Side by Side Comparison of: Sony vs AmazonBasics

I bought this sound bar because it had good ratings and the price was definitely right. It has lived up to my expectations. I'm using it with a 65 inch plasma TV and the TV was too heavy (89 pounds) to put on top of the sound bar (Max weight bearing of 65 pounds). I mounted it above the TV and it works fine there. It's not a home theater by any means but I wanted to use it to overcome the inadequacies of the TV speakers and it does that very well. It's recommended for a smaller TV but I haven't noticed any diminished performance using it with the larger screen. It was definitely a good purchase for this application and I would not hesitate to do it again.

There's tons of reviews already about this product, so I'll be succinct. If you own a newer Sony Bravia HDTV (which has an audio return channel - ARC), are underwhelmed by the sound produced by your TV's speakers, and you don't want movie theater volumes of sound/bass to avoid annoying your neighbors, then this system is for you.Period.I've only owned this unit for less than a day, so I have no idea if the unit is durable and will last. But here's my first impressions after using it for a few hours.Pro's- If you own a Sony Bravia TV, setup couldn't be simpler. Just use an high-speed HDMI cable to connect the unit to your TV, being sure to plug it in to the ARC (audio return channel) on both the unit and your TV. If you don't use the ARC setup, you lose many of the benefits this unit provides if you own a Sony Bravia TV.- Beautiful music on lower and middle volumes (which is all I can do in my townhome complex). Padora and the music I have on a USB stick plugged into my Roku box finally sounds, well, like music! The music on lower volumes is almost comparable to my former excellent stereo system with a dedicated subwoofer. I'm sure true audiophiles would find something to criticize, but for general home use the quality of the music is excellent at lower and middle volume levels. Pop, classic rock, Enya, Enigma and classical music have all sounded very clear, quite crisp and vastly better than the TV speakers.- A not-so-boomy bass. For music, the bass produced by this unit is excellent. The unit does more than just go "boom boom boom."- Very attractive unit. For newer Sony Bravia TV's, the unit is a perfect fit beneath the TV. And by happy coincidence, the unit also matches my glass TV stand perfectly.- Simplicity - My 40 inch Sony Bravia TV instantly recognized the unit, and automatically switched over to the unit. No hunting around in obscure settings were needed. Similarly, my Sony TV's remote can control the power level and on/off functions of the unit (so one less remote to use except to tweak sound settings). And just one cable is needed to connect the unit to the TV.- Greatly enhances the sound quality of TV shows and movies. Voices are clear and distinct.- Unique, yet functional, remote control design.- Slim design. Compared to other similar systems, this Sony system is thinner. It only raised my TV three inches in height (which, admittedly, is an inch or so higher than I'd prefer).Con's- Want movie theater quality earth-shaking bass? You won't find it in this unit. Nor will you find movie level volume levels.- For smaller to mid-sized rooms, this unit is excellent. But the unit might not be enough for larger rooms.- Obviously, not wall mountable.- Few sound adjustments available beyond choosing sound fields and adjusting bass/treble levels.Overall, after debating which unit (Klipsch/Sonos/Other Sony Units) to get for weeks, I decided to just buy the least expensive option in hopes it would work. Not only did this unit work, it blew away my expectations. And for Sony Bravia TV owners, this - or some of the other Sony soundbar systems available - should top your list. For $198, this unit is simply a steal - especially when compared to the cost of separately acquiring a receiver, two speakers and a subwoofer.

Better than expected!!! Speaker makes Sony Bravia tv come alive!! Arrived on time as always with Amazon!!! Get one today!!!

This Sony sound base produces a clean and clear sound. It does not have as much bass as a sound bar system that has a stand alone sub, as expected, but still does a really good job for its size. It fits perfectly under my Samsung 55 inch. Connected with a HDMI arc and it is nice that is turns on/off with the tv power. Simple settings and remote.

I am really loving these speakers. Upfront, I would say the default settings on the soundbar really don’t do it justice. I remember being a little disappointed at first, until I conducted some trial and error. I find that you get the clearest, most balanced sound when you turn the “sound effect” off in the audio menu. At that point everything opens up, particularly with music. The sound fields seem like a clever idea, but really they just muffle one frequency or another.In fact, it’s great that the speaker is as good as it is, because the settings don’t offer much. You can adjust the subwoofer volume, and increase or decrease the bass and treble. Not much to customize. The bass and treble settings don’t have much range - personally I think increasing either maxes out at about +3 and any more after that I can’t hear a difference. But maybe those with more tuned ears could.One great setting though is the “advanced auto volume”, which “reduces the volume discrepancies between different programs or between programs and commercials”. Also, if one dvd track is softer than another, enabling this setting will reduce that difference noticeably too.A word on HD audio I should mention: I have noticed that the soundbar doesn’t do as good a job downmixing DTS HD 7.1 for stereo as my Sony blu ray player. At first I set the player to bitstream, but found that movies such as Jurassic Park and Winter Soldier sounded much softer (actually, if you turn it up on Jurassic Park you’ll be deafened when the T-Rex roars). Changing to PCM fixed the problem.Fair “warning”, if you’re looking for something with really boomy, floor rumbling bass, this may not be for you however. I tweaked the settings for clarity, and needed to bump the subwoofer to 11 out of 12 to hear the lower frequencies clearly. Though that sounds like a high setting, it gives you a great range without the walls shaking. So in other words, it’s a nice speaker for an apartment.So yeah, great device, with just a few things to work out.Just a last piece of advice, remember to turn on the HDMI control on your devices, because this is an incredibly useful function. It was pretty liberating to be able to put the controller in the drawer, because now the inputs on the soundbar change automatically when I change tv inputs.

