Tom’s Guide Verdict
I struggle to believe this setup is only $400.
For that relatively small price tag, you get a 3.1.2 hi-fi system with a separate subwoofer.
Audio performance utterly fills the room wherever youre watching.
For bass lovers, the subwoofer provides a wall-shaking, earth-shattering cinematic experience.
This is one of the finest budget soundbars around.
All things considered, $399 is a very reasonable sum for this soundbar + subwoofer combination.
So what else can the Signa S4 do?
Find out in this full Polk Audio Signa S4 review.
This is a fantastic price for a three-channel soundbar with a wireless subwoofer.
Despite the length, though, the Signa S4 is slim, at just 2 inches high.
The main soundbar contains the three main speakers and two up-firing speakers.
Although the pliable fabric mesh casing doesnotspark joy, the soundbar actually looks really nice.
These buttons are satisfyingly tactile, but I found myself using the remote more.
While the Bose Smart Soundbar (2024) remote felt flimsy, the Polk remote is extremely sturdy.
This was not an issue with the Polk S4 Signa.
No fiddling with janky Wi-Fi connections or floundering with Bluetooth tweaks.
The Signa S4 is wall-mountable, but I just placed it on a TV stand.
Once the soundbar was set up, I was able to get stuck into its range of attractive features.
I tested all of these modes, which Ill discuss fully in Sound quality below.
There are no smart home features on the Polk S4 Signa.
Ill discuss Top Gun: Maverick and The Wild Robot here.
I watched the opening scene of Top Gun: Maverick four times using the various different playback modes.
Well, short answer: no.
But the Signa S4 is stillreallygood for its price.
For a sub-$400 soundbar + subwoofer setup, the Signa S4 impressed me beyond belief.
The roar of the jet engines was sonorous and all-encompassing, but didnt overpower the low-frequency sound effects.
None of this retro bombasticness was lost in the scene, and the Signa S4 performed the dramatics admirably.
As promised, the dialogue was clearer and more instantly intelligible.
Voice adjust: 2 altered the bass performance massively.
I would recommend this for movies with little action so as not to negatively affect the action scenes.
Finally, I tested Voice adjust: 3.
This vocal mode muffled the bass performance and increased intelligibility of dialogue.
Even though this mode made voices easier to discern, the bass performance suffered.
Again, I would only recommend this setting for movies without heavy action scenes.
This mode increases bass for that quintessential bombastic cinematic experience.
Movie mode transformed Top Gun: Maverick from justsomethingI was watching in the office into amovie.
The bass vibrated the floor and irritated my coworkers trying to work in the office below (sorry).
I had to really listen to understand some of the softer tones communicated via headset.
However, the beeps of controls and jet engines wereveryloud actually, sometimes too loud.
It all depends on what genre youre watching or what youre personally into.
Some people will love this all-encompassing bass performance, some wont.
I would only use this in a pinch, but thats what its there for.
In a scene which sees a gosling character disappear behind the shot and walking around the main character.
This was the first time I noticed the proficiency of the Signa S4s Dolby Atmos.
The goslings speech sounded as if it was coming from behind me and really immersed me in the scene.
Later on in the same scene, the gosling swims in a lake.
Youd be surprised that a 3.1.2 channel setup could be this immersive, but I love to be surprised.
For just $400, the Polk Audio Signa S4 is anexcellentchoice.
Snag this while you’re free to.
