Roku Streambar Soundbar Review & Comments

Many thanks for the review Steve. Its a great idea for peeps that dont want to spend a fortune and glad that for the price it sounds fine.
 
Hi Steve,

Thanks for the review, on top of using this to refresh an older TV this stands out as an excellent kitchen solution, I have a PC monitor that I am not going to be using, and with this being wall mountable, would be a great use of the monitor and not over powering in the kitchen. The availability of Spotify and bluetooth for personal playlists, means cleaning will be more fun.

Only question I have for you, is where did you see it available for £99, at the moment can only find it for £129. Appreciate you don't have any control over when prices change.

Looks a cracking product and I am off to get one in a couple of weeks, hoping the price comes down. Although I will add that a streamer and soundbar in one for £130 is still good value.

Gordon
 
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@Gordon2147

I was watching these as I was going to buy one for my father for Christmas but it wouldn't have been delivered in time. It's pretty much 129 everywhere that had it, but dropped to 99 on amazon for a time before Christmas, I think RRP is 129
 
They are going to sell millions of these. Perfect for older folks who struggle with Smart TV and can’t hear the telly!

My Philips TV is 5 months old and the built-in apps have started to play up already. Reverted to my Roku stick and it’s great. Only thing missing is Dolby Vision.
 
Is the USB to Ethernet adapter mentioned a third party product, or Roku? Would it work with Roku streaming sticks? Offering just a wireless connection seems pretty stupid to me. Even Amazon offer an adapter for their 4K Firestick.
 
Is the USB to Ethernet adapter mentioned a third party product, or Roku? Would it work with Roku streaming sticks? Offering just a wireless connection seems pretty stupid to me. Even Amazon offer an adapter for their 4K Firestick.
Third party, but a USB to Ethernet adapter is easy to pick up.
 
Thanks Steve. Does any such adapter work with Roku sticks too, or is it just the bar? Details of a suitable device would be welcome, if available.
 
Thanks Steve. Does any such adapter work with Roku sticks too, or is it just the bar? Details of a suitable device would be welcome, if available.
The USB connection on a Roku Stick powers it, so I don't see how you could use a USB Ethernet adapter. However, something like this should work fine with the Streambar.
Amazon product ASIN B00NLL10P4
 
I tried a few Ethernet adaptors on the streambar - all worked well.

Had mine for a few months now and generally impressed - wouldn’t have it on the main tv as it’s too bass heavy for me, but it’s decent on the second tv.

The apps are excellent IMO - just missing Channels I think. Amazingly, for a Roku, even 1080i live tv via hdhomerun works well.
 
Does it use ir for the remote so that I can control it with an older Harmony or is it like the 4K+ stick which uses a wireless tech?

Really hope they bring out a wired ethernet adapter for the stick Roku's just as both Amazon and Google have done for their stick devices.
 
They won’t. For some reason Roku seems to think that wireless streaming works so well for everyone in the UK that Ethernet connectivity isn’t needed. Utter tosh, but it’s the reason that I won’t buy their products. They do sell boxes in the US with ports though. Nice to see that they they hold their [potential] UK customers in such high regard.
 
Does it use ir for the remote so that I can control it with an older Harmony or is it like the 4K+ stick which uses a wireless tech?

Really hope they bring out a wired ethernet adapter for the stick Roku's just as both Amazon and Google have done for their stick devices.
The remote supplied with the unit uses wireless connection. Not sure if the unit has an IR receiver - it’s all fabric on the front so cannot see one.
 
As a soundbar, how does it compare to the JBL Bar 2.0 All-in-One (Black) ? I'm looking for a new soundbar but my budget is fairly low and I'm looking for something that's compact, so many bars are around the 90cm+ range and that's too big for my cabinet. Ideally I'd go Sonos and link up to my IKEA Symfonik speakers elsewhere in the house but £400 is beyond what I can justify.
 
