Customer Ratings & Reviews

Just installed Sony Bravia Bar7 & Sub7, installed Rocketfish hdmi cable inside wall, with Rocketfish surge protector, connected to 77” Sony A80L in our master bedroom. Sounds like a dream & worth every penny, shaking the 10’ ceilings in our home! Love it!

BACKGROUND: I currently own and have in use six competing brands of soundbars from entry level, mid-range level, to very high-end level. This Sony Bravia Theater Bar 7 with Sub 7 will be a seventh with the goal being to replace a mid-level soundbar in our family room on a HDTV (Sony XBR55X850D) with this high-end model. I recognize my Sony TV is from 2017 and does not support eARC HDMI, only ARC HDMI. Therefore, some soundbar features may not function as currently designed. BOTTOM LINE: The Sony Bravia Theater Bar-7 + Sub-7 is an excellent choice in a medium to large sized room when used with ATMOS media at higher listening levels. And it can provide more than sufficient volume without noticeable distortion. Plus, the actors’ dialogue can be clearer and understandable when using the Voice Mode. The Sub-7 may not blow some away, but for our family room use, it is an adequately size subwoofer option with more than acceptable low bass response. The three CONS of this system encountered are: Lower volume levels lack treble and clarity sounding muffled that I could not dial out. A somewhat lengthy setup procedure that was marred by repeated lockups during firmware updates. And the Bravia Connect Application that does not include any EQ Options or even a basic Treble cut/boost control. RATING: After using the Sony Bravia Theater Bar-7 + Sub-7 for the past week, I believed it earned itself a solid 4-Star Rating. Excellent sound output projecting in multiple directions with Dolby Atmos media, especially with the volume slightly cranked up. WOULD I RECOMMEND: That depends… To me, this system is currently designed and voiced to be pushed at higher volumes where it sounds excellent. In a dedicated theater room, I would certainly recommend others to give it a try. But if you are looking for a system that can also sound great at normal or lower listening levels in a living or family room, then look elsewhere and save yourself the extra financial outlay. TL;DR CONNECTIVITY: I would consider the Bar-7 a “high-end” audio option with advanced technology features in a Soundbar + Sub format. And I am discovering most 2026 vendors no longer support multiple source inputs as were provided in the past. Therefore, the Bar-7 with a single eARC/HDMI output, and a singe HDMI input appears to be in line with today’s soundbars connectivity options. Switching source options provided include TV, HDMI, & BT. There is no optical. APPLICATION - NO: As with all of my soundbar setups, I will initially demo for one day without installing the vendor’s application. Goal being to confirm audio functionality with only the supplied remote. And yes, the Bar-7 appears to function just fine on its own without an APP. REMOTE: Buttons for Power, Input, Volume, Mute, plus a Bass plus-minus control. And the three Audio Modes Options (Night, Sound Field, & Voice) can be selected with the supplied remote. I will mention the remote is very small and no doubt be lost in our couch cushions at some future point in time. APPLICATION - YES: Day two, downloaded the Sony BRAVIA Control App to my Pixel-10 Android phone. To use this app, Sony requires you to create an online account and provide personal information for login credentials. Yeah, I know, another online account… But using the application does provide features and options beyond those available through the remote. Of significant importance is the ability to update the firmware. Other settings are the Sound Field Optimization procedure that will perform a calibration fine-tuning this system to your room acoustical environment. Plus, you can adjust the Height of the Sound Field (Lower, Default, Higher). There are other categories of configuration allowing changes to numerous options and features of this system specific to the user’s requirements. Finally, there is an online Help Manual. EQ OPTIONS: What is missing from the Bravia Control Application are Equalization (EQ) Options as a quick way to adjust the audio output depending upon the media being sourced, or when used at reduced volumes. All of my other soundbars include some EQ Options/Effects that I find extremally beneficial. And I believe by Sony not including them limits the Soundbar’s overall usefulness. Some examples of EQ Options are: Standard, Movie, Sports, News, Music, Game, Custom, etc. Note that there is a Bass EQ adjustment option, but no Treble EQ option that I found very odd. Overall, it’s very disappointing for a high-end soundbar in this price range to intentionally omit EQ options. SETUP: Installing the Sony Bravia Application will initiate the setup process. First creating an account with login credentials and connecting to your WiFi network. The