onn 2.0 Soundbar Review: Budget TV Audio Worth Buying?

Your new TV looks stunning. The picture is sharp. The colors pop. Then someone whispers in a movie scene and you grab the remote to crank the volume, only to get blasted by the next explosion. Flat panel TVs have thin speakers, and thin speakers make thin sound.

The onn 2.0 soundbar promises a fix for less than the price of a pizza night. It sells at Walmart for around $30 to $50 depending on the size you pick. That price makes people suspicious, and fair enough.

I spent time with this soundbar across movies, news, music, and gaming. This review covers what it does well, where it falls short, and whether your money belongs here or somewhere else. No fluff, no marketing speak, just the details you need before you buy.

In a Nutshell

Short on time? Here is the fast summary of everything covered below.

• Price beats everything else. The onn 2.0 soundbar costs between $29.88 and $49.88 based on size. Very few soundbars land in that range with this feature list.
• Dialogue clarity is the strongest win. Voices become easy to follow. News anchors, podcasts, and quiet movie scenes all improve right away compared to built in TV speakers.
• Bass stays modest. A 2.0 channel design means two speaker channels and no separate subwoofer. You get warmth, not rumble. Action movie explosions sound present but never chest thumping.
• Setup takes under ten minutes. Optical, AUX, RCA, and Bluetooth options cover almost every TV made in the last fifteen years. Newer models add HDMI ARC.
• Build feels plain but sturdy. Plastic housing, fabric grille, low profile shape. It sits under a TV without blocking the screen and includes a wall mount kit.
• Best fit is small to medium rooms. Bedrooms, dorm rooms, offices, and apartments suit this soundbar perfectly. Large living rooms need more power.

What Is the onn 2.0 Soundbar?

Last update on 2026-08-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

The onn 2.0 soundbar is a stereo speaker bar sold under Walmart’s own electronics brand. The name onn covers TVs, streaming sticks, headphones, tablets, and audio gear. All of it targets shoppers who want function over prestige.

The “2.0” part tells you the channel layout. Two channels means a left speaker and a right speaker. The zero means no dedicated subwoofer sits in the box. Everything you hear comes from the bar itself.

onn sells this soundbar in several lengths. The 20 inch model suits small TVs and desks. The 30 inch and 32 inch versions match TVs between 43 and 55 inches. Larger 36 inch options also exist in the lineup.

Power ratings shift by model. Older 16 inch units listed 12.5 watts per channel RMS. The popular 32 inch version pushes roughly 40 watts RMS with 160 watts peak across four internal drivers.

Frequency response on the smaller units runs from about 50Hz to 20kHz. That covers the full range of human hearing at the top end. The bottom end stops short of true deep bass territory.

The core promise is simple. Take terrible TV audio and make it clear, loud, and pleasant for a price almost anyone can afford. That is the entire pitch, and onn does not pretend otherwise.

Design and Build Quality

Nothing about this soundbar shouts for attention. The body is matte black plastic with a fabric or metal mesh grille across the front. onn clearly spent the budget on components rather than styling.

That plain look works in its favor. The bar disappears under a TV stand. Height stays low enough that it will not block the bottom of your screen or your TV remote sensor on most sets.

The 20 inch model measures roughly 20 inches wide, 3.15 inches deep, and 2.52 inches tall. It weighs about 3.74 pounds. Light enough to move with one hand, heavy enough to stay put.

Rubber feet grip the surface underneath. I gave the bar a firm push and it stayed in place on both a wooden TV stand and a glass shelf.

Status lights sit on the front panel or the top edge depending on model. Colors change to show your active input. Blue means Bluetooth, green means optical, red means AUX on most versions.

Physical buttons live on the top or side. You get power, source, volume up, and volume down. These work fine if the remote goes missing under a couch cushion.

Build quality feels honest rather than premium. The plastic flexes slightly if you squeeze it hard. Nothing rattles during normal playback. For a soundbar under $50, the construction holds up better than expected.

Setup and First Impressions

Unboxing takes about a minute. Inside you get the soundbar, a remote with a CR2025 battery, a power adapter, at least one audio cable, a wall mount kit with a paper template, and a short product guide.

onn includes the cables you need. That matters at this price. Plenty of budget soundbars force a separate cable purchase before you hear a single sound.

The fastest route is optical. Plug the optical cable into your TV’s optical out port, plug the other end into the soundbar, then set your TV audio output to PCM. That last step trips up a lot of people.

If your soundbar model supports HDMI ARC, use that instead. ARC lets your TV remote control the soundbar volume, which removes the need for two remotes on your coffee table.

AUX works for older TVs or computers. The 3.5mm to RCA cable in the box handles most legacy setups without extra shopping.

Bluetooth pairing is equally quick. Press the Bluetooth button on the remote, open the Bluetooth menu on your phone, and select the onn soundbar from the list. The indicator turns solid blue once connected.

