JBL Bar 1300X Soundbar Review

The JBL Bar 1300X is a premium soundbar with a similar design to the JBL Bar 1000 and the JBL Bar 9.1. The bar comes with two detachable satellite speakers, and since they're truly wireless, you can place them anywhere in your setup without having to plug them into an outlet. Plus, when you detach the speakers, you can use the included caps to cover the sides of the bar. The caps are made of a metal grille, which lets sound pass through the bar's side drivers. You can see what the bar looks like without the attached satellites here.

The sub looks very similar to the model that comes with the JBL Bar 1000. It's quite large, and it sits on four raised plastic legs. The port is in the rear.

The satellites, like the bar, are made of hard plastic, with a metal grille on top. You can keep them attached to the bar or detach them as satellite speakers. There aren't end caps for the speakers themselves, but you can cover the sides of the bar with the included caps. The manufacturer says that they support up to ten hours of playtime, and they take about four hours to charge from an empty battery. We tested this for ourselves, though, and the speakers lasted a whopping 31 hours. Plus, you can pair one satellite to a Bluetooth device to use it as a standalone speaker or pair both together for stereo sound, which is a cool touch.

The bar is quite wide, so it doesn't fit easily between the legs of a 55-inch TV stand. Our measurements represent the bar with the satellites detached since that's how you're likely to use it, but with the satellites on the bar, the overall width is 54.2 inches (137.7 cm) which is also likely too wide to fit between a 55-inch TV stand.

The sub is quite large. It's more equivalent to a small stool than an average desktop computer. It connects to the bar wirelessly, though, so you can place it anywhere in your room as long as it's connected to a power outlet.

The satellites are a bit larger than those that come with the JBL Bar 1000. They're wide, but also not very tall, so they don't take up too much space in your setup. If you don't have room for satellites, you can always check out a bar like the JBL Bar 500 instead.

The included brackets let you mount both the bar and the satellites to your wall if you wish. The screws are included with purchase, too, so you don't have to buy any components separately.

The JBL Bar 1300X has a great build quality. The bar and the satellites are both made of plastic, which feels very solid and durable. The metal grilles help to protect the drivers inside, which is a nice touch, and the included caps protect the pins when you detach the satellites. The subwoofer also seems very sturdy. There's no fabric in its build, so you don't have to worry about ripping or collecting dust over time. One note is that the center of our bar has some slight rippling, which you can see here. It's possible that this is unique to our unit, though.

• Manuals
• Mounting template
• 2x side caps for soundbar
• Remote with batteries (2xAAA)
• HDMI cable (3.9 ft / 1.2m)
• 2x brackets for bar
• 2x brackets for detachable speaker
• Mounting screws
• 2x power cables (4.9 ft / 1.5m)

The JBL Bar 1300X has a great stereo frequency response without the satellites on. As with most premium bars, it has a room correction tool to calibrate its sound based on your room's acoustics, which is nice. With it on, the bar has a good overall sound, with a clear reproduction of voices and instruments in the mix. The big sub brings plenty of rumble in the bass, too, which is great for genres like EDM and hip-hop.

The bar does exhibit some unique behavior based on whether you attach or detach the satellites, or whether it's set to the Smart Mode virtual surround feature.

• Bar with satellites docked on Smart Mode: Stereo content plays the left and right channels on the speakers, as well as all four up-firing drivers.
• Bar with satellites docked on Standard Mode: Stereo content plays on only the left and right channels from the speakers.
• Bar with satellites detached on Smart Mode: Stereo content plays from the bar's left and right channels as well as its center, side-firing, and up-firing channels.
• Bar with satellites detached on Standard Mode: Stereo content plays from the bar's left and right channels as well as the left and right sides of the bar.

It's all a bit confusing— a typical bar would play stereo content from the left and right stereo channels only. To best simulate how an average user would listen to stereo content with this bar, we kept it to those final settings— satellites detached, and Smart Mode off.

If you prefer a more balanced sound with stereo content, we recommend setting the subwoofer level to 2. The resulting frequency response is a bit more even and balanced, especially in the bass range. As a result, you notice less boom in the mix.

The JBL Bar 1300X's stereo soundstage is good. The soundstage is perceived to be about as wide as the bar itself, though it doesn't have any tricks to make it seem wider than that. The focus is very good, though, which is a plus, especially if you want to hear the separation of instruments between the left and right channels of your bar.

This bar gets loud enough to fill the average living room with sound. That said, there's some significant compression at max volume that can impact the clarity of audio reproduction as you crank up the volume.

