Sony HT-G700 – 3.1ch Dolby Atmos / DTS:X Soundbar
Sony HT-G700 – 3.1ch Dolby Atmos / DTS:X Soundbar with wireless subwoofe
Make the most of your quality time
Whatever you and your family enjoy watching together, the HT-G700 brings the soundtrack to life. Experience viewing your favourite content with brilliant immersive sound.
| Dimensions: | 10.8 x 98 x 6.4 cm; 1 Kilograms |
| Model: | HTG700.CEK |
| Batteries Included: | 2 AAA batteries required. |
| Manufacture: | Sony |
| Dimensions: | 10.8 x 98 x 6.4 cm; 1 Kilograms |
Love this for the money and it’s Sony!
Just another soundbar by Sony, awesome sound, quality, ease of use, features, audio quality and nice bass as expected from Sony and especially for the price!!! Great buy, thank you so much!!!!
Makes watching movies a far more immersive experience, vast improvement over TV speakers.
Great soundba
Very good just easy to set up and you are away but it could have had 2 hdmi ports buts it’s still a great soundba
Great sound
Really good sound on my TV after buying this. Definitely an upgrade. Easy set up for my Toshiba TV. Cinema sound is incredible.
For those looking for a simple review here goes
Good deep base, better than I was hoping for
Great volume, louder than expected
Not as defined in the vocals as I’d have liked but nothing to complain about
Be aware that sound bar is longer than many on the market, not an issue for me but is quite a large unit
All in all great piece of kit for the money, would definitely recommend
Know braine
Been looking for a soundbar for some time and after reading the reviews for this piece of kit,it was a know brainer at the reduced price for it .
I was dubious! 7.1 virtual surround with Atmos, well, whatever the result it will be miles better than the TV speakers. Well, I am amazed by the sound quality, and it truly surrounds you in a bubble of audio heaven. The Atmos firing for overhead object sound shocked me too. Of course not as good as overhead speakers, but wow. To summarise, I am impressed with this Sony HT-G700 – 3.1ch Dolby Atmos / DTS:X Soundbar with wireless subwoofer. So much so, I’m going to be upgrading my other 4K Smart TVs around the house too. Oh, and the subwoofer punches way above its belt. Movies, TV Shows and music sounds fantastic.
Easy installatio
Sound quality good but could do with better bass and treble adjustments
4.0 out of 5 stars I found this to be a great purchase
If your looking for a cheaper alternative for a Good quality surround sound. Would purchase this again in a heart bea
Better with Dolby or DTS
This speaker is great on it’s own. But with Dolby or DTS it sounds SO much better.
Easy to install, integrates nicely with the TV to hand waking up when the TV is switched on and turns off just the same.
Brilliant Sound
Unreal sound my first atmos bar to be honest but it has replaced my amp and 5:1 system.The only thing is it has to be turned up very high like 50 to get a kick outta it lower numbers are very quiet but I’m open to suggestions to see if csn be tweeked.
Had been looking at this and Samsung Q800 with upfiring speakers. Differences seemed minimal and price was the same. Then was randomly searching to check Amazon and this had dropped from 380 to 250 – SOLD!!!
Got it next day and set up was super easy. Plug sub into mains, connect e-ARC to LG C1, turn e-ARC on in the LG’s menu and Roberto es tu tio (as they say in Spain). Soundbar and sub sync automatically and it was ready to go.
Tested it with Disney+ and Amazon Prime and sound was a MASSIVE upgrade over my C1’s in-built speakers. Tested it with my Xbox Series X and was getting some audio sync issues via blu-ray with Atmos – apparently its a known issue with how the Xbox reads Atmos. Set audio output on the Xbox to Dolby Digital and all was good.
Overall really happy with the soundbar. Sound is clear and crisp, bass is really good and adds some punch to the soundtrack, vocals are clear and distinct. It picks out little bits of dialogue that is muffled using in-built speakers (Two examples – the scene from Revenge of the Sith with Anakin in the Jedi Temple where he hears Palpatine’s voice. Usually quite low and muffled – clear and defined using the Sony. The other example is FIFA 22 – hearing the stadium announcer randomly doing stadium messages – “Can Bob Smith go to a steward please?” – that usually get lost behind the commentators/crowd noise.
For the price I got it at its a bargain but still wouldn’t be disappointed had I paid the 390 its currently showing at either!
Excellent value and superb sound!
I was looking for a upgrade to my current soundbar, and I see this one. I read the reviews and I am very happy with my purchase. It’s easy to install and the sound is exceptional, 400watts of power is more than enough to keep anyone happy. The sound is clear and you can adjust the settings with the remote as well. Watching films, listening to music, or playing games on your console is even more enjoyable. The deep bass is excellent, and you can feel the sound. One of the best soundbars around for the money!
Good Sound, Difficult to configure.
The unit has fairly good sound and makes a decent effort at producing Atmos channels, you will hear more pronounced X-Axis sounds but don’t expect anything much from the Up/Down channel of Atmos.
Most important thing to note is how difficult it is to configure, the initial setup is easy but unfortunately the built in menu in the bar is incredibly difficult to use, there is no confirmation you have selected or chosen options, menus are a nightmare to navigate, and wait too long and its back to the beginning. Not suitable for the non tech savvy.