First sound out of the box surprised me. The jump from TV speakers to this soundbar is immediate and obvious. Voices moved forward. Music gained body. The whole soundstage widened well past the edges of the screen.

Top 3 Alternative for onn 2.0 Soundbar

Maybe the onn is not the right fit for your room or your ears. These three options sit in a similar price range and solve slightly different problems.

The Majority Bowfell packs a built in subwoofer into a compact 15 inch frame. It offers 50 watts of output with optical, RCA, AUX, and USB inputs. Choose this one if you want more bass in a smaller footprint.

Last update on 2026-08-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

The Roku Streambar SE combines a soundbar with a full 4K streaming player. You get apps, a voice remote, and speech clarity settings in one unit. Choose this if your TV is older and lacks smart features.

Last update on 2026-08-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

The Bestisan 16 inch soundbar delivers 50 watts through two full range drivers with multiple EQ presets. It fits desks and small bedrooms well. Choose this if you want a wider tuning range than onn provides.

Last update on 2026-09-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Each of these costs a bit more than the onn. Each also adds something the onn leaves out. Compare based on the feature you actually care about, not the spec sheet length.

Sound Quality in Real Use

Last update on 2026-08-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Here is where the money question gets answered. The onn 2.0 soundbar sounds clean, forward, and honest through the midrange. Human voices sit right where they should.

Stereo separation impressed me more than expected. Sound effects pan across the bar with real width. A car driving from left to right in a chase scene tracks properly instead of collapsing into one blob.

Treble stays smooth without harshness at normal listening levels. Cymbals shimmer. Dialogue consonants land crisply. You can watch for two hours without any listening fatigue.

Bass is the honest weak point. Two small drivers cannot move enough air for deep low end. Kick drums thump lightly. Movie explosions register as loud rather than physical.

Push the volume past roughly 80 percent and the bass turns boomy. The lower midrange starts to muddy. Keep the level between 50 and 75 percent and the sound stays composed.

Maximum loudness handles a bedroom or a medium living room without strain. A large open concept space will expose the limits quickly.

Compared to built in TV speakers, this is a night and day upgrade. Compared to a $200 soundbar with a wireless subwoofer, it is clearly the budget option. Both statements are true at once, and knowing that keeps expectations sensible.

Connectivity Options

onn covers more input types than most soundbars in this price bracket. That flexibility is one of the quiet strengths of the product.

Optical digital input handles the majority of modern TVs. It carries clean stereo audio and stays free from electrical interference. Set your TV to PCM output and it works instantly.

HDMI ARC appears on newer onn models. ARC sends audio from your TV to the soundbar over one cable and passes remote volume commands back. This is the most convenient connection available.

AUX in accepts a 3.5mm cable. Phones, laptops, tablets, MP3 players, and older TVs all plug in here. The included 3.5mm to RCA cable expands compatibility further.

RCA input handles vintage gear, DVD players, and cable boxes that predate digital audio outputs. Two color coded plugs and you are done.

USB input on some models plays music files directly from a flash drive. Load MP3 files, plug the drive in, and use the remote to skip tracks. It is a small feature that turns the bar into a standalone music player.

Coaxial digital appears on select versions as another wired digital option.

One caution worth noting. Model numbers vary widely across onn soundbars. Check the port list on the box before buying if you need a specific input like HDMI ARC. Not every size includes it.

Bluetooth Streaming Performance

Bluetooth turns this soundbar into a wireless speaker for your whole household. Most current models use Bluetooth 5.0 or 5.3 for the connection.

Pairing takes seconds. Select Bluetooth mode on the remote, find the onn soundbar in your phone’s Bluetooth list, and tap to connect. The status light stops flashing once the link holds.

Range performed well in testing. I walked into an adjacent room and playback continued without stutters. Two walls away the signal started dropping, which is normal behavior.

Reconnection is automatic. Turn the soundbar on in Bluetooth mode and your last paired phone links back up on its own. No repeat pairing needed.

Audio quality over Bluetooth sits close to the wired inputs. Streaming from Spotify or YouTube Music sounds full and clear. Compression artifacts stay minimal at standard streaming quality.

Latency is the one limitation. A slight delay exists between video and audio when you stream video from a phone. For music this does not matter at all. For watching videos, use a wired connection instead.

Only one device connects at a time. Disconnect your phone before pairing a tablet.

One tip that helps. Lower the volume before you start Bluetooth playback. Some phones send a loud initial signal and the sudden jump can startle you.

Remote Control and Sound Modes

The bundled remote is small, flat, and light. It uses a CR2025 coin cell that ships with a plastic safety strip you pull out before first use.

Button layout stays logical. Power, mute, and source selection sit at the top. Volume up and down anchor the bottom. Playback controls for previous, play, pause, and next sit in the middle.

