The other party trick: reducing (or in some cases, eliminating) the need for extra equipment. As outlined at CES, it's supposed to offer subwoofer-grade bass all on its own. You can pair it with an optional W700 subwoofer ($500) to lower the sound floor to 27Hz, but it's not absolutely necessary. Also, it promises a wider sound stage, with wide sound dispersion thanks to an appropriate tweeter and a crossover range between 600Hz and 20kHz.

The question is whether or not you should get a soundbar like this. For the same price, you can snag a speaker like the Sonos Playbase that may not be as explicitly focused on audio quality, but still sounds good and is decidedly more network-savvy. It really depends on your priorities -- how likely is it that your soundbar will double as your home stereo? If the answer is "not very," the MS750 might be the smarter choice.

Update: Samsung had the prices flipped around -- the MS750 soundbar is $699, while the optional subwoofer is $500. The article has been edited to reflect that.