Product Reviews

Sound bar and subwoofer have great sound but I bought this thinking I could add rear speakers to it but I cant find them anywhere to buy in the UK

Easy setup. Good main channel, sub woofer sound. Added the wireless surround speakers. Kind of hit and miss sound quality there. Definitely not the quality of my previous Sony hard wired system (it would shake the glass off my bar), but new floor made the wires go away. Still better than all the other systems I shopped, specifically looking for wireless rear speakers.

To replace a ht-z9000 with excellent sound but very poor vocals gets drowned out by movies music, this sound bar has a centre speaker which makes up for it, better vocally, only had a month still getting to grips with it there is a voice button to make louder but would have liked a feature the same as a amp the option to increase the volume more but then its only a bar I am happy with it any way so is the wife.

I bought this from Best Buy - and of course without buying a service contract I'm on my own with figuring out connections. By following the directions and using the Sound Bar as a bridge between an HDMI video/audio device - to the HDMI 1 on the sound bar - HDMI out of the sound bar to eARC on the TV...results: Audio only, no video. Of course if I use a separate HDMI port on the TV it works, but the directions purposely call out using the sound bar as a bridge for the best results. I put a call to Best Buy - sorry but we charge to send someone to you, but feel free to return it. Post a message to Sony community page - hopefully I get some answers and not just sympathy

I purchased this item at the same time as a 49" XH-80/4 Ultra HD (HDR) Smart TV. The two together, absolute perfection.

Glad I bought this product, serves me well and I am satisfied with its capabilities

Atmos, eARC, 3 front speakers with 1 woofer in a very competitive price. It is made in Malaysia. Satellites hard to come by. eARC (2ways) solves TV app sound out sync problem. Beside eARC port, there are 2 HDMI inputs. Don't follow the attached quick installation manual if your TV has eARC. Just connect TV eARC to this bar eARC. Reasonable sound quality and control functionalities, not shabby at all. Sony does put some efforts on the virtual sound stage and those sound category buttons on the remote. It is pleasant even for music and vocal. Nite button also useful, so your next door apartment neighbour won't be hit by bass so bad at nite hours. I listened to B&O Sound bar woofer(double the B&O bar price) , and Bose 700 with woofer (optional). Bose 700 with woofer (optional) maybe sounded better stronger and harder but without Atmos and priced at a different level since woofer sell separately.

Great sound bar, easy to setup and use and certainly sounds better and louder than my previous home cinema system it replaced.

Great movie experience. Superb for Amazon unlimited music.

This item connected to the above television - excellent

This Soundbar is expensive, I was very disappointed with the hassle in setting it up. The HDMI ports are in an awkward place. The main issue I've had is with the sound dropping while watching content from various sources. I spent far too much time trawling the internet looking for solutions to this problem. I'm astonished a soundbar at this price has this problem. I always buy Sony, but I will be looking at alternatives in the future! When I did get it problem sorted, I have to say the sound is impressive, but the shine was taken off due to the hassle getting it set up. If you are looking for a soundbar, I would look else where, make sure before you buy to check AV forums for potential problems, not that you should have too when you are spending £600!.

I considered this purchase for sometime before I finally went ahead with the purchase. I found the quick setup easy to follow. Unfortunately you really need to go into the advanced settings to improve the sound experience and I found this confusing. I found the vertical sound a disappointment, or perhaps I haven't got the settings right. So I'm left wondering if the problem is me or the system. It left me thinking I should buy the rear speakers, but at £299 and difficult to source that's not really an option. The sound I have is great, but not sure I could describe it as home theater.

Bought this sound bar to go with my new 77” Sony A9G flat screen. Nice design and pretty good sound quality, offers plenty of features and most up-to-date audio signals

Good Sound and Excellent Build Quality. Recommended

I have no complaints about the sound of the he system. I have a brand new 85 inch Sony TV, I have constant problems with the tv remote controlling the sound bar. You would assume that both products being Sony they would function easily together. I don’t understand it.

the sound is good. and over all all is good. pricing seem good too

Sub woofer intermittent problems. Have been monitoring to detect possible causes and also time to ascertain the reliability issues is correct. Will be liaising with Sony after sales support staff soon.

I bought this back in 2019. When I first had it hooked up to a 2017 model Sony X720E TV, I never had a problem with it. But ever since I bought a brand new 2020 model Sony X950H and hooked it up to that , it frequently completely stops working and when I finally do I get to starting again working it's incredibly terrible. Now after four months of owning the Sony X950H TV, the Soundbar has completely stopped and i can't get it getting working. I only bought this because I thought it would work better with a Sony TV seeing as there both Sony. But I should of known better. Because the only quality product Sony makes is their TVs. The rest is garbage!