The other thing worth noting is that Atmos will only enable on the “Default/Standard” preset setting; using the Cinema/Music options etc will disable it back down to Dolby LPCM.
Its not bad but it clearly didn’t have any user testing.
This is a proper and very powerful soundbar. Bass is very strong and that might be a downside for some users. The sound quality is very good. It connects my smartphone swiftly even when it is on sleep mode. In addition, you can hear very strong/loud sounds from Bluetooth devices including smartphones. I still ask for a return because it is not compatible with my smart LG TV. I spent days to do the connection to my TV ARC port with failure. I received good support from Sony customer care. I tried different cables etc. I tried everything but it did not work. There is one more point I need to mention I also fail to update the software of the soundbar. Again I also tried hard but every time with even different USB memories/computers I could not update the software. It gave an error at each attempt. Sony offered me a free of charge service if I could take the device to one of their service outlets but I prefer to return i
Deep bass not garbage “thump”
Deep bass, not garbage “thump” amazing for movies, absolute game changer really feels like your in the cinema. Bass is deep and loud but not overpowering as the actual soundbar is very crisp at highest of volumes. Connecting is seamless and controls are just perfec
Bought this after seeing the soundbar in curry’s, always buy from Amazon because of their great returns policy, at first I just did not like the sound and also had audio lapse when pausing the sky tv channel or changing channelI ordered the majority sierra plus a few days later from Amazon, so I had both soundbars in the house at the same time..we watched Batman v superman with both bars at the same fight scenes, and to be honest, the sound quality was better on the Sony.
The Sony has a lot of sound features and can be over whelming, after a weekend trying to get the best sound for tv, films and music, I just put the sound on auto mode and put voice mode to on, now I just turn on the sky remote only to turn on soundbar and the tv, and can change volume level from the sky remote..
I have a 4 year old Samsung uhd tv, and did not do the tv setup, did not know you had to, just thought you plugged the hdmi into arc on tv and that’s it..if you do the tv setup after you plugged soundbar in, the tv will reckonize the Sony g 700 by name, and stops the audio lag.
At first I did not like it, bought another bar and went back to curry’s and looked at other bars which were twice the price with the same sound, so decided to send back sierra yesterday to Amazon and keep the Sony.
If you want to watch just normal tv most of the time then this is a great sounding soundbar, don’t get bogged down by all the added sound features, just put in auto sound and let it sort out the audio for you
There are some negative reviews related to the ability of the system to digitally reproduce upward firing speakers for ATMOS, it’s only 3.1 but I thought it did a good job at th price. Try it, if you don’t like return. I’m keeping mine.
Having considered various sound bars the HT-G700 is considerably *less* feature-full than some of the competition; no WiFi, ChromeCast, AirPlay etc – and actually that was one of the draws as it’s one less device that’s clamouring for network bandwidth and requires me to have yet another app to manage it. It’s connected to a TV with all those features, and a SkyQ box which also has those features.
Our TV (and therefore sound bar) is wall-mounted. The HT-G700 comes with a simple paper mounting template which confusingly has four points on it despite only having two holes for mounting the unit. No special brackets are required, it just hooks over two screws. The downside of this is that it’s harder to mount level accurately and there’s no adjustment if one of the screws is very slightly off by 1mm which, over the length of the bar, is definitely visible!
The build quality is good, as you’d expect from Sony, and the remote feels quite polished compared to a lot of sound bars (although if you drop it, the battery compartment flies open, which is a bit annoying – this clip could be designed better!)
Sound quality is very subjective. My own opinion is it’s ‘good’ – not as good as some of the higher end sound bars (but it’s a quarter of the price) but will way surpass any built in TV speakers. This is a 3.1 system and you can tell the centre is there which is good, but beware of the claims that it’s “7.1” or Dolby Atmos – it decodes it, yes, but there are only three speakers in the bar, plus the sub, and it doesn’t have any upfiring speakers designed to emulate ceiling or surround speakers.
It supports eARC, but also decodes Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD which is quite unusual at this end of the market. Again, it doesn’t have the required number of speakers to take full advantage of it but the support is good to have and it makes a valiant effort to emulate the speakers using Sony’s own virtual sound processing technology.
Dialogue is crisp and clear, higher frequencies are well reproduced as are the lower frequencies (although the sub is limited by the small driver) – it’s a little muddy in the mids but generally works well for most TV, movie, and music content (although music lovers not caring about the subwoofer might be better off with some of the Sonos products)
Night mode is a nice touch too for not disturbing the neighbours or sleeping family members, it changes the overall EQ and reduces the impact of the sub at a push of a button whilst still offering an improvement over any TV’s built-in speakers.
When this launched it was 450, it was a good sound bar then but some of the competition at the time was better around the same price point. It’s now around 250 and at this price it’s a seriously impressive offering; you’d probably have to pay about 3x as much to get something significantly better.
Great value system
I’ve had this system for about a month and am impressed by the sound it produces. From films, tv or even Apple Music it hits the spot. Ideal for small to medium sized living rooms.
