Watching sports at home? I’d change these 4 soundbar settings for the most optimal audio

some of your favorite soundbar settings for music and movies aren’t compatible with live sports broadcasts.

As much fun as it is going to a professional sporting event, nothing beats watching the big game in the comfort of your own home. If you're watching who's going to take it all on the basketball court, diamond, soccer pitch, or gridiron, you need to ensure your soundbar's audio settings are ready before the first ball is in play. Also: How I tweaked my Sonos speakers to upgrade their audio performance – easy and free If you're watching the game on an over-the-air cable or satellite broadcast, you may notice fuzzy or degraded audio quality. The good news is that your soundbar likely has some features that can help. Most soundbars have a room calibration feature that will use either built-in microphones or the microphones in your mobile device to measure your room's acoustics. This feature will account for your room's size, shape, and furniture to optimize the soundbar's audio output. This feature is easy to overlook, but tuning your soundbar to your room can make a tangible difference in your soundbar's performance. Room calibration can level bass response, eliminating or significantly decreasing a muddy or overpowering bass response.  Room correction can also improve your soundbar's dialogue performance by leveraging your room's characteristics to balance audio channels. Sporting events can be full of bass, either from backing musical strings or from roaring crowds in the stadium. If you're having trouble hearing a commentator highlight a player's stats when music plays in the background, you could reduce the bass to keep it from muddying dialogue. Also: How to watch the FIFA World Cup 2026: I found 10 ways to stream (including free options) If you're hearing booming crowd noise instead of commentators, on-field action, and referees, your soundbar's bass is likely too high.  In your soundbar's settings, there's likely a dialogue or speech enhancement feature. Turning this feature on or adjusting its strength will enhance midrange frequencies and damped high and low-range frequencies. Human voices primarily exist in the midrange; reducing the extremes while enhancing the midrange should make voices clearer.