APP will require pairing with the system. A firmware update is also in the mix too. And adding additional wireless surround speakers and/or the Bar-7 Subwoofer. I must mention that during the application installation process, the subwoofer became un-paired with soundbar. Don’t know what happed, but it would not re-connect just by power off/on or using the Sub “Pair” button. Anyway, using the application to setup the soundbar, the APP found the soundbar and the firmware was successfully updated. Then the APP stepped thru the procedure to add the sub. OK, it found the Bar-7 Sub and re-paired with the soundbar. Great! But here is where it went downhill. The APP then tried to update what I assume was the Bar-7 Subwoofer firmware and it would not complete failing with “Failed to connect to Soundbar. Setup has been Canceled. Check that Soundbar is turned on and retry the setup”. Repeated attempts to restart the Setup Procedure continually failed once it got to that point. Using all of my “Félix the Cat Bag of Tricks”, I eventually found deleting the Application Cache was the ticket. Finally got the Setup to complete and update the Sub-7 firmware. Bottom line, the setting up of this Sony soundbar is not for the faint of heart and may require outside support assistance. What should have been a 10-minute job took around 2-hours. And I like to believe I know what I’m doing having setup over a dozen soundbars over the years for myself, friends, and family members. The Bar-7 didn’t beat me, but it certainly put up a fight. MODES: There are three modes: Night, Sound Field, and Voice that can be used individually, or collectively. I found using the Sound Field with Voice modes for movies provided the most immersive soundstage in my family room setup with understandable dialogue. Also, I set the Bass Level to +3 and I do use the Advance Auto Volume feature. The Night Mode comes into play for just watching TV News type shows. SOUNDSTAGE: As expected, the overall soundstage is better than average with Dolby Atmos media. And I found cranking the volume up a tad beyond my normally listing levels really pushes the Bar-7 system to excel and earn its MSRP. But what I didn’t expect was at reduced listening levels for general TV are well, just OK lacking clarity and fails to compete with two of my mid-range soundbar systems. As mentioned before, a few EQ Options would go a long way with perfecting a good system into a great system. SUB-7: The included subwoofer is quite a step up versus no sub. One caveat is this system can produce IMAX Enhanced audio if the soundbar is paired with rear speakers and the Sub-8 or Sub-9 subwoofer, but not the Sub-7. Anyway, I have placed the Sub-7 behind our corner table and it sounds just find bouncing bass off the corner walls. CONTROLS & LIGHTS: There is only one control on the Bar-7 Soundbar. It is a small power On/Off switch somewhat hidden on the right-hand side rear corner that can also be used for a master reset. And the only indication of operation, are two very small LED lights on the front lower right-hand side. One White-Light that will light up whenever a function is selected or changed. The other is a Multicolored-Light to indicate different options or operations being performed. With the APP, you can change the intensity of the lights from Dark, Light, or just turn Off. Note you must reference the manual for what the different colors, with varying flashing patterns, actual mean. This renders the lights as basically an On/Off indicator. I would prefer an actual LED multi-lettered scrolling screen that displays what function this system is truly performing, versus digging thru a 77-page online or PDF manual to differentiate what a “flashing blue light” versus a “flashing light blue light” means (answers on page 10 & 11). By hey, that’s me. NO SOUND ISSUE: OK, the Bar-7 failed to produce sound on day-three. Happened once one morning when my wife said she just was changing TV channels. Soundbar was working fine, then would not produce any audio. Failed with all three inputs: TV, HDMI, and BT. Tried powering off/on with the side power button, but that did not help. To resolve I had to unplug the soundbar, wait a few seconds, then re-apply power, for sound to be restored. PACKAGING: Finally, I must mention the L-Shaped packaging is over designed to prevent even the most aggressive or clumsy delivery personnel from damaging the contents. The packaging alone weighs in at a hefty 17 pounds and is constructed of heavy-duty cardboard. Internally are additional cardboard block spaces to both absorb shock and assist with the removal of the contents (Soundbar, Sub, Mounting Bracks, HDMI and Power Cables). And there is zero Styrofoam; thank you. I normally do not spend review time describing “a shipping box”, but in this case I will acknowledge Sony is definitely going the extra mile with both preventing possible shipping damage along with a good-earth recycling mindset. Great Job!

