Customer Ratings & Reviews

GREAT VALUE – GOOD SOUND – GOOD FEATURES REVIEW: Sony - 2.1-Channel Soundbar – Black Model:HTS200F Best Buy Tech Insider Network SUMMARY: Sound quality is VERY VERY subjective. Everyone hears a little differently and has different taste in highs lows etc. I highly suggest you try them out for yourself. For me, personally, I like crisp highs and heavy base. This speaker is zeroed in on the mid-range with decent enough base. I would recommend this for an affordable all around speaker that is clearly better than anything you will find built into a TV or monitor. UNBOXING: (see picture) INITIAL IMPRESSIONS: Well packaged and extras like a good size remote, and included thin digital audio cable is very nice. The first thing I noticed was that there are no analog inputs, so you must get your audio source from HDMI, Digital Audio (fiber), or a USB sound source. This is probably not a showstopper for most people. It is an attractive enough basic looking rectangular soundbar. PERFORMANCE / EASE OF USE: INITIAL SETUP: My first test of any speaker is to see how it performs with an analog signal from my turntable. So, I started out listening to a few albums. The first challenge was that I had to find an Analog to Bluetooth adapter so that I could pair with the speaker and listen to music. (fortunately, I had one laying around otherwise expect to spend $30 or so). The next small challenge was finding a decent hiding place for the power brick, which I was not expecting. Other sound bars I own have the power supply built into them. A longer AC cord would have been useful. (fortunately, I had others laying around I could use otherwise expect to spend $10-$20 or so). To pair with Bluetooth, I had to find the faint logo on the soundbar and press and hold it until it went into pairing mode. It would have been nice to have better labeled buttons (more visible) or a Bluetooth button on the remote. (maybe there is a better way in the instructions, but who reads them anyway) PERFORMANCE / USAGE: Again, I will try to quantify my subjective feelings of the sound quality for a variety of uses. Audio Only Performance (1-10 best) = 6 Overall TV Sound Quality = 7 Brightness and Voices = 6 Deep Bass = 7 Casual Computer Speaker = 7 Personal Audiophile preference = 6 Remote = 9 (nice, big, won’t get lost, easy to use) Value for Price = 8 SUMMARY: I found the sound overall good and “wide” but not bright. I have smaller desktop speakers that cost about 2x-3x more and this comes pretty close to the quality of them at a fraction of the price. My primary use will be to improve the sound of the TV in my recreation room beyond what the built in speakers provide. I would recommend this for bigger sound on a budget for either a computer speaker or TV soundbar.

