Amazon constantly places out top-notch media streamers beneath the Fireplace TV title, just like the Fireplace TV Stick 4K, so I used to be excited when it introduced the $119.99 Fireplace TV Soundbar. Sadly, my pleasure rapidly fell aside whereas testing it. Not solely does it lack any Fireplace TV options or distinctive connectivity with Fireplace TV units, it doesn’t really sound higher than the audio system constructed into most TVs. So even at its funds value, it’s underpowered and underwhelming. You’re higher off testing a pricier however way more satisfying soundbar just like the $179.99 Roku Streambar Professional.
Pleasantly Compact
At 24.0 by 3.5 by 3.5 inches (HWD), the Fireplace TV Soundbar is downright puny. It’s two-thirds the size of the Roku Streambar Professional, although over half an inch taller. The entrance is totally lined in a black grille material, whereas the remainder of the speaker is a one-piece matte black plastic chassis. The highest of the soundbar holds energy, enter, Bluetooth, and quantity up/down buttons, and a recess within the again options an HDMI port, an optical audio port, a USB port, and a connector for the ability cable. Two keyholes for non-obligatory wall mounting additionally sit on the again of the soundbar, and mounting {hardware} is included within the field.
The included distant is a brief, squat black plastic rectangle with flat, round buttons. Energy and Bluetooth buttons sit on the high corners, with play/pause, rewind, and quick ahead buttons under. A quantity rocker sits within the middle flanked by enter, EQ, bass, and sound discipline buttons, with a mute button under.
A Fireplace TV Product in Identify Solely
You is likely to be questioning what makes the Fireplace TV Soundbar a Fireplace TV gadget. The reply is nothing in addition to the Fireplace TV emblem on the distant. It is a primary, audio-only soundbar designed to work with any TV geared up with an ARC port over HDMI. With an ARC connection, you may management its quantity together with your TV distant, even when your TV doesn’t use the Fireplace TV platform. It has no Fireplace TV options itself, no Alexa voice assistant, no media apps, and never even a companion app for making EQ tweaks (the EQ solely has Film, Music, and Dialogue presets, which you’ll cycle by way of utilizing the distant).
That is removed from the expertise you get with the Roku Streambar ($129.99) or the Streambar Professional, which operate as their very own Roku-based media streamers. If you would like Fireplace TV, you’ll must get a Fireplace TV streamer just like the Fireplace TV Stick 4K, or a Fireplace TV-powered TV just like the Amazon Fireplace TV Omni QLED.
It’s also possible to join over optical audio, however in that case you’ll want to make use of the soundbar’s distant to regulate the amount. The Fireplace TV Soundbar additionally has Bluetooth for streaming music out of your cellphone, although Amazon doesn’t specify what Bluetooth codecs it helps. Once more, neither of those options have something to do with Fireplace TV.
Underwhelming Sound
The Amazon Fireplace TV Soundbar is a two-channel stereo soundbar with a peak output of 20 watts per channel. It has two rectangular full-range drivers, although Amazon doesn’t specify their measurement. It helps DTS Digital:X and Dolby Digital encompass sound, however not Dolby Atmos spatial audio. The latter omission is not shocking, as spatial audio seemingly would not be effectively served by simply two drivers.
With out a subwoofer, don’t count on tons of bass from the Fireplace TV Soundbar. When enjoying our bass take a look at observe, The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” it produced modest low-end, even with the amount turned up and the bass set to excessive. At most quantity, it additionally distorted closely, sounding a bit crunchy through the bass synth notes and popping harshly with the kick drum beats. Even then, it doesn’t sound very large, with a comparatively slender stereo sound discipline.
Switching to encompass sound mode with the distant yields a bigger sound discipline, but it surely throws off the already aggressively sculpted audio steadiness. Within the opening of Sure’ “Roundabout,” the acoustic guitar plucks get a robust sense of resonance with punchiness within the greater frequencies and fairly crisp string texture in stereo mode. In encompass sound mode, the string texture overwhelmingly comes by way of, with a particularly vivid sound that’s virtually harsh on the ears. When the observe correctly kicks in, the bassline prominently stands out alongside the cymbals, with the guitar strums and vocals sitting a bit behind. It’s a really scooped sound in each modes, however whereas stereo mode is just unbalanced, encompass sound mode is downright disagreeable.
Music is nice for testing accuracy and steadiness, however soundbars are primarily meant to enhance the audio for motion pictures and TV reveals, and the Fireplace TV Soundbar fails right here as effectively. The opening chase scene of Physician Unusual within the Multiverse of Insanity lacks any actual bass, stripping a way of affect from flying rubble and stopping the normally bombastic soundtrack from feeling large and thrilling. The sculpting of encompass mode isn’t as jarring right here as it’s with music, but it surely merely widens a slender stereo discipline to sound about as broad as what my TV itself can produce. After I unplugged the Fireplace TV Soundbar and used my TV audio system, I didn’t discover a lot of a distinction, besides the TV didn’t sound as aggressively vivid.
As compared, the Roku Streambar Professional places out stable audio whereas providing the aforementioned sensible TV options the Fireplace TV Soundbar’s title implies however fails to ship. Even the smaller Streambar presents a bit increase over my TV’s audio system. As well as, these soundbars provide satisfying audio between 40 and 70% of their quantity scale, whereas I’ve to crank the Fireplace TV Soundbar as much as 90% to get one thing near comparable efficiency. And each Roku soundbars might be augmented with non-obligatory subwoofers that may actually generate some thunder, one thing Amazon’s soundbar cannot do.
Brief on Audio and Options
The $119.99 Amazon Fireplace TV Soundbar is a disappointing and pointless speaker that doesn’t stay as much as its title or product class. It doesn’t even have something to do with the Fireplace TV platform and its many helpful options, and its audio output is not any higher than what a big TV can do. For almost the identical value, the $129.99 Roku Streambar packs higher sound into an excellent smaller bundle, presents all the features of a 4K media streamer, and might be expanded with a subwoofer. In the event you actually wish to give your TV an audio increase, although, check out the Roku Streambar Professional, our Editors’ Selection, which sounds higher, will get louder, and even comes with a distant with a helpful headphone jack for privately listening through wired headphones. At $179.99, it’s a bit costlier, however not like the Fireplace TV Soundbar, it can make a distinction in audio you’ll really discover.
