Roku Streambar review 2024: delivers crisp, room-filling sound

Roku is making a concerted effort to become the go-to destination for all of your home entertainment needs. The brand is most likely familiar to you for the set-top boxes and smart TVs that it manufactures; however, over the past few years, it has been expanding its offerings to include content curation and audio devices. People like myself.

Who want to update their current TV setup without spending a lot of money or wasting a lot of space, are the target audience for the company’s most recent speaker, the Roku Streambar, which retails for $130 and is built just for us. When discussing a home theater system, that question is trickier to answer than it may appear at first glance. Building the perfect setup for your game days and movie evenings can easily run you hundreds of dollars, or even thousands of dollars.

Roku Streambar Specifications

The Roku Streambar is not a true soundbar, but it does offer better audio quality than a single speaker. It’s compact, retails for $129.99, and includes four drivers for room-filling sound and all the functionality of a Roku 4K video streamer.

Roku Streambar: Design and Connectivity

With dimensions of 2.4 by 14.0 by 4.2 inches (HWD) and a weight of 2.4 pounds, the Streambar resembles a more compact version of the Roku Smart Soundbar. It’s a compact speaker that can be hidden away behind the TV. It’s similar to the Smart Soundbar in that it has a single indicator light in the middle of the front panel but no physical buttons anywhere else. There’s a reset button and power/AV adapter connections on the back, as well as an HDMI input and optical audio input. There are also two threaded mounting holes on the rear for easy wall installation.

The remote control is identical to the one that comes with Roku Smart Soundbars and the vast majority of Roku TVs. It’s a basic black wand with a purple direction pad and few buttons on top (Home, Back, and Power) and a little microphone at the top. Controls for playing media and activating voice search on Roku may be found underneath the touchpad. Below them are buttons for individual streaming services like Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, and Sling TV. Finally, on the right side, you may adjust the level and silence the sound.

Roku Streambar: Roku Streaming

The Roku Streambar is a media hub that can broadcast 4K video in HDR10 and HLG, however it doesn’t work with Dolby Vision. You may connect your phone or other Bluetooth-enabled device to the speaker and play music wirelessly.

The Streambar employs the same Roku user interface found on Roku’s other media players and televisions, and it is compatible with the same thousands of Roku channels. Apple TV, Disney+, Google Play Movies & TV, Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, Sling TV, and YouTube are just some of the main streaming services available. As Twitch is the only major streaming site not available on Roku, gamers may want to search elsewhere.

Roku Streambar: Roku Interface

The user experience is consistent across all Roku products. Home is where the majority of the streaming applications are located, and you have the option to install as many as you choose. You can set up notifications for new movie releases across a variety of channels and apps by going to the My Feed section. You have access to a list of more than one thousand channels when you use Streaming Channels. There are movies you can watch, documentaries, and even full episodes of television shows for free on the Roku Channel. Text is the foundation of search, yet voice search is often so simple to use that it makes traditional text search seem superfluous.

You may alter the sound settings, add payment cards, and set up HomeKit all from the Settings menu. Changing the settings for the sound is also an option. speech search is far quicker and more responsive than typing, as a result of recent improvements to speech recognition that allow it to detect more natural terms. There is currently no way to navigate your way around the UI. In response to your request to “open settings,” you will be informed that “screen navigation not supported.”

Roku Streambar: Sound Quality

To begin, however, let’s have a look at the quality of the sound. Despite the fact that the Streambar only has stereo channels, Roku claims that it functions like a 3.0 soundbar due to its “multi-channel decode capabilities.” This is despite the fact that the Streambar does not have a physical central channel.

The Roku Steambar features four 1.9-inch drivers total, with two of them facing the front and the other two towards the sides. These drivers completely live up to Roku’s claim of providing sound that fills the entire room. When compared to other devices of its size,

Roku Streambar: Price

The Roku Ultra and the Amazon Fire TV Cube, the Streambar’s price of $130/£130 is very modest. To complement your Roku Streambar, you can purchase the Roku Subwoofer for an additional $179.99 (about £140/£115 or AU$250/AU$200) and the Roku Wireless Speakers for an additional $149.99 (approximately £140/£115 or AU$200).

Final Words

If you’re looking for a way to improve your current television set rather than diving headfirst into the world of home theater, the Roku Streambar is an excellent choice. It’s not quite perfect, but it excels in the areas that will see the greatest use, such as projection and clarity.

The Roku Streambar’s inexpensive price makes it a no-brainer for upgrading the sound of your TV and adding smart features to older models. That’s why we endorse it with no reservations.

Roku Streambar review: The good and The bad

The Roku Smart Soundbar’s larger drivers have a lot more low-mid impact, but the Streambar still makes clear, crisp sound that fills the room.

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