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The best Dolby Atmos soundbars in 2024 bring the movies to your living room
Sony
Whether you’re watching a new TV show or having a family movie night, you want the best sound you can possibly get from your home entertainment system. But setting up immersive sound can be a bit of a pain, and quite expensive at that. If you don’t have the room for an entire set of speakers or you want to keep things simple and affordable, a soundbar is a great alternative.
And opting for a Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar is a good idea. Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology that creates a three-dimensional soundscape. Unlike traditional surround sound systems, these soundbars use upward-firing speakers to project sound from above. This simulates the sound of overhead speakers without the need for the physical versions.
When choosing a Dolby Atmos soundbar, you have plenty of things to consider: number of channels, connectivity options, features like voice control and multi-room streaming and more. Some soundbars are compatible with your smart home, too. But which ones are worth your time? We’ve done all the work for you.
The best Dolby Atmos soundbars of 2024
Best Dolby Atmos soundbar: Sony HT-A7000
Amazon
Sony delivers with this soundbar that features two upfiring speakers, a dual subwoofer and five front-facing drivers. With plenty of connectors, a lightweight form factor, and excellent audio with support for Dolby Vision as well as HDMI eARC, this is one option that should work well for just about anyone.
Dive into an action movie and experience deep, satisfying bass with crisp treble that shines dramatically from the front and sides of the speaker. It goes a long way toward making you feel like you’re actually in the middle of your favorite movie, even without additional channels and speakers.
It’s built solid with a reliably great-sounding low end, and it boasts sound that’s in competition with even a full set of speakers for a home stereo system. And while it totally shines with Dolby Atmos-enabled content, it’s just as good without it. Plus, you can use it to stream from your favorite platforms using platforms like Apple AirPlay 2 or Spotify Connect.
Best Dolby Atmos compact soundbar: Sonos Beam Gen 2
Amazon
Sometimes space is at a premium in your home. That’s why this compact option makes for a great addition to anyone’s humble abode, even if there isn’t very much room to accommodate any speakers.
With this model, you don’t need any.
The first time you listen to Atmos-enabled content that becomes abundantly clear. It uses a special method to transfer sound into overhead and surrounding sounds, so it doesn’t have to rely on physical speakers. You’d be fooled into thinking you’re hearing sound above your head and around you with this soundbar, in ways that even seem to eclipse others in its cost bracket.
If you do have multiple speakers and other audio tech to link to, the Beam Gen 2 is a great addition to any wireless multiroom setup. Place its small body in one area and it can stream to other points in your home to build multilayered sound that mimics what you might get from a complete stereo system.
Best surround sound Dolby Atmos soundbar: Vizio Elevate
Amazon
This soundbar system has more of the bells and whistles than many of the others on this list. It’s part of a complete 5.1.4 soundbar system that comes with rear speakers and a wireless sub. That helps its ability to bring Atmos sound down to regular surround sound levels and quality for a delightful blend that brings you excellent audio for whatever you decide to watch or listen to.
You get rotating speakers to set up alongside your soundbar, which contributes to the higher price of this array, so if you need simplicity, you’re not going to find it here. You get rear speakers as well as a subwoofer and a remote with this package. The main speaker includes 13 drivers, a center channel and five tweeters. The soundbar itself is hardy but extremely large compared to competitors, so that’s something to keep in mind as well.
You get a variety of inputs to hook up your soundbar and speakers, including multiple HDMI slots and support for eARC with an HDMI output as well. You can also connect via Wi-Fi and options like Spotify Connect, but there’s no Apple AirPlay to speak of. With all the ways you can connect and enjoy big, theatrical sound however, you don’t really need all the additional bells and whistles to get some of the best Dolby Atmos audio money can buy, especially when it can envelop you like this system does.
Best premium Dolby Atmos soundbar: Samsung HW-Q990D
Amazon
If you want a premium soundbar package with everything you need to handle Dolby Atmos sound, this option can deliver. You can expect to pay quite a bit of cash, but it’ll make sure you have everything you need for top-of-the-line Atmos sound with surround sound support without you having to shell out for an entire surround system.
You get the soundbar, two speakers, and a subwoofer with this package. The 11.1.4-channel system comes with 22 drivers, three forward-firing tweeters, six midrange drivers, two upfiring speakers and four side-firing speakers. The subwoofer is backed by a 20-centimeter driver. There’s no shortage of power here and plenty of dynamic sound that could fool you into thinking you’ve put together an entire cinematic experience in your living room.
There are two HDMI 2.1 inputs that support a variety of features that are great for gaming and other entertainment, like and 4K, 120Hz and variable refresh rate (VRR). Movies and TV shows are where it really shines, though, and if you don’t mind paying a significant amount of money for the best you can get, this Samsung setup has you covered and then some. You’ll just need to make sure you have a place for all of the additional speakers in your living room.
Best budget Dolby Atmos soundbar: Sony HT-S2000
Amazon
You don’t have to spend a premium to get a great soundbar, and Sony has both ends of the spectrum covered. The Sony HT-S2000 is a value-priced soundbar that’s smaller and compact than many of the other options out there, and it’s less than $300 to boot. That’s less than you’d pay for some video game consoles.
This clear- and crisp-sounding bar has a built-in subwoofer and features a 3.1-channel setup. Its power output of 250 watts makes for some powerful punch, and even though there are no upfiring drivers, you get the sense that there’s still plenty of verticality to deal with, thanks to the soundbar’s unique sound processing system. Keep in mind that there are no streaming options with this soundbar, but it’s simple to hook up and move around if needed, thanks to its smaller size.
