this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
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As someone who cares about audio fidelity a lot, there is definitely a diminishing returns. You'll see me here telling people who complain "I have to constantly turn volume up and down for dialogue in movies". That's because your sound is TV speakers, basically phone speakers, go buy a sound bar and your life will get infinitely better.
If you want to go further you can get a nice set of speakers, even surround sound, and it's fun, but it's not as impactful as the first step.
Then though if you're already at a sweet 7.1 surround sound system, it's not going to matter if you get the high end cables, or spend 5k on the most bestest receiver. At that point you're just wasting money. You may get... 1-5% better fidelity for..... 500% of the cost?
I have a high-grade sound bar, and I still have to constantly turn the volume up and down. The problem isn't the gear, it's the mastering. Christopher Nolan went all in on that when people complained they couldn't hear what characters were saying in his films, declaring that he will only master his movies for the cinema - home setups are too inferior. Nolan, my dude, I saw your movies in the cinema, and I still couldn't make out a word of what people were mumbling to each other. Why even bother writing the script in the first place? Most other filmmakers aren't much better nowadays, and I wish we can get back to the time when people who know what the fuck they're doing are responsible for sound mastering: One master for the cinema, and another one for those watching at home.
Agreed. My home theater uses 5.1 floor speakers run through a dedicated A/V receiver and I'm constantly messing with the volume between dialogue scenes and action scenes for most movies. The gear ain't the issue for this particular problem. Though I agree with OP's statement that any sound bar is going to immediately improve sound quality over any TV's built-in speakers.
Our soundbar has a “night mode” that basically fixes this problem
My SONOS soundbar has a vocal boost option. Works well enough most of the time but it really depends on the original mastering of the film’s audio.
Half of Nolan's scrpts could hardly be called writing. More like Jackson-Pollock'ing random ideas onto a page
Enthusiasts are also terrible for advice.
For 95% of people a high end soundbar is going to tick all their boxes and then some. 95% of enthusiasts asked for advice will tell you they suck and you're wasting your money.
I dont want every thing in my life to be a minor hobby. Good Enough is just that.
Its true. A great other example is asking any of us nerds what best computer is out there for a family member. I know I personally would rattle off all of the specs and tell them exactly what to get, when all they needed is a browser.
Now I tell them just get something that isn't on the discount rack and they'll be fine
Yeah but a good 5.1system sounds amazing for music.
I agree. However, a good amount of the perceived quality also lies with the media being played. People must be aware of playing the right media with the right codecs to fully utilise their hardware.