WiiM Bar review: a worthy Sonos rival?

WiiM Bar review In recent years, WiiM has emerged as a serious multi-room rival to Sonos, and now it’s looking to try its hand in the world of Dolby Atmos soundbars.

Yes, the WiiM Bar is the company’s first ever soundbar, and is bringing virtual Atmos, a unique screen-equipped design, and a big array of connectivity options to the table.

Just how good is the WiiM Bar, then? Can it truly compete with soundbars from the likes of Sonos? Here’s my view after hours of testing it.

If you want to compete with the best soundbars around, you better sound good — and luckily the WiiM Bar is a very solid performer.

It’s a standalone 3.0.2 model, so it doesn’t come with a sub or surround speakers, and skips on up-firing drivers for ‘true’ Atmos, but given these restrictions, it’s actually a very capable model indeed. (Image credit: Future) When watching Godzilla Minus One , the sound of a plane flying overhead was genuinely convincing, with the vertical movement tracked precisely for a model using virtual Dolby Atmos.

As the plane came into land, its descent was mapped brilliantly, sounding as if the audio was coming from beneath me.

During a separate scene, I was also really impressed with the soundbar’s handling of dialogue — it was clean and well separated from the action, even when Godzilla appeared and some heavy bass entered into the mix.

I had a similar experience with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie , which features an excellent Dolby Atmos mix.

Dialogue between the Toads in Peach’s Castle was phenomenally clear, and sounds like hammers being thrown and Yoshi’s tongue flinging across the screen were tracked beautifully, resulting in a truly expansive viewing experience.

If I was to be a bit critical, though, I’d say that the WiiM Bar doesn’t produce the most dynamic sound I’ve heard at this price-point.

Sudden noises, like Godzilla’s almighty roar or the Castle being destroyed in each respective film sometimes lacked the sheer impact and bite I was looking for.

The lowest frequencies can feel, at times, a touch subdued, so adding a sub to the WiiM bar is sure to make a world of difference, though this will come at quite the cost.

This isn’t to say that bass performance is poor, though.

In Nosferatu , the eerie score came through with decent power, and the deep, spine-chilling sound of Count Orlok’s voice was replicated effortlessly.