Did a lot of research into sound bars, lots of video watching on YouTube, I know I did not want to pay for a top end sound bar just something mid range as I have a denon amplifier which puts out 7.1 , early impressions are extremely easy to set up the subwoofer you just plug it in and it is automatically picked up straight away, I have found the sound on low to mid volume to be the best way to use this sound bar for watching every day TV, did watch die hard last night to give it a good test and whilst it is more than acceptable it is not a patch on the Denon , But at the price I paid 240 and I had not had previous experience I would be more than happy with it, so if like me you did not have a lot to spend this would be perfectly acceptable, don’t get me wrong it is loud on full volume, and I know with these things it takes a while for the speakers to get settled in, And whilst watching the movie I was convinced my side denon speakers were on because it does throw sound around the room quite well as I said for watching every day TV it is perfect and better than the sound on the TV, and watching movies I would give it 7 out of 10, so a good mid ranged priced sound ba
Great addition to my Sony 4k Tv
Lovely sound. Sub could do with a little more base? Otherwise Great addition to my Sony System. This clip is just from Netflix but still in 4k. Films on Sony 4k Player are even better.
Sound and performance.
As the name is a sony sound bar and always buy sony gear and noing quality good price to. Feel
the sound could be improved little more around the surround as I find it doesn’t jump out at you like my old one otherwise 99%
Nice item, easy to connect to Amazon Fire Cube
Once I’d figured out how to connect it to the TV and the Fire Cube, it set itself and the SW up. I then told the Fire Cube to control everything including the Soundbar, and it did it. The TV doesn’t always shut off through the Alexa function, but the SoundBar does, and I can’t blame the SoundBar for the TV not shutting off. Would recommend, but know that there are more sophisticated and better sounding SoundBars out there for the money: I just like this one.
Stunning sound quality
I bought this at the right time as the price has increased by 100! The sound quality is outstanding, you really feel that you could be at the cinema during action films. It improves the television sound too, no more struggling to hear what the presenters are saying. Would definitely recommend.
Pleasantly surprised
Was very sceptical as I have always used separate speakers with a home cinema amp and if I’m honest it doesn’t have the same surround performance but as with other reviews it’s a sound bar and that’s the key it’s not going to be as good however,
This has an excellent sound
It’s very loud and the bass performance is surprisingly effective
I currently have it set up in a very large room and it fills the area with an immersive sound
I reviewed several sound bars before buying this one and I’m very happy
Couldn’t be easier to use and set up
I cant really say I’ve experienced the atmos effect but it makes movies and games come to life
If all you need is improved sound and cant have rear separate speakers I would definitely recommend this item
Sound ba
Bought this to enhance my Nu 65 inch massive TV sound is really good over time I’ll get used to the different sound modes the old sound bar was simple in compariso
Fantastic sound
Cracking bit of kit. Might not be true surround sound but it does a really good job at making you think it is. Simple to connect too. Really pleased with this sound bar.
Great product, go via Amazon to ensure delivery
Tried buying this from Curry’s for the same price, failed to deliver twice. Got the same product via Amazon, took less time to be delivered and completed first time.
Very easy to set up with a Sony tv.
Great soundba
Never owned a soundbar before and on reading reviews and being a fan of Sony tech I kept coming back to the HT-G700. And for a mid range soundbar it’s phenomenonal and a great step up from the TV speakers. Everything just sounds richer and deeper and the bass is perfect and appropriate to the scene/game without being overbearing. Well pleased.
Does the basics very well
As an upgrade for my flatscreen’s tinny speakers this is really very good. The sound is well balanced, though don’t buy it on the strength of the claims of ‘verticality’ – I’ve played Atmos content through it and it sounds very nice but it’s no sort of surround system, never mid filling you into thinking sounds are coming from above.
Setup is super-easy, sub connects wirelessly without any user intervention so I plugged it into my TV’s ARC channel and away I went. There’s a few options inside the menus but most likely you’ll refer to the manual to set those then forever leave them as they are. Settings you might want to change more regularly (night mode the example) have dedicated buttons on the remote, which is nice. Beyond that – don’t expect any bells and whistles. There’s no ‘smart’ features (the bar doesn’t even have a network connection). It’s a nice size, about the same width as my 50″ TV. Overall it does the job very well at a reasonable price.
It beats any default TV speakers for a good price
Super easy to set-up but you need your own HDMI cable. Paired with an LG C9, I can now watch all content on Prime Video without needing to turn on subtitles – and it sounds great. Before, when I was on the default TV speakers, I needed subtitles for most Prime Video content and some Netflix content.
Where this soundbar + sub really shine is when you watch 5.1 content or Dolby Atmos optimised content, it’s loud, it’s clear and you feel the bass.
Dialogue is still at times a little hard to hear, but 90% of the time it’s perfec
Lovely sound bar from Sony
Just purchased a new 4K Sony TV so I wanted a matching sound bar to go with it and this fitted the bill nicely, not sure about the immersive sound feature but the voice mode is helpful if the dialogue is a bit muffled and it definitely makes a good hash of action sequences with the bangs and crashes having real presence when in Dolby Atmos mode.
For the money it’s a good buy.
Fantastic value!
Replaced old sound bar with this and cannot complain. Worked staight out of box, even connected to Sky remote too, so you can use one remote only to switch on TV, Sky and soundbar. Great sound too considering price, worth every penny. 10/10
Top quality!
Bought this to go with my Samsung Qled tv as the Samsung soundbars with Dolby atmos were far to expensive. The sound is perfect, remote is easy to use. Tested it as soon as it came, with a 4k blu ray movie and I felt like I was sat in the cinema for a minute. Top quality sound bar for a decent price. Definitely recommend
The sound out off this is amazing in my opinion . I mounted the sound bar under the tv and placed the sub on the other end off my living room. Doing this for me made the sound even better .