This is a good basic soundbar for a secondary space, such as a bedroom or home office. I am comparing it to the soundbar setup on our main TV in the family room, which is not really a fair comparison - the setup on that TV is a Sonos Beam with subwoofer and two Sonos One surrounds. Obviously however, that setup cost a whole lot more than this Sony soundbar - A single Sonos One costs more than this Sony soundbar! However, in a bedroom or home office I'm not looking for the same level of bass volume or surround capability and I certainly don't want to spend that much. For this situation, this Sony seems to excel. For many people, this soundbar would function perfectly well for their main TV as long as their expectations are realistic. The sound quality from this Sony is quite nice for the size. It's not as good as the Sonos, but again is much less expensive. It's a great improvement over the built-in speakers of almost any TV. Bass is as good as you can expect from 2.5" speakers but can't compare to a true subwoofer. Stereo separation is not exceptional, but I've yet to hear a soundbar that provided really good separation. Again, the Sonos Beam is better but also 2.5X the price. The 43" LG TV I connected this Sony to actually has very respectable built-in speakers, but the Sony is still an improvement. I've tried the different sound modes (Standard, Cinema, Voice, Night) but to be honest could not discern that much of a difference between them. All the functions are controlled from a small, slim remote which I thought was nice - not too small, but not oversized (I've uploaded a photo of the remote; it always bugs me when the online product info doesn't show the remote). However deciphering which of the mode selections you've made requires looking at the top of the soundbar and watching for a sequence of blinking lights - not the most user friendly. It would have been nice to have discrete LED's on the top to indicate which mode you are in. The build quality of the soundbar is solid, it feels well-made with not cheap rattles. The materials and assembly seem very good. For connections, you have two options (typical of soundbars), and HDMI ARC port and an optical port. I tried both and they worked fine, but of course HDMI ARC is more convenient because you can control the volume using your TV or cable remote. If your TV is recent enough to have an HDMI ARC connection, it will also have an option in the sound menu to disable the built-in speakers and route sound to the external. Setup went smoothly and easily for me. Make sure you are connecting to the correct HDMI port for ARC though! On all of my TV's this has been HDMI-2, but I'm not sure if that's a defacto standard or just coincidence. Be aware - there is no HDMI pass-though port. This means that using this soundbar will monopolize that one HDMI ARC port, you won't be able to use it for anything else. So if your TV has a cable box and a separate device like a Roku, Firestick, Blu-Ray or game console, you will need a minimum of 3 HDMI ports on your TV! Most TV's have at least this many, but I have seen some lower-end TV's that only have two HDMI ports. In that scenario, you will have to connect using the optical cable (assuming you have that connector) and use the soundbar's remote to control volume, which is less convenient but will sound just as good. In summary, if you are looking for deep, rich bass and the potential for true surround sound, this is not the soundbar for you. However if you are looking for a less expensive way to dramatically improve the sound on your TV from a quality manufacturer, this is a winner and a good value. If I did not have the optional subwoofer and surrounds on my Sonos Beam, I'm not sure the difference between the two soundbars themselves would be that dramatic to the average user this is targeted for. Some more expensive soundbars (like the Sonos Beam but also models from Sony, LG and Samsung) give you the option of adding surrounds or subwoofers later. However, they are in a different price category and don't really compete directly with this entry-level Sony.

We had to return it as the control didn’t work and it made too loud sound in our small living room. I returned the sound bar and they were very understanding and am waiting for my refund. Picture is tv without sound bar equipment and the sound of this Samsung is great without it.

So, my intended application of this soundbar is somewhat atypical. I have a little outdoor theater setup, and I've had it hooked up to a portable bluetooth speaker, which has worked okay, but I wanted higher quality sound. Most soundbars are way too large to be used the way I needed, and so this seemed like an ideal solution, and for it's part, it sounds pretty fantastic. It gets louder than I'll ever need it to, the bass is just punchy enough, and it spreads sound nicely throughout the space that it's in. It also looks fantastic, with a pebbled leather texture that's just nice to touch. I'm really a fan of the finish on this thing. Unfortunately, my setup really needs to either use Bluetooth or standard RCA. This device has no RCA or line input, and the Bluetooth, while being high quality, suffers from about a half-second of latency. Turns out this was never a problem with my previous bluetooth speaker as it supports APTX, while this Sony soundbar does not. So I moved it to my bedroom, where I can take full advantage of it, and I'm out to look for a new solution for the theater. Pros: Easy to set up (automatically connected to my transmitter). Compact for small spaces. Great sound with good bass response. Has clearly marked face controls. Cons: No form of line input. Bluetooth doesn't support APTX, which limits your connectivity options to ARC and Optical. No line in is a little strange for a 2.1 setup.

I am using this with a computer and cell phone to listen to music mostly. I've tried other smaller soundbars rather than computer speakers, but they all sound really bad. For my use, which is sitting pretty close to it and using it as a computer speaker, it works great and sounds great. The Bluetooth works well, and it even comes with a digital audit cable which most of the time you need to buy separately. Most desktop PC's have digital audio out, or you can connect through the HDMI or Bluetooth. Since I'm using this in a small area, it may not work that good if you have a big room but for what its made for and the size its the best soundbar I've used. There are a few things that are lacking, but they are more things that would be nice to have. There is no auxiliary port so you cannot connect that way (plugin from a headphone port to the soundbar). Since this has Bluetooth, it would be nice to adjust settings with an app, but once you figure out the controls it's not too bad. Overall, for a small office or small TV, I would highly recommend this soundbar.

