As Roku aims to meet the demand for all-in-one visual and audio upgrade devices, it can get confusing to decide between the Roku Streambar and higher-priced Streambar Pro. Both compact soundbars pack mighty audio punch along with 4K streaming smarts into your living room. This extensive feature comparison from an audiophile perspective should help settle the dilemma once and for all!
Birds Eye Overview: Positioning Roku‘s Soundbar Family
Roku kicked off its audio product line in 2019 by launching the Smart Soundbar. Priced at $180, it combined a 32-inch 4K streaming media player with a soundbar boasting better quality over your television‘s native speakers. What stood out was seamless integration with existing Roku media players and televisions for unified smart controls.
Buoyed by strong sales and positive customer reception, Roku then unleashed two fresh soundbar models packing further enhancements:
- Roku Streambar – Compact, cheaper 14-inch soundbar with upgraded fabric finish launched in October 2020 for $130
- Roku Streambar Pro – Bigger 32-inch option with larger audio drivers and luxury remote debuted in January 2021 for $180
Clearly, the Streambar targets smaller spaces like apartments, dorms or bedroom setups with its remarkably tiny footprint. Meanwhile the Pro caters to larger household living rooms in need of added bass kick from improved speaker hardware within budget.
Let‘s examine how they stack up across vital parameters an audio-video enthusiast cares about:
Design Dimensions: Scaling Soundbar Size to Your Viewing Room
A soundbar‘s dimensions vis-a-vis your room size and television pair upfront ensures long term home entertainment bliss. An undersized bar gets easily drowned out while an oversized option sticks out awkwardly.
Thankfully with Roku‘s range, you get two distinct compact alternatives – the Streambar measures just 14.2 x 4.2 x 2.4 inches against the Streambar Pro‘s 32.2 x 3.9 x 2.8 inch frame.
Streambar easily fits smaller 32-43 inch TV stands or can even wall mount above without blockage issues. Its slim height especially shines for low-profile media cabinets.
Streambar Pro fits best with 49-65 inch TVs typically meant for larger rooms. It still keeps a low sidebar form factor easily blending into your setup.
While both support the option of wall mounting, Streambar‘s dedicated screw holes and lighter 2.4lb weight gives it an edge for convenient overhead installation.
Audio Hardware: Driver Size Matters for Sound Intensity
A key factor determining maximum loudness and bass capacity lies within each soundbar‘s built-in speaker components. This is where Roku differentiates its models well for specific auditory needs:
The Streambar packs four 1.9 inch full range drivers with two front firing and two angled side drivers for panoramic sound dispersion.
Comparatively, Streambar Pro sports larger four 2.5 inch drivers pointing front which helps harness more air movement for heightened intensity.
Now a nearly 30% bump in cone area dramatically favors the Pro model when it comes generating louder volumes with punchier beats. The compact Streambar unsurprisingly falls short of room-filling sound for party playlists or explosive action set pieces.
What about sound quality fidelity? Turns out despite smaller drivers, Streambar reproduces remarkably balanced, neutral audio across multiple genres. Vocals and lead instruments get clear spotlighting while avoiding shrill highs or muddy mids even at peak loudness. Of course thumping low bass is missing but that‘s typical for unsupported subwoofer-less rigs.
Streambar Pro steps up soundstage spaciousness using its front firing drivers yet has some distortion around max volumes, indicating performance limits. Having four identical woofers sans a dedicated tweeter or mid-range also seems to impact response uniformity across frequencies.
Remote Control: Buttons to Rule Your Roku-verse
Even as our soundbars shrink, remote controls keep expanding with more bells and whistles. Roku adds legitimate functional value here going beyond flashy gimmicks:
Both models include an identical standard remote with all essential playback, volume and quick access media app shortcuts. There‘s also built-in basic voice commands via push-to-talk microphone button near the top. It gets the basic job done well within budget.
Streambar Pro however goes Pro with its higher-end remote. The showstopper feature is definitely a 3.5mm headphone audio jack built right into the remote. Just plug in your favorite headphones to enjoy your shows without disturbing the whole household! No need for a smartphone app to enable private listening unlike most competitors.
Frequent Roku updaters also love the two programmable buttons where you can assign custom voice commands like "Roku, open HBO Max". The IR-blaster conveniently extends TV and soundbar controls as well.
The only miss is lack of wireless recharging found in Roku‘s Voice Remote Pro line which retails separately for $30. But on the whole, Streambar Pro bundles a big leap in remote functionality for a rather small pricing bump.
| Feature | Standard Remote | Streambar Pro Remote |
|---|---|---|
| Voice Control | Basic via Mic Button | Yes + Programmable Voice Shortcuts |
| Private Listening | Via Phone App Only | Yes, Wired 3.5mm Headphone Jack |
| TV Device Control | IR-Blaster Extender | IR-Blaster Extender |
| Backlit Keys | No | No |
| Rechargeable Battery | No | No |
Surround Sound Technologies: Explaining the Confusing Specs
As home theaters keep adopting advanced surround formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, buyers must watch for specs beyond the usual 2.1 channel counts:
Both Roku Streambar models are 2.0 channel stereo systems without dedicated center channel or surround speakers. This allows compact form factor but lacks true sound separation beyond left-right audio panning.
Multichannel content has to downmix formats like Dolby Digital 5.1 into two channel stereo output. This deprives you of distinct rear effects placement or dialog enhancement which would need discrete center channel hardware.
Adding to the confusion are additional codec flavors like Dolby Audio, Dolby Digital Plus or even Dolby Atmos enabled. What do they all mean?
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Dolby Audio is the most basic surround technology aiming to create a wider, immersive soundstage from limited speaker hardware via EQ tricks.
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Dolby Digital Plus builds over Dolby Audio for better 7.1 channel support and …
