While 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound involves placing speakers around your room on a single plane, the concept behind Dolby Atmos audio is to give audio an element of height. If you don’t want to install speakers in your ceiling though, this sound bar is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to pull off the effect.
The Integra DLB-5 Atmos Soundbar is a 3.1.2 system, meaning you get three regular audio channels in the sound bar, a wireless subwoofer for bass, and two special “object” speakers that point upwards, and bounce sound off your ceiling, creating the effect of Atmos surround sound with minimal hardware. And for content that doesn’t support Atmos, the system also supports DTS Virtual:X, which can do a surprisingly good job at replicating surround sound.
At $450, it’s not exactly an impulse purchase, but that’s still one of the best prices we’ve seen on a system like this.