The first thing I noticed when I turned the Sony HT-S200F soundbar on was how much clearer the sound was compared to my 55" TV speakers. Since I have the TV our bedroom mounted to a fully articulating wall mount I devised a custom-built mount for the soundbar to go under the TV. The Sony soundbar is a good way to get full-range sound for your TV without an additional subwoofer. I was actually pleasantly surprised when I connected my phone to it via BlueTooth and played several different genres of music through it. It sounds very clean with a nice range including a decent amount of bass. The subwoofer put out more bass than I expected in this mode. After listening to different music and playing around with the EQ settings built into the controller I found I liked standard mode best with the bass boost turned on with most music. I did notice a wider range with it off with some songs, however. After listening to several songs I decided to play a movie next Batman vs Superman. I tried all of the different EQ settings again and found I really liked both cinema mode and standard mode for watching the movie. I also kept playing around with the bass button and found it sounded the best when all three lights lit up on top of the soundbar by pushing the bass button a couple of times. At first, I kept pushing it once and the left light and center light would be on or push again and just and the left light would turn off. To get the best sound push the bass button until you see all three lights come on. The two outside lights will turn off after a few seconds I noticed but it sounds so good now I doubt I will change it again. While the Sony HT-S200F added a lot of dynamics and had a much better sound I found myself wishing it got a little louder even though my wife said it was too loud. One thing I did notice though was I could turn it all the way up and it never distorted or sounded bad at all. This soundbar is a great solution for someone that does not want the hassle of having a separate subwoofer which would mean another wire to deal with which is not good especially when your TV is wall mounted. That makes this Sony soundbar a great solution for a bedroom wall-mounted TV. I had started to install a 5.1 surround system in our bedroom but never finished due to the complexity of it. Now that I have this soundbar installed I think I will be leaving it and using it for a while. I am quite pleased with the improvement in sound for watching TV in our bedroom and love being able to play music or podcast from my phone with it. If you are looking for a simple solution to add some good sound to your TV I would not hesitate to get the Sony HT-S200F. It has great sound quality and gives you a theatre-like sound for movies without all of the wires. I would say it is definitely worth the money and is a high-quality soundbar.

This unit would be great to use on a home desktop computer or in very small space. Not really adequate to replace or to use for a home theater system. I did however like that it was very easy to setup and offers the ability to wall mount or to set on a flat surface. Quick and easy connection with supplied optical cable. Has preset EQ settings. Bluetooth connectivity for streaming from a mobile device is a great feature as well. Overall has decent sound for its price point, but could be better. The sound bar lacks low end bass from the built in subwoofer. The high range isnt as clear as I hoped it would be. It does offer good midrange coverage.The Tv we currently have it connected to offers higher quality sound and offers higher volume levels, which makes the sound bar a little underwhelming.

I was skeptical at first when I saw the size of this device but it sounds really good. It's ideal for a bedroom, or office area - not to be used for a living room or other large area. It provides a surprising amount of bass for its size. I hooked up to a small 32" tv and it fits nicely. I wasn't able to connect via HDMI (not included) but the digital audio cable (included) worked just fine. Overall, this is great for a small area when a large soundbar is not an option.

So, as you know this does have just one built in subwoofer. I do own an older non-Sony brand soundbar that is longer and has dual subwoofers, and an external subwoofer port to connect, as an option, a standalone subwoofer. Nonetheless, I set it up, and plugged it in and I believe there more clarity of sound compared than my older soundbar, but of course a bit lesser bass. However, it is worth it at this price point considering average bass. There is no option to connect another external sub. I believe this soundbar goes well with your smaller than 49” HDTVs, and in my own opinion, in a conference room, kitchen or garage atmosphere. I tested out gaming with it, with the bass up at the max, and it’s decent, clearer audio and surround sound, but not more of an action pack thrill when compared to my older dual sub soundbar. Same with watching some action movies. But what I like is the compact size, that it does not take up space much and to can put some decor on either side of it. So far the quality, especially the “leather” look (or just grainy look, not sure if I’m using the right term), looks better. But overall, best soundbar for the money if bass isn’t an issue. It’s still does provide a decent amount of bass. I’d still recommend.