I purchase this unit around a month ago and I am sure I will be pleased with it once I get it set up properly

I bought this not even 6 months ago and it has been giving problems, sound goes in and out and now will not e en turn on.

I love this system the sound is amazing for a £500 unit, whover it does have a couple of minor bugs.... the subwoofer can be intermitent and cuts out due to conditions i.e being 2 inches to far from soundbar or interference from surrounding brickwork etc.... my other minor niggles are sometimes when switching from HDMI 1 to 2 it sometimes goes to the home screen and also the base can at times be a tiny bit OTT and havent found a way to adjust this...... but for these minor little niggles it would have been 5stars.

I love this simple litte package , ideal for my needs so I can watch movies with more punch, saddled this with the KE55 A8 and seems a very effective package for my needs easy to set up and use with enough features and connections , would not use for my music listening as I have a system more dedicated to this already but I love this with the awesome Sony A8 .

This is the best soundbar i can recommend with the price..

I bought this item to replace a large home cinema system which was taking up a large amount of space. This soundbar bar and bass speaker are compact and produce a good sound. The soundbar integrates seamlessly with my Sony TV.

I've been waiting for the end of lock down to purchase this sound bar and rear speakers. The wait was worth it, super sound,easy to set up. Super product again from Sony.

Had this Soundbar and Wireless Sub for two weeks and I'm thrilled with my purchase. Easy to follow instructions and all the sound you'll ever need. A high quality sound system.

I recommend this fantastic product to anyone looking for sound for their TV

Bought this to use with TV, PS4 and Bluetooth vinyl player. 1. TV & PS4 - sound is ok, until you add surround sound speakers. These are great, and they need to be standard, but very expensive for what they do. 2. Bluetooth music - sound from bar and sub is good, once you play around with the settings, and I like that it hooks up to google assistant. BUT, the extra surround sound speakers don't play music. This is really annoying and why I ultimately returned them. Really poor functionality from an expensive system, and had I known this was the case I would've gone down a different route. The TV sound needs the surround speakers to really shine, but they're not worth the price if they don't play music.

Let me start the review by saying that I have very low expectations for a soundbar. I don't expect to be impressive and playing music, or need a home theater experience to wow me. I was just looking for good compatibility with my new Sony television and improved dialogue sound which is allegedly one of the selling points of this sound bar. Frankly, if this $900 sound bar was compatible with the new Sony TV, boosted dialogue somewhat, and sounded as good as a $100 soundbar, I would have been fine. Instead, I got a soundbar that sounds weaker and thinner than a $20 Bluetooth speaker, or a ten year old $250 television. I know this because I compared both side by side. Also music streamed from any source sounds dramatically worse than the $20 Bluetooth speaker. As mentioned in other reviews, the subwoofer (which is 5 ft from the soundbar) constantly becomes disconnected. The soundbar also frequently becomes disconnected, no matter which method you use to hook it up. Resets don't help either. How can It be so completely incompatible with my new Sony TV? Unfortunately, I had gotten Covid shortly after buying it, so I didn't get to hook it up and check it out before the return period ran out at Best Buy. Now it now sits unplugged on my mantle, just so that we can watch TV with sound. It is literally a $900 piece of junk that will end up in a landfill, which is an environmental nightmare. I wish I could at least recycle it. I don't now what has happened to Sony. They used to make quality products that worked. Instead

Value for money and love the design, easy to clean.

Had this soundbar for around a week now and am so far am extremely hasty with it. The build quality is great, as you'd expect from Sony, set up it fairly straight forward, I'd advise that you use good quality Interconnects, it comes with 1 x Optical cable but I'd recommend using quality HDMI cables where possible. There are 3 x HDMI ports, as follows: - 1 x HDMI ARC / EARC - Connect this to HDMI port on TV ( marked Arc / Earc) in / Out 2 x HDMI ports, connect 1 to Sky / Virgin box etc. and 1 to Blu Ray player / Games console 1 x Optical port 1 x 3.5mm Aux Port 1 x Wired ethernet port Once all connections have been made, following the instructions, set up is fairely easy. Connect to WIFI network etc. (Wireless Sub connects automatically.when switched for the first time). Sound quality is great, although I think it will take a while to tweak the settings and find which suit your own taste. The Sound from the sound bar is easy on the ear for film and music and had more than enough power to fill a large room, I do think the optional wireless speakers will be well worth adding attached later date though. All in all I am very happy with this soundbar. Once connected set up i

Very happy with the purchase, great buy, great entertaiment, very satisfied with the music quality produce.. :)

