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What’s the Catch with These Affordable Dolby Atmos Soundbars?

It used to be impossible to buy a Dolby Atmos sound for less than $900. Today, you can buy one for less than $500. So, what’s the catch?

Sonos Beam 2 soundbarPhoto by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

By Tucker Bowe

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The reason soundbars are so popular is because they’re easy to install and take up very little space. They’re a single box that plugs into your TV and instantly improves its sound quality — there’s no need to worry about a bunch of different components, like an AV receiver, speakers, and a subwoofer, working together.

Today, pretty much every TV and audio manufacturer makes a wide variety of soundbars. Some soundbars are big, designed for big TVs and big rooms, while others are small, designed for smaller TVs and smaller rooms.

When choosing a soundbar, one of the most significant deciding factors is whether it supports Dolby Atmos — not every one does.

Why Dolby Atmos?

Dolby Atmos is an immersive audio technology that tricks your ears into thinking that sounds are all around you. It allows the soundbar to create virtual height and side channels so you hear sounds coming from your left, right, center and above.

Essentially, Dolby Atmos is the technology that’s going to convince you that jets are really flying over you when watching Top Gun Maverick; or that you’re really in a spaceship flying through a wormhole when watching Interstellar; or that you’re in the middle of a battle and surrounded by a Urak-hai army when watching The Lord of the Rings.

Believe us, you want a soundbar that supports Dolby Atmos — it’s cool. The good news is that there are many Dolby Atmos soundbars out there, and not all are super expensive.

Sonos Beam 2 soundbar
The Beam is Sonos’s most affordable soundbar that supports Dolby Atmos.
Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Most Dolby Atmos soundbars are quite expensive

Most Dolby Atmos soundbars cost in the region of $900 — like the flagship options from Sonos (the Arc) and Bose (the Smart Soundbar 900) — but many cost well more than that.

There are two big reasons why Dolby Atmos soundbars are typically expensive. First, it’s expensive for manufacturers to get the licensing for Atmos certification; which gets them the software package that decodes and the renders the Atmos stream. And two, the best Dolby Atmos soundbars typically require more speakers to best take advantage of the immersive sound technology — and more speakers are more expensive.

The best Dolby Atmos soundbars all have up-firing drivers, which means they have dedicated drivers that shoot sound up towards the ceiling. This enables them to better take advantage of Dolby Atmos content and sound way more immersive. The catch is the extra speakers add extra cost to the soundbar. But most home theater enthusiasts will pay this price for the best soundbar experience.

Over the last few years, Dolby has been working to get Atmos supported in as many products as possible — it wants to make Atmos as popular as stereo sound. Regarding soundbars, that means supporting both soundbars with upward-firing drivers and those without, the latter of which can be considerably more affordable.

sonos soundbars
Sonos’s Arc is the company’s flagship soundbar. It has up-firing drivers, but is much larger (and pricier than the Beam 2).
Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

The downside of affordable Dolby Atmos soundbars

Today, there’s a growing number of Dolby Atmos soundbars do not have up-firing drivers — the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is one popular example — and yes, they sound pretty darn immersive.

The Atmos software package that Dolby provides soundbar manufacturers is smart enough to figure out what kind of system it is — be a small 2.0-channel soundbar or an extensive 7.1.2 home theater system — and then render the audio so that it’s as accurate and immersive as possible.

However, if you listen to two Dolby Atmos soundbars side by side — one with up-firing drivers and one without — you’ll be able to tell if one of them has them. Both soundbars can virtualize sound, but the one with actual speakers firing up at your ceiling is going to do a better job at making you feel like the sound is coming from above you.

The other reason Dolby Atmos soundbars that lack up-firing drivers tend to be more affordable — they’re smaller. They’re soundbars designed to bring the Dolby Atmos experience to smaller TVs (think 55-inches or smaller) that are situated in smaller-to-medium sized rooms. So they’re not going to sound as big or get as loud.

The Best Dolby Atmos Soundbars Under $500

Sonos Beam 2 soundbar
The Beam 2 is unique because it’s a smart soundbar and can be grouped with other Sonos speakers over Wi-Fi.
Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Below, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite Dolby Atmos soundbars that cost less than $500. All lack up-firing drivers, but still deliver an immersive Atmos experience.

The Sonos Option

Sonos Beam 2 soundbarSonos Beam 2

Sonos Beam (Gen 2)

Specs

Channels 5.0
Dolby Atmos Support? Yes
Size 2.14 feet (length); 6.2 pounds (weight)

• Release date: October 2021

The Beam (Gen 2) is half as expensive as the company’s flagship Arc ($899), but it has most all of the same functionality, including easy integration with other Sonos speakers, support for either Alexa or Google Assistant voice assistants, and Wi-Fi streaming. The main difference, other than size and power, is that the Beam lacks upward-firing drivers so even though it supports Dolby Atmos, it’s not able to create as immersive of an experience.

The Budget-Friendly Option

Denon DHT-S218 soundbarDenon

Denon DHT-S218

Specs

Channels 2.1
Dolby Atmos Support? Yes
Size 2.90 feet (length); 7.94 pounds (weight)

• Release date: March 2024

The Denon DHT-S218 is one of the more affordable Dolby Atmos soundbars you can buy. It’s a 2.1-channel soundbar and thus lacks upward-firing drivers like other affordable Dolby Atmos soundbars. On the plus side, it will connect to both new TVs (via HDMI eARC) and old TVs (via optical), and is small enough to fit on most media consoles. And it has built-in Bluetooth, so you can listen to music or podcasts on the soundbar when you’re not watching TV.

The Upgrade Option

Sony

Sony HT-S2000

Specs

Channels 3.1
Dolby Atmos Support? Yes
Size 2.63 feet (length); 8.3 pounds (weight)

• Release date: March 2023

The Sony HT-S2000 is one of the beefier midrange soundbars that supports Dolby Atmos. It’s a 3.1-channel soundbar that delivers super clear midrange — meaning TV dialogue is crisp and clear — and surprisingly deep bass. It has built-in Bluetooth for music streaming, but lacks Wi-Fi and thus can’t function as a smart soundbar. Interestingly, it is compatible with Sony’s wireless subwoofers and satellite speakers so you can potentially turn the HT-S2000 into a larger surround sound system.

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