Does Sony's BEST SOUNDBAR Finally Compete? Sony Bravia Bar 9 Review

📌 SHOP THE SONY BRAVIA BAR 9 SOUNDBAR, SUBWOOFER AND SURROUNDS

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📌 TESTING THE SONY BRAVIA THEATRE BAR 9

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📌 SONY BRAVIA BAR 9 REVIEW Does Sony's BEST SOUNDBAR Finally Compete?

00:00 SONY BRAVIA BAR 9 REVIEW
01:40 SONY BAR 9 ECO-SYSTEM (SUB + SURROUNDS)
02:11 TESTING THE BAR 9
02:52 HOW TO SET UP THE SONY BAR 9
04:38 SONY CENTER SYNC
05:04 SOUND QUALITY: JUST THE BAR 9
06:30 SONY 360 vs DOLBY vs DTS ON THE BAR 9
08:57 THE SONY BAR 9 WITH THE SUB AND SURROUNDS
11:46 GAMING WITH THE SONY BAR 9
13:03 ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
14:38 SONY BAR 9 vs SAMSUNG Q990D
15:25 SONY BAR 9 vs SONOS PREMIUM ENTERTAINMENT SET (the ARC)
15:50 SONY BRAVIA THEATRE 9 vs SONY BRAVIA THEATRE QUAD

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[andrewrobinsonreviews]

😀Thank you for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please hit the 👍Like button!
🙏 Please stay on topic and be respectful. 🚫No links, self-promotion, or personal info.

[nelsondesilva]

Brutal! Leaves no doubt for anyone considering this as a purchase. Wish more reviews were like this.

[Harry-Giles]

Wow. This Sony gets the faintest of praise. It’s a competitive market and, Andrew, you have done a fantastic job laying out the options for those looking to get an excellent product.

[dpcummerbund]

This sub-bar combo is a sub-par combo."

Fixed the headline for you!

[stevewilson]

Hi Andrew, I have the Samsung 990d, agree with you, at its price point it’s exceptional value.

[olugbengadavidakinmosin]

Hi, Great review. Actually enjoying my experience with the Bar 9. From a previous owner of the HTA7000, I recently got the Theater bar 9 . I have to say this is a big improvement from the 7000. I noticed that the Earc handshake issues with my Lg G3 are totally gone now, no more randomly turning off, skipping or switching inputs. Wifi connection has also improved, i haven't experienced a single drop out which was regular on the hta 7000. I am not a fan of the new remote control which u didn't mention, no surround level control and they took away the extra HDMI input leaving just 1 compared to 2 from the 7000.Also, no display on the bar 9 so u can't see volume level except through the app. For sound quality, I have the SW5 sub and SAR5 surrounds all connected together because I just believe no sound bar can truly replicate physical speakers. I think its a big improvement from the 7000, like u said the dolby and dts virtualization are all trash, only the 360 spatial sounds good. I am happy u also pointed out that not all sound mixes are created equal and the actual way to get a true feel for the sound is through a physical disc not streaming compressed sound. Ironically, Sony did not include the vertical surround engine in the Bar 9 which i used in the Hta 7000 instead of the 360 spatial. I have to turn on auto adjust volume to juice up the sound quality and DRC to off to get the best out of this bar. I believe this will be the sweet spot for most listeners. Like u said, Also the SAR5 rear speakers are better integrated into the sound field and seem to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting, sometimes a little too much compared to the a7000 which i used to wonder if they were even on during movies. I have to say that I actually love this sound bar with the add-ons, the sound has weight. Sony should put in an actual equalizer and center speaker control which will solve a lot of the problems people will have but i am sure they wont.

Edit: Quick demo: If u have the transformers 4 :Age of extinction physical disc. skip to chapter 11. there is a voice that says galvatron and stinger coming online overhead, simply amazing. The whole action scene has weight like i have never felt before. Also dont skip the 2 level sound optimization especially the one u have to use ur phone microphone to locate ur sitting position, very important.

[Alexkiaro]

I have the hta7000, I really wanted Bose for their signature sound and to compliment all the rest of the Bose speakers we have in each room of the house, but we went for the ht because of our Sony A90j. 2 years later found the setting on how to adjust literally every single speaker on the soundbar, rears and even make the sub louder beyond the generic heights of sound field. Ht7000 is way more adjustable and customizable then any YouTube review has shown me, which honestly feels like no one gave the ht7000 a full shot. I’m sure the bar 9 has similar settings for all 10+ speaker levels for high volume levels. I fine tuned it probably 20 times and it now sounds even better then Bose or Sonos(I’ve tinker with my friends Sonos and Bose). And ht7000 is way better for allowing literal deep customization to the bar, rears and sub. I definitely advise discovering the adjustments for all speaker levels and adjust them all manually for best sounds for maximum and personal audiological preferences you’ll be blown away by this surround ability. Once you do the auto set up/mappping. Audio settings 360 mapping off<back button<speaker setting<speaker setting information<manual speaker setting volume<manual speaker setting and start tweaking. Once done tweaking each and all single speakers, which by the way allows the rears to sound 2/3 times louder, retrace and turn on 360 and optimization.

