Customer Ratings & Reviews

I paired the BRAVIA Theater Bar 8 with the SA-SW3 subwoofer, and I'm glad I did because I would have been very unhappy with the Theater Bar itself. I'm not sure if it's the acoustics of our house or the fact that we still have a 10 year old smart TV, but the sound while watching movies is underwhelming. I do think that our 15 year old blu ray player could be blamed for that as well. I couldn't get the movie to play loud enough even at the highest level. So while that is not the sound bars fault, I do blame the lack of documentation. That's the real reason I'm only giving it 4 stars. It was absolutely awful trying to get it setup using our old TV, and I almost took it back because I couldn't get it working because we don't have an eARC HDMI port. I'm replacing an 8 year old Sony Soundbar which I used the optical sound cable, and this soundbar doesn't have that. The app you have to use to setup this soundbar allowed me to connect regardless of not having the eARC port, but it didn't help with figuring out HOW to do it. We eventually just plugged the ROKU or Blu Ray player directly into the soundbar, but now that leaves us with having to change it each time - I still need to research some sort of adapter. The experience has just been awful. I didn't know it would require all these workarounds or I would have just kept the old soundbar and bought a shelf (trying to downsize an entertainment center). Online help has been difficult as well and either refers you to the app or to "press the home button on the remote" which the Theater Bar 8 doesn't have. I'd recommend the soundbar, but would maybe only do so if you have a newer TV with the eARC port.

I have owned many sound bars over the years, ranging from low-end to high-end. This Bravia theater bar from Sony is among the most expensive I've used, but I found it to be well worth the price when it comes to performance. Over the past few days I've been using it to watch movies, stream TV shows, listen to music over Bluetooth, and have also done some gaming on my Xbox Series X. First, before you buy this, make certain that you have the space for it. It is a very large speaker. If you have a large wall-mounted television, you can mount this speaker below it with the included components. However, if you plan to place it on some form of TV stand or entertainment center, make sure it will fit before buying (it is over 4 feet long). If you choose to, this speaker system is expandable! You can add an optional sub-woofer and/or rear speakers, but I found that for my needs they were not needed as the sound was incredible as-is. I have been watching movies and shows (and playing games) that feature Dolby Atmos audio in order to get a feel for how well this speaker can perform. Most streaming services have Dolby Atmos content that was easy to find. The ability of this soundbar to make you feel like sound is coming from multiple directions was mind-boggling. And the quality of immersion was breathtaking. I think that the 13 mulit-directional speakers included in this soundbar have a lot to do with that. I truly feel like I've got multiple speakers in the room surrounding me, despite all the sound coming from just one large speaker in front of me. I loved that this soundbar has HDMI pass-through so that I could connect my Xbox directly to it, and then output from the soundbar to my television. Many soundbars these days do not have both the HDMI input and output. And if you are like me, and love to play music from your phone while doing chores around the house, this speaker was up to the task. If you have an Apple device you can connect using Apple Airplay, but I used Bluetooth to pair to my Android phone. Music sounded excellent, with strong bass and terrific mids. I also streamed a couple of live concerts and was blown away with how good everything sounded. While this soundbar is certainly not inexpensive, you absolutely get your money's worth. With the theater-like quality sound, I'm looking forward to a cinema experience in my living room for years to come.

In the box is the speaker, power cord, remote with AAA batteries, 3.5 mm headphone cord, HDMI cord, wall mounts with a wall mount template, instructional manual with QR code (for the help manual) and addition warranty information. First Impression - A lot of speakers packed into a decent sized sound bar. The Sony Bravia Connect App - First off, I am not a big fan of downloading apps but this one is definitely necessary for setup. Not only does it complete a software update but it also walks you through the room setup. During the setup, it will also ask if you have additional rear or sub woofer speakers that you would like to add as well. Something that was new to me was setting up the room location with the app, which I was able to use my phone to tell the soundbar where I sit in the room and where the middle of the room was also. I also like being able to have the remote on the app as well. So many times, we are searching for remotes in my household and this one is small, so I am pretty sure it will get lost quickly in my household; it is a little thicker than my Apple TV remote, so we maybe able to keep up with it a little better. Sound - So far, the sound is really sharp and the Dolby Atmos sounds really good. I also blue-toothed my music app and the music sounds great. (I listened to Classical-piano and violin and it was AMAZING, R&B, Reggae, Alternative, Country, Hip Hop) I watched a few movies that were in Dolby Atmos and they of course sounded excellent but there were a few that I wish I had my subwoofer but the bass still sounded good. There is a voice button on the app and it’s definitely great when I want to watch my regular network shows. I find myself adjusting the bass from mid to max when I am watching different movies or listening to different music. Beware, the bass is sufficient if you don’t want to shake house with a subwoofer. But if you like to shake the house then you can definitely add it. (In the app, there is a night mode and you can connect your Spotify account.) Overall, I am really happy with this sound bar and in my opinion, it sounds great by itself. The room that I am currently using it in is perfect. I would definitely recommend this product to friends and family.