The JBL Bar 1300X is an 11.1.4 setup that comes with a discrete center channel designed to improve the quality of vocal reproduction in the mix. The frequency response on this channel is very even and balanced, especially in the mids, meaning that dialogue is clear and accurate in its reproduction.

The JBL Bar 1300X has two discrete satellites designed to bring a more clear and real feel to 5.1 surround content such as Dolby Digital. Effects stretch into the space around your couch, so you feel more immersed in the sound. However, these channels have a bass-heavy sound, so some details are a bit muddy in the mix compared to models like the Samsung HW-Q990C.

The JBL Bar 1300X is a Dolby Atmos soundbar with up-firing channels designed to ricochet sound effects off the ceiling to create the illusion of height with height content. There are six drivers— four on the bar and two on the satellites. JBL reports only four channels, though. The pair of drivers in the bar essentially function as one channel sending the same sound.

Overall, the frequency response of these channels is quite balanced, albeit with some extra rumble in the bass, so you 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 much 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.

The JBL Bar 1300X comes with lots of sound enhancement features to make the most of your listening experience. As with most premium models on the market, there's a room correction tool available to optimize its sound based on your room's unique acoustics. If you would rather adjust its sound manually, there's also a 3-band graphic EQ in the JBL ONE app, as well as a subwoofer level adjustment. PureVoice acts as a dialogue enhancement tool, and Smart Mode is a virtual surround setting designed to add richness to sound effects in the mix. Plus, you can activate the Night Mode feature by holding the Mute button on the remote for five seconds, then pressing the '-' button.

You can connect the JBL Bar 1300X to your TV over HDMI or Optical. With three HDMI In ports, you have a lot of flexibility for video passthrough between devices like a TV and a PC as well. There's even USB audio playback with US models like our unit, though other region-specific versions are limited to service updates through the USB port.

This bar supports many audio formats commonly found on streaming platforms and Blu-rays. However, when you play Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus content, audio intended for the left and right surround channels also plays from the bar at the same time. This is true whether Smart Mode is on or off. As a result, you don't get the same pinpoint localization of sound effects with this content— for example, a car seems like it's coming from a general area, rather than an exact spot, as it races past.

The JBL Bar 1300X also supports common 5.1 surround sound formats like Dolby Digital as well as lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos via HDMI In. However, the bar doesn't implement Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus content as intended. Even after installing firmware update OneOS2.3 (24.33.31.80.00), Dolby Digital content will only play from the front channels, with no audio from the rear speakers. With Dolby Digital Plus content, surround sound audio would also incorrectly play from the front two channels.

Dolby Digital is the most common surround sound format, and unfortunately, the same incorrect implementation is found over Optical. Again, even after installing firmware update OneOS2.3 (24.33.31.80.00), you notice effects meant for the left surround channel on both the bar and the left satellite and effects meant for the right surround channel on both the bar and the right satellite with Dolby Digital Plus content. With Dolby Digital content, no audio would play from the rear speakers. Unlike other JBL bars, this is the case regardless of whether Smart Mode is on or off.

Audio latency using an HDMI eARC connection is decent, so you're unlikely to notice any lip sync issues between your audio and video using this connection type. It's worth remembering that different displays and devices compensate for latency differently. However, you can always use the Audio Sync feature on the remote to manually compensate for any latency.

Latency is okay when using the bar's HDMI In port, though depending on your display or the app you use, you may encounter lip sync issues. However, you can always use the bar's Audio Sync feature to manually compensate for any latency.

This bar's latency is passable using an optical connection. However, it's possible that you'll experience AV sync issues, as different devices and displays compensate for latency differently. You can always manually adjust for this using the Audio Sync function.

You can use the JBL Bar 1300X as a hub between devices like a TV and a PC for video passthrough. It supports most common resolutions up to 4k @ 60Hz, though it can't passthrough a smoother and more natural-looking 120Hz display at a 4k resolution. Support for various virtual refresh rate technologies is also handy if you want a tear-free gaming experience.

It's easy to wirelessly stream audio from your mobile devices to the bar over a variety of platforms.

A display screen on the front of the bar shows different settings as you adjust them, like the volume level, the input you're on, and bass and rear levels. It even shows you when the satellites are low on battery.

A few physical buttons atop the bar let you adjust some basic features. You can change the input and adjust the volume, but you'll need the app or the remote to adjust other settings.

There's a simple remote so you can control the bar from your couch. Plus, you can download the JBL ONE app to control the bar from your mobile device. There's a video of the app here.

While the JBL Bar 1300X doesn't have built-in voice assistant support, you can always connect a third-party device with Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri support.