Customer Ratings & Reviews

This sound system was Horrible. It has taken over 2 months to get replaced!!! I purchased the warranty and the store is still giving me the run around. The bar sounds distorted and the Sub woofer as well. This process of replacing the item has gone on for over 2 months with no resolution in site. The warranty is for 4 years and yet I'm still stuck with this worthless device! Rant over!

Some sync issues and sound not nearly as "surround-like" as in the show room

Let me start by saying i have been a sony fan for many years. The store i bought from did not have this 7.1 on display so i bought it not being heard and on my feelings of sony and the promise it was the next best thing. Was i ever disappointed. I kept the system for about 2 weeks trying to find a fit and make it work but the sound is just not there. The connection to the subwoofer would flutter and fade. Would get random water drop sounds from speakers. I moved locations trying different things. The sound bard was on a fireplace mantel and tv above that. The bass from the power sub was weak even when adjusted to highest power. The so called atmos 7.1 was a fail. Never heard it work as such. For the price of this system i expected a lot more. I returned this system and bought the sonos playbar and pwr sub and 2 play 1 speakers. I spent $450 more but its great and i can still expand and plan to with the sonos connect amp. Its a little more costly but at least i enjoy what i am getting and the sony was my 1st fail as a sony fan

First off let me say that I'm not someone that writes reviews very often, but I feel compelled after purchasing this soundbar. Like any good consumer I did my homework and found that trusted reviews gave this a 9, which is high from what I've seen them rate products in the past. When I went to the store to see the demo, I was not blown away, but believed the best buy kid that told me it sounded WAY better in a smaller room as this bounces sound off the ceiling so the sound literally comes down on you. I bundled this with the 65" Bravia 900e and saved 200 bucks on the soundbar BTW. (Also the TV is awesome, but I will not be writing a review on the TV as it's pretty much what I expect where as this soundbar system exceeded my expectations in every way). When setting up make sure to set your distance from the tv as well as the ceiling height (it really made a difference) I started out with John Wick... Um yeah - made an unbelievable movie even more immersive, in fact that's the best word I can use to describe my experience with this system -immersive. I then played music off of you tube and was blown away at how well that sounded - it has literally made me want to just sit in front of the TV and watch music videos, I will use the immersive word again. Sound fills the room. I've had 5.1 DTS systems in the past and this gave me that same filling - except things felt deeper at lower volumes. The max setting is 50 and 30 gives you great sound, pump that baby up to 40 and you are rocking. I've always liked things loud, sometimes annoyingly so and this more than meets my need from a volume standpoint all without distortion unless you crank the volume on the sub to 10-12 (max 12 - separate from volume max 50) and crank the volume up way high. The sub produces clean bass - all of the smaller speakers are individually controlled so they can all fire at different times. This thing is expensive, but the quality of the build, the ease of setting up, the lack of cords and speakers everywhere and the unbelievable sound makes this a no-brainer in my mind. Nice job Sony - let's get more ATMOS content out there now!

Great system, but you could tell that it lacked the real speakers for a larger theater room

Don’t like the remote control. Sound quality for CDs not that great

Returned because my sons gave a better system for my birthday

I am a sony fan but i had to send this unit in yo sony for repairs. This was a certified open box buy from a bestbuy magnolia location but as soon as i plugged it in there was an obvious problem with the subwoofer bass tube. The rattle was horrendus. I contacted best buy who could not get me another one so i contacted Sony who told me to send it in for repairs but they were unable to repaire it or replace it so thry sent me a check for the retail price.

Good product well designed and appointed sold by great salesman

This may not be a totally fair review as mine was an open-box purchase. The Sony soundbar sounded great in the store but when I got it set up at home, there was clearly a blown tweeter. I returned the item and ran the new Samsung smart TV through my Klipsch stereo speakers, which sound MUCH better. I haven't been impressed with Sony in recent years, but the 50% open-box price was, I thought, too good to pass up. Full price is about $1200. There are definitely other sound bars out there that sound great for less money, but nothing beats a great set of tower speakers. If you're set on getting a soundbar, Sonos makes a nice one that you can add speakers to with wi-fi.

DTS support has been promised for far too long with nothing delivered... HDMI handshake issues with my P series vizio one too many times, took it back

this would not connect with my Samsung TV so I had to return it.

Junk stay away from it. Absolutely way over priced for this unit. Id stay away from best buy in general when it comes to sound. We paid to have these jokers out to recommend a good surround system. The "professional " who came out recommended the jbl 9.1. Which is definitely better way better than this sony. However that one was not compatible with our tv. A real professional would have known that. A real professional would have not recommend a sound bar for our living room as we have 20ft ceilings, and the room is 30x25 feet. Go to flanners they are a real professional company.