I plugged in this sound bar without reading any directions. I unplugged the current sound bar and used the same HDMI cord that’s connected to my tv to connect it. There was nothing else I had to do. The sound the came from it immediately blew me away! Very crisp and clear. You can clearly understand every word that was being spoken. What a spectacular way to enjoy TV. This soundbar will replace my current soundbar. Even though the sound bar I currently have is great, this one is ten times better. It’s so good you don’t even need a subwoofer. If you had this soundbar and I came to your house and you told me there was no subwoofer, I would think that you are telling a lie. Maybe the bass isn’t as deep as it would be with a subwoofer but there’s really no need if you didn’t want to. BUT, I was able to connect my current Sony subwoofer and I had to make sure I wasn’t sitting in a Dolby theatre. No kidding, this sound bar makes you think you’re in the movies. Out of the box. Plug and play. If you're not too deeply into sound, like an audiophile, then you really don't need to change settings. Right out of the box it's ready to go. If you do want to change settings, then you will need to download the Sony Bravia app from the App Store. I had a few issues setting up an account due to me having a Playstation account registered under the same email address. I was eventually able to set up everything and voila, everything can be controlled from your smartphone. The app automatically took me through a series of sound test to make sure I was getting the best sound for the room. It allowed me to connect my subwoofer via bluetooth as well. Then it updated the soundbar's firmware one everything was ready. This is definitely a luxury soundbar and no one will be disappointed with this purchase. The only thing I would have liked is for it to have a screen on the sound bar. But I guess Sony got around that by allowing you to do everything through your smartphone.

This soundbar is just incredible. Fantastic sound with the sound map feature. I have a Bravia TV as well so the two mesh very well!!! Easy set up and surprisingly a lot of features to control through the app. Highly recommend.

