A excessive finish expertise at a premium worth

A soundbar is maybe the best method to enhance the sound high quality of your TV setup and the one which requires the least tools. Whilst you might go down the rabbit gap of encompass sound techniques, multi-speaker setups, or wiring your partitions and ceiling for sound, a well-placed, high quality soundbar will get you many of the method there. The Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 9 is the most recent top-of-the-line soundbar from Sony, and with its help for Dolby Atmos sound and 360-degree spatial mapping, it guarantees to be the closest factor to a single-device alternative for an actual encompass sound system. I bought to spend a while with the Theater Bar 9 in my residence whereas testing the Sony Bravia 9 TV, to see if it actually lived as much as that promise.

Editor’s Selection

Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 9

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 9 gives an immersive and theatrical sound expertise utilizing solely a soundbar, thanks largely to Dolby Atmos sound in addition to the 13 audio system organized all through the Theater Bar 9. 

Execs

• Easy setup
• Superior Dolby Atmos sound

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Value, availability, and specs

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 9 retails for $1,400 and is accessible at Amazon, Greatest Purchase, and immediately from Sony on-line.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 9 soundbar boasts 13 audio system positioned all through its 51″ lengthy body. This powered soundbar is Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled however is primarily supposed to output the audio out of your TV with greater, higher sound than your TV is able to by itself.

This high-end soundbar helps Dolby Atmos amongst a slew of supported codecs, permitting the Theater Bar 9 to supply 360-degree spatial sound, mimicking the auditory expertise of a 7.1 encompass sound system. When arrange with video pass-through to your TV, the Theater Bar 9 helps Dolby Imaginative and prescient, 4K HDR, and even 8K HDR by HDMI.

Customers may also wirelessly stream their music to the soundbar utilizing Spotify Join, Apple AirPlay 2, and Bluetooth.

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What I preferred concerning the Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 9

Straightforward setup and nice sound

The soundbar was a breeze to arrange, taking about 5 minutes to get it out of the field and join the correct HDMI out and in cables to the again of the soundbar. After powering it on, I used to be in a position to make use of the BRAVIA Join app, which walked me by the remainder of the setup course of, together with utilizing my cellphone as a microphone to assist within the spatial mapping audio setup for Dolby Atmos.

As soon as I used to be up and operating, I began watching the primary episode of the newest season of Stranger Issues, which helps Dolby Atmos sound. I’ve to say, it was actually unbelievable. Your complete opening of the episode was designed to be a medley of ambient sounds, just like the wheels of a motorbike, a kettle coming to a boil, a pencil writing on a web page, and a kitchen timer going off.

Every sound got here alive with depth and course, easing you into the auditory phantasm of Dolby Atmos. I felt like sounds have been coming from behind me or beside me, although I used to be totally conscious the soundbar was positioned squarely in entrance of me. It is actually fairly spectacular, and one thing that must be skilled to completely perceive.

Turning up the amount on voices

The Theater Bar 9 gives a function that Sony is asking Voice Zoom 3, which it says is “powered by AI machine studying” that may acknowledge human voices in no matter you are watching and amplify or scale back them independently of the remainder of the audio. Truthfully with quite a lot of fashionable motion pictures and TV reveals, I discover that the audio combine makes it tough for me to know what persons are saying, although perhaps I am simply getting previous. Actually although I used this function consistently and was impressed how effectively it labored with out amplifying extraneous noises.

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What I did not like concerning the Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 9

Tv as a middle speaker

One of many integrations the Theater Bar 9 gives with Sony BRAVIA televisions is the choice to make use of the TV as the middle speaker. Whereas this will amplify middle channel audio, corresponding to dialogue, it in the end diminishes the general audio high quality. I spent fairly a little bit of time watching TV and films whereas utilizing a Sony BRAVIA 9 as a middle speaker by the Theater Bar 9 connection, and it grew to become distracting to listen to among the middle audio popping out of the much less spectacular built-in audio system, so I in the end unplugged it and went again to solely utilizing the Theater Bar 9.

Verdict: Do you have to purchase the Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 9?

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 9 is definitely one of many highest-end soundbars in the marketplace at this time, and its function set befits its worth. In my own residence, I’ve spent about the identical on my audio system and receiver setup, however that’s a lot tougher to maneuver, extra cumbersome to arrange, and much much less sightly than the smooth Theater Bar 9.

360-degree spatial audio, Dolby Atmos, and a direct video pass-through setup make the Theater Bar 9 sound completely attractive, whereas being extraordinarily straightforward to arrange. Its HDMI inputs make it appropriate with nearly any console, tv, or PC, although pairing with a Sony TV permits for easier management over your complete setup from the BRAVIA Join app or a single distant management.

In case you do not at present have an audio setup apart out of your TV’s built-in audio system, the BRAVIA Theater Bar 9 could be an amazing place to start out.

Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 9