Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus in testing

The Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus promises an impressive home theater experience with powerful sound and clear dialogue. Our test report shows whether the soundbar really does what it promises.

The Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus is another product from Amazon that aims to take TV sound to a new level for comparatively less money. The small and inexpensive Amazon Fire TV Soundbar (test report) was already reliable, especially in relation to the low price. With an integrated and redundant center for clear sounds, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support, as well as a 3.1 setup with easy operation, it should especially appeal to movie fans who don’t have room for a subwoofer.

But how does the soundbar perform in practice and is it worth the money? We have tested them extensively.

The Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus has a simple but modern design. The black plastic with rounded corners and the fabric cover at the back give the soundbar a high-quality look. With a length of 94 centimeters and a weight of four kilograms, it is compact enough to fit under most televisions without any obstructions. Only 43-inch televisions are larger than the soundbar. Optionally, brackets for wall mounting are included.

The workmanship is impeccable, with a price expected to be less than 300 euros. The soundbar has only the most essential connections, namely HDMI (eARC – Enhanced Audio Return Channel), USB-A and an optical input. Bluetooth is also on board. The device does not support WLAN, which limits flexibility. The sound bar does not offer a display for controls, instead it attempts to convey information to the user using multiple LEDs and voice outputs. The simple plastic remote control is quite small, but provides access to all of the Plus soundbar’s setting options.

The Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus is a bit vague when it comes to sound. On the one hand, she surprises with clear dialogues in films and television, but on the other hand, sometimes voices get completely lost in the music. Then the piano on the remote control starts playing: dialogue enhancer off or on, 3D sound maybe better off, bass out or in and preset to music from the movie? After all, the only thing that helps is experimentation, and even then you can’t be sure that the result will be good when it comes to music. It also depends on the genre of music. In genres with a lot of mids, instruments and voices get mixed up, but in others the Plus soundbar is a positive surprise.

The model plays bass – albeit not very homogeneously or powerfully – up to 36 Hz and still has a slight increase at 50 and a strong one at 40 Hz, in theory, as much as more expensive soundbars get with thicker subwoofers, such as Teufel Cinnabar Ultima (test report). In practice, such particularly deep bass is lost in the overall sound, leaving it strong up to 50 Hz. This is still a good result and ensures full sound overall. So the bass drops are clearly heard, at least in the upper range, and the sounds of thunder or bombs in movies sound quite powerful for models without a sub. There may be some tinkling at higher volumes at times, but overall level consistency is fine.

The Amazon Fire TV, on the other hand, can only offer surround sound – no surprise given its limited number of built-in speakers. Then why it should be capable of Dolby Atmos and DTS:X remains a mystery from the manufacturer. Although the soundbar produces a little more fullness when the surround sound mode is activated, it is a far cry from true surround sound. Amazon’s information about channels is also a little confusing: on the product page, Amazon talks about a 3.1 soundbar, which means stereo speakers, a center, and an internal subwoofer. This marking actually means an external, additional sub.

Operating the soundbar is basically very easy. It can be controlled using the buttons on the device or using the included remote control. The latter allows fine adjustment of bass and treble in nine levels and the highlighting of dialogues in five levels. Four presets are also available: Movie, Music, Sports and Night. These presets provide a quick way to adapt the sound to different content without the need for deep settings.

Problem: Due to the lack of display, the usually very simple menu navigation is cumbersome and the display is not clear. If there are multiple adjustable levels, such as bass or treble, the user must press the corresponding button on the remote control, wait for acoustic confirmation through the sound output and repeat this process until the desired level is reached. After level 9 it restarts at level 1. With 9 bass levels and only one control button, the user has to press five times each time to reduce the bass from level 6 to level 2 and wait for voice confirmation – cumbersome and time-consuming.

Another drawback is the volume display via five LEDs on the front, which, like the expensive LG DS95TR (test report), dims in several stages until the next LED turns on or off. How high the volume actually is can be roughly determined so a numerical display would be more helpful here; In addition, the LEDs are difficult to see in bright ambient light, which makes operation more complicated.

The decision to ditch Wi-Fi may be a disadvantage for some users, especially those who want seamless integration into existing smart home systems. At least music can be played on the soundbar from your smartphone via Bluetooth.

amazon fire tv soundbar price 270 eurosBut it was also available for 220 euros.

With a price of 270 euros, the Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus offers good value for money for movie fans who want to upgrade their TV sound. Clear dialogue reproduction and fundamentally simple operation make it an attractive option. However, the soundbar is less suitable for music lovers as it sometimes shows weaknesses in this area.