Let's be honest, TV speakers don't quite cut it. We've made TVs as thin as possible, which is wonderful news for saving space and enjoying top-tier visuals, but it's meant that audio has suffered.
Now that we're spending more cozy nights indoors, and with Christmas movie season in full flow, getting yourself an immersive surround sound upgrade will bring magic to every movie night.
The Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 8 Is All You Need for Genuine Surround Sound This Christmas
The soundbar learns the acoustics of your room, to create authentic surround sound by sending soundwaves in every direction.
It's almost hard to imagine that one device could make it feel as if a movie is encompassing you, but Sony managed it beautifully with the BRAVIA Theater Bar 8.
It excels in well-balanced sound, where you can hear subtle details like a character's footsteps or doors gently closing. And when paired with precise sound direction, you can hear exactly where noises are coming from.
During testing, I heard crowds with voices coming from every direction, cars going past from left to right, and background characters making noises off-screen. It's seriously impressive, and such a stark upgrade from regular TV speakers that I couldn't go back to life without one now.
My dad had a similar sound system growing up, and I always looked forward to the moment we started putting Christmas movies on. It was magical.
All it requires is a three-minute sound optimization setup – helped by avoiding soundbar placement mistakes – where the BRAVIA Theater Bar 8 plays loud beeps to learn the acoustics of your room. It can determine the shape and size using a microphone, picking up where the soundwaves end up, while also understanding the room's balance of hard surfaces and soft furnishings.
As for the soundbar itself, setup takes fewer than five minutes. It's a plug-and-play model, one of the easiest parts of a smart home setup, so once you connect the power and HDMI cords, it's ready to play audio.
And the audio is phenomenally clear. Every character's voice was resoundingly true-to-form – you could hear the rasps in whispers, and the bass-y trembles when a character spoke in low, tense tones.
Its slim, low-profile design is perfect for living rooms of different sizes (as long as your TV stand can fit a 43-inch soundbar, that is), and you don't need any additional speakers to make the sound fill the room.
The Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 8 is discounted to $799.99 for a limited time.
More to Shop
You wouldn't expect it at this price, but the Fire TV Soundbar Plus has two built-in subwoofers and Dolby Atmos compatibility, meaning it can deliver decent surround sound for a fraction of the cost of its premium counterparts.
Read more in my full Fire TV Soundbar Plus review.
If you're on the hunt for rich details in the sound that surrounds you, the Yamaha True X Bar 40A is a step-up from the Fire TV Soundbar Plus, but much cheaper than the Sony. And with built-in subwoofers and Dolby Atmos, every festive flick sounds gorgeous.
Read more in my full Yamaha True X Bar 40A review.
The Sony is great, but its bass is lacking slightly. If you'd rather not compromise on sound quality, spending an extra $80 will get you the best audio quality out of any soundbar we've tested, with incredible surround sound in every movie I watched, sharp details, and loud bass adding true depth.
Read more in my five-star Sonos Arc Ultra review.
For more smart home goodies as we near Christmas, see our tested guides to the best non-toxic air fryers and the best robot vacuums.
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