This sound bar is perfect for a bedroom or if you want to simply just improve the sound of your standard tv speakers. I installed it in my bedroom which was really simple with an optic cable Which is included but is a super cheap cable. The cable is flimsy and I used a more high end optic cable to make sure I was getting the best sound. After setup I made my xfinity remote pair right up with the xfinity on screw directions and the sound bar had no trouble communicating with the xfinity xFi remote. I like that their is an option to automatically change its own sound settings but to be honest I could only tell a small difference between them. Since I want more cinema sound I left mine on cinema but I have found myself switching back to that auto setting just to see the different sounds it could make. The bar looks cool and even has Sony’s leather style they have been recently using. Looks great under the tv. I will have to say though that that Sony leather part did turn some slight white which I did wipe off. I am not sure if it was because it was shipped in the cold and now got warm? Yet this still shouldn’t happen to a sound bar and is part of the reason for the three stars. I enjoy high end sound systems and I would not put this sound bar in that category. I would say this is Sony version of a budget friendly sound bar that has more of a quality look compared to it competitors in this price range for a compact sound bar. If Someone wants awesome sound you will need to look for a more expensive sound bar other wise this will get the job done and improve your TVs sound. I wanted to note this sound bar does not fall asleep compared to some other competitors. I have used sound bars that will turn off after a few minutes if I paused my tv. So far this sound bar stayed on and ready even after a little while of the TV being paused.

Sound is excellent via Bluetooth from my phone. The sound is crisp and it can fill a small/mid-size room with ease. Good value via open box but Sony doesn't make these anymore. As a near field speaker for my PC I've had mixed results so far. The Bluetooth is super laggy and I havent been able to connect it through my DAC. Wish it had a coax or 3.5mm input. My PC doesn't have TOS so I tried to hook it up through a DAC but that didn't work so my next step is an analog to digital converter. Others have mentioned this was the only decent way to get it to work with a laptop or PC without SPIDF/TOS. This unit worked wonders on the TV with HDMI ARC (Prefer that over optical since that tech goes back to the 80s). Having never heard a TV through a soundbar before I always thought the sound on my flat screen was good. This made a mockery out of the TV audio. This tiny package can pump some sound that is loud but clear at the same time. I doubt you will ever go over 50% volume. If you can get one they are well made but do lack some decent connections that require workarounds but for general use case with TVs it is awesome.

Ah, the Sony 2.1-Channel Soundbar with its built-in wireless subwoofer – a marvel of modern sound engineering or a glorified speaker that's had one too many espressos? Let's dive in. Firstly, the design. It's black. Groundbreaking, I know. It's as if Sony's design team held a meeting and said, "Let's make it black – no one's ever done that before!" It blends in with every other piece of tech you own, creating a sort of black hole of entertainment gear in your living room. Now, the sound. This thing packs a punch like a feather in a pillow fight. The bass from the subwoofer is so profound, it can almost be mistaken for a gentle purring cat. If you're looking to disturb the neighbors, look elsewhere. But if you enjoy the subtle hum of a bee from two gardens away, you're in for a treat. The 2.1 channels promise an immersive experience that's about as immersive as dipping your toe in a kiddie pool. You'll be transported to a world where sound exists, and that's about it. But hey, it's wireless! That means you can place it anywhere in your room and still be underwhelmed by the sound from every angle. And let's not forget the ease of setup. It's so easy, you might find yourself wondering if you've missed a step. But no, it's just that underwhelmingly simple. It's like making instant noodles – except the noodles are your expectations, and the boiling water is the reality that you've just spent money on a very average soundbar. In conclusion, if you want a soundbar that's as adventurous as a slice of white bread, this Sony model is the one for you. It's not the worst, it's not the best – it exists in a realm of perfectly acceptable mediocrity. Perfect for those who enjoy the thrill of mild satisfaction.

Took me a while to write this review, but it also took me a while to achieve my perfect settings. For the price and size this speaker can definitely produce enough volume for a master bedroom, depending on where you place it and what your settings are set to. If you have some patience you can achieve your perfect setting with some trial and error. If you buy this speaker, i hope you're enjoying it !

