The JBL Bar 1300X is a Dolby Atmos soundbar with four up-firing speakers— two on the bar, and two on the satellites. They’re designed to ricochet sound effects off the ceiling to create the illusion of height with height content. The frequency response of these channels is quite balanced, albeit with some extra rumble in the bass, so you really feel the boom of a helicopter flying overhead, for example. You can also use the ATMOS and REAR buttons on the remote to adjust the height and rear levels, respectively, for a more immersive sound.
Additionally, we subjectively evaluated the bar’s Atmos performance to get a better sense of the soundstage and overall immersive feel with this content. Out-of-the-box, the sound is pretty all-around you, with good definition of details and effects as reproduced by the bar. It’s missing a bit of sound over your head and behind you, though you can fix this a bit with the mentioned ATMOS and REAR tools. The Smart Mode virtual surround feature does improve the soundstage, too, but it also introduces a ‘fake’ or ‘forced’ quality to the sound that isn’t ideal for everyone. You can play around with these settings to get the experience that’s best for you.