One massive draw back for this product is the stupid 2 small holes they put on the sound bar for anyone who wants to mount it like I did .
I had to use a drill and widen the hole where you put in the two bolts that support it as when installed there wasn’t enough holding the bar and I was afraid it would fall off . Anyone who has hung this under a tv or wall mounted it will know what I’m talking about .
Over all I’m very impressed with the sound and love it .
If you plan to mount it under your tv where it moves with the tv when you pull the tv off the wall with the movable bracket and don’t want the hassle off making the entrance holes wider on the sound bar I suggest you buy the small shelf that can be attached to the tv and the sound bar simply sits on it .
[Update 7/22]
I updated the TV to a newer Samsung model with HDR10+ support and temporarily changed the BD player to the excellent Panasonic UB820. I noted when playing a HDR10+ dynamic film that the HDR10+ was not passed through the soundbar unlike dolby vision. I had to use both HDMI outputs from the BD player to bypass video though the Sony. HDR10+ was then present.
I have also “enjoyed” sound drop out issues with eARC.
To be fair at no point does Sony indicate HDR10+ pass through in the specs unlike Dolby Vision. Sony has also released a firmware update to repair the eARC sound drop out problems (v1.100 or v2.111)
This still retains 5 stars simply because of the support provided by Sony and it is still as good as the day I installed it.
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I needed a lower cost soundbar when moving house to “fill” a 18×15 feet room. My expectations were not sky high as this is only a 3.1 system without tweeters but I was sure it would sound way better than the Samsung MU6470 it is connected to. First of all this is a hefty main unit. The sub woofer is much the same. It is well put together. Pairing the sub woofer was simple – it just paired! The remote is small, simply laid out and works. I used a HDMI lead to connect to the ARC on the TV and a second to connect to a Blu ray player. I simply set auto sound and height/surround on. Now for the sound quality: exceptional given its limitations. High end treble is slightly muffled as there are no tweeters. Mid range and bass reproduction is very good to excellent depending on the source. Moreover at a reasonable volume it does “fill” the room. Bluetooth connectivity was excellent with multiple sources for music playback.
Please remember this is not an expensive soundbar and most certainly not an AV Hifi separates setup. But it holds its own reasonably against a 9.1 setup I have in the lounge. If you have a modest budget, don’t want a mile of wiring in the room and prefer a simple solution I personally consider this to be a worthwhile alternative. Don’t forget to check for firmware updates.
Nice sound quality but ?
The sound quality is nice however even in the voice mode speech can still be muffled .
Also when turning the sound up it goes silent until your reached the level a certain level, to then find it’s too loud ?
After reading many reviews on soundbars in this price bracket I took a chance on this due to the 4k HDMI ARC pass through to future proof myself for the new 2020 games consoles. Happy to say im pleasantly surprised with the sound quality.
I am hearing much more audio than I have ever before and couldn’t quite believe what I have been missing with the stock LG C9 TV speakers.
Voices are now very clear and the bass is subtle yet powerful. ARC is great and means I just need to plug the TV into the soundbar at all times and plug any other device into the 2nd HDMI on the soundbar. Amazingly my TV remote now controls the soundbar too making the rather shabby soundbar remote redundant.
All in all very pleased with this and exceeded my expectations.
Great sound...
We’ve never had a sound bar before and to be honest I couldn’t work out what all the fuss was about them…now I know though. I thought the sound from the telly was okay prior to this arriving but now I realise it was pretty poor in comparison. On regualy programs it’s clearer and we can have it at a bit louder volume without it distorting, but if when music comes on we have to turn it down again til it passes. On films with lots of noisy action it’s brilliant. The first time we watched something with explosions we both looked at each other and asked “what was that?!” because we thought it was something outside. Very happy with this and wouldn’t want to be without it now. Easy to set up, even for those like us who haven’t used one before. We did have an HDMI cable from something else to use which was lucky as there isn’t one in the (massive) box. Delighted with this overall.
This is undisputably an excellent sounding 3.1 system with added benefits over ‘proper’ sound systems by fitting in nicely to your room setup, rather than filling it with audio gear. The surround sound comes through digital processing rather than rear or upfiring speakers – if this is something that bothers you, you probably wouldn’t be considering a soundbar anyway.
For someone who wants great quality audio for music, TV and films, this bar and subwoofer combo delivers. Dialogue is clearer thanks to the centre speaker, and the subwoofer is more than adequate for a small to medium sized room.
The remote overcomplicates things with a couple of unnecessary settings – I couldn’t tell you the actual difference between ‘standard’ and ‘cinema’ modes for example. I’ve settled with IAE off with music mode when listening to music (no digital processing to mess with stereo audio), and cinema mode with IAE for everything else.
The bar can pass the IR signal from your remote to your TV behind, so at least with our Bravia TV this means the soundbar can be right in front of the TV with no difference to remote usage – a good feature!
To summarise, you’re getting a great quality 3.1 system with some surround sound processing that does reproduce some of the positioning effects in Dolby Atmos etc. The lack of smart functionality eg. Alexa might be a detriment for some, but for us it gets used via HDMI Arc for a straightforward replacement to TV speakers.
I haven’t had an opportunity to try out a soundbar previously as I couldn’t justify the price and the TV speakers were good enough for me for my casual movie watching at the end of the day.