Each new generation of sound bar attempts the impossible: trick your ears into thinking you own more physical speakers than you do. Each year the technology gets closer to achieving this. Sony’s attempt at this trick with the Bravia Theater Bar 8 (Bar 8 from here on out) packs 11 speakers into the sound bar: 7 forward facing, 2 side facing, and 2 upward firing to create what Sony describes as 360 Spatial Sound Mapping, but without the optional subwoofer the audio feels lifeless and flat, yet still capable of being loud. Sony makes it a breeze to unbox and setup this 10-pound 3.5 feet long soundbar offering clear visual setup guides that like all things digital today recommends physically connecting and powering on the device then installing an app on your smartphone to complete the setup. I think Sony needs to re-think how wide they make the HDMI port section of the soundbar. I use thick in-wall HDMI cables and they were barely able to fit into the tiny space available to plug them into the soundbar. The phone app pairing process was fast and stress free. Because I’m using a projector that does not support eARC the first thing I had to do to get any sound from the sound bar was to disable the Bar 8 eARC functionality using the app. I was pleased there were no zero-day firmware updates required and after tapping my way through all the menu items in the app it was time to bask in some audio glory. I should mention another useful item that ships with the Bar 8 is a set of risers that are designed to be used when your TV sits on a TV stand that has legs that protrude out making it impossible to position the sound bar flat in front of the TV. The risers offer just enough height to overcome this problem. I do not own a Sony Bravia TV and I do not have the Sony SA-SW3 or SA-SW5 subwoofer that pair with this soundbar so I can not experience the acoustic center sync feature or the Bravia Voice Zoom 3. I do not own the Sony recommended SA-RS5 rear speakers which means I DTS-X audio support is excluded as is the IMAX Enhanced support as both these modes require a sub and the rear speakers with the IMAX Enhanced feature still in development and coming in a future firmware update. I do own a PlayStation 5 (PS5) so I figured that would give me the best optimized audio experience. After a few hours of playing Spiderman 2, Fortnite, and Kena: Bridge of Spirit I was disappointed at how flat the audio felt which sent me down the technical troubleshooting rabbit hole of “what am I doing wrong here?” In the Bravia App there’s a number of tweaks that can be made to the audio experience. It quickly became clear to me that the 360 spatial sound mapping expects the end user to own a sub and the two rear speakers for an optimal audio experience. Without these three additional components, the 360 spatial sound mapping feels flat. Under Sound Settings > Sound Field Setting I found that turning off the 360 Spatial Sound mapping and setting the sound bar to use Dolby Speaker Virtualizer offered the next best audio experience. Moving off of the PS5, I began experimenting with audio coming from my primary viewing source: the Nvidia Shield TV Pro. With the YouTube app, the Disney+ app, and the Plex app being my 3 primary methods of “watching TV” I spent a few hours rolling through a mix of PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos and even some older stereo content. I could not shake the audio sensation of hearing a hollowness from the content making me question if I had something configured incorrectly. The sound bar only includes a couple of LED lights that respond when using the remote to press the volume buttons or to acknowledge buttons pressed on the remote, but if you keep the Bravia connect app open, the HDMI connection bar at the top of the app displays the audio formats being used to play the content. This is useful when you need to validate that Plex is not transcoding your audio. As a last ditch troubleshooting effort I began cranking up the volume and discovered that when the sound bar reached a volume number between 44 - 49, about double the level that I consider to be a comfortable volume, a few more acoustic details of the content began to express themselves. For example in the Dolby Atmos Amaze demo the rain began to feel more authentic and in the Dolby Leaf demo the leaf seemed to travel a bit further above the room than before. As a sanity check I grabbed a different sound bar and repeated the same tests with and without the other sound bar’s subwoofer and came to the same conclusion: without a dedicated sub, the Bar 8 does not produce the audio experience you are expecting, but I’m willing to bet that if you do pair this soundbar with the Bravia sub you would not be disappointed.

I decided to place this soundbar in my bedroom which is smaller at 120 sf. Set up was simple and I immediately connected through HDMI Arc with my TV. The first movie I watched after set up was Dune since it was suggested for experiencing Dolby Atmos sound and the feeling of immersion and being surrounded by a different world. Although the elements of movie theater quality sound are there, they aren't completely captivating as full surround sound would be. This soundbar can be paired with a subwoofer and rear speakers so although there is 360 spatial sound mapping technology, I never felt as though I was completely immersed. Despite that, I still enjoyed the quality of sound with stunning clarity in every scene. The quality was just as impressive while enjoying some music. As the music filled the room, I can hear every intricate detail of the drums, the vocals, the string instruments, and the flowing rhythm which created an enjoyable listening experience. Overall, I like the soundbar for my smaller bedroom but I would not move to my living room without the combination of the subwoofer and rear speakers.

Sony home theater products never fail to impress me. This soundbar is a replacement for a Yamaha that was a few years old and I thought was pretty good, and it was, but it does not even compare to this. First off, let me start from the beginning. I even appreciate the boxing and packaging. All arrived in a compact box, no wasted space, and the materials appear to be recycled and recyclable. No packing plastics or styrofoam. I guess I nerd on enviro friendly stuff, sorry. Anyway, unboxing and set up was a breeze. Download the Sony Bravia Connect app and it walks you through set up and location and sound field optimization to assure proper positioning in your space and for your particular needs and usage. Nice! I am still playing around with the different sound settings depending on what I am watching or listening to. Through the app, or the remote, you can adjust the sound profile to the output. There are several pre sets and also customizable adjustments for more bass, treble, background and night modes. In the room I have this set up in, I watch a lot of sporting events, as well as listen to music, from streaming and albums and playlists, to watching live shows and concert recordings. This system, using the 360 Reality Audio setting, provides an amazing clarity of sound and surround experience. It is like a personal concert audio experience. This is my favorite use of this sound system so far. If you are into music and especially high quality audio, this is a great system in a small package. It is just the one sound bar, but clearly packs all the technology and speakers inside. Much easier and user friendly than the older center speaker and satellite speaker systems. I definitely recommend this system!

