Polk's new soundbar does a lot with a little, but is it enough?

You could say that the Magnifi 2 is the soundbar-iest soundbar. The 2.1-channel system pulls out all the stops to pull off a multi-speaker experience from its compact design, fully embodying the soundbar creed. To that end, it does as well as could be expected with the tools Polk has provided, and the combination of sheer brute force and clear detail the bar musters from its limited armory is impressive. Nearly every rival at this price adds at least a center channel for dialogue. What's more, the Magnifi 2 can't decode high-end audio formats like Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio (let alone popular 3D formats like Dolby Atmos), leaving it to dwell somewhere in limbo between entry-level bars like Vizio's V21 and multi-channel Atmos powerhouses like the Sonos Arc.