Are sound bars worth it?

Even easier and cheaper and is a lot better than the tv sound.
I run a Polk soundbar in my bedroom from an older Sony 55 inch tv.
It has a direct toslink digital input.
The tv has a toslink digital output.
The soundbar is mounted on the wall above the tv, toslink cable joins the two, heck it even auto turns on when it senses a digital signal!
The setting is just in the audio menu, select either tv speakers or external speakers, select external and you are all set.
The Polk has a tiny remote for volume and bass boost.
Cost was like $90 from ebay I think, maybe 3 years ago.

Is it hifi?
No but it sounds very good to my ears for my bedroom.
For main living room full on boogie home theater usage.
I would say it would not work for me but I love spending money so what do I know!

I run a ZVOX soundbase (the deep cabinet style) that the OLED sits on. They’re pretty much identical widths. So far so good.  And it enables me to keep the two systems separate, which I prefer.

From my experience a sound bar is worth it.

I bought the Yamaha Sound Bar a few months ago - took only a few minutes to connect to my Yamaha subwoofer. My apartment bedroom is pretty small so the bass is a good upgrade from my normal tv speakers.

Most sound bars are under $100. I thought it was a good purchase, but I'd be hesitant on buying one over $150 since you can buy a subwoofer for that much.

Every sound bar that I have heard—granted, not very many—has sounded like crap to me.
I think that Reubent post is the way to go.  Presumably his device has at least  one digital output beside HDMI, because DACs with HDMI inputs are scarce things.

Most TV's have at least an optical digital out. Just have to make sure you set the output to stereo or DD.  So, HDMI from cable box to TV, optical digital from there.  My new LG sadly lacks analog outs, but my previous TV had a mini stereo jack out.


Yeah, sound bars are worth it, in that they are convenient, relatively inexpsnisive ($300-$2,500) and can add a sub along with it.


The irresistible part of this for many is leaving the high end music system alone. :)