Absolutely wonderful, paired with S5 rear speakers and subwoofer. Stayed up until 2:00am listening to our favorite music. No regrets!

Incredible Experience This is definitely a super advanced sound bar with all the latest features that provide high resolution audio with Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and IMAX. The First thing I noticed especially when playing music to the bar, Sounded like I was hearing the artist's intended sound. I was hearing more instruments in the mix. The 11 Speakers for forward, sides and upward especially with 360 spatial sound mapping creating a cinema style sound The Bravia app The app does a great job of sound mapping. Setting up the app and syncing devices was very seamless. The sound field optimization feature calibrated flawlessly with my room. It was very quick. There are so many choices for settings in the app. Sound field, voice mode, night mode. Bass level. Volume control. Wireless speaker set up. 360 reality audio. lets just say theres alot to tweak from the app and more than I just mentioned. You can also switch between TV-HDMI-BLUETOOTH for your audio input signals. Other Great Features This bar supports 4K HDR, 8K HDR, Dolby Vision, HDMI 2.1 Gaming for a great gaming experience with friends. Connectivity So far I connected my phone, bluetooth turntable for streaming audio. I also have a set of headphones connected. Summary So far this has been a great experience. I have always relied on Sony for my video/audio needs. Quality of their products. My sony component collection continues to grow.

Overall: Wow! The sound is amazing. I can actually hear what the actors are saying. And the volume is at normal range. Setup: Easy. I rarely read directions and when I opened the box there was a power cable and a HDMI cable. How hard can it be? It turns out, you do need to the read the directions. It’s the large paper the same color as the packaging, right on top when you open the box. The directions are pictures only. It clearly shows to plug the HDMI cable into the TV HDMI ARC connection, not the HDMI connection. App: Sony Bravia Connect. Installs without issues. Will run through a sound check and set the soundbar up appropriately for your room and where you normally sit in the room. The settings option will allow customization. Size: The soundbar is 52” long and 4.5” wide. Additional: The soundbar is a bit longer than the table my TV sits on. I put the soundbar behind the TV so it would be a better aesthetic. The sound is still incredibly clear. There’s an English TV show I watch and I can clearly hear every word they say. I didn’t have this experience with the previous sound bar I had connected to the TV.

Good sound for shows, movies, games, and music. I didn't think a sound bar would be loud enough but I was wrong.

This is the best soundbar that I have every owned. Very easy to install. I would highly recommend this pr

The soundbar sounds great paired with my Sony subwoofer and rear speakers. I had to use the Bravia app to improve the sound, and once that was done, I’ve been happy ever since. Easy to connect with a Sony TV

Looking forward to sound quality that allows for that home theatre experience.

For the price and it being a stand alone system that can not be connected to home Theater A/V Unit like My Denon 7.1.2 system and can only add 4 more surround speakers due to it being stand alone. I was very disapointed and was misinformed by the sales man who told me i couls connect it to my A/V unit, & said i could add up to 7 more RS5 to get a total of 7 more speakers was disappointing. I will be returning this in the next few days. As by itself with the SW5 sub, it is ok. But for me to have perfect surround sound in my huge master suite i need to be able to add up to 7 more speakers & now i know i can only add 4 more. So hugely disappointed. Been trying to find out if i buy the Bravia 9 Bar, if i could add 7 more speakers or at minimum 5 pairs of the RS5 speakers. Hopefully i can find the answers somewhere, but not even Sony themselves can provide that answer. I had bought the Sony XR95L TV, and added the bar and sub due to connectivity issues, but if i can't connect the Bar to my Denon A/V unit it means both 4K HDMI ports on my TV are used. The only downfall to the XR95L is only 2 out of 4 HDMI are 4K and only 1 is EARC. So if you plan to buy the best OLED TV as I did, this is something you must consider when buying the Sony Bar, sub, and rear speakers.

Excellent sound Easy to use I had Geek Squad do the set up. You need the Sony App on your phone to keep subwoofer connected.

Wow - I love this sound bar! It's so good I am adding the rears speakers to my system!

Great sound. A major upgrade from my previous soundbar. The only knock I have on it is the bass. Adding a sub is a must

Very good sound is so clean we love it my son he using too much