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TCL A65K Soundbar Review: Small Size, Big Sound
Living in a small space has some challenges, but poor cinematic sound doesn't need to be one of them. For those in an apartment or who have a smaller room for watching television and listening to music, the TCL A65K Soundbar is not a bad option among the best soundbars out there.
Priced at $499 on Amazon (the list price is $699), this pencil-shaped soundbar is about 35 inches long and stands two inches high but packs 460 watts of power. With the included sub (which measures about 14 x 14 inches square), you can blast the latest Netflix movie or crank up any one of the three new Drake albums at high volume. Dolby Atmos support, a brilliant room adaptation feature that uses AI, and a compact design are the main highlights.
Call it a niche product if you want, but judged as a compact audio product, I liked the features and design of the TCL A65K even if the actual audio quality can’t compete with the Sonos Arc Ultra or even come close to the Focal Mu-So Hekla. Audiophiles should definitely take a pass, but the rest will find a lot to like for the price, the small size, and smart design.
One of the TCL A65K's smart design choices has to do with the product size. The A65K soundbar weighs only 2.5 pounds so I found I could easily hold it with one hand. The sub, which is designed to face toward you, weighs almost 12 pounds. But it's also not a back-breaker. Compare that to something like the Focal Mu-So Hekla soundbar at 34 pounds and the A65K feels featherlight.
I like that TCL includes a basic wall mounting kit, which consists of two brackets and screws. I skipped that to make the soundbar more mobile and moved it from my family room to my office a few times. Placed on a TV stand, the all-black A65K looks comically small given that the television I own is a 65-inch model. I put the sub on the floor and went through the app setup, which was surprisingly easy since it mostly involves connecting over Bluetooth and choosing a sound mode, such as movie or music. You can also plug in a phone using the USB port, go with HDMI from your TV, or stream over Bluetooth (but not Wi-Fi).
I used HDMI and Bluetooth for my testing and tweaked a few settings on the TCL Home app. The USB port is nice, but it’s of the older USB-A type, which is disappointing, since most of us have moved to the world of USB-C almost entirely. You can skip the app entirely if you don’t want to adjust settings. You can also skip the included remote (which has a nice layout and lets you switch inputs quickly, but is otherwise pretty basic) and control music from an app like Qobuz or use your TV remote.
One configuration step was critically important, though. The TCL AI Sonic feature can help adapt the A65K audio for your room size. I listened to music before and after and it made a big difference, which I’ll touch on later. The process is straightforward. The app prompted me to turn my iPhone around so the microphone faces the speakers. I held it a few inches away from the speaker at first, then sat down on my couch for a second test. The AI adjusted the sound to be fuller and more spacious, although movies and music never filled the room.
That’s one compromise with a smaller soundbar—the diminutive cabinet just isn’t big enough to produce those massive explosions or drum fills on a Radiohead song that you’d get with a larger soundbar. Knowing this, and that the price is a few hundred less than full-size soundbars, I dove into testing.
The TCL A65K soundbar has up-firing audio drivers, making it seem like a plane or a spaceship is flying around the room. TCL partnered with Bang & Olufsen for the sound design. There are nine dedicated speakers in the soundbar, including the center and side channels. The upfiring height channels support Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. Unlike some Sony soundbars that use virtual surround sound and not actual drivers angled to the ceiling, the dedicated audio drivers in the A65K should be more convincing when, say, a helicopter rises above the t