What is the best sounding soundbar under $1000? Well, that is what I am looking at today. These are the highest of the highest end of soundbars. If you are looking for something on the lower end of the pricing spectrum check out our best soundbars with subwoofer below $200 which features more “affordable” soundbars that will still be better than what your TV speakers produce. We actually have buying guides for soundbars at all ends of the pricing spectrum so no matter your budget, we have you covered. Anyway, dive into your Scrooge McDuck style money bin and check out these very expensive, but also very awesome soundbars.
Do I really Need To Spend This Much Money On A Soundbar?
If I am being 100 percent honest with you guys, I would have to say no. The average person does not need to be anywhere near a thousand bucks on a soundbar. Heck, we have a The 5 Best Soundbars Under $400 guide that I feel is probably the most your average Joe would want to be spending on a soundbar. Still, with that being said, as I write this I have a 65-inch 4K OLED TV in my living room and I want the closest to a cinema experience as I can get. So, I need the big and clear TV along with the highest quality soundbar. People like me who are really anal about sound quality are the kind of people that will want a soundbar like the ones we are looking at today.
Can You Hear The Difference?
What I am talking about here is if you can hear the difference between a soundbar like the ones we are looking at today and that 100 bucks soundbar that they have a million of at Walmart. I have to say that yes you can. For me personally, I can tell the difference between most soundbars, speakers and so on that I test out, but I am not like everyone else. Even with that being said, I would have to say that the majority of people out there would be able to tell the difference between what a soundbar we are looking at today offers and what one like this TaoTronics Soundbar offers.
The Best Sounding Soundbar Under $1000 Reviews
There are not actually a ton of soundbars at this price range out there. What I have done is selected two soundbars in this price range that I know very, very well and I have also picked two other close to 1000 bucks soundbars that I have not personally used, but I think look very interesting and are worthy of considering. I also have a fun movie recommendation for you too with each soundbar.
1: Bose Soundbar 700
2: Sonos Arc
3: Sony Z9F 3.1ch Soundbar
4: DALI Katch One Soundbar
Bose Soundbar 700
First up we have the Bose Soundbar 700 and if you want to go into full detail on this check out my glowing Bose Soundbar 700 review that I wrote a little while back. I had to start our quest for the best sounding soundbar under $1000 with this. Anyway, this currently comes in at $799.99 which is no small chunk of change, but it is also a couple of hundred bucks under our $1000 price limit. In that regard, if you have a grand to spend, this is just phenomenal value for money. It is the coolest looking soundbar on this list. The front and side have this very stylish metal grille, but the top is finished off with glass which gives this a style that well and truly sets it apart from all the other soundbars that are on the market right now. It has an HMDI arc and optical port for connection to your TV and it comes with the cables too.
Of course, good looks mean nothing without solid sound, and thankfully, the Bose Soundbar 700 is amazing in the sound department. This is actually the soundbar I have in my living room right now. It is a 3.0 system, but the way it manages to fill the room with sound gives you as close to a surround sound effect that a soundbar without rear speakers can give you. I love how for loud action movies; you can have this thing cranked all the way up and not have any distortion. Speaking of which, dialogue is crystal clear through this thing. I do also want to mention that this has Bluetooth so you can stream music from your phone through this. Oh, one last thing, the remote control this comes with is the best remote I have ever used!
What Other People Are Saying
If you want to get a closer look at this, check out this awesome Bose Soundbar 700 video unboxing that Bose themselves, put out. Also, if you look on Amazon, this currently has over 1300 customer reviews and nearly 90 percent of these are positive. I can hand on heart say that anyone who has been in my house and watched a movie, sporting event, or whatever with this has always commented on how great it sounds.
Movie Recommendation
My movie recommendation for the Bose Soundbar 700 is the awesome The Transformers: The Movie 35th Anniversary Limited Edition Steelbook which is still the best Transformers movie. Not only is this movie a lot of fun, but it also has one of my all-time favorite movie soundtracks, and this soundbar well and truly does it justice! I loved this movie when I was 5 and I love it even more now that I am pushing 40!
The fact that I have the Bose Soundbar 700 in my living room should tell you that I hold it in very high regard. I have had this for over a year and it would have to be something very special to make me turn my head and consider replacing it. It looks great, it sounds amazing and it just does everything perfectly. I also think the asking price is a steal, well a steal if you have a thousand bucks to play with.