As a soundbar, how does it compare to the JBL Bar 2.0 All-in-One (Black) ? I'm looking for a new soundbar but my budget is fairly low and I'm looking for something that's compact, so many bars are around the 90cm+ range and that's too big for my cabinet. Ideally I'd go Sonos and link up to my IKEA Symfonik speakers elsewhere in the house but £400 is beyond what I can justify.
I came from the JBL to this and I would say the Roku sounds better. As well as all the Roku goodness, I think the speech settings are better and it has a bit more bass
 
I'm "old fashioned" and not a fan of phone/tablet-based AV controlled HDMI streaming sticks, and although I would like 4k compatibility I don't need a soundbar with speakers (see signature!) to replace my existing ROKU 2 - so I'd be interested in a "simpler version" of the Streambar WITHOUT the speaker system (and preferably with wired Etherenet - the house is Cat5E wired to the AV rack)!

Thus is there any sign of something like that on the UK horizon?

OTOH: I'd probably be happy to physically disable the speakers in the Streambar if there's no other "solution"!
 
Can anyone give me their opinion of sound quality of this soundbar please? I'm considering this or is it better to spend a bit more on the likes of a Yamaha 107 or a refurb Sky Soundbox or Sonos Beam? Having the streaming built in is a bonus as we use Roku's throughout the house anyway. It would be for TV and music.
 
Can anyone give me their opinion of sound quality of this soundbar please? I'm considering this or is it better to spend a bit more on the likes of a Yamaha 107 or a refurb Sky Soundbox or Sonos Beam? Having the streaming built in is a bonus as we use Roku's throughout the house anyway. It would be for TV and music.
I'm in a similar boat to you, the Roku seems good but I don't need the streaming so I'd rather spend £100 on something where the whole cost is going towards what I'm after as opposed to including functions I don't need.

I'm tossing up between these two really, and it depends on what I think I will be able to afford when I come to buy one... JBL Bar 2.0 All-in-One (Black) price of this has come down from £119 in recent months, decent reviews around for it and it fits my requirement for a smaller footprint, but then there' also the Yamaha SR-C20A (Black) which seems like the much superior option but then it's over twice the price... Aside from those there's not much around under £200 and no more than ~60cm wide
 
Sound is really quite good, surprisingly so. Perhaps a little bassy, but you can adjust that. Literally the only downside is it looks a little weird below a TV on the wall.
 
It for use with an older Panasonic LCD which is missing the latest apps like Disney+ so I will need a Roku or equivalent anyway. Width is not a issue for our setup. I'm just not sure how good it can sound for £100 with the streaming capabilities to pay for as well, if it is good then its great value and has airplay support as well for Spotify music. The Sky Box is supposed to sound good but its a bit of an odd shape and we don't have Sky, it doesn't have ARC and it's bluetooth audio. I've always thought any Yamaha systems I've heard sounds very good. How do you find it for music @tredman ?
 
It for use with an older Panasonic LCD which is missing the latest apps like Disney+ so I will need a Roku or equivalent anyway. Width is not a issue for our setup. I'm just not sure how good it can sound for £100 with the streaming capabilities to pay for as well, if it is good then its great value and has airplay support as well for Spotify music. The Sky Box is supposed to sound good but its a bit of an odd shape and we don't have Sky, it doesn't have ARC and it's bluetooth audio. I've always thought any Yamaha systems I've heard sounds very good. How do you find it for music @tredman ?
Sorry, never really used it for music - we are fully covered with Sonos speakers. Just had a quick play and it sounds fine, again a little bit bassy (at least for me), but it really does sound good.

Also have a Panasonic with crappy app support and can’t fault it at all - solved my app and sound issue in one.

See attached photo for it looking a bit weird under a TV - it sticks out.
52E6604D-C639-47B3-B5EE-3C2ABC616C0B.jpeg
 
Sounds goods thanks, it's for my daughters room so a little bass heavy is probably suitable to the kind of music she listens too. I think I'll give it a go, to be honest I doubt she will bother that much it's me who will be critical of how it performs. I take it that it switches audio automatically depending on TV source, i.e. switching between the Roku streamer to Freeview?
 
Yeah that works fine - think its more dependent on how well the TV supports CEC, rather than the Roku.

I think its available Amazon? Worth getting it from there and can return it easily if needed.
 

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