I want to get this out of the way: this soundbar is expensive. You can find other, cheaper products out there that might, to most people, sound the same. But for those that care about having the best sound possible, this is one of, if the not the best, soundbar picks out there. IN THE BOX Sony does a great job of giving you everything you need for setting up your soundbar. Inside the box you’ll obviously find the soundbar and the subwoofer. There are power cables for each. You’ll also get an HDMI cord (which you don’t see much anymore), and wall mounting brackets. SETUP Keep in mind that the instructions state that the soundbar should be placed somewhat close to the soundbar. Because both units require power, you will need to ensure there’s a plug nearby for both (might not be an issue for most, but I could see it causing some issues for others). You will need to download the Bravia Connect app to help with setup. There are QR codes in the packaging to find it if you don’t already have it. You’ll need to create a Sony account. I personally ran into issues during setup. The app kept getting hung up when checking for updates for wireless speakers (I didn’t have wireless speakers, which you could purchase separately). Granted, the sound was working just fine despite the issues; I just couldn’t finish calibrating the sound. Eventually however, after multiple attempts, I was able to get through it, and able to to calibrate the sound. The part of the setup I did like - beyond those issues - was that it plays sound and uses your phones microphone to estimate the distance of the speakers. Doing so allows the app to properly calibrate the sound to give you the best experience possible.This is how you optimize the 360 spatial sound. One other thing to keep in mind, and it’s very important, your TV must have ARC HDMI. Most TVs, even 10 year old+ TVs, but the HDMI must connect to that port in your TV. That allows your remote to control the sound. And there is one HDMI input. That would allow you to run say a PS5 into the soundbar. Of course, you should be able to connect that same HDMI port into another one in your TV to get the same sound experience. The point is, don’t expect the soundbar to replace a receiver that has multiple HDMI ports for all your devices. Again, for most people’s setup where you might use a soundbar, this is more than adequate. THE SOUND EXPERIENCE The soundbar has 9 drivers in it. The drivers fire sound upwards and to the sides. So it creates the Dolby Atmos experience by literally bouncing soundwaves off the wall. It does a wonderful job of recreating the sound experience you would typically expect out of a traditional home receiver and 7 plus speaker setup. Now, would it best a true Dolby experience with 7 plus speakers? Probably not, but for most people, and especially for setups that prohibit such a complicated setup, you will be impressed. I was watching soccer and was extremely impressed with the clarity, especially dialogue. Crowds from the sound felt like they were coming from behind me. Watching movies with gunfire and explosions was also impressive as it felt like the sounds were surrounding me. It truly blows the speakers built into your TV out of the water. I highly recommend getting any soundbar to better the viewing performance of your TV, and I really recommend this Sony soundbar if it’s within your budget. CONCLUSION This soundbar is expensive, but you're getting a relatively simple and straightforward setup, with true Dolby Atmos surround sound that enhances everything you’re watching on your TV.