Pros:
- The glass finish on the top is very stylish
- It produces amazing sound
- It comes with all you need inside the box
- The remote control is the best I have ever used
Cons:
- The glass top is a magnet for fingerprints
- The accompanying subwoofer costs nearly as much as the soundbar!
Sonos Arc
Recently I wrote an article called Bose Soundbar 700 vs Sonos Arc which put this head-to-head with the Bose Soundbar 700. I had a lot of fun using and testing the Sonos Arc and as of writing, it is the flagship soundbar from Sonos. Sonos have a great range of soundbars and this one is the cream of the crop. I love the way it has a fabric grille that wraps around the front. I know that some people may be worried about dust and it getting ripped, but I think it looks cool. The top and the back of the soundbar are made of a nice looking and durable plastic. Actually, speaking of the back, you have your HDMI port here, but this does also come with an HDMI to optical adapter should your TV not have an HDMI Arc port.
This is a 3.0 soundbar and it well and truly rocks. I think that the Sonos Arc is the best sounding Sonos soundbar that I have had the pleasure to test so far and I have pretty much played around with them all at this point. It gives you a very rich and cinema quality kind of sound and I like the way it sounds great no matter the type of movie or TV show you are watching. Now, with that being said, this does not come with a remote! It does have various presets, but if you want to use them, you need to download the app! The only other negative I have with this is that you need to have a really specific mount if you want it on the wall. Now, Sonos have an official one and it is way overpriced, you can get an Acrylic Wall Mount Bracket Kit for Sonos Arc for under 20 bucks on Amazon though.
What Other People Are Saying
When you look on places like YouTube there are a ton of glowing reviews for this thing. I in particular love this video review as it goes into a lot of detail about the way you can expect this to work. As of writing over at Amazon, there are over 600 customer reviews for this soundbar. What is impressive about this is that 91 percent of the reviews are for either five or four stars!
Movie Recommendation
I love the Sonos Arc I really do and I wanted to pick a movie that I think will really show off the range that it has. That is why I have gone for is John Wick. First of all, this is a great movie, actually, all three of them are a lot of fun. What I think is neat about the first movie is that you have lots of action, but John Wick himself is very softly spoken and this soundbar excels at both being loud and also delivering clear dialogue.
When it comes to the best sounding soundbar under $1000 the Sonos Arc has to be in the conversation. I love Sonos and this is the best soundbar that they offer in my opinion. I would say that most people would struggle to know the difference between this and the Bose Soundbar 700 in terms of sound. As well as offering you great sound, it also has a very stylish look to it as well.
Pros:
- I like the way the fabric grille looks
- It has a very stylish and modern look to it
- It delivers very powerful sound
- I liked how clear it was when people were talking
Cons:
- It does not come with a remote
- If you have kids, you may be worried about them poking their fingers through the grille!
Sony Z9F 3.1ch Soundbar (With Subwoofer)
If you have read any of my other stuff on the site, you know that I love Sony! That is why I have selected this Sony Z9F 3.1ch Soundbar to be part of our quest to find the best sounding soundbar under $1000. I am kind of cheating here as currently on Amazon this is priced at just under 900 bucks, but this does also come with a subwoofer too so you are getting a lot of bang for your buck here. Sony makes some of the coolest audio equipment around and this one looks great, I could do without the light up part telling you what device is connected, but I still like the design of this. It is packed with inputs and outputs too. There are two HDMI in ports, an optical port, LAN port, and a USB port too.
I have not had the pleasure of testing this out for myself, but if you check out our 5 Best Soundbars Under $400 article, I review a Sony one on there and love it. This fully supports Dolby Atmos so it should give you a fantastic high-quality sound that will fill the room. It has multiple presets for you to select so you can have the levels just right if you are watching movies, sports, TV shows or even playing a game if you were lucky enough to snag a PlayStation 5 console! The fact that this comes with a subwoofer bundled in is really cool and a nice bonus that is going to give you that extra bit of bass and power which is great if you want to have a cinema night at home.