Make upward speakers to fire up louder by doubling ceiling height, couch distance further apart and the db levels to mid. I’m blown away and thankful I discovered how to unlocked this greyed out manual speaker setting. lol

Honestly, adjusting each speaker to fire upwards a littler louder makes a world of difference. Someone may decided rears are to loud, others may say the bar is loud enough, or to loud, we’ll find these settings and customize. Definitely set the speakers to be double in distance from the couch. I wanted Bose but this better after finally recovering each and every single speaker level adjustment. I have spent a week figure out how much louder each speakers should be for best sound stage and experience. Definitely double at 1st, beam twisters not be over adjusted tho, those are sensitive. Keep matching speakers at similar, sound bars front speakers are loud as it so don’t go crazy on that. Definitely turn on the 360 and map adjustment back on, I say unlock the speakers by steps written above, but don’t mess any other setting up. Just turn off and turn on the 360 optimization for level adjustment each time. It’s a lot of work but you’ll make the sony bar rears and sub a better louder sound stage at low control volume. At 35-45 percent volume adjustment with the sub at level 4, our living room sounds amazing for either music, shows or film. Rain sounds amazing. Also, anyone with high end sound system should stream hifi for amazing music fyi. The ht7000 is better with music after speaker adjustments. This is a perfect sound bar and powerful beyond what we can actually use with out bother neighbors. I now for sure know we made the best choice by not getting Bose, Sonos, or Samsung after this discovered super well hidden setting. lol Definitely recommend the hta7000 now over any other for a Sony tv or or none. So much better to have the Sony tv as center channel tho. Really completes and the system to use the tv. Adjusting the soundbar, reads levels to louder makes the tvs volumes to be a behind them without competing in the perfect harmony of sound. Wish I’d know this setting from the getco. lol

Definitely advise installing and starting with Sonys 360 calibration, then once sound bar is calibrated and set up. Audio settings 360 mapping off<back button<speaker setting<speaker setting information<manual speaker setting volume<manual speaker setting and start tweaking. Then once you are done adjusting loudness of each speaker, retrace grey out and turn on Sonys 360/dolby. Each time you want to adjust you have to repeated these steps. Well worth to get a better desired performance.

[ChinCycling]

I just bought the A7000 and SW5 sub on clearance to go with my 85in X90L and most of my decision was based on looks lol, sorry to say but the bar 9 looks cheap, doesn’t look like a premium product, the A7000 looks so much better and premium, I’m extremely happy with my A7000, I’m not an audiophile but it’s the best sound I’ve ever heard from a soundbar and combined with the sub it’s incredible

[hangwannabe]

For $1200 at Best Buy, I'm a bit shocked that it doesn't come with a sub or something extra...

[jaystarr]

0:56 I love the popping sound when the logos come on screen.

[Scottishbear]

After listening to the Sony 9. Samsung hw-q990c is the best value, especially at current pricing. It's not even close

[markchristopher]

Thank you Andrew, for your review of the Sony Bravia Bar 9 and Prior to this the Quad.

I am in / on the market to upgrade my TV (ZD9 75 ") Broken to The Bravia 9 85" and Quad, although this will not happen until around December as money is tight.

It's been very hard being without a TV since February 2024 however, like all things in life, good things come to those who wait.

Thank you again

From Mark UK

[LaMonttheW]

I believe the bar 9 and 8 we’re meant to be only used with the new sony bravia tv lineup. They sound much better when paired up with zoom 3. Skip and go with the Samsung if you don’t have a 2024 sony bravia tv

[wellyboot]

Your comment on gaming made me curious as it’s one area I have yet to use my Bar 9, RS5 and SW3 on. I just tried TLOU2 set to Dolby Atmos and Home Theatre in the options, with 3D channels and Max dynamic range. Sound field on the Bar 9 set to on and 360 Spatial Mapping selected. I have absolutely no issues locating where enemies are or objects are placed in the room. The sound is quite clearly coming from the Bar 9 and isn’t focused on the RS5s; they are present but certainly aren’t overwhelming the front of the room. A good scene to play is ‘Jackson - Waking Up’ as there’s plenty of dialogue around Ellie from villagers and also the snowball fight is good for object and people placement. Really not sure why you’ve had such a negative experience, I wonder if the calibration needs redoing. It’s quite strange how different it can sound depending on where the calibration takes place. I have the PS5 going through an LG G2 with eARC set to Auto (there appears to be an issue decoding Atmos when set to pass through on some TVs, as reported on AV Forums and AVS Forum) 12:24

[Monsux]

True immersive surround experience while gaming seems like a hard task for most soundbars. I'm so used to pinpoint different type of tiny sounds in the environment on my main HT setup, and I just realized that this isn't probably the average user experience. It's just so nice to instantly locate subtle hints while gaming. I wish soundbar manufacturers would spend more time designing their products for gaming + offer proper calibration tools to set up the surround sound.

[Genehow-ard]

Off topic, but Monitor Audio has a new bookshelf speakers on the market and oh my is it a beauty.

[gazmendamiti]

"locating baddies"😂. Doesn't mean the same these days

[aospkitkat]

Waiting to hear about the Bravia 9 mini LED from you guys.

[GreggRoberts]

Can I get two of those sound bars so I can have stereo? Or can I get the sound bar that's 15 foot wide?

[stes]

Bought it Loved it
Added the sw3 sub 3 days later The missing link
Now I have cinema in my living room and music is unreal