You might want to pay a bit more for a beefier setup if you have a large living room or if you want to be blown out of your seat with sound. But if all that’s important to you is great audio that can enhance how much you enjoy your favorite movies at home, this is the soundbar to go with.
Strapped into the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour, three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut returned to Earth early Friday, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico to close out an extended 235-day expedition to the International Space Station.
After a high-speed re-entry above Central America and a steep descent to the Gulf, Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick, co-pilot Michael Barratt, astronaut Jeanette Epps and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin settled to a gentle, on-target splashdown south of Pensacola, Florida, at 3:29 a.m. EDT.
NASA TV
A SpaceX team stationed nearby was on the scene within minutes to stabilize the capsule, make sure no toxic propellant fumes were present and then to haul it aboard a nearby recovery ship where NASA flight surgeons and support personnel were standing by to carry the returning station fliers out of the crew cabin.
Despite two hours of exercise per day throughout their stay in orbit, returning station astronauts need about a month or more to regain their “land legs” after months in the weightless environment of space.
As such, Dominick, Barratt, Epps and Grebenkin were expected to be carried out of the Crew Dragon and placed on stretchers before being rolled inside the ship for initial medical checks and calls to family and friends. All four appeared in good spirits, smiling and waving as they were rolled inside.
Mission duration was 235 days three hours and 35 minutes, during which the spacecraft circled the globe 3,776 times covering 100 million miles since launch from the Kennedy Space Center on March 3.
NASA
The crew originally expected to return to Earth in September. But the flight slipped into early October in the wake of a decision to delay the launch of their Crew 9 replacements because of problems with Boeing’s Starliner crew ferry ship.
NASA eventually ruled out bringing Starliner commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams back to Earth aboard the Boeing spacecraft. Instead, the Starliner came down without its crew on September 7 and Crew 9 was launched with just two passengers — Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexander Gobrunov — on Sept. 28.
That freed up two seats aboard the Crew Dragon for Wilmore and Williams to use when they come home next February with Hague and Gorbunov.
Sorting all that out pushed the Crew 8 departure into October. NASA and SpaceX then were repeatedly held up by high winds and rough seas at the approved splashdown sites, much of it related to hurricanes Helene and Milton.
But this week, conditions in the Gulf finally met NASA’s safety guidelines and the crew was cleared to undock and head for home.
With Crew 8 safely back on Earth, the Crew 9 crew will board their own Crew Dragon capsule early Sunday, Nov. 3, undock from the Harmony module’s forward port and then redock at its space-facing port.
The next day, an ISS-bound SpaceX cargo ship is scheduled for launch from the Kennedy Space Center. After an automated rendezvous, the ship will dock at the just vacated forward port on Nov. 5, election day in the United States.
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A 15-year-old boy was charged Thursday with murder in the shooting deaths of his parents and three of his siblings at a home in Fall City, Washington, according to court documents obtained by CBS News.
The teen, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, was charged with five counts of aggravated murder in the slayings of his parents, Mark and Sarah Humiston, two brothers, ages 9 and 13, and his 7-year-old sister, per King County court records.
He was also charged with one count of attempted murder for shooting and wounding his 11-year-old sister, the documents read.
That girl was in “satisfactory condition” at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, hospital spokesperson Susan Gregg told the Associated Press Tuesday.
Autopsies performed by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that all five victims died of gunshot wounds. The handgun used in the shooting was believed to belong to the victim’s father, the court records state.
According to the charging documents, just before 5 a.m. Monday, the suspect called 911 with a false story in which he claimed that his 13-year-old brother “just shot my whole family and committed suicide too” at the family’s home in Fall City, which is a community located near Seattle.
However, at about the same time as that call, 911 dispatchers received a second call from a neighbor who lives about a quarter-mile away. That neighbor said the suspect’s 11-year-old sister had ran to his house and was bleeding from what appeared to be a gunshot wound, the documents said.
The girl said her entire family had been fatally shot and identified her 15-year-old brother as the shooter. The girl told dispatchers she was also shot by her brother and “then described holding her breath and playing dead,” the documents read. The girl later told detectives that she had escaped through a bedroom window.
Deputies responded to the Humiston home, where they found the suspect in the driveway and took him into custody, court records show. The five victims were found dead inside the home.
In a hospital interview with detectives later that day, the suspect’s surviving sister said that she identified the firearm used in the shooting as “her father’s silver Glock handgun,” court documents state.
She said that her father kept the pistol in a small lockbox that “he would sometimes put by the front door so he could bring it to work,” the documents read. She told detectives that the suspect was “the only one who knew the combination to the Glock lockbox.”
Investigators determined that the suspect “systematically murdered” his parents and siblings and “then staged the scene prior to the arrival of first responders to make it appear” that the murders had been committed by his 11-year-old brother, documents read.
The court documents did not speculate on a motive.
The suspect is scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said in a news release Thursday that the suspect is in custody at the Clark Child and Family Justice Center, which is a juvenile facility.
The teen is currently being charged as a juvenile, and prosecutors said a judge will determine whether his case “will be moved to adult court.”
In a statement Tuesday, public defenders representing the suspect said that “our client is a 15-year-old boy who enjoys mountain biking and fishing and has no criminal history.”