Boy was I wrong, even though the TV speakers are good enough for watching YouTube, video clips, podcasts, they cannot measure up to the power and clarity of the soundbar. The difference is very stark in dynamic, bass-heavy scenes and by switching between TV speakers and this soundbar I can tell that the whole low midrange frequencies are completely missing in the TV speaker output.
Basically, you do not even realize that you are missing the “emotion” the director has intended for the movie watcher to experience which is often achieved by utilizing low to midrange frequency sounds.
From now on I will never rely on TV speakers to enjoy my movie watching because it just feels different and the movies feel more dramatic, and I feel like I am in a movie theatre.
The design of the soundbar is minimalistic, however, the soundbar and its accompanying subwoofer are quite large and they require a lot of space so make sure you have at least 100 x 12 x 7 cm (W x D x H) for the soundbar and 20 x 41 x 39 cm (W x D x H) for the subwoofer. Thankfully, I was able to fit the soundbar onto the stand legs of my TV, and the soundbar is barely shorter than my 50″ TV. You have to sacrifice the space if you want to have the cinematic sound experience given the fact that speakers need a hollow chamber to amplify the sound. And with this product the sound is indeed amplified, I would say it is far too powerful for my flat and I use it well below the maximum, the most I dare go is 60%, I do not want to be that neighbour.
The display interface is somewhat easy to read, they chose a small LED screen that shows the current configuration, and its brightness can be adjusted so it is not obtrusive. The text is crisp and clear and can be easily read from distance due to the contrast with the dark soundbar.
The soundbar is very solidly built from durable plastic and a metal mesh on the front, do note that they are a bit heavy and not very portable due to the size and weight. The interface on the back is also very simple, power, HDMI ARC, HDMI in and optical in are all you need for the sound playback. HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) enables the control of the soundbar from the TV, and HDMI in is for the game consoles for example.
The best feature of this soundbar, in my opinion, is the connectivity, it is very easy to connect the soundbar to the smartphone, you have to press the Bluetooth button on the soundbar for 3 seconds in order for it to be discoverable and the phone automatically selects the soundbar as an output. The second best feature of the soundbar is sleeping, the device will automatically go to sleep if no devices are connected and it will automatically turn on once he picks up the signal, whether from the Bluetooth or from HDMI ARC port if the TV has the equivalent port which most of newer TV sets do. However, do note that the automatic signal reproduction to the soundbar depends on your TV model and sometimes as it happened to me, your TV might not choose the soundbar as an output automatically in which case the best course of action is to disconnect the TV from power to reset it.
The remote is very sleek but it is not compact, it has a lot of buttons and it feels cluttered, however, given the number of features and lack of actual display on the soundbar they had to put dedicated buttons for every feature.
In most cases, you will not need the remote at all as the volume can be adjusted through the TV, however, I feel that I reached for the remote more often to change the mode or feature. It takes a bit of practice to nail down the mode and the features you want to use for a particular task. There is a cinema, music, standard, and auto sound modes, basically equalizer.
Then there is immersive AE which is the “surround” sound feature that utilizes Dolby Atmos to simulate surround sound by bouncing the sound against the ceiling. However, I not very impressed, don’t get me wrong, it sounds good, but it is not realistic to expect a front-facing three speakers plus a subwoofer (3.1) to behave the same way as a seven-speaker setup (7.1). But, when you think about it, if it can get close to the (7.1) surround sound setup it definitely reduces the space requirements and clutter in your living room which is the main selling point of Dolby Atmos, how to get the immersive experience without a bunch of speakers and wires running in the living room, plus it is much cheaper than the seven-speaker setup. This setup requires three wires, that is it, and is compactly placed around the TV.
As for the sound, when compared to the TV speakers it has a wider range of frequencies, it covers almost whole range without breaking a sweat, bass, midrange and even highs are reproduced faithfully, without any harshness, distortions or overcompensation. The TV speakers sound whiny and distorted towards higher frequencies compared to this soundbar and bass is almost non-existent as previously mentioned.
The bass can be overwhelming if at full strength due to the powerful subwoofer, however, it can easily be adjusted over 12 levels of intensity. The vocals are reproduced much more faithfully without sounding harsh. Overall, they did a great job of tuning the speakers as you would expect for the price.
Overall, I would recommend this soundbar, it may not be the most compact setup, however, the Dolby Atmos is a feature that gives you the value of (7.1) surround sound setup without having to pay for it or having to find space and wire those speakers. The sound is excellent and it will improve your movie-watching experience and even make you the go-to party person, however, it is up to you whether it is worth 450 which I paid my TV. It is pricey compared to other brands, however, given it is made by Sony, I would always invest in good quality equipment that has been tuned by professionals and was build to spec.
4 STARS ONLY DUE TO NEED FOR REAR SPEAKERS – OTHERWISE BRILLIANT
As of at the time of writing this review, I tested the sound bar with nearly a dozen movies including both Marvel Infinity War and Endgame and the crisp clarity of speech/dialogue is stunning it must be heard to be believed. Has a dedicated speech mode to emphasise speech. Bass and sound reproduction all-round are fantastic.
Coming to the important questions:
Is it a 7.1 sound system? The simple answer is NO. You won’t get a real 7.1.2 surround sound with just a sound bar and subwoofer without some form of rear speakers. Adding rear speaker will certainly take what is already an outstanding system to a whole new level.
