The best budget soundbars of 2024: Big sound, bigger savings

Positioned between Majority's compact Bowfell soundbar and the high-end Sierra Plus Dolby Atmos package, the Teton Plus aims to deliver a robust audio experience without the complexity or cost of a full home cinema setup. While it may not satisfy audio perfectionists or those seeking extreme volume and detailed surround sound, the Teton Plus is an affordable, user-friendly upgrade to standard TV audio.

Priced at £89, it offers substantial sound quality, clear dialogue and decent bass, making it a strong contender for everyday TV viewing and casual movie nights. Though it lacks advanced features like Dolby Atmos and has a lightweight build, its performance remains strong despite its decent price. The Majority Teton Plus soundbar is easy to set up and includes various connectivity options, including HDMI ARC, Bluetooth, and optical input. Its remote control allows users to adjust bass and treble, essential for optimising sound quality for your taste.

In-house audiophile Chris Duffill had a hands-on look at this soundbar in his Majority Teton Plus soundbar review. Here are his thoughts: "This is a lot of power and flexibility for the money. It's a welcome boost to all but the most expensive TVs, in terms of overall sound quality and bass."

The Denon DHT-S216 soundbar offers impressive audio quality at an affordable price, making it a standout in the budget soundbar market; the RRP is £200, but it can usually be found for less.

The DHT-S216 special trick is that it uses DTS Virtual to simulate surround sound, without the need for additional speakers. This adds a great sense of scope to the audio and can have you jumping for cover when the on-screen action really kicks off. The general audio profile is balanced, performing well across movies, music, and games. Dialogue-enhancing options and multiple EQ modes cater to different listening needs, with Pure being a reviewer favourite due to its balanced profile.

The only real bugbear with the device is that there's a noticeable lag in volume control during startup, which can be frustrating. Despite this, the Denon DHT-S216 is a solid choice for those seeking quality sound on a budget. It competes well against similar models like the Bose Solo 5 and offers a more cost-effective alternative to higher-end brands like Sonos. Overall, it's a versatile and well-rounded soundbar for everyday use.

In his Denon DHT-S216 soundbar review, William Austin-Lobley felt that: "The Denon DHT-S216 is a very accomplished all-in-one soundbar with a great deal to offer for only £200. The audio quality adds weight, drama, and excitement to entertainment in all the right places. It can also be fine-tuned using the remote control. Its design is far from cheap, with a soft finish that makes it disappear in the living room – well, as much as a big black stick can".

The Majority Sierra Plus Soundbar is an affordable option for those seeking a Dolby Atmos experience without the complexity of a full surround sound system. It has a 2.1.2 setup with two front-facing speakers, two upward-firing speakers and a wireless subwoofer. This layout successfully creates a room-filling sound, using spatial audio to enhance the viewing experience to a truly immersive level. It's a strong contender for movie and music enthusiasts who want more than a TV’s built-in speakers can offer.

Compared to more expensive units, we did notice that the subwoofer occasionally produces loosely defined bass and the lack of eARC connectivity limits support for advanced lossless audio formats. However, despite these minor drawbacks, the Sierra Plus offers significant value for its price, providing a genuine Dolby Atmos experience that rivals more costly units.

We were impressed with this soundbar in our Majority Sierra Plus soundbar and subwoofer review. Senior content writer Chris Duffill had this to say about the Sierra: "As a soundbar certified for Dolby Atmos at under £200, the Majority Sierra Plus is a brilliant low-cost way of bringing a respectable Dolby Atmos experience to your viewing. It has the weight and presence of a far more costly soundbar and sub setup with very few performance downsides."

At less than £40, the Stealth Light-Up Gaming Soundbar delivers a surprisingly clear audio quality, especially for its price range. It does lack strong bass and power compared to higher-end models, but the RGB lighting effects, with four different light modes, add a fun, customisable element to any gaming setup. It’s also portable, featuring a reliable Bluetooth connection and an eight-hour battery life, making it suitable for on-the-go use.

While it offers good performance for general TV and music use, it has some drawbacks. The navigation through settings can be clunky, and it lacks wireless compatibility with consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, requiring a wired connection instead.

