LG Launching 2021 Sound Bar Lineup With AirPlay 2 Support

[bebarhood]

i AM THINKING OF GETTING THE LG G1 Evo this year, and I am in the market for a good soundbar. But again, I worry about the HDMI 2.1 pass thought, VRR, DTS:X, etc..

Any recommendation? I am trying to avoid surround speakers. Just the soundbar and the bass.

 

[StoneJack]

Soundbars have been a thing for a few years now. Anyone know of other brands that have "proven" and popularly-rated sound bars? I'm guessing Bose... but that's a brand that I have not visited since they abandoned their iPod/iPhone-specific docking-charging speakers.

I bought recently Sony 100F soundbar (without subwoofer), it works fine, has bluetooth, sound is much better than TV/s (Panasonic TV with relatively good sound)

 

[StoneJack]

i AM THINKING OF GETTING THE LG G1 Evo this year, and I am in the market for a good soundbar. But again, I worry about the HDMI 2.1 pass thought, VRR, DTS:X, etc..

Any recommendation? I am trying to avoid surround speakers. Just the soundbar and the bass.

Sony 100F, works with TV and AppleTV flawlessly
Amazon.com: Sony S100F 2.0ch Soundbar with Bass Reflex Speaker, Integrated Tweeter and Bluetooth, (HTS100F), easy setup, compact, home office use with clear sound black: Electronics

 

[teknikal90]

I have no experience with these. But soundboard that claim to have Dolby atmos surround.. does it actually even remotely work?

 

[StoneJack]

I have no experience with these. But soundboard that claim to have Dolby atmos surround.. does it actually even remotely work?

Well, physically there are no rear speakers so it kinda makes sound LIKE a surround. Which is not bad but if you want real surround, put speakers behind your back.

 

[bluewalt]

Can I use this on a desktop (under my monitor, fixed to a VESA mount) rather than with a TV?
I don't have enough space on my desk to put 2 "classic" speakers, but having only 1 speaker like a homepod forces me to set it not in front of me, which produces an unbalanced sound.

 

[wanha]

What I want to know is if the soundbar will record everything I play (and say?) and send it to LG servers so it can be sold to advertisers.

That's what all the manufacturers do with their TVs - they record everything and sell the data to the highest bidders.

 

[chucker23n1]

AirPlay and AirPlay 2 report latency information with the source. That's why they're so great...and why they're more work to implement. The results speak for themselves.

AirPlay 2 does (the speakers negotiate a stable latency with the source), but AirPlay 1 has a fixed 2-second latency.

 

[moxxey]

i AM THINKING OF GETTING THE LG G1 Evo this year, and I am in the market for a good soundbar. But again, I worry about the HDMI 2.1 pass thought, VRR, DTS:X, etc..

Any recommendation? I am trying to avoid surround speakers. Just the soundbar and the bass.

Expensive, but the B&O Stage (soundbar) is designed for the LG TVs, works seamlessly and can even be controlled via a B&O remote, too. Sounds amazing. You won't need surround with this soundbar. Doesn't support HDMI 2.1 (but do you need it for a soundbar?)

 

[bebarhood]

Expensive, but the B&O Stage (soundbar) is designed for the LG TVs, works seamlessly and can even be controlled via a B&O remote, too. Sounds amazing. You won't need surround with this soundbar. Doesn't support HDMI 2.1 (but do you need it for a soundbar?)

I am not sure yet, since I am not familiar with soundbars. Never owned one. I am used to the regular speakers surround sound systems, but I want to minimize it,since I have a small living room.

I hear good things about Sonos, Samsung, among others. However, I am concerned with the number of HDMI inputs, which most are offering only 1.

I guess I'll wait and see

 

[BuffaloTF]

Soundbars have been a thing for a few years now. Anyone know of other brands that have "proven" and popularly-rated sound bars? I'm guessing Bose... but that's a brand that I have not visited since they abandoned their iPod/iPhone-specific docking-charging speakers.

Vizio, Sonos, Samsung. All are well-reviewed.

 

[BuffaloTF]

Sure surround sound w/ a subwoofer is the best. But that's not what sound bars are.

There's not many sound bars without one. The lowest combo you're likely to see is 2.1.

And on many that do Atmos, like 5.1.4, the Subwoofer drives the back 2 speakers.

