Review: Roku Smart Soundbar

The Roku Smart Soundbar is exactly what you think it is: a soundbar with a Roku player built in. An entertainment turducken, it stuffs half a gajillion media apps inside a streaming player inside a speaker system. Just add a TV and couch and you’ve got a complete home theater package.

Plop the 32-inch-long log under your TV’s chin, plug it into your HDMI port, and you’re set to start consuming audio and visual content galore. That’s the pitch anyway, but unfortunately, it’s just not that simple. Even after the expectedly kludgy setup process, there are some little complications that pop up during daily use that make the experience imperfect.

Before I go any further, I should note that this review is for the regular Roku Smart Soundbar, and that an onn.-branded Roku soundbar also exists. That one is cheaper ($130 instead of $180) and exclusive to Walmart. It has smaller drivers, though, and only puts out 40 watts versus the regular Roku soundbar’s 60 watts.

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