Dedicated source buttons deserve praise. You press Bluetooth, AUX, or Optical directly instead of cycling through every input one at a time. That single design choice saves genuine frustration.

Sound modes vary by model but usually include TV, Movie, Music, and News. Each applies a different EQ curve.

Movie mode widens the soundstage and lifts the low end slightly. Use it for action films and anything with a score.

Music mode flattens the response and brings vocals forward. This is the best setting for streaming songs.

News or TV mode pushes the midrange hard for maximum speech clarity. This mode alone justifies the purchase for anyone who struggles to hear dialogue.

Some models add adjustable bass and treble controls plus an auto volume boost that evens out loud commercials.

The remote works by infrared, so you need clear line of sight to the bar. Range extends roughly fifteen feet, which covers any normal seating position.

Dialogue Clarity and Everyday Viewing

Most people buy a soundbar for one reason. They cannot understand what characters are saying. The onn 2.0 handles that complaint directly.

Front facing drivers point sound at you instead of at the wall behind the TV. Downward or rear firing TV speakers scatter voices before they ever reach your ears.

The tuning also favors the midrange where human speech lives. Frequencies between 1kHz and 4kHz carry consonants, and this soundbar keeps that band prominent.

I tested with a news broadcast, a dialogue heavy drama, and a documentary with narration. All three became noticeably easier to follow without raising the volume.

Whispered scenes in movies still ask for a small volume bump. That is true of nearly every soundbar under $100.

News mode adds another layer of clarity when you need it. The effect can sound slightly thin with music, so switch modes when the credits roll.

Older listeners and anyone with mild hearing loss will notice the biggest improvement here. Clarity gains matter more day to day than bass depth ever will.

Background noise handling is decent. A running dishwasher or fan competes less with the soundbar than with TV speakers because the sound arrives with more directness and less scatter.

onn 2.0 vs onn 2.1 Soundbar

onn sells both 2.0 and 2.1 versions, and the difference confuses shoppers constantly. Here is the plain explanation.

A 2.0 soundbar has two channels and no subwoofer. Everything comes from the bar. Simpler, cheaper, smaller.

A 2.1 soundbar adds a subwoofer. Sometimes that sub is built into the bar itself. Sometimes it is a separate wireless box you place on the floor.

The onn 2.1 models with a wireless subwoofer deliver real low end impact. Explosions rumble. Bass lines in music gain weight. Prices run roughly $60 to $120.

Pick the 2.0 if space is tight, budget is tight, or you mostly watch news, sitcoms, sports, and YouTube. It handles those perfectly.

Pick the 2.1 if you watch action movies, play bass heavy games, or listen to hip hop and electronic music. The subwoofer changes the entire experience for that content.

Room size factors in too. Small bedrooms actually sound better with a 2.0 because a subwoofer can overload a tight space and turn muddy.

One honest observation. A separate subwoofer means another box, another power outlet, and another thing to position. Some people genuinely prefer the clean single bar setup.

Pros and Cons

Every product involves tradeoffs. Here are the ones that matter with this soundbar.

Pros

• Price sits between $29.88 and $49.88, making this one of the cheapest real soundbar upgrades available anywhere.
• Dialogue clarity improves dramatically over built in TV speakers, which solves the most common complaint people have.
• Setup finishes in under ten minutes with cables already included in the box.
• Input selection covers optical, AUX, RCA, USB, Bluetooth, and HDMI ARC on select models.
• Stereo separation creates a wide soundstage that extends past the edges of your TV.
• Wall mount hardware and a paper template come standard at no extra cost.
• Compact low profile design fits under almost any TV without blocking the screen or the remote sensor.
• Dedicated source buttons on the remote save time compared to cycling through inputs.

Cons

• Bass depth stays limited because the 2.0 design includes no subwoofer.
• Sound becomes boomy and less controlled above roughly 80 percent volume.
• Large open rooms expose the power limits quickly.
• No app control, no room correction, no advanced tuning features.
• Model specifications vary between sizes, so HDMI ARC is not guaranteed on every version.
• No Dolby Atmos or DTS:X support on the standard 2.0 models.
• Bluetooth latency makes it unsuitable for watching video streamed from a phone.
• Availability is mainly through Walmart, which limits shopping options.

Who Should Buy It

This soundbar fits specific people extremely well and other people not at all. Knowing which group you belong to prevents a return trip.

Buy it if you are furnishing a bedroom, guest room, dorm room, or home office. Small spaces suit the output level perfectly.

Buy it if your main complaint is muffled dialogue. The clarity improvement is the single strongest feature here.

Buy it if you want a first soundbar and prefer not to spend real money before knowing whether you like the upgrade. Fifty dollars is a low risk experiment.

Buy it for a parent or grandparent who struggles with TV speech. Simple controls, big buttons, and clear voices make a genuine difference.