This soundbar setup delivers strong home theater performance. The main bar with its nine speaker units, including up-firing and side-firing drivers, creates a wide and immersive surround effect using 360 Spatial Sound Mapping. Paired with the wireless Sub 7, it provides deep, controlled bass that adds impact to movies and music. Dialogue stays clear thanks to the dedicated center channel, and the overall sound is balanced and cinematic for most content. Setup worked fine through HDMI eARC on my non-BRAVIA TV, though some advanced integration features are clearly designed for Sony BRAVIA models. I have run into several issues with software updates, which have been frustrating and required multiple attempts to get everything running smoothly. Once updated, it supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X well, filling the room with enveloping sound for action scenes and atmospheric tracks. Volume gets plenty loud while remaining clear, and the sub integrates nicely for extra low-end punch. I have used it for movies, streaming shows, and music playback. It consistently impresses with how it improves on basic TV speakers. The build feels solid and premium, and the compact design fits neatly under the screen. If you are looking for an upgrade that brings theater-like sound without a full speaker system, this BRAVIA Theater Bar 7 with the Sub 7 is a capable choice, though be prepared for potential software hiccups and less seamless integration without a matching Sony TV.

I currently own an 11.2 surround system with ceiling speakers and all. So I am completely immersed with audio for a home theater system. I also own 2 other Sony Sound bars and I am a fan of Sony all together. This Bravia theater bar 7 really makes me question my 11.2 system. We will get to that in a few. Lets talk about setup and operation. Setup took about 20 mins. The package came nicely done. All paper so low carbon footprint. Everything was nicely wrapped and the instructions to scan QR code to setup was all there. Came with everything you need. Remote, HDMI cable, wall brackets, AAA battery, power cords etc. Only comes with 2 HDMI inputs. 1 with ARC 1 with no ARC. This means you can have analog or fiber optic inputs. There is also the option to stream via Bluetooth from your mobile device. Setup requires you to update the firmware. This took the longest. It took about 20 mins. 1 for the sound bar 1 for the base unit. Then you have to plug in your HDMI source and start the pairing process and you are up and running. Optimization process was pretty easy. Just walk through it with your mobile device and you are in. You can also be use Spotify as an option that is native to the sound bar. Ok. Now sound quality is where it matters. Voice is great. Some devices have issues with voice and dialogue and having to modify settings. This sound bar no need. Dialogue is ice and clear. Also action shows come out great. Explosions and fire fights come to full life. I wished it came with rear speakers but I can buy those on my own if I want to or use my other ones from my other systems if I want to. Compared to my 11.2 wired system make me rethink my 11.2 system and how it compares to bravoa 7 sound bar. Great buy. Great sound. Good job Sony.

I have some mixed feelings on the Bravia Bar 7 and Sub 7 and I come from the somewhat unique position of having owned the Bravia Bar 6 for the past year. I think the soundbar is good and produces very convincing Atmos/surround audio from a single unit, but I’ve been underwhelmed by the subwoofer. In some ways I actually prefer the Bravia Bar 6. Fortunately, the Bar 7 does have options to expand and I think pairing it with either a larger subwoofer or an additional Sub 7 could go a long way. The Bravia Bar + Sub 7 comes in The standard P-shaped box that includes the soundbar, subwoofer, accessories. The accessories box includes a basic remote, HDMI cable, wall mounting brackets and riser feet. The remote is nothing special, but it gets the job done in a pinch and for the most part it’s going to live in a drawer anyway. The HDMI cable is about 5ft long and was just a little bit too short for my setup, so I ended up using a different one. The Bravia Bar 7 comes with 9 speakers built in and this includes 3 front speakers, 2 front woofers, 2 up-firing speakers, and 2 side-firing speakers. It’s about 37.25 inches long, 2.5 inches high, and 5 inches deep. I saw just a single button for power on the unit itself. The Sub 7 is 14.25 inches tall, 5.25 inches wide, and 13.75 inches deep. So both units are pretty compact. The subwoofer can be positioned either parallel or perpendicular to the wall, though the side-firing speaker does limit its placement against a TV stand and I ended up having to place it on the opposite side that I normally would. For ports, there is a single HDMI eARC output and one HDMI input. The HDMI input is HDMI 2.1 and supports the full HDMI 2.1 feature set. I’ve seen higher-end soundbars with 2 HDMI inputs, but having the one at least to replace the one the soundbar takes up is good enough for me. The setup is guided through the Bravia Connect app, which walks you through connecting the soundbar to the TV, linking to the subwoofer, and performing the sound optimization tests. The Bravia 7 uses your phone and the soundbar to analyze the room and your listening position to help optimize the audio and place the ‘virtual speakers’ in your room. I did get stuck on the update screen on my initial setup and ended up having to do a factory reset, but the second attempt at the setup went smoothly. I listened to the soundbar connected to a 75” TV to a variety of TV shows and movies with varying levels of 5.1, Atmos, etc. I will say off the bat that the soundbar does a great job of positioning audio, at least in my room. I toggled between having the ‘Sound Field’ option and off, which adds spatial audio to any source. It was tough to decide, but I think it sounds best with it on. The sound is clear and does not distort at high volumes. The subwoofer is a different story for me. I think the output from such a small unit is good and it provides a nice balance to the soundbar. It works fine for general TV watching, but for movies it really doesn’t provide the immersion I was hoping for, even with the bass turned all the way to max. I’ve tried redoing the sound optimizations and messing with different settings multiple times, but I just couldn’t get it to a level I was very happy with. Sony does have larger subwoofers that can pair with Bravia Bar 7 and you can even add another Sub 7 to the setup, so you’re not at a dead-end, but the out of the box experience with just this single subwoofer paired was a bit of a letdown for me, especially with this positioned as a ‘mid-range’ system. Overall, I think the Bravia Bar 7 is a very good compact soundbar and the Sub 7 is just okay. If I were buying this, I’d probably get the Bravia Bar 7 on its own and try pairing it with the Sub 8. Or possibly add an additional Sub 7 to fill out the low-end.