This product has the following technical problems: Does not stay connected to the subwoofer (the sound drops out for no reason). Looses connection to the Subwoofer permanently requiring a factory reset). Losses connection the Rear Speakers. When connected to a Sony TV over eARC and using the TV apps (eg Netflix) the sound drops out completely and require a power cycle to resume. There are people complaining about these issues from 2 years ago on AB forums, but these have not been addressed by Sony. For a £1000 soundbar and rear speaker this is totally unacceptable. My previous Sony Soundbar (SA-NT3) had a wireless subwoofer and in 4 years never Lost connection once. I cannot recommend this product at all. I have contacted technical support but the just asked my to connect to another TV and give it a factory reset. Also the manual states to connect the Subwoofer by cable if you have connection issues, but does not explain were to plug this (there is a hidden 3mm jack in the subwoofer, but nothing on the soundbar?) It needs a serious firmware update Sony! lost connection once.

I love the sound from this, it's got great bass and really clear dialogue. My only negative is the user setting screen that comes up on my Sony TV, it is really small and the navigation keys really don't work very well, with the screen going blank intermittently. I need to speak with Sony to understand if this is a fault or not.

I brought this to go with my new Sony TV and to replace an existing Sony home theatre to save on space. Works very well and easy to set up.

Great sound bar fill in so many sounds that you miss when watching normal TV. Quality product from Sony.

Heard this on a demo instore and just had to buy it. Amazing clarity and sound quality. Also well made. Remote could be a bit more upmarket if I’m going to be picky. Overall really happy with it.

Bought this to go with Sony Bravia TV. Size length wise is a good fit for the TV. Setting up was not straight forward but contact with Sony solved the problem. (Info bar kept popping up randomly. A factory reset on the TV was needed. There is plenty of power. I don't have the rear speakers so can't comment on their effectiveness.

sound bar always disconnect from the TV and force me to restart the TV

A massive improvement in sound quality over my previous system

Purchased this to go along with my Sony TV since I'm OCD and felt it would be wrong to mix with another brand. This unit gives great immersive sound that fills in our open concept living room so good I wanted to get another one for our bedroom. I was so happy until it started acting up... so this unit will run like a charm and then just cut out for lapses of 1-4 minutes while it reconnects to both the wireless subwoofer and the television. So imagine watching a movie or a series and then loosing sound as if someone hit the mute button. The best thing I have found to work around this is disconnecting the home theater system threw the tv settings and then switching back from tv to home theater, but having to do this 2-4 times threw a 2 hr movie is unacceptable for a unit of this price point. No fixes for this have been found on Reddit or other forums as of yet.

This sound bar lasted three weeks and Sony will not replace with a new sound bar. I am completely underwhelmed.

We purchase this unit approximately two months ago, and are more than happy with the sound quality and features it provides. We have it connected to a Sony XBR55X950G smart television, and a Tivo Bolt. Installation / connection instructions were vague and confusing for this set up and not what we were expecting for a Sony-to-Sony connection. We eventually stumbled upon a set-up that works, kind of. Switching inputs to the Tivo requires multiple menu selections as well as setting changes EVERY TIME! There is a momentary delay between each menu selection, while (I suppose) the devices recognize each other, so if you press buttons too fast the changes don't work. Nothing's more fun than looking like a tech moron in front of family and friends. Once you make the connection, everything is great. Switching back to TV mode requires but one press of a button, and is instantaneous. I expect that the elaborate ritual involved in switching to Tivo will eventually become second nature. Until then, this unit must be rated as extremely frustrating to use, while producing excellent audio. We are very happy with the quality of the video and audio from all of Sony devices, but they have all suffered from vague,confusing and quirky set-up and use issues. They remind me of the bad old days with computer peripherals, before Plug-n-Play.

I was persuaded by a Best Buy sales rep to take this soundbar with the purchase of my XBR65X950H television. He said to try it out, you have 15 days and if you don't like it return it. I own a Bose cinemate system that was installed with the previous TV that I was very happy with and I would use that on the next TV that I purchase. I hung my new 950H TV on the wall and installed my Cinemate system and was Very satisfied with an awesome picture and great sound, No need to really try out HTZ9F. The next day I decided to take it for a test drive, I installed the Soundbar and subwoofer got everything working and I have to say I was not impressed, I tried all the speaker modes, and to me, it was your average soundbar. It was when I pushed the button on the remote that read Vertical S, this is what separates it from being just your average soundbar, "Game Changing Technology". How you are able to get surround sound out of the front-firing speakers is very impressive! I will continue to move forward with the HTZ9F and also add the Z9R wireless speakers for that room-filling experience. Thank You Sony for your continued efforts to be the "One & Only!

Coming from a sony and q acoustic separates which are going in a dedicated room and remodelling the living room I must say I am really impressed with the sound quality and scale this bar produces.Also bought the wireless rears to go with it.Had no issues with the wireless connection of speakers.Over all really happy.