 

[bommai]

And TV speakers have been decent for a long time.

I cannot stand built in speakers of TVs. In fact I can’t stand most soundbars. Audio fidelity is important to me. In my living room system I have Infinity R263 towers and RC263 center for LCR and a eD 12” 350W powered subwoofer. Using a Yamaha TSR-700 as the receiver. I use Sony core bookshelves as surrounds for a 5.1 system. My TV is a 85” Sony x900h. Can’t stand the built in speaker.

In my main theater room I have 3 JBL Studio 590 behemoths as LCR and two JBL Studio 560p subs. I also have home built surrounds and canton in ceiling speakers for my Atmos to make a 7.2.4 system powered by denon x4300h receiver and NAD T763 amp. The display is an epson 5040 projector with a 150” screen. The media room is painted all black and has some acoustic treatment to improve sound quality. For serious listening and watching sessions, this is my go to room. The living room is for more casual listening and watching.

sound bars are a compromise for people that want to improve their tv speakers but don’t want to “ruin” the look of their living room !

 

[BeefCake 15]

I hate losing an HDMI port for the Soundbar.

 

[maximage77]

I have no experience with these. But soundboard that claim to have Dolby atmos surround.. does it actually even remotely work?

Yes, certainly in the higher end one that includes the rear speakers. I've simplified down from a proper Marantz Dolby 5.1 surround system to one of the "about to be superseded" Atmos 7.1.4 LG/Meridian SN11RG sound bars, and cannot believe the sound that comes from it in my dedicated theatre. Yes, a full blown, well dialled, separates system will always be better, but for what it is, this thing is unreal, with wide sound stage, and sounds coming from places where no speakers exist.

Well, physically there are no rear speakers so it kinda makes sound LIKE a surround. Which is not bad but if you want real surround, put speakers behind your back.

Some of them do have rear speakers actually.

 

[WickedBadGamer]

And TV speakers have been decent for a long time.

Eh.................once you get better speakers, you'll never go back.

 

[drlamb]

You literally cannot beat the homepods for my use case (smaller apartment bedroom) and I love them...as speakers. They're terrible smart home devices though (I've made several comments about my issues with alarms actually working).

Opening up Bluetooth is the one thing apple could do to ensure they aren't replaced by something like this once my space allows.


My totally up-to-scale homepods + wall mounted swivel tv setup:

 

[mrscribble]

Why? It introduces latency, which makes play/pause annoying, and you place the sound bar physically right next to the TV anyway.

Different situation to the one you were replying to, but I use a projector so the source is nowhere near the sound bar. Wireless means I don't have to trail cables across the room or drill holes in things. For the reasons you gave, not too many good sound bars have AirPlay so I'm very interested in these if they sound good and give flexibility of sources.

 

[zapmymac]

FYI, check the atmos sounbar setup pages for usability if you have vaulted ceilings...many have a suggested max distance to be effective at object bouncing sounds.

Decent price/sound has been my 2 year old (2019) 36” Visio 5.1 kit with wireless sub & rear surrounds but can only pass DD+ via one specific hdmi port, so my PS3 gets plugged in directly to the Visio and the aTV4K gets plugged into the 2016 Samsung series6 tv.


Looking forward to hdmi 2.1 TV’s, AVR’s and real in-ceiling atmos speakers this Christmas!

Even a 3.1 sound bar will make movie night notable better than the built-in TV speakers!

 

[i4k20c]

can someone help me understand the benefit of airplay 2 vs bluetooth?

i currently own a soundbar and play music from my phone to it via bluetooth and wonder what benefit airplay 2 gives me?

 

[barksie]

This makes me wonder if one of Apple's goals with the original homepod was to get these other companies to step their tech to use the tech in the AppleTV to it's full potential.

 

[teknikal90]

Ah I see.
Sorry, I meant more soundbars that just sit underneath your TV (without rear speakers).
Some of them promise these 'virtual' surround sound to output Dolby Atmos mixes, which I'm skeptical about.

 

[StoneJack]

Can I use this on a desktop (under my monitor, fixed to a VESA mount) rather than with a TV?
I don't have enough space on my desk to put 2 "classic" speakers, but having only 1 speaker like a homepod forces me to set it not in front of me, which produces an unbalanced sound.

Yes. sony 100f has bluetooth input so u can connect even your iphone or macbook