This has been a great speaker setup so far. The only issue I had was related to set up, but it has worked flawlessly after. You will need the Bravia connect app to properly set up the soundbar and change settings, but it works well when paired. Pros: Sound Quality Design Virtual Surround Cons: Bravia connect app Fickle setup Setup: After connecting it and installing the Bravia connect app, the soundbar initially had issues detecting my Samsung tv via e-Arc. After a few tries it finally made the handshake and I was able to continue the setup. Next, it tried to pair the subwoofer, I was surprised it wasn’t already tied to the soundbar but you need to press the link button to get them talking when that step is ready. The app tried to force an update on the subwoofer but it got stuck right at 100% and prompted me to restart the setup process multiple times. After unplugging everything and starting over it was successful. After all this every feature works fine and connects flawlessly. The quality of the device feels solid but is largely covered in fabric. This is not a big issue but keep it mind if you have pets you are likely to get lots of hair on it. Sound Quality: Being a high end Sony product, the output is outstanding. There is a large difference between modes in one setting worth noting: “Advanced auto volume” This is essentially a volume leveler feature, but I found myself toggling it on and off multiple times. When on, you will get more leveled output which makes the full range easier to hear. I found that having it on drastically reduces the bass output though and when I want to watch a movie or listen to music with bass, I turn it off to increase the difference in dynamic range. Most devices do not have such a large difference between level settings so I was just surprised at this. The dynamic range is extremely large between low and high frequencies when turned off. Music and movies sound great, especially with anything that supports Dolby Atmos as the speakers do a great job at reproducing directional audio with its built-in trickery. There are three settings to play with here to find what best fits your use case. Default is Sony’s own 360 Spatial Sound Mapping which I believe uses the “mapped” out acoustics of your room to get the best results. There is also a Dolby Speaker Virtualizer which does it’s thing for any output other than DTS, last there is DTS Neural:X which is for anything below 96 kHz in non-Dolby formats. Connectivity: Bluetooth 6.0 appears to support LDAC for high quality streaming in 24 bit from your Android device. You can connect Apple devices via AAC/SBC but it will be in normal quality. As for Wi-Fi it appears to support up to Wi-Fi 6 which is fine and any interfaces I use via network such as Spotify Connect in Lossless. There is one HDMI port, I was unable to find the specification but it has zero issues with anything I threw at it, and depending on your format, it supports audio up to 192 kHz 24bit. Though this version I am reviewing has the soundbar and subwoofer, it can be paired with Sony rear speakers if desired.