Is it near enough to a 7.1.2 surround sound? YES, you will definitely get an immersive surround experience BUT that depends on the location/angle of the subwoofer, the size of your room and ceiling height. The bigger the room, the lessor the surround effect. I found that changing the location of the subwoofer will dramatically impact the sound effect. You need to play around and figure out what works best for you.
Quality? It’s a Sony – Premium build quality and a joy to look at. The fidelity and immersion are great. Will definitely upgrade any TV setup.
Dolby atmos? Works a treat. You must use a HDMI cable if you want Dolby to work. The optical connection will not support Dolby.
Value for money (at 449 July 2020)? The answer is ‘maybe’ and hence the 4 stars. The quality is second to none given it’s a Sony, and the specs are very good, but in terms of 7.1.2 surround sound that’s a bit iffy. In such a competitive market for such sound systems, the rear speakers would have been a welcomed addition.
Easy to setup? Ridiculously easy. Just connect to the soundbar to the source (TV, etc..) and there you go. I connected the sound bar to my TV using a HDMI cable. The bar connects to the subwoofer wirelessly and so didn’t need to do anything there. It comes with a remote that is also well-labelled and simple to use.
There are pre-set modes (music, cinema, standard and immersive) on the remote as well as the ability to select various input sources including Bluetooth. The night-time mode is the most useful feature for me — works flawlessly and there is no reduction in the experience or quality. You can hear everything clearly, get an immersive experience without shocking your neighbours at night. Win-Win!
If this review helped please give a thumbs up!
Fantastic sound!
This sound bar is a huge upgrade from what I previously used for movies and music. The quality of the sound is noticeably better, it took me a little bit of messing around to find the right settings for me but I think that’s part of the fun of getting a new piece of technology!
– Design
The sound bar itself is simply black with rounded edges and a matte finish. It feels well-made and sturdy, however, it is fairly long at 39Inches so takes up a good part of the TV stand. The display is on a small LED screen behind the speaker casing; most of the words are either shortened or abbreviated as it is fairly small, it’s also pretty bright but you can adjust it and make it dimmer through the remote control.
The subwoofer is a lot larger than I expected. It’s just a little bit smaller than a standard PC tower. Due to this, it might be hard to find a spot for it in a small living room or if you have a small TV stand. I had to place it on a gap on the side of the sofa as it wouldn’t fit on my shelf and had no room left on my TV stand.
The remote control is small and solid and rectangular in shape. It fits well in the hand and I overall like it as it is just big enough to provide all the necessary options without having another massive remote control laying around the living room. It takes 2x AAA batteries which are supplied. The sound bar itself also has some buttons on the top.
-Connectivity
To set up the sound bard you will need a HDMI cable which is not supplied. I had several laying around so it wasn’t too much trouble for me but make sure you have one spare.
At first, I found the setting up a bit confusing but when I looked at the step by step booklet, it became quite clear.
If you have an ARC HDMI socket on your TV, simply connect both devices via a HDMI cable using the ARC HDMI slot. If you don’t have that type of HDMI, connect it via a normal HDMI slot AND also use the supplied Optical Cable.
Once that is sorted, use the two power cables to plug in your sound bar and your subwoofer to the wall.
Once it was all set up, the subwoofer was immediately detected and the soundbar picked it up instantly without me having to do anything. The subwoofer volume is also controlled through the remote.
I took a little bit getting used to switching between my TV and a Bluetooth device playing through the sound bar. Sometimes I listen to music whilst playing videogames and prefer to play the music through the sound bar so I have to make the soundbar ignore my TV and play my music instead. I found this a little bit confusing at first but it came down sorting out my TV settings and telling it to use the TV speakers instead, once I had done that I was able to connect a different device to the sound bar.
– Modes
The best way to find out what each mode that and the extent of the sound customization is through the user manual. I don’t usually bother reading manuals but with such a high end product that offers so many possibilities, I definitely recommend having a look. When I first used the product I found that some sounds weren’t as I would like them (for instance, background music would be louder than the dialogue on a film) but after reading the booklet, I figured out what settings suited me best and now I am pretty happy with the overall quality of the sound, regardless of what I am listening to.
– Music
When listening to music, I found I could hear little nuances and details that I had never heard before on songs I had listened to a thousand times. At first, I turned the subwoofer to the maximum setting to see what it would all sound like but I found this to drown out some of the more delicate bright tones in songs. The subwoofer is powerful so use it in measure: when put at a setting that suits your taste, it makes everything sound fantastic.
– Movies, TV & Videogames
I tried a variety of movie genres, watched several different TV shows and played videogames using this sound bar and subwoofer. Movies were immersive, and specific sounds were very crisp and clear; background sounds or music played really well, especially with the subwoofer. Again, as it happened with listening to music, the subwoofer is so powerful that it can drown out dialogues or the brighter spectrum of sounds if turned up too loud so use it but don’t blast it. I found that keeping the subwoofer between 3 and 5 and turning on voice and night modes can really help make dialogues clear.
Having had surround sound installed in my living room in the past, I noticed that it wasn’t as immersive as the real deal. Despite this, it does give you some sense of surround sound so if you don’t want to clutter up your living room with several speakers and cables, I would say this sound bar does a pretty good job and does deliver fantastic sound.