For something small it's really impactful. Bluetooth connectivity is great. Would recommend this for movies and music. The only thing i'd prefer is if I can tweak the eq more and voice clarity can be better.

As soon as I hooked this up, which was very easy, I thought I needed to adjust the EQ. Tried all the remote 'settings' (cinema, voice, etc.) but there is ZERO midrange response from this system and at full volume, the sub is woefully inadequate for a 10x10' basement. Better for a coat closet. My 20-year-old Yamaha/Polk Audio 3.1 runs circles around the Z9F, save for the sound reflecting tech. Even our first gen Bose Soundock sounds better. Only registered the product so I could write this out of sheer frustration. Back to Amazon... Very disappointed.

Have connected with an optic cable and eArc hdmi to a 950G 65" Sony TV, wired internet connection at 300 mbps, and still cuts out sometimes. The sounds great, but it cutting out randomly is very frustrating and would not recommend unless this is fixed.

I received the sound system as a gift and love it.

The system set up was so easy. The system settings give a wide variety of configurations for cinema, music, gaming, etc. Once I had it all set up, I tested with Demos for Atmos on YouTube! WOW! The system packs a punch! Now all we need is more content supporting Atmos!

No much to add to other reviewers mentioning this unacceptable issue, the sound bar sound will cut out randomly, sometimes very frequently others every 5-20 minutes, it seems to me that it gets worse with Dolby Atmos content? Not sure, but whatever the cause it's unacceptable that Sony pretends to charge a high price for a flawed product. By the way I bought it, like many others, thinking that it would work better with my Sony TV (9000H) and what a fool I feel now.

I bought this few weeks ago and already enjoying the theatre like sound....watching movies with surround sound amplified/multipied many times than simply listening the sound of TV...worth every penny and does not have to spend thousands to get that experience...

I have been a loyal Sony customer for years. Although this sounbar is listed as compatible with by Bravia XBR65850F, it will not sync properly. Sony telephone support had me reconnect and said they would call back; the connection was not maintained and the tech never called back. Email support was worthless, and the telephone support is not available on the weekends - which, for someone working Monday - Friday is not a viable option. If this was my first experience with a Sony product it would also be my last.

Dialogue is too soft when watching movie. How to improve this ? Bluetooth sound also not good as what I expected.

A great upgrade from the built in TV speakers. A whole new experience and getting the surround speakers will complete the whole experience. Can’t compare with a full fledge Dolby Atmos system but the Vertical S does the job somehow. Love the simplistic & manageable design and form factor - does not occupy too much space on my console. Love it and no regrets.

Three months after I bough the HTZ9F sound bar the subwoofer cuts in and out. According to reviews I have read, I am not the only person who has issues with the subwoofer. I have try everything I have come across online to try to fix this issue but nothing works. It is terrible that this unit was SO EXPENSIVE and it broke on me right away. I expected better reliability from a brand such as Sony. Even more when they are selling a sound bar for $700 that broke right away.

Tried this in a local store and it was noticeably better than anything else at the same price, sound is rich and balanced with good punchy bass and the virtual surround is very convincing

I bought this (Sony's top end) sound bar to go with Sony's 55XH9505 Hi end TV. It is connected via the ARC HDMI sockets on both devices and TV speaker are set to OFF (Audio system speakers enabled) The sound bar can certainly pump out a lot of volume with depth, but speech from regular TV channels, in particular like the News or Game shows, is very rough, jagged and prickly. Using the Voice option makes it worse. In TV costume dramas the speech is marginally better, but this impediment detracts heavily from getting engrossed in a program. If there were a EQ available, perhaps some of the speech high frequencies could be reduced, but that may have a detrimental effect on other sounds All of the many sound modes, effects and compatibilities, on this device, fade into irrelevance when trying to just improve the speech. This isn't a cheap sound bar, and it's very disappointing

The sound was cut off 1 second every 5 minutes. Try to fix but it does not work

I purchased this soundbar and rear speakers and when it works it is amazing! The Atmos leaves something to be desired but the sound is in general is just fantastic. Powerful sub, voices are clear and, setup was extremely simple. However, for whatever reason when I cast media to my A9G everything will be fine and then the sound just disappears. Reboots of the TV and soundbar don't fix the issue. Fiddling with the eARC, PCM, everything just don't fix the problem. I thought perhaps it was the app (Disney+) because when I played a different movie sound was heard. When I switched apps and even going to the cable box there was sound output. We watched WW84 and every 20 mins or so the sound would cut out for about 2-3 seconds. This soundbar costs too much dang money to be having these problems. I will be returning this unit very soon.