Content writer and reviewer Kyle Purves, upon reviewing the Stealth Light-up gaming soundbar, had this to say about his experience: "Although a few faults keep it from being perfect, the Stealth Light-Up Gaming Soundbar is a surprisingly versatile Bluetooth speaker that does a lot".

The Groov-e Soundbar 50 is affordable and compact, ideal for small living rooms and offices or replacing PC speakers. Despite its modest 50W power, it delivers clear and balanced audio with minimal distortion at high volumes. There are plenty of connection options – coaxial, AUX, Bluetooth and Optical (cable included) – and the overall build of the Soundbar 50 is simple yet effective, with a sturdy body and nice metal grille, behind which sits the LED display.

Three EQ modes – Music, Voice, and Movie – tweak the sound slightly, though anyone looking for comprehensive EQ control will want to look elsewhere.

Overall, the Groov-e Soundbar 50 offers solid performance for its price, making it a good choice for budget-conscious users seeking an upgrade in audio quality for smaller spaces. Despite a few limitations, it is a good choice for those with limited space.

Tech writer Olivia Sheed recently wrote a deep-dive Groov-e Soundbar 50 review, here are her thoughts: " The Groov-e Soundbar 50 is a great little budget soundbar, suited for desks as a replacement for PC speakers or under little TVs. It is on the smaller side, ranking at only 50W, but for a small living room/office that is plenty enough power to listen comfortably."

Bold sound, a slick, sturdy design, and plenty of volume – the Amazon Fire TV soundbar is perfect for creating an immersive television experience in your home. We particularly love its overall design, which looks incredibly seamless and comes without a dramatically high price point.

The Amazon Fire TV soundbar offers plenty of power in its smaller stature bu ideal for positioning under your television, but some users may find the overall size a little disappointing for their cash. Yes, this is a much smaller speaker than some of the options on the market. It's not suitable for larger spaces and doesn't quite create that larger-than-life soundscape you might find on something much wider. That being said the Fire TV soundbar is small but mighty and has plenty to offer budget buyers with smaller spaces.

One of the cheaper budget soundbars on the list, the Panasonic SC-HTB100 slim soundbar boasts dynamic sound, impressive connectivity and more – all in a slim, space-friendly design. At around 45W of output power, it's not the most powerful soundbar, but it does have a bit of a kick to it when watching television.

The Panasonic SC-HTB100's immersive and direct soundstage works particularly well in smaller rooms. Its dual racetrack drivers give the sound a degree of versatility that isn't possible in standard speakers, so it's especially exciting to use while watching action films, where bullets firing and the ambience of a battlefield draw you in at a whole other level.

However, the bass on this cheaper soundbar is a little flat, which may disappoint those looking for low-end rumble and bark. However, for most users, the Panasonic SC-HTB100 is an upgrade as it's a well made soundbar with quality that greatly exceeds its price.

We are big fans of Majority's speaker and audio equipment and the brand's commitment to budget-friendly design. The Bowfell is a testament to its commitment, coming in at the remarkably cheap price of £40.

At around 38cm, it's one of the smaller speakers on the list, but that doesn't stop the Bowfell from having 50W of power up its sleeve. The sound is smooth and not overly tinny as soundbars can so often be, and the dialogue sounds clear and precise, perhaps the most important quality of a soundbar. The downside of the Bowfell is, of course, its lesser bass capabilities and soundscaping due to its smaller stature.

An all-around solid soundbar from Majority, the Bowfell is one of the finest budget soundbars of the year. It is certainly worth considering if you're limited on cash and in need of an upgrade.

When it comes to the best televisions of the year, Samsung always has its hat in the ring, and it appears it's no different when it comes to soundbars, either.

Samsung's C400 opts for a sharp-edged, blocky design over the often rounded style in most budget soundbars. This unobtrusive design is perfect for wall mounting and makes for a far subtler look to a television setup than you might be used to. A particularly strong point of the C400 is its Samsung-style remote, which rarely fails to impress: it's loaded with impressive EQ customisation features, modes to toggle through and more.

The C400's four forward-firing drivers strengthen its fairly average audio output of 40W, drastically widening sound dispersion throughout your home cinema space. Through its clever use of this technology, the C400 immerses listeners to a far greater extent than is typically possible through a cheaper soundbar. This soundbar also favours high and mid tones to create a pitch-precise feel to its sound.