JBL Bar 1300 review

Verdict

An exciting and powerful surround system from JBL, the Bar 1300 is a versatile surround system that offers a pleasingly clear and detailed sound.

Introduction

The Bar 1300 is JBL’s flagship effort, and described as its most advanced soundbar system yet.

It has the same channel count as Samsung’s Q990D soundbar system, using six up-firing drivers and Harman’s MultiBeam technology to produce an immersive bubble of sound. Add in a 10-inch wireless subwoofer and over 1000W of power, and the JBL could deliver a surround sound performance for the ages.

Design

• An actual display!
• Over a 1m wide
• Detachable speakers

The JBL Bar 1300 is a modular system, the first that I’ve come across in reviewing soundbar systems. It has speakers on its end that can detach and act as rear speakers to create a true surround sound system.

It’s a clever idea although it does mean that, when attached, to the main bar is well over a metre in width (1376mm). Even for the stand I use, which is for 65-inch screens, the Bar 1300 was hanging off the edge.

Aesthetically there’s not much to talk about with its grey nondescript finish that doesn’t give the impression of a premium home cinema speaker. But unlike the LG US95TR it has a display, which is valuable in terms of seeing first-hand what soundtracks (or audio in general) the soundbar is playing as well as adjusting settings. There are controls onboard the main bar but with a remote control packaged with it and an app, I doubt you’ll use them often.

The remote control has plenty of buttons but I never felt I needed to use it as the JBL One app replicates the layout. And given the bar’s wireless streaming support, the app is my preference over using the remote and eventually losing it down the side of a sofa.

There are a ton of connections in the bar’s recessed area; the Bar 1300 features three HDMI inputs, output (eARC/ARC), digital optical out and a USB input, although in usual JBL behaviour, the USB input offers playback functionality in the US and is service-only elsewhere.

The 10-inch subwoofer is, quite frankly, a beast and one of the biggest I’ve seen in a soundbar system. It comes with a rear-firing port, which implies you’ll want to back it against a wall. Again, my preference with all soundbars is to keep it closer to the main unit rather than further away. The size of the sub means you can’t really hide it either.

The detachable rear speakers can be slightly difficult to extract from the main unit with its magnetic connection, and sometimes require a degree of force. They’re not too big, and depending on the type of stand you have, that magnetic connection sits them in place neatly. You can view battery levels and as they’re detachable (and can be wall-mounted), they can be used as standalone Bluetooth speakers, adding to the systems flexibility.

Features

• 11.1.4 channels of sound
• Atmos and DTS:X support
• JBL One app

Like the Samsung HW-Q990D, JBL’s flagship bars features 11.1.4 channels of sound and boasts an absurd 1170W of power, with the soundbar receiving 670W, the sub 300W and the detachable speakers 110W each.

Wireless connectivity includes built-in Wi-Fi with Google Cast (which, like the LG, needs to be enabled first), AirPlay 2, Alexa Multi-Room Audio, Spotify Connect, and Tidal Connect. Bluetooth 5.0 is supported with the main soundbar while there’s Bluetooth 5.2 for the rear speakers. The rear speakers can last for 12 hours on their own power.

Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive audio is covered with JBL’s MultiBeam technology helping to enhance the performance. Though there’s no mention of other soundtracks supported, you can bet your bottom dollar it’ll cover legacy versions of Dolby and DTS too.

There is a two-stage calibration process that you can run to improve the staging and how the Bar 1300 optimises its immersive performance, and I’d recommend you do run it, if only to hear how far the bar can push sound around the room. It’s quite fun.

HDMI passthrough includes 4K, HDR10 and Dolby Vision, but there’s no mention of VRR and ALLM, which means gamers won’t get the best performance when routing consoles through the bar’s HDMI inputs.

There isn’t much in terms of smarts aside from coverage of Alexa and Google but only in their ‘Works with’ version, which means you’ll need to connect a voice-enabled speaker to get hands-free control. Siri is covered for Apple smart systems, and the Bar 1300 can sit within a Google Home smart system as well.

The JBL One app offers the remote control functionality in full, EQ options, and the ability to adjust the performance of the speakers by adding more height. It’s a simple but intuitive app, and if you’re subscribed to a few music services, you can play from the likes of Tidal, Amazon Music, and Qobuz from within the app.

Sound Quality

• Powerful bass
• Clear with dialogue
• Confident music performance

There’s a clear, crisp and detailed sound the JBL brings to all types of audio routed through its speakers. Midrange clarity is excellent, and the PureVoice Dialogue Enhancement tech helps lift voices to where they ought to be on screen. With the LG US95TR, I felt the dialogue height was conservative out of the box, but the JBL Bar 1300 seems to judge it right. The performance of Shallow from A Star is Born sounds natural and clear, almost as if you’re on the stage with them during the performance (or at least in the crowd).

The dynamic range of the speaker is superb. Transitions between quiet and loud and vice versa are handled seamlessly, which makes the Bar 1300 a great choice for watching action sequences in Heat or a horror film such as Get Out. When it gets loud, the JBL gets very loud. I daren’t go above volume level 18 given it was already room-filling and loud.

With the bank robbery sequence in Heat, there’s very good sharpness and high levels of detail in the sound. The sequence feels clearer and more detailed than it did with the LG, with more punch to the gunshots than the smooth, raspy tone the US95TR provided.

John Wick Chapter 4 is a showcase for the powerful bass the JBL Bar 1300 has to offer. The opening scene of Wick training features punches that sound truly explosive, landing with so much impact they sound brutally hard but there’s no distortion or feeling that the bass is going to bottom out and distort.

The Omaha beach sequence in Saving Private Ryan is impressive in the size and scale of the soundstage created. You can hear the action in the overheads as bombs go off, but it’s the width of the soundstage in front that most impressed me. Sounds are flung far from the bar and with decent height for a wall of sound that has depth to it. The rears ably fill in the spaces with action and ambient sounds so you do get a surround experience.

But in a similar fashion to the LG US95TR, the JBL Bar 1300 does miss out on a greater sense of height. When Maverick takes off in his experimental jet, you can feel the ascend upwards, but it’s not as high as I would like. Even adjusting the settings doesn’t seem to elevate it too far.

When K lands on Sapper Morton’s farm, there’s a better sense of definition and detail than there was on the LG – I can place the spinner’s position better – but I would prefer a better sense of clarity and presence in the heights.

And bass is strong, but there are moments where I feel it can overwhelm the bar’s feel for detail. In Tenet, the bass was so loud it smothered other aspects of the film’s sound design. I checked the sub’s bass levels I found it was only at 3 (out of 5). I wouldn’t want to put it louder than that.

Trying non-immersive audio and with Prime Video’s Rings of Power, the Bar 1300 put in a clear, dynamic performance with big bass, good ambience provided in the rears and excellent dialogue clarity. There was one odd quirk in which dialogue in a scene from the fifth episode of season 2 appeared to come from both the front and rear speaker at the same time, which made it more difficult to hear what was said.

With music, the soundbar is clear and balanced. Voices sound natural and bass is rich – it’s a confident performance from the bar, though Dolby Atmos music doesn’t always sound as big as you might imagine. I couldn’t test its Bluetooth performance as for whatever reason, the bar and my smartphone just didn’t want to get along.

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