I have had the opportunity to review numerous Dolby Atmos sound bars over the years. However, I have to admit that it has been a frustrating journey. These sound bars claim to deliver room-filling sound that reflects off the ceiling and walls around you, offering a magical and immersive experience. Yet, despite these promises, the LG Sound Bar S77S, like many others, is unable to live up to this dream.
The new LG Sound Bar S77S is priced at $999.00, which is $200 more than the LG SH7Q that I reviewed last. For the extra money, you get 400W of power, which is half of what the SH7Q offered. Additionally, the S77S moves from a 5.1 channel system to a 3.1.3 channel system with Dolby Atmos. However, it does offer 4K passthrough with VRR and ALLM, making it easy to connect your game consoles. Furthermore, it supports LG’s WOW Interface, which lets you control it using your TV remote.
The sound bar comes with LG’s Triple Level Spatial Sound, which uses something called Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF) to upscale any audio sources. I understand that this may sound like a lot of jargon, but after living with the S77S for a couple of weeks, I can confidently say that it is more marketing spiel than mind-blowing home cinema sound.
Design and features
When it comes to LG sound bars, the S77S is relatively small compared to its siblings such as the SH7Q, which is almost big enough to swallow a whole cabinet and even tall enough to cover the lower part of any TV. On the other hand, the S77S is only 90cm wide, 6cm deep, and 12.6cm tall, making it quite cute and easily fitting under a 55-inch TV.
At the top of the bar, there are three up-firing speakers, with the center one being more pronounced than the others. In contrast, the SH7Q had five front-firing speakers. Behind that, there is a usual array of touch controls, but the S77S also comes with its remote. Thanks to WOW Interface support, everything can be controlled using your LG TV’s Magic remote. Additionally, you can control the soundbar with the LG Sound Bar app on iOS and Android over Bluetooth.
At the back of the soundbar, there are ports to connect your power, Optical in, USB, and HDMI 2.1 eARC port that supports 4K 120Hz pass-through with VRR and ALLM. Unfortunately, there is only one port, so if you have two consoles, you will have to play favorites. The subwoofer is wireless and pairs instantly with the S77S with no fuss. It requires its power outlet, so bear that in mind when placing it.
While your primary connection will be wired via HDMI or Optical, you can also connect using Bluetooth. Installing the LG Soundbar app for iOS or Android then gives you full control over the S77S settings and EQ. However, it’s unfortunate that the S77S doesn’t support Wi-Fi or Apple AirPlay, which should be basic features on a soundbar at $1000.
Sound and performance
The S77S is physically smaller than the S7Q and so is its overall sound output. The soundbar and subwoofer produce a total power of 400W which is not as powerful as the cheaper S7Q. Nevertheless, the S77S still sounds very good despite its smaller size. However, I often had to increase the volume to get the desired sound output.
I paired the S77S with the LG QNED86 4K TV which enabled me to use the WOW interface feature to control the soundbar through the TV’s on-screen menu. It also supports the WOW Orchestra feature which uses both the TV speakers and the soundbar simultaneously. However, it sounded more muted which was quite disappointing as it typically improves the audio using the TV speakers as a giant centre speaker.
The S77S sounds fine in terms of actual quality of sound. It’s not as powerful as the SH7Q and doesn’t have the surround sound separation of the impressive S95Q. The sound is loud and has good, clean bass, but it is far more restrained than I’d like. Even after adjusting the EQ, watching movies, listening to music and playing games made me feel starved of the bass hit I was expecting.
Furthermore, the sound layering isn’t the best. It’s not muddy, but it also doesn’t scream ‘Dolby Atmos surround’ to me. The stereo separation is average as I never got a distinct sense of left or right channels. There’s also no sense of verticality to the sound even though it has up-firing speakers. Without rear surround speakers, it’s almost impossible to get believable surround sound, and the Dolby Atmos expectation falls apart.
LG claims the S77S has AI sound upscaling and other features to map your room and adjust the audio for better acoustics. However, it didn’t do anything for me except making broadcast TV sound richer and fuller. More than anything, the audio just sounds like better, bassier TV speakers.
Besides Dolby Atmos, the S77S also supports Dolby Digital, DTS:X, DTS Digital Surround and AAC. There are also several sound modes to choose from, but most people will leave the bar running in AI Sound Pro which uses AI to intelligently analyse your audio source and adjust the output accordingly. This includes upscaling stereo inputs to surround sound, which doesn’t work as expected.
Verdict
There you have it – the LG Sound Bar S77S is a good addition to your setup, but it doesn’t offer the kind of performance you’d expect for the $1000 price tag. It does enhance the audio experience compared to your TV’s built-in speakers, but falls short of providing the immersive Dolby Atmos surround sound that you might be hoping for.
While LG did deliver a compact sound bar with some useful features like 4K 120Hz passthrough and a great WOW Interface, it’s a hard sell at such a high asking price. Maybe my expectations are too high, but if you’re looking for a compact sound bar to improve your home theatre experience, the S77S is decent, but there are better options available for the same price or less.
LG Australia kindly provided the LG Sound Bar S77S to PowerUp for the purpose of this review.