Overall, I am happy with the upgrade. It took me a little bit of messing around to find the settings that I was happiest with but it was definitely worth it. In the end, I feel like I can hear things I couldn’t before and it has definitely improved my film, TV, music and videogame experiences!
This things is Beast!!! Bass can’t imagine,I bought this unit without testing in local distributor since it’s not available yet only I saw a review in YouTube, didn’t regret.
I was initially disappointed by the low end sound from this system, I previously had the Sonos sub installed and that shook the room but this was poor, but then I moved the sub and faced it into the corner behind the TV and it made a huge difference, the bass was now just as good as the Sonos sub.
The soundbar connects to my tv via a single SPDIF optical cable, there is also a hdmi in/out connection for tv’s or tuners without optical audio output. The final source this system can accept is Bluetooth.
The sub is wireless, all you need to do is power it up and the soundbar detects it, I had no issues with it at all.
The remote has a few preset modes for different sources, there is music, cinema, standard and immersive, and there is a voice mode to enhance dialogue, something I found useful while watching Iron Man 3 as it went from loud sound effects to inside the suit talking normally .
I have used it with many sources and I think I prefer Immersive mode for all of them, it has more width and clarity to my old ears. The wireless sub level can be adjusted separately, for all but music I leave it set to full up, I like to feel the thump from bass, for music I knock it back a couple of notches as it is a little overpowering, having said that as I type this im wondering if my bluetooth phone that I tested it with has any bass eq added, I will investigate that, either way there plenty enough bass even for this old raver/sound engineer.
A slight negative of the soundbar is that it is ever so slightly tall that it blocks the IR receiver from the remote, resulting in me having to hold the remote above my head now to turn the tv on and off.
The remote is pretty nice to hold and to use, its like holding a chunky kitkat with buttons
Of course there is no proper 7.1 sound from only a bar and a sub, theres nothing flying past behind like you get with proper rear speakers but it makes a fair emulation of it, good sub and clear mid and high with prominent voice channel, this function is most appreciated during busy action sequences with dialogue, and when the dog starts barking at the dogs next door when I’m trying to listen to the news.
Tested with Iron Man 3, Cursed and X-Men via Freeview tuner and Netflix and music tested via Bluetooth and iPad, was especially pleased with the sound of London Grammar through this system, Hannah vocals and the deep sub-bass sounds were on fire.
Impressed with the sound
I’m surprised that some people dont appreciate the quality of this product.
I have Sony soundbar with subwoofer for last few days and we use it every day to watch movies, news, documentary programs. I can hear huge difference on sound and bass comparing to sound coming only from tv unit.
Sony soundbar with subwoofer makes me feel like I’m in cinema, literally. There were moments I though its thunders outside but it was the sounds from program I watched. The bass is so deep, I can hear it in air around me. It surrounds me. It’s so real, I cant believe it.
The connection is very straightforward..
1. Disconnect tv from energy supply
2. Connect speaker to hdmi (not included) or the slim cable provided with set (TV IN OPTI). I have 4K tv so used this cable (hdmi I had connected to other stuff).
3. Connect tv, subwoofer and speaker to electricity and turn all on. Turn on the Sony set by slim remote control. Subwoofer will take few seconds to pair with speaker. We should put tv on any program and turn the volume off on tv remote control. All done. Speaker and subwoofer works now and from now on we need to use both remote controls (tv and for speaker).
The set is described as wireless, but it doesnt mean that literally there are no wires at all. Wireless in this case means that subwoofer is not directly connected to speaker. Both products needs energy supply so cable is required. Speaker need to be connected to tv to get the sound from programs we watch. Wireless option between subwoofer and speaker gives us an option to separate them from each other, put subwoofer on the floor where we want for best bass experience. Speaker can be put on the furniture by tv or can be hanged on the wall.
Both, speaker and subwoofer are made to perfection. Both are very elegant, great quality, not a mark on it.
Sony soundbar with subwoofer arrived in branded box, just over 14kg weight in total. Products were well protected in styrofoam and wraps. The Company cares for its products and customers, wants to deliver best quality stuff to the customer.
The price reflects the quality, I agree with that.
When this Sony Sound bar and Sub woofer came up review I was excited to try it out.
I have to admit, being a sound bar novice, I was a bit worried about how complicated this would be to set up.
As it turns out, the answer is it is very easy to set-up and start using, right out of the box.
In the box you get:
. Sound bar
. Sub woofer
. Remote control (you’ll need x 2 AAA batteries)
. Optical cable
. AC power cord
. Wall mount template (I didn’t mount it)
. Start up guide
. Operating instructions
Dimensions (approx):
Sound bar Length: 38 inch Depth: 4 inch
Sub woofer Height: 15 inch Depth 8 inch
Set-up
Followed the ‘Start-up’ guide without any dramas. The process was very easy and we didn’t need anything else other than what was provided out of the box.
Connecting the subwoofer
This is done wirelessly. Fantastic as it means more flexibility on placement and seamless pairing with the sound bar.
Stand out features
Sound quality — we loved the sound quality. There are different modes to try such as standard, cinema, music and voice — all easily accessed and labelled clearly on the remote.
It was good fun flicking through the channels and trying them out to see the effect.
Bluetooth connectivity — we connected our spotify to the sound bar and the house was shaking! (we are detached, so we didn’t upset the neighbours). It was enough to get my husband into party mode and crack open a beer.