Buy it as a computer or desk speaker. The compact sizes work beautifully next to a monitor.

Skip it if you want home theater impact. Action movies without a subwoofer will feel incomplete no matter how good the tuning is.

Skip it if your living room is large or open plan. You will run out of volume headroom.

Skip it if you need Dolby Atmos, wireless multiroom audio, or app based EQ control. Those features live in higher price brackets.

The honest summary is this. Match the product to the job and it performs well above its price.

Common Problems and Simple Fixes

A few issues come up repeatedly with budget soundbars. Most have easy solutions.

No sound over optical. Open your TV audio settings and change the digital output format from Auto, Bitstream, or Dolby to PCM. This solves the problem the vast majority of the time.

TV remote will not control volume. Enable HDMI CEC in your TV settings. Manufacturers use different names for it, such as Anynet Plus on Samsung, Bravia Sync on Sony, or SimpLink on LG.

Audio lags behind video. Switch from Bluetooth to a wired connection. If you already use a wired input, look for an audio delay or lip sync setting in your TV menu.

Bluetooth will not pair. Turn off Bluetooth on every other nearby device, move your phone within three feet of the bar, and try again. Clearing the old pairing on your phone helps too.

Sound cuts out intermittently. Check that the optical cable is fully seated. These connectors click into place and a loose fit causes dropouts.

Remote stops responding. Replace the CR2025 battery and confirm nothing blocks the line of sight to the front of the bar.

Volume feels too low. Raise your TV output volume to maximum first, then control the level with the soundbar remote. Some TVs limit the signal sent to external audio devices.

Final Verdict

The onn 2.0 soundbar earns a clear recommendation with clear boundaries around it. At $30 to $50, it fixes the biggest weakness of every modern flat panel TV.

Voices become easy to hear. Sound spreads wider than the screen. Setup finishes before your popcorn cooks. Those three things cover what most people actually need.

Bass depth is the compromise. Two drivers and no subwoofer mean movie explosions sound loud rather than powerful. If that bothers you, spend the extra money on a 2.1 model instead.

Value is the real story here. Very few audio products deliver this much practical improvement for this little money. onn built a soundbar for people who want their TV to sound better, not for people who want to discuss frequency response charts.

Build quality holds up. Cables come included. The remote works well. Nothing about the package feels cheap in a way that matters during daily use.

My recommendation is straightforward. Buy the 32 inch model if your TV is 50 inches or larger. Buy the 20 inch model for bedrooms, desks, and smaller screens.

Score it a solid 4 out of 5 for what it sets out to do. It will not replace a home theater system, and it never claimed it would.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the onn 2.0 soundbar have HDMI ARC?

Some models do and some do not. Newer 32 inch and 36 inch versions typically include HDMI ARC. Smaller 16 inch and 20 inch models often rely on optical, AUX, and RCA only. Check the port list printed on the box or the product page before buying if ARC matters to you.

Can I use the onn 2.0 soundbar without a remote?

Yes. Physical buttons on the bar handle power, source selection, and volume. You lose direct access to sound modes and playback controls, so a replacement remote is worth buying if yours goes missing. Universal remotes with onn IR codes also work on many models.

Why is there no sound coming from my onn soundbar?

The most common cause is your TV audio format. Open the audio settings menu and change the digital output to PCM instead of Auto, Bitstream, or Dolby. Also confirm the soundbar is on the correct input source and that the optical cable clicks fully into both ports.

How do I connect the onn 2.0 soundbar to my phone?

Press the Bluetooth button on the remote until the indicator flashes. Open the Bluetooth settings on your phone and select the onn soundbar from the available devices. The light turns solid once connected. Keep your phone within three feet during the first pairing for the best result.

Is the onn 2.0 soundbar good for music?

Yes for casual listening. Vocals, acoustic music, podcasts, and pop tracks all sound clear and pleasant. Switch to Music mode for the flattest response. Bass heavy genres like hip hop and electronic music will feel light because no subwoofer is included in the 2.0 design.

Can I mount the onn 2.0 soundbar on a wall?

Yes. Every model ships with keyhole slots on the back, mounting screws, wall anchors, and a paper drilling template. The bar weighs under four pounds, so standard drywall anchors hold it securely. Mount it directly below your TV and keep the front face pointed at your seating position.

How long does the onn 2.0 soundbar last?

Most owners report several years of normal use. The main failure points on budget soundbars are the power adapter and the remote battery, and both are cheap to replace. Keep the bar in a ventilated spot and avoid running it at maximum volume for long periods to extend its life.

Is the onn 2.0 or the Roku Streambar better?

The Roku Streambar costs more and adds a full 4K streaming player, voice remote, and speech clarity controls. The onn 2.0 costs far less and focuses purely on audio. Pick the Streambar if your TV is not smart. Pick the onn if you already stream and just want better sound.