The WiiM soundbar does something I’ve never seen before

WiiM thinks a touchscreen might make its first soundbar stand out. The company is best known for creating boxes that can connect older speakers to modern streaming services, but it’s been slowly building out its audio offerings over the last few years, selling everything from amplifiers to wireless speakers. The WiiM Bar is the latest example of that expansion, a Dolby Atmos-compatible soundbar that features a circular touchscreen for controlling playback.

The WiiM Bar isn’t the company’s first speaker with a touchscreen, but at $479, it is one of the more premium options. Based on the WiiM Bar’s specs, that price could be more than worth it. WiiM says the Bar features “a true 3.0.2. Dolby Atmos configuration” that’s powered by a custom 8-driver array with front mid-woofers, front tweeters, and full-range height drivers. The soundbar is designed to connect to your TV over HDMI eARC, and it can support a variety of audio standards like DTS, DTS:X and LPCM. You can use the WiiM Bar on its own, but it’s designed to be expanded on with other WiiM products. The more immediate draw, though, is likely to be the Bar’s large number of smart features.

The WiiM Bar tries to match Sonos in terms of software

The soundbar can automatically tune itself to your room and stream music from Spotify

The WiiM Bar features a circular 2.1-inch touchscreen, which WiiM says can display album art, control playback, switch audio sources, adjust EQ, and more. Naturally, if you don’t want to swipe on the Bar’s screen, you can manage nearly everything with its remote, or the WiiM Home App. It’s WiiM’s software experience where the company really tries to compete most directly with companies like Sonos.

Just like the Sonos Beam, the WiiM Bar can automatically adjust its audio output to fit your room, through a feature WiiM calls RoomFit Room Correction. Similar to the Sonos ecosystem, WiiM also makes it easy to connect streaming services and play music from Spotify, Tidal, or Qobuz. The WiiM Bar also supports some smart software enhancements that are sometimtes limited to Sonos’ more expensive devices, like a Clear Voice Mode that uses AI to enhance dialogue to make it easier to hear, and a Night Mode that softens loud sound effects while preserving dialogue volume. All taken together, it seems like you get a lot for the WiiM Bar’s price.

The WiiM Bar is available to preorder today from WiiM’s website and will launch in July 2026 for $479. Once it becomes widely available, WiiM says the WiiM Bar will be available to purchase from Amazon and “select retailers worldwide.”