb7-87a4-7762c355dde8/sr-20a-5.jpg?auto=webp&height=500","dateCreated":{"date":"2020-10-21 18:22:52.000000","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false},"size":"","float":"","lightbox":false,"imageUrl":"https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/c1abe23420920d0a45d986496310b3f4c24e0820/hub/2020/10/21/37d7bfae-16e0-4fb7-87a4-7762c355dde8/sr-20a-5.jpg?auto=webp&height=500","imageCaption":"<p></p>","imageCredit":"Ty Pendlebury/CNET","imageAltText":"A side view of a gray Yamaha soundbar on a wooden TV stand.","imageFilename":"sr-20a-5.jpg","imageWidth":4266,"imageHeight":3126,"imageDoNotCrop":false,"imageDoNotResize":false,"imageWatermark":false,"imageDateCreated":"2020-10-21","imageParallax":"","imageCrop":"","imageEnlarge":false}" usepricing="true" ng-block="{"id":"wszwb67287cnod3","type":"listicle"}" edition="us" data-key="cnetlisticle__72e9259d-0486-4865-8112-194d0c721bce" index="3" contenttype="Best List - Precap" pagelayout="Default - Article Page" tagslugs="hv90,yamaha,bose" isbestlistredesign="true" imagecredit="Ty Pendlebury/CNET" imagealttext="A side view of a gray Yamaha soundbar on a wooden TV stand." class="c-bestListListicle">
The Zvox soundbars are great, but they lack HDMI connectivity. The compact Yamaha SR-C20A not only offers the ease of HDMI ARC hookup -- which is found on most newer TVs -- but also has a dedicated Clear Voice mode to make dialogue a little easier to understand. It's also the least expensive option on this list.
The Bose Smart Soundbar 600 is a compact Dolby Atmos speaker with dedicated height speakers in a compact soundbar, and its sound quality is top-notch. Especially for dialogue-heavy movies and TV shows. The soundbar also adds features such as multiroom music and the Alexa voice assistant.
