It’s easy to drop hundreds on home theater equipment, but you don’t have to spend a fortune to make your existing setup feel new again. Roku’s Streambar is one such device that can upgrade your TV’s sound quality, while also giving you the power of Roku’s streaming OS. It normally runs $130, but Amazon has the Roku Streambar for $102 right now — that’s only a few dollars more than its Black Friday price and the best deal we’ve seen on it since the start of the year.
Roku designed the Streambar to be an easy and affordable way to inject better sound into your living room. We gave it a score of 86 because it lives up to that promise. It’s slightly larger than a carton of eggs, making it compact enough to fit into even the most cramped TV setups, and it’s quite easy to install. Inside is Roku’s 4K HDR streaming tech (the same that you’ll find in the company’s Ultra device), and while it doesn’t support Dolby Vision, it supports Dolby Audio.
The streaming chops combined with the solid audio quality make the Streambar a great option for anyone that still has a “dumb” TV that they want to revamp. Even if you have a smart TV, the Streambar is on the affordable side when it comes to soundbars, making it a viable option if you’re simply looking for a budget-friendly sound upgrade. It also works as a Bluetooth speaker as well, so you’re essentially getting a three-in-one device.
Aside from the lack of Dolby Vision support, the biggest downfalls to the Streambar are its relatively weak bass (which you’ll notice when streaming music via Bluetooth rather than watching TV) and its lack of an Ethernet port. If you can live with that, the Roku Streambar is a solid way to get better sound into your living room without spending a ton of money.
Source: engadget.com