This was confirmed by playing some simple stereo material, and again it leapt out of the rears and upfiring drivers. We confess this was beguilingly effective with stereo music, and a room-filling rendition of the first Georgia Fair album/EP was one of the first warm-ups we enjoyed on the Bar 1300. Once started, we had no inclination to stop it, so rich were the brushstrokes, so enveloping the sound, despite us knowing the surround effect was being faked. Now let’s talk about all the extra features that are included and we will start with the audio formats supported. Audio Formats & technologies

It’s the only soundbar system that springs immediately to mind that can truly do justice to the spaceship flyover at the beginning of Star Wars: Episode II, and it handily flexed its muscles with bass torture tests of the sort we normally reserve for legitimate standalone subwoofers—like the sewer fight in The Amazing Spider-Man. Jednoducho prepojte JBL Bar 1300 s vaším zariadením s podporou hlasového asistenta a môžete okamžite požiadať službu Alexa, Google Assistant alebo Siri o streamovanie všetkej vašej obľúbenej hudby do soundbaru. HDMI eARC s 4K Dolby Vision pass-through In addition, the two surround speakers can act as stand-alone Bluetooth speakers. That’s handy for playing music in different rooms of the house when you’re not using the whole system to watch a movie. JBL Bar 1300: conclusionEarth Wind & Fire’s September has plenty of rear action in its Atmos remix, and simply boogied along through the JBL combo, and with a crazy amount of level available – this is a rare soundbar which can really party when requested. We’d noted that JBL’s Studios 301 demos had been set to the max level of 32 (or one stop down, after a request to tame things a little), but that had been in a nearly impossible room in which to perform – a dry large studio with high ceilings. In our more realistic lounge environment we only once dared push it to the maximum level of 32; even 22 was crazy loud, so we had plenty of headroom to spare. The consequence of this is a song like Björk’s “Hyperballad,” whose bass line consists mostly of frequencies between 30 and 60Hz, sounds a bit too bottom heavy, whereas her “Army of Me” from the same album, which features bass fundamentals in the neighborhood of 80 to 100Hz, sounds relatively anemic. And the Allman Brothers Band’s “Blue Sky,” with its bass line strongest somewhere between 180 and 200Hz, sounds like it was remixed by Fatboy Slim when played through the 1300X. As for its wireless capabilities there is WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (2.4GHz/5GHz) as well as Bluetooth v5.0. The new models added WiFi6 which surely is an improvement over their predecessors. Control Options

All HDMI ports support HDCP 2.3 and can pass-through 4K, HDR10 and Dolby Vision signals. The output comes with eARC capabilities which means it can support Dolby Atmos not only from Dolby Digital Plus but also Dolby TrueHD. To some extent this equal distribution of sound helped with the dialog immensely. All actors voices were very distinct and easy to hear either it was a quiet moment or when Transformers were battling through the city streets. Like other models in the JBL soundbar range, the Bar 1300 makes use of the PureVoice technology that uses an algorithm to optimise voice clarity “even when loud sound effects take over”, ensuring those listening can hear what’s being said. There are other forms of spatial audio, but right now, Dolby Atmos is the most popular, most mainstream implementation of spatial audio. Based on our extensive experience reviewing products with the tech, we can confirm that whether you're gaming or watching a movie, Dolby Atmos can radically improve the experience.The upshot is a cleaner surround setup than rivals from Samsung, Sonos, and pretty much anyone else, all of which require power cables for their “wireless” surround speakers. But you’re still trading wires for batteries; the speakers must return to the mother ship every 12 hours to juice up. So unless you’ve got a fully open floor plan, I’m not sure the Bar 1300X really answers the question of whether going fully wireless confers a distinct advantage over buying a low-profile extension cord. JBL was one of the last few brands that did not provide a dedicated app with their soundbars. But finally after so much time the new 2023 series brought a much desired change to this. They finally offer the JBL One App which is a lovely little app that gives you total control over your soundbar. Keep in mind that this app only works with the latest 2023 Bar series, at least for the moment.

And this is great because the solution of the ARC/eARC port is one that we honestly avoid as much as possible. As convenient eARC may be, it is not very reliable and can create more problems than it should. Wireless capabilitiesThese speakers you can attach or detach from the main unit depending their use. This is important as you do not need a fixed placement and you can change their position at will. Twice as powerful as the Samsung model, the JBL Bar 1300 is unrivaled in its ability to plunge users in the heart of the action. We’re happy to forgive its lesser vertical range, as its energy and vitality work wonders. The Samsung HW-Q990B has the advantage regarding connectivity as it allows a wireless WiFi connection with Samsung TVs, with Dolby Atmos support, an exclusive feature of the Korean manufacturer. JBL Bar 1300: who is it for? The direct HDMI inputs will be the only way to enjoy DTS:X content, with which the bar is compatible in addition to Dolby Atmos. But there is very little DTS:X content around, and none via streaming services in Australia (Disney has promised some for IMAX Enhanced movies in some regions). Many bar manufacturers are now saving themselves the DTS licence fee and ignoring it. The subwoofer is a small monster and one of its kind as it is the only JBL soundbar that uses a 12″ driver. It uses a down-firing transducer which is bigger than most of the competition in this price range. General Remarks I tested the JBL Bar 1300X soundbar in a 12 x 16 x 9-foot room using a 4K Blu-ray player, Apple TV 4K, and music streamed from Apple Music and Tidal as sources.