The good: The sound from this unit is a VAST improvement over speakers in Sony's tvs. It's compact in size (about 24" wide) so it will fit in with just about any tv/stand setup. And the subwoofer is integrated into the soundbar, rather than being a separate device. You can connect this unit to your tv by HDMI (ARC), optical or bluetooth. This device is ideal for a bedroom or den. Compared to the cost of other soundbars, the price of this one is very reasonable. The bad: Bluetooth won't connect to my new Sony tv (an issue reported with several current Sony tv models) but it seems to pair with smartphones just fine. The unit has an external transformer; while the cable from the "power brick" to the unit is a good length, the cord from the plug to the "brick" is too short (18-ish inches.) Though the front of this soundbar has an attractive and sturdy metal mesh, the downward-firing subwoofer has no cover at all, so if you mount it to your tv with a bracket or to the wall, it's not the most aesthetically pleasing and could be easily damaged by kids or pets. Also, don't expect miracles when it comes to the bass, as the sub is only 3 inches, so if you want more rumble, go with a model that has a bigger sub.

This soundbar soundbar is very good! I've had it for years now and still in great condition

I got this as an Out of Box purchase and I love this soundbar. The sound quality is great and it is a fairly small size so it fits perfectly under my tv.

This soundbar is compact and it looks more high end, but performance is lacking. The price is pretty good, considering it’s a Sony product, but it’s not quite what I was looking for. I don’t understand why the professional reviews say this is better than quite a few similarly priced soundbars. For music via Bluetooth, it’s great. Sounds better than an average Bluetooth speaker and has great balance as well as some punchy bass for such a small setup. For tv and movies, I’m not impressed. My tv speakers can produce a more balanced sound with clearer dialogue, it just can’t produce the same low end sounds. This soundbar produces horribly quiet dialogue at high volume and everything else from music to action sounds is louder than you’d ever want it to be. If the movie has a stereo, headphone or mono option the sound is great! But if the movie uses dtx or Dolby audio, or any 5.1 track, you’ll have to turn on the closed captions or suffer through ear piercing explosions - that or turn the volume up and down every two minutes. I’ve tried every setting from voice booster to night mode, every setting on my tv and 4K player from PCM to auto to compressed, even tried changing the tv sound settings with the soundbar off and still no improvement. I’m using a new Sony tv with an hdmi arc connection which is great for controlling the sound with the tv remote. After having this for about two weeks, I’m about to return this thing because I have perfect hearing but this soundbar is for people that read lips and like extremely loud sound effects, apparently. Looks wise, feature wise, everything else about it is perfect, but it is not good for watching movies. All they had to do was add a new function, it’s like they didn’t test this thing at all before releasing it.

Stumbled upon this open box buy and turned out to be a great purchase for the bedroom. Plenty loud but sounds so good with music, I keep pushing the volume + button because I want it to sound like a club. Easy setup. Purchased the optical cable to use with soundbar

It's ridiculous that new TV's don't have the depth, or the companies that make the TV's don't have the sense to make a good sounding speaker for new TV's, but I guess that's how they make more money. But this soundbar is by far the best I listened to!

I'd been reluctant to buy a soundbar for a few years. I was quite satisfied with the stereo sound from my Sony TV. Increasingly, though, NOTHING is released in a simple stereo soundtrack on blu-ray or 4K. Music and noise (especially during action or Sci-Fi movies for example-car crashes, explosions, etc.) were in the foreground, while dialog was in the background. I'd need to turn the volume Way up while people spoke, then Way down if something blew up during the otherwise quiet scene, lest my neighbors in my apartment building came a-knockin' to complain. So, I broke down, did Lots of research, read reviews by users and electronics sites/magazines. I bought this Sony due to reviews, and the price. It is night and day above the lone stereo speakers of the TV. The price was a bargain, too. Until I get a 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, or a whatever-the-movie industry/manufacturers-come-up-with-next-audio-track, this will be just fine. Set up was easy, too. When I pair it to play music from my tablet or phone it's phenomenal.