What Other People Are Saying
The first place I looked was on Amazon and currently, this has 469 customer reviews and it is sitting at 90 percent positive. I consider that to be quite fantastic and in reading the reviews, those that have this love it. I also found this very good video unboxing and review which showcases the soundbar and actually made me realize that it was more on the larger size than I thought which could be great if you are a little short on space.
Movie Recommendation
As I mentioned PlayStation just before I am going for the awesome movie, Ready Player One. This is a firm favorite of mine and my sons and it would be a great movie to test out a new soundbar with. It has a great soundtrack to start with, but it also has great sound design in general with loud action, video game noises, and even some softly spoken dialogue. This is going to be a fun movie to put a new soundbar (and subwoofer in this case) through its paces.
From what I have seen and read about the Sony Z9F 3.1ch Soundbar this looks to be a fantastic soundbar and probably the most premium soundbar that Sony offer. I think if you are a diehard Sony fan then this one will probably be close to the top of your list. It looks cool, has a ton of ways to connect it to things and it just has that Sony quality all throughout. Plus, we are still under our 1000 bucks price limit with this and you get the subwoofer thrown in too.
Pros:
- Sony are always awesome in my opinion
- It has a rather interesting design
- Dolby Atmos baby
- It does come with a subwoofer as a nice bonus
Cons:
- I think the lights that tell you the device take away a bit from the aesthetic
- I cannot find much information about the subwoofer they are throwing in with this
DALI Katch One Soundbar
Rounding up our list of the best sounding soundbar under $1000 we have this very interesting offering. The DALI Katch One Soundbar is currently priced at $999.99 so it is right at the price limit of what we are looking for. It is the most “different” looking of the soundbars that we have checked out today as it has a very interesting design. This clearly is intended to be wall mounted. I say that because it has a rather thin profile, but it is taller than your usual soundbar so I am not sold on how this would look if it were to be sitting under your TV. The version I have selected is the black one, but white is also available.
If you check out the Dali website you can see that this thing is pretty impressive in terms of its connections. You have an HDMI Arc, Optical, subwoofer port, analog in and there is a USB port on here too. This is going to be quite a powerful soundbar. According to the Amazon listing, this has 10 drivers in total so I am sure it is going to provide plenty of kick when a movie or TV show needs it. Even though it does not have a subwoofer, I do feel that from what I have read, this will still offer some pretty powerful bass.
What Other People Are Saying
There are not a ton of customer reviews for this on Amazon, but out of the 34 that are on there more of them are positive than not. It is kind of hard to gauge when there are so few reviews. I did find this quick video review for this. It does not show this thing in action, but what I liked about it was that it gave you a rundown of all of the features that this soundbar has to offer.
Movie Recommendation
This is the other soundbar on our list that I was not able to test out for myself. However, if I ever did manage to get my hand on this the sleek and kind of futuristic design of it made me think of the movie, Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets which I feel is a criminally underrated sci-fi masterpiece! Not only is this movie a visual spectacle, but it has a great soundtrack and lots of action that will put the Dali Katch One through its paces.
I have to admit that Dali is a company I am not too familiar with, but this soundbar certainly caught my eye. It is the most expensive soundbar on our list today and there is no denying the design of it is very cool and easy on the eyes. It was the insides though that impressed me as I looked into it as I am sure this thing is going to be able to rock your living room or your home theatre.
Pros:
- I think it looks cool
- You can select from two colors, both of which look fantastic
- It is packing way more power than you would think
- It is pretty stacked in terms of the ports that are on the back
Cons:
- I think the design of it may not be everyone’s cup of tea
- It is the most expensive soundbar that we have looked at today
What Is The Best Sounding Soundbar Under $1000?
I have had a lot of fun today looking at these higher-end soundbars. The two that I tested were great and the two I have not personally tested look very interesting and of a nice and high quality too. However, if you have read any of my other articles that talk about this soundbar, you know what my winner is! The best sounding soundbar under $1000 is the Bose Smart Soundbar 700. I love and I mean love this thing!
It offers everything that you could possibly want in a soundbar. It sounds amazing and it has a contemporary design that gives it an elegance no other soundbar on this list matches. Best of all, it sounds great no matter what you are watching. Also, usually, when I talk about this soundbar I say that the price is a bit of a negative, but that is not the case here! This soundbar is actually over 200 bucks less than our price limit so that makes it an even more attractive option!
