We don’t get the cinema hall experience at home. We can use the big screen at our home but what about the cinematic audio?
For cinematic audio we need a good soundbar. But should it be Dolby Digital or Dolby Atmos soundbar? Should it come with surround channel or without it?
And the biggest question- which is the best soundbar among plenty of brands?
Today I’ll tell you about the best soundbars of 2021 from INR20,000 to INR35,000.
In the previous post we discussed the budget soundbars,
here is the link -
I will give you one option and an alternate option so that in case you don’t get the first option, you can buy the alternate option in your budget.
But before that I want to tell some important things about soundbars which are essential for you to know. If you only want to enhance the volume of your TV, then you need a budget soundbar. Do not buy these soundbars. I have made a dedicated post on the same. You will only be spending more with these options.
I will rate the soundbar with less Watt higher than the lower one.
I’ll be doing so on the basis of audio notes, notes compression, audio signature and clarity. Keep these things in mind while purchasing a soundbar.
For surround effect, you must buy a soundbar will surround channels. Just a 2.1 soundbar cannot give surround sound. That is only a virtual surround sound. The surround channels must be placed above your ear level. If you cannot buy surround sound soundbar, then go for 2.1 soundbar, but so not expect surround sound from it. Last but not the least is connectivity options.
If there is no HDMI ARC or optical input port in your TV, then please do not buy any of these soundbars. You will not get Dolby Digital or a good audio codec by connecting it with AUX input. You will only get the stereo audio. In this case, buy a budget soundbar because it is the same audio just at a higher volume.
The best soundbar in 2021 under INR20,000 is
- This is an amazing soundbar will fantastic audio which I have recommended to many people.
- It comes with a soundbar, 3 Speakers, 2 Surround channels, and 1 Passive Subwoofer.
- The output of the soundbar is 300W, output of each surround channel is 65W and that of subwoofer is 170W which makes the Total Output as 600W.
- It has 1.5 Inch 2.5O Full Range Speakers (which are awesome), 2.5 Inch 2.5O Surround Channels (do not expect good mid-notes as they surround channels not center channels).
- It has 6.25 Inch 4O Subwoofer and it comes with the support of Dolby Digital.
- It is 35-inch wide and weighs 2.1Kg. It has HDMI ARC, Optical Input, AUX, USB and Bluetooth and NFC connectivity options.
- It is a fantastic soundbar which is inclined towards a balanced audio, but you don’t get a proper balanced audio.
- It has a slightly heavy bass which gives you the punchy bass feeling. But if you want a very heavy bass, then this is not the soundbar for you. Buy this soundbar if you want a slightly heavy bass with good audio quality. It gives outstanding surround sound. No soundbar can compete a home theatre.
- You can by this soundbar at INR 20,000.
Now let’s talk about its cons.
There is no HDMI IN port and 4K Passthrough in this INR20,000 soundbar. Had Sony given an HDMI IN port then this would have been the best combination in this or higher price range.
But which soundbar should you buy if you don’t need surround channels? Then comes our alternate option-
- soundbar which costs approximately INR 20,000.
- This is a good option without surround channels.
- If your budget is INR2000 to INR3000 more then you must buy Sony HT- RT40 which has surround channels in tall bar shape.
- This soundbar is absolutely identical to RT-3 and this is awesome.
- The tall bar speakers gives a premium look when kept in your drawing room or living room. I’ll give two more options in this popular category.
- The other option in best soundbar under INR 20,000 in 2021 .
- It is an amazing soundbar with completely different audio signature than Sony’s soundbar.
- It comes with speakers, tweeters and wireless active subwoofer.
- It has 2 speakers of 40W, and a 40W soundbar which makes the total output as 120W.
- It has 1.25 Inch 4.4-inch oval shaped full range drivers, 1-inch tweeters, and 5.25-inch subwoofer. Its SNR is 95dB, which is very impressive.
- It is 35-inch wide and weighs 1.8Kg. It has HDMI ARC, Optical Input, AUX, and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity options.
- Its audio signature is totally different from that of Sony which means that you don’t get extremely low notes or extremely high notes.
- The mid notes are balanced with balanced audio.
- Now let’s talk about the cons of this INR 20,000 soundbar.
- There is no feature to enhance the dialogues and reduce noise. This is called the Dialogue enhancement technology or dialogue enhancer which is present on other Polk soundbars.
- If I let it go and stop nit picking, then this is a wonderful option.
- Now let’s talk about the alternate option of Polk Signa. For people who do not require an external subwoofer the best soundbar is
- It is only a soundbar with a built-in subwoofer but you get an option to attach an external subwoofer, and that indeed is a wonderful thing. You can attach the Yamaha subwoofer or some other subwoofer and make it 2.1 soundbar.