This will be fantastic for parties and playing audio books through.
One thing to watch out for — the sound is that powerful the subwoofer vibrates out of its spot.
Not great if it has been put up high with heavy bass music playing and without realising what is happening.
There is so much more to this system and we’ve only just scratched the surface, really.
It has absolutely enhanced our tv viewing and had the added bonus of bluetooth connectivity for all our audio needs, it represents great value for money.
Overall, very impressed.
In Summary
. Fantastic sound
. Wireless subwoofer
. Choice of sound modes
. Blue tooth connectivity
The Cinematic Experience
A stellar upgrade from the sound of any flat screen speaker no doubt, and it will significantly enhance your show watching experience. That is for sure.
However in an already very crowded soundbar market it is certainly a difficult choice to make at the current 450 price point.
It’s no doubt a high quality Sony unit that is quick and simple to setup. Particularly if you have a Sony Bravia TV which will connect via bluetooth and of course the bluetooth subwoofer can be placed anywhere in the room with only a power supply.
One of the major strengths of this unit is it accepts all the major audio codec formats via HDMI cable although unfortunately the HDMI cable is not included with the unit.
Without which, you can NOT acheive the Dolby Atmos surround sound standard.
It is important to remember that this is not real surround sound, but it is a well executed digital wizardry to acheive near surround with a single bar three channel speaker plus a subwoofer.
* The Result?
Almost convincing at this price point.
The sound can be customised via a settings menu from the remote to suit your taste. We find it works best with the sound mode: ON with either the ‘Auto Sound’ or ‘Cinema Setting’ when watching shows/movies. This is where the speaker excels the most.
Although brilliant with direct commentary in live sports, we found it less effective on the background sounds that encompasses most live sports. Rather, sounding less immersive, in this field, than other soundbars I’ve tried. Though it never claimed to be.
Still, a pretty great unit that delivers clear sound, brilliant with speech, an thus excels when streaming shows on Amazon/Netflix etc. All with the quality that is synonymous with Sony. This unit has now taken pride of place in the large snug for it’s cinematic quality sound system that delivers on its promise.
5 stars
Loud and effective
I got this sound bar and speaker to give my games console a bit of a facelift in the noise department. Don’t get me wrong my TV sounds ok but for games like Call of duty this thing really enhances the experience. The overall output of the system is up to 400 Watts (100 of which are the subwoofer) this is plenty enough to get the booming of tanks and aircraft literally screaming past you, I love it!. There are multiple modes on the speaker to suit your preferred set up including the most useful something called “night time mode”, this balances all of the output to allow quiet volume but still be able to hear voices clearly (perfect when people are in bed). The setup supports Bluetooth so great for parties when you want a playlist from your phone on. There are a couple of ways to connect the bar to the TV, either use the optical cable and a HDMI if your tv doesn’t support ARC or just a HDMI lead if it does (not supplied). The only thing I note is that Sony’s claim to be Dolby Atmos is not strictly true as the bar does not have upward facing speakers, rather Sony has emulated the effect of “height stacking” into its hardware to give the effect of surround sound. The included remote control makes using the setup easy and having a wireless connection between the woofer and the bar means one less cable to plug in. I hope you found the review useful, please feel free to ask any questions.
Update after a few weeks of use:
I have come to realise that my TV is ancient and needs updating as it doesn’t have an optical cable input or support ARC (audio return channel) if your tv has ARC support then you can just plug a HDMI cable through the tv and thats it. If you don’t have ARC then you will need to use both a HDMI and the included Optical cable as well otherwise things wont work. For me this isn’t a problem as I run my laptop through the TV and switch the Bluetooth on the laptop on, this works perfectly and saved me the embarrassment of having to go shopping for a new TV.
I have had a play around with the settings and experimented a bit to see what sounds I can get out. so far the most used setting is the immersive audio which seems to sound the best for me. I was pleased to see that you can separately adjust the subwoofers bass output to suit (it was making my glass cabinet next to it shake!.) I really like this sound bar and without it switched on my TV sounds pathetic (although the neighbours probably prefer it!)
An amazing soundbar that doesn’t require you to connect much of any cables except the 2 power cables that come for the soundbar and subwoofer and an optical cable but not including an HDMI 2.1 cable to actually make Dolby Atmos work seems to be an unnecessary inconvenience on the customer.
This soundbar seems to take several steps forwards with some noticeable steps backwards with one being no rear speaker support unlike the Sony ZF9 but has some amazing implementation of surround sound through their surround sound upscaling technology on none supported sound. It isn’t true surround because of the rear speakers simply not being supported but it definitely does a nice job if you don’t want the clutter of extra speakers, but I don’t see what the issue of simply having the option available would cost them if someone wanted them later down the line?
All in all, I am extremely happy with the audio, with pretty much anything you listen to feeling a lot more crisp and clear with it being able to decode sounds that just simply aren’t there on any TV’s speakers. Also, when you enable the sound feature on this soundbar, it definitely makes the audio a lot easier to hear.
At an affordable price for having Dolby Atmos support, this is the soundbar you want to get for the convenience as the subwoofer is completely wireless, amazing value for money and being up to date by having eARC (using the full bandwidth of an HDMI 2.1 cables) and having both Dolby Atmos and DTS X support all in one, at an affordable price