The Sony Bravia theater bar 7 and sub are a nice combo for a medium to large sized room when you want a theater like experience at home. Unboxing the device you get the soundbar, sub, remote, hdmi cable, spacers that allow the sound bar to sit above certain tv stands and metal wall mounting brackets. When setting up the device it’s recommended to use the Sony Bravia app as it truly delivers the best experience from your sound bar. You can just connect it to your tv and control it with the included remote but you truly will be missing out. The app walks you thru the whole process to setup up the device to truly get the best sound from your sound bar as it uses your devices microphone to map and recommend the best settings. The app allows you to customize the sound a lot more than with the included remote. The only way to connect it to your tv is thru HDMI and specifically HDMI arc/earc. This obviously delivers the best audio, such as Dolby Atmos, but it also gives you voice sync correction so the audio isn’t out of sync and allows for your tv remote to automatically control your device without setup. If you want to use digital optical as your way of hooking up your soundbar, you’re out of luck as there isn’t one. Though digital optical can’t deliver Dolby Atmos, I still would have liked to have seen them include it for people who only have that option when hooking it up to there tv. Sound wise i was throughly impressed with the clarity of the cinematics when watching an action movie and the bass provides a nice balanced sound that’s not boomy. If you need more bass you can add an extra sub to the system as well as wireless rear speakers. Voice clarity was also exceptional even without changing the settings. Overall, it’s a nice sound bar and sub combo that delivers on that cinematic experience with movies and gaming and with built Airplay and Bluetooth that concert experience also.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 7 + Sub 7 is the first soundbar system I’ve owned that truly feels like a new category of home audio. After years with the HT‑CT800 and HT‑S40R, the Bar 7 doesn’t feel like a step forward — it feels like a complete rethinking of what a soundbar can be. And pairing it with the BRAVIA 8 II takes the experience even further. 1) Sound Field is the feature that changes everything Turn it off, and the Bar 7 sounds like every soundbar I’ve owned before: narrow, front‑focused, familiar. Turn it on, and the entire room becomes the speaker. The sound grows larger, fuller, and more spacious without ever becoming noisy. It’s not louder — it’s richer, more detailed, and more cinematic. 2) Virtual surround is surprisingly convincing Even after using real rear speakers with the HT‑S40R, the Bar 7 produces rear cues that genuinely feel like they come from behind me. Movement from front to back is smooth and believable, especially in atmospheric scenes like Jurassic Park Rebirth. 3) Dialogue clarity is another major strength With the BRAVIA 8 II’s Acoustic Center Sync, voices lock perfectly to the center of the screen. Combined with Voice Zoom, even quiet lines stand out clearly. The whisper “If you build it…” from Field of Dreams — normally buried in the mix — becomes audible and distinct without raising the volume. The Sub 7 adds tight, controlled low‑end that supports the entire soundstage. It doesn’t boom; it breathes. Footsteps, engines, and roars feel physical without muddying the mix. 4) And the BRAVIA 8 II completes the system Its picture quality, brightness, and contrast give the Bar 7 a visual partner worthy of its audio. The ACS integration makes dialogue placement feel seamless, and the TV’s cinematic tone mapping matches the Bar 7’s expansive sound perfectly. Together, they create a unified, theater‑like experience that feels intentional — not like separate devices working independently. Overall, the Bar 7 + Sub 7 paired with the BRAVIA 8 II delivers immersion, clarity, and spatial realism that traditional soundbars simply can’t match. It’s not just a better soundbar — it’s a room‑transforming audio system, especially when combined with Sony’s flagship OLED.

Got this with a new Sony OLED TV. It was not easy to hook up and took a while to get the subwoofer going. It sounds good now. I'm not sure I'd pay $1000 bucks for it though. Sounds just as good as my older Sony soundbar.