For the money you spend, totally not worth it. Very limited setup options to calibrate your space, constant wi-fi interference with the subwoofer resulting in scratches and popping, and now has developed the habit of bricking my current wi-fi network every time I try to use it. Ive tried several network configurations, configurations in the room to reduce the amount of interference etc..., and still problems. For reference, I used a Yamaha soundbar previously to this with the exact same setup in the house, and NEVER a problem. So frustrating as the sound of an Atmos soundtrack from a 4K Blu-ray is immense, but cannot use it with anything else.

The unit pairs ok with the tv (Sony) but that’s where the convenience ends. You have to chose one of their presets for your sound. None of the presets sound “great” and there is no manual eq. For this price I should get really good if not great sound.

All types of hangups, slow command execution, and buggy performance. I have it connected to a Sony OLED, a FIOS HD cable box, and a PS4. Regret this purchase

I got this and had to return it. Honestly the sound quality was fair at best. For the cost i was disappointed so i returned it. I got the LG version instead. It was like $200 cheaper and much better sound quality.

The unit lasted one year and 10 days. Can't get the menu to appear, support forums say return it, as it is a known problem, but now it is out of warranty. Voices in movies were hard to hear no matter what setting it was on (when the unit was working).

Pops intermittently, can’t keep up with channel input changes such as cable to Netflix then back to cable. Never had these issues with any of my Bose products. If I were rating on pure sound it would be great. Try watching a program and switching to something else, like an app, sound is gone. Now play around for 20 minutes getting it to work again, show is no longer fun to watch!!!

The Sony HTST5000 is the best soundbar available on the market right now. I purchased the Sony HTST5000 after having owned several other high end soundbars from other reputable audio companies. I was looking for the best home theater I could achieve in a small space without the use of a traditional receiver with full surround hardwired. This led me to several companies that currently offer soundbars that connect to surround speakers through the use of various wireless systems. The most ubiquitous of these is Sonos. After extensive testing, I have concluded that Sonos is the only wireless home audio system that works, however, the sound quality of Sonos speakers is far inferior to the Sony HTST5000. Sonos is an app company, and they are great at making apps, having made the only wireless home audio app that actually works. However, they put their app to use in speakers that are ok, but not great. From a raw wattage standpoint, and audio quality for both music and movies, Sonos cannot make a set of speakers with the quality that Sony can. The other options available from more audio-focused companies such as Polk, Definitive Technology, and Denon, all include speaker sets of high quality, but which rely on Playfi or other similar wireless apps to connect surround speakers. These systems may test well in the confines of a CNET testing lab, but place them in a downtown condo or apartment complex with multiple wireless networks in a congested area and things deteriorate quickly. I went through 3 of other wireless systems all of which routinely failed to keep the surrounds connected to the bar reliably. This poses a big problem for the target market for soundbars, those living in smaller spaces without room for a full hard wired system. Because the only decent sounding wireless soundbar with surround options are only suitable for use in isolated areas without competing interference, this renders them worthless because those areas are likely to have space for a full hard wired system, which will always sound better anyway. Don't be fooled by reviews that claim soundbars with wireless surrounds are better. First, there are very few companies that can even make speakers to compete with those in the HTST5000, and those that can don't have access to a wireless system to accurately and reliably connect them. This leaves soundbars that use simulated surround sound from a single bar to create dynamic effects. In this category you have Sony and Yamaha, primarily. I will leave out Samsung's competing soundbar because it relies on wireless for its surrounds, which also routinely drop off, and even with the surrounds, still sounds worse than the Sony HTST5000 because Samsung cannot seem to make quality speakers, even with the help of Harman Kardon. The Yamaha sound projectors are great but have one common element holding them back-- wattage. Yamaha makes precise sounding bars that use Atmos to great effect, but they have far fewer watts than the Sony HTST5000, and this is immediately noticeable in the audio quality. Because of the way speakers are made, size and wattage matter a lot. A good set of large speakers from 1990 can sound better than even the best small speakers from today. Technolgy can definitely improve audio accuracy, but the sound must be transmitted from a cone and electrical source at the end of the day, and here the beefy Sony HTST5000 with its substantial subwoofer and base radiator combined with higher wattage has the raw horsepower to best the Yamama offerings. Finally, the Sony HTST5000 does an excellent job of using Dolby Atmos to simulate surround sound. The technology really does work to envelope you in sound. It works even better in smaller spaces of the type soundbars are typically used. This and the ease of use of the Sony makes it the best Soundbar money can buy right now.