For my uses, no. The soundbar was a compromise between tiny, terrible built-in speakers and all the space and wiring needs of a proper surround sound system.

We got a soundbar which mounts to the wall, and has detachable satellite speakers if we really want "surround." And it comes with a wireless subwoofer, so we still get the boomy sound for action movies.

Yeah, I meant it enables one to listen to whatever without the display on, for some definitions of whatever..

I think the confusion is that that’s not the “real reason” to get a sound bar; just one of the reasons.

The more common reason is still: it sounds better than your TVs built in speakers.