Sharp’s new cheap Dolby Atmos soundbar undercuts Denon and Sonos but you’ll need to wait for it
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Sharp’s new compact Dolby Atmos soundbar, the HT-SB700, looks like it delivers an impressive spec for an equally impressive price, but if you’re outside Europe you’ll need to be patient. While the soundbar has launched in Germany – and can also be found to pre-order on Amazon in Italy and The Netherlands – it hasn’t yet been launched in the US, UK or Australia, although its rollout to more countries looks imminent.
The new soundbar looks like it’ll be worth waiting for, too. At £189 / €199 (roughly $235 and AU$367), it offers a lot of audio tech for not a lot of money. To put that into perspective, it’s a lot less than Denon’s new cheap soundbar, which also undercuts the likes of the Sonos Ray, making it very competitively priced.
The HT-SB700 is designed for smaller living spaces and smaller TVs, and while it’s not going to rival the most expensive models in our best soundbars guide, it looks like it’ll be a good option for more modest home theater set-ups.
Sharp HT-SB700 Compact Dolby Atmos soundbar: Key features and specs
The new HT-SB700 delivers 140W of power through two full-range speaker drivers. Like the best Dolby Atmos soundbars, there’s also two more up-firing full-range speaker drivers to deliver the all-important height that you need for an enjoyable Atmos experience. You can adjust the bass and treble to suit your space or sound source, and the soundbar also comes with a selection of five pre-set modes, including Movie, Music and a neighbor-friendly Night mode.
Connections here are eARC HDMI with CEC for easy control, and there are also digital audio optical and 3.5mm aux inputs. Bluetooth is 5.3 for streaming from your phone, tablet or computer and the whole thing is controllable via the included remote or with the on-speaker buttons. The HT-SB700 is finished in black and is relatively tiny. It’s just 520mm (20.5 inches) wide, so it’ll look pretty nice under smaller TVs.
Sharp’s new soundbar is currently listed on Amazon Germany, and it’s also on Amazon’s sites in Italy and The Netherlands – although according to Notebookcheck.net the delivery in those latter two countries is currently listed as between June and October. Sharp has put product pages for the new soundbar on both its UK and French sites, which indicates that a wider rollout should be imminent.
Can’t wait? Then check out the Bose Smart Soundbar 600, our current pick of the best small soundbars for Dolby Atmos. It’s a lot more expensive than the Sharp – it’s $499 in the US, £499 in the UK and AU$799 in Australia – but it’s a typically great Bose product and unlike the Sharp, you can actually buy one pretty much anywhere.
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