This soundbar is really nicely made and the pairing process to the Sony 65 inch 7ll tv was good but try pairing anything to the soundbar afterwards, like the Bravia 7 subwoofer, that’s paired with it or the Sony Bravia 9 rear speakers that won’t pair with this soundbar so I believe Sony put these Bravia series out too soon before fixing the lousy pairing process between them.

If you want cinema sound without gutting your wall for speaker wire, this is Sony swinging hard. It’s a 9-speaker-unit soundbar with a matching wireless sub, built to fake a full surround room using nothing but reflections and math. The Sound 360 Spatial Sound Mapping is the headline trick — it bounces audio off your ceiling and walls to conjure five phantom speakers around your listening position. Paired with the up-firing and side-firing drivers, you get real Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding, not a knockoff virtualization mode. Out of the box it’s a 5.0.2 setup; drop in the Sub 7 and it jumps to 5.1.2, freeing the bar itself to focus purely on mids and dialogue instead of straining for bass. The Bass The Sub 7 isn’t an afterthought — Sony’s Separated Notch Edge design keeps the diaphragm moving cleanly for deep, controlled low end instead of the boomy mess cheaper subs give you. And if one sub isn’t enough for your space, it supports dual-sub playback for genuinely room-filling low end. The Smart Stuff DSEE Ultimate resurrects compressed streaming audio in real time. Voice Zoom 3, powered by AI, locks dialogue clarity into place — and if you’re running a BRAVIA TV, the whole system folds directly into your TV’s Quick Settings menu, no separate remote fumbling. The BRAVIA Connect app gives you full control over room-specific sound tuning. The Verdict This is a soundbar that assumes you’ll want to grow into a full system — rear speakers and extra subs are all supported add-ons down the line. At $1,099.99, it’s not cheap, but it’s built like a foundation, not a one-and-done box. If you’ve already got a Bravia TV, this is the version of “buy once” that actually integrates instead of just sitting under the screen looking pretty.

We purchased this when our internal speaker gave way. A wonderful fix and probably one we should have had the entire time. Makes watching a movie like you are right in the middle of the action, only eating popcorn instead!

The product is awesome but the delivery and set up was a night mare.

Sony knocked this out of the park! Don't let the small size fool you. It's still a very energetic, balanced and well-executed sound that is sure to exceed your expectations! I have the Sony Bravia Theater Quad on my main TV and was rocking the built-in audio on my other TV, so this was quite the upgrade. This particular TV is in my bedroom, which may also contribute to how well and convincing the Dolby Atmos effects are because its a perfect square. I love that they also include a subwoofer. So many sound bars these days say they can achieve the sub effect without one and I've tried the Yamaha YSP-5600 and Devialet Dione and returned both because they just didn't deliver the punch I was looking for, for movies especially. What's also nice is that the subwoofer is wireless, so I don't have to have cables running all around my bedroom and in my limited time with this setup, I didn't notice any latency which can be common when you run components wirelessly. The subwoofer is also pretty thin so I wasn't expecting much, if we're being honest, but I was genuinely impressed with the delivery after watching several movies and TV shows with it. While I don't necessarily need to expand the footprint in my bedroom, I did reach out to Sony to inquire about expansion options and I'm happy to report you CAN pair rear speakers AND an additional sub with this if you wanted to according to the support rep. The sound bar itself is considerably shorter than many other ones I've tried out but Sony proves that you can still pack a punch and great audio into a smaller package. The back of the sound bar has two HDMI ports (one is eARC) and it comes with a remote but you'll want to download the Bravia Connect app to get the most out of this. The app is where you'll pair the subwoofer or additional speakers if you decide to get rears. The setup process is really intuitive. From there the sound bar is calibrated and you can adjust your bass level and the real magic begins. When listening to music, the sound bar does a great job recreating a feeling of being at a live show. The way it separates instruments and the clarity of vocals is really something to experience. If you want an even more immersive effect, you can enable Sound Field, but I found this to work better with movies than music. Music it does something funky to the voice clarity.