- It has a good audio signature and you can buy it for INR 20,000.
Moving on to our next category- Best Soundbar in 2021 from
INR20,000 to INR30,000 and the best soundbar is
Polk Audio Magnify Mini.
- This is a small sized extremely good soundbar which sounds very loud.
- It comes with 4 speakers, 2 tweeters and 1 active wireless subwoofer. The out of speakers and tweeters is 150W, and that of Subwoofer is 150W which makes the total output as 300W. This 300W soundbar produces fantastic sound.
- It comes with 2x0.5-inch full range tweeter drivers, 4x2.25-inch mid range drivers and a 6.5-inch subwoofer.
- Its SNR is 95dB.
- This soundbar supports Dolby digital and Google chromcast, which I’ll tell you after sometime.
- This soundbar is surprisingly only 13.4-inch wide and weighs 1.76Kg.
- You get HDMI ARC, optical input, AUX, Bluetooth 4.0, Ethernet port and dual band WIFI.
- This soundbar costs INR28000 and this is a wonderful soundbar in this price range.
- Now let’s talk about its pros and cons.
- Its audio is amazing, perfectly balanced, and it does not have any issues with high or low notes.
- You get dialogue enhancer technology, which means you can enhance dialogues by reducing the music during night.
- It gives you an overall balanced audio.
Now let’s talk about the cons.
- Its features are mostly a gimmick for eg- Chromcast.
- Try to cast a youtube video on this soundbar via your phone but even after trying for 15 minutes there will be no audio because it is a full of bug chromcast.
- You get dual band wifi but when I tried to connect it with my phone’s hotspot, it took me more than 20 minutes to connect it once.
- Wifi of this soundbar is again a bug.
- But if I exclude these non-important features, then this is an amazing soundbar. No other soundbar stands in front of it in audio comparison. This was all about Polk Magnify Mini.
- If you like heavy bass audio signature then you must not buy Polk Magnify Mini because it more of a balanced audio signature soundbar.
In that case you must go for its alternate option-
- costs approx INR 25,000 and it is a fantastic option within 300W output.
- This is a brilliant option for heavy bass.
- Now comes the last price category- the best soundbar from INR30,000 to INR35,000.
- I have 3 options in this category and I will tell about each option.
- First let’s talk about
Yamaha YAS 209 which is one of the best options in this category.
- It comes with speakers, tweeters, and active wireless subwoofer. It has a 100W soundbar and a 100W active wireless subwoofer which makes its total output as 200W.
- It has 2-inch and 8O cone speakers and 1-inch dome tweeters, which produces great high notes. It comes with 6.5-inch and 8O and supports Dolby digital, dts Digital Surround, 4K Passthrough at 60 FPS, HDR10 and HLG Playback. Its SNR is 82dB.
- Its width is 37-inch and weighs 2.7Kg. You get HDMI ARC, 1 HDMI IN, optical input, LAN, single band wifi, Bluetooth connectivity options.
- It supports Alexa and Spotify.
- My favorite Yamaha soundbar has Clear dialogues, good balanced audio, and an amazing audio signature. If you want a brilliant soundbar, in which you can analyze and differentiate every single note, then this is your deal.
- It has dialogue enhancer technology using which you can increase the clarity of dialogues, and this one of the best technologies in premium soundbars. Even if you watch movies or listen to music, this is an excellent option.
- It costs INR35,000 but I felt there were 2 cons. Since it costs INR35,000,
- I expected HDMI eARC or HDMI 2.1 port. This soundbar was launched 2-years back and that is why we couldn’t an eARC port.
- Second con is the lack of display.
- But if you let go these two cons, then it is a fantastic soundbar.
- This is an amazing soundbar and costs INR32,000.
- Before last two weeks its price was between approx INR28,000 to INR 30,000. I
- ts price increases drastically and it is expected to rise further. Its sleek speakers produce brilliant audio.
- They are not as amazing as Yamaha but they are very good. You can get surround sound only from surround channels.
Now comes the second option which is slightly better than Yamaha YAS 209 because it gives more compressed audio.
Its audio signature is good but the audio level is higher than Yamaha’s.
PolkCommand Bar (our best recommendation)
- Don’t judge it by its size because it is amazing.
- It is one of the best soundbars I recommend for good audio.
- It costs you approx INR35,000.
- I don't want to repeat the features of yamah yas 209 and as I mentioned this one has compressed audio
In the previous post we discussed the budget soundbars,
here is the link -