The packaging of this Soundbar was very good. I like the additional foam and protection they provided to make sure nothing was damaged in transit. Also, the boxes clearly marked a QR code to download the app to set up before proceeding. The setup was about 15 minutes. It required the creation of a Sony account which was cumbersome and the pairing of your soundbar and wireless sub to your phone then each other. The next part was helping tune the sound with your phone, which was a nice feature. The demo was very full, and the sound carried into the room. I connected the hdmi included from my earc port on my tv to the earc port on the soundbar. They did cover the other hdmi to avoid confusion. There was not additional setup needed on my tv. It just worked. Use: I loaded some movies and the sound was pretty full. I struggled to know what mode the soundbar was on since the remote allows you to cycle through sound field profiles but does not display them. Also, the app shows it as sound field on or off but not say surround, stereo, native, simulated surround, etc. I think the sound has good vocals for when there is dialogue or just generic tv. The sound during an action movie is very full and the sound filled the room as much as there can be from a soundbar. I did like the option where you could add wireless rear speakers and an additional rear subwoofer wirelessly. There was no issue with the sound quality or delay due to this being all wireless. I also like the size of everything. It is sleek and not too large, but the sound seems like there is a larger system playing which shows the improvement to the technology Sony has implemented. The included remote is nice but basic. You can adjust the basics like input, sound, bass level, sound field, power. There is an included wall mount bracket, but I have a tv stand I put mine on. Great to know this could fit on the wall for a sleek look. I would recommend this if you wanted high quality Dolby Atmos sound without the receiver and speakers that normally accompany this type of sound. Also, if you have a Sony or smart tv. Something about this soundbar just separates the lows, mids and highs very clearly, which is a real treat when watching movies or shows with action. The only thing I would consider is if I had a Sony TV then I would pair this but if I had another brand, I might look at their sound bar options before selecting this since the same manufacturer tends to offer the best integrations.

To briefly sum up my thoughts, I think this is a great set (sound, size, looks) that should work for most people and setups. I don’t normally comment on packaging, I guess unless it is noticeably good or noticeably bad, and it was the former here. Everything was compact, VERY safely packed, and came in one “b” shaped box, which, honestly, is something I have never seen before. You should not have an issue with shipment. You get everything you need to get up and running. The devices themselves, remote (a bit basic), HDMI and power cables, manuals, and some mounting hardware. I like the design and look. Yes, it is just a sound bar and sub, I get it, but I like the look. Minimalist. Matte black. Clean. Plain. Some may say boring, but it is perfect for me. Additionally, I appreciate the size. The bar itself is not overly large, about what you would expect, and the sub is a nice compact rectangle shape. That also was somewhat new to me, and I like that it kind of gives a little more flexibility in placement (and I like that it is just not a giant cube. It just looks better to me). Setup was fairly quick and mostly painless for me, again, about what you would expect. App based, as just about everything is these days, and quite simple. You more or less just walk through some steps and use your phone to get your optimal first settings. There will be an update, which does eat up some time, but I would think most should get done without much issue. As always though, I recommend you dig in to the settings where you can and dial things to your liking. It is always worth the time. As for sound, well, I think it sounds very good, and I am quite impressed. It delivers a clear, full sound, and handles surround very well (better than I was expecting going in). Dialogue comes through clearly and at good levels. I found this to be case at all volume levels, although I do think it excelled more towards the higher side. Bass is clearly present, deep, and clean. I would say it fills, but if I did have one small nitpick, it could just be a “tick” below that rumble that some may be looking for. Personally, my main use case is for movies (with a little TV and gaming) and I think it all sounds great and I am happy with it. Lastly, while I probably won’t use this much for music/podcasts it does work quite well here as well. Just something to note. Ultimately, I think this is a good set and I like it so far. I like the look and size, it sounds good, and perhaps most importantly to me, it makes my movie (and all really) watching experience better, more immersive, and simply just more fun. Further, while I don’t currently see a need, it is nice to know that I can add to the system if that changes in the future. More choice is always good. Taken as a whole, I think you get a lot here, and I think the value is definitely there.