Best buy out there in my opinion. Love the music setting and the Dolby is a great addition. Fills the room with great sound and the bass is surprisingly full and warm. But it you want to add a self-powered sub-woofer, there is an audio out ready to except it. Over all, this is the best small bar I have ever had. I replaced it with my old Bose system and it is far superior.LOVE LOVE LOVE the glass top, TV sits right on top of it and I hate scratches on my things, Sony really thought of everything. Why anyone would have to put this in front of the T.V. rather than under it is beyond me as a review or two suggest.Con, the remote is small and hard to find if you lay it down in a silly place like I always seem to do. HEHEHE!Overall, I have nothing bad to say about this product for the price range.

Originally wanted SONO, but for $650 starting, I'll pass. I fount a Sony XT1 refurbished for $180. Nice heavy duty construction(27 lbs). No resonance even at high volumes. Very powerful for only 170 watts, more than enough to annoy your neighbors. Will not sound as good as SONO system but it does have Clear audio with decent base for a pair of 2x4 subs. I have the sub power level st at 10 out of 12. I use it to augment my Sony 65 inch UHD TV. Very clean design. Bluetooth works great up till 50ft. Once everything is connected, it can automatically play current input without using the remote. Rarely do I need to fiddle with the remote. Only thing keeping it from getting 5 stars is the user interface, device settings is a bit vague and hard to get around. I find the sound and some device descriptions cryptic. It doesn't give you clear explanation of what is does, even in the written manual. you just have to try it. Had it for 2 yeas. Excellent, high quality product for $180.

This soundbar is, by far, the best in this price range. I purchased the Vizio version which has a sub woofer separate from the sound bar and I'm just OK with it. I mediately began searching for something better. While reading a review on the Bose soundbar in the $250 range, someone mentioned this Sony soundbar with the sub woofers built-in. I looked it up and read some of the reviews. I pulled the trigger and got it today. It is awesome! Don't bother with the other ones! If you were looking for something with high-quality sound and surprisingly good bass, with a no headache hook up; then look no further. Not to mention that it looks really sleek. This has far more features than the Vizio I purchased a week ago. For only $15 more I got exactly what I wanted and a whole lot more. I'm returning the Vizio system ASAP! This is perfect for those of us not wanting to break the bank for a fancy, high-end surroundsound system. Having said that, if you live in an apartment or renting a room in a house, your neighbors or housemates will still hear and fell this system (awesome!). I highly recommend this Sony soundbar. I love it! I would have given it five stars if I could figure out how to control it with my Comcast remote. I don't like having to use two remotes. If someone knows how to do that, I would love your help. When I turn up the volume on the TV and the unit is on, I can hear the TV audio slightly ahead of the audio coming out of the unit. I don't know enough about audio systems. If I can't figure it out, I'm willing to put up with using two remotes. I just turn down the TV audio to zero and only use the soundbar remote for volume. Either way this is an awesome product at a very reasonable price.

Easily set up with the optical cable provided. I could not use it in conjunction with the TV audio, the delay was enough for me to feel like there was an echo. The Sony TV i have had an option to disable "on board" sound, so it wasn't an issue. Blue tooth connectivity was also simple... to pair just push the BT Pairing button on top of the device. Sound is pretty good, but not excellent. It certainly helps with weak and washed out sound that my TV has on it's own. I don't notice booming base or highs, but the sound quality is good enough for what i paid, and the device does what i need it to do, mainly keep the kitchen sounds from overriding the TV. I do like it as a speaker for my phone or ipad when playing music, i can hear it throughout the house clearly. Also, maxed out, the device does not lose sound quality. It can apparently handle more than the max volume setting they gave it.

I finally replaced my 6 year old XBR Sony TV when it took two days to fully recover picture operation from a long power outage and house temperature up to 88 degrees. I went with a lower level ( and $1k cheaper ) Sony R series 48" ( great picture, marginal sound ) and a Sony HT-XT1 sound "table" $225 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IWQREOE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00Logic here is all flat screens will croak in 4 to 6 years so why replace more than the video monitor, and the super thin TV profiles don't allow room for decent sized nor front firing mid/high range speakers.The HT-XT1 sounds better than the old XBR TV's side mount,forward facing speakers and woofer ( once I got the adjustments sorted out - default is a boom box - 3 places to adjust bass response). But still well short of my 45 year old analog, audiophile quality, discrete component stereo system. It is connected and I use it when the program sound source justifies it. I have yet to hear a synthetic electronic substitute for proper speaker placement that dosent create a lot phase distortion and, for me, hearing fatigue at high live volume levels. At normal volumes this system is A-OK and throws a good 2.1 sound field watching dvd and HD movies. It even messes with my dog - A good indicator of your systems fidelity with their higher than human hearing range.Since this "all in one" sound unit is a bit wider than my TV pedestal ( for proper viewing height ) and the pedestal stand TV sits on it, I cut and painted a piece of 11/16" plywood with a center pivot locater bolt to set the system on. The plywood sits directly on the pedestal top rather than using a swivel plate to allow good coupling of the bass vibrations to the floor - works very well at this and keeps the bass tight instead of boomy and distorted.With the down firing woofers in the box, don't expect this system to work at it's best if you have a flimsy flexable "tv stand" support to the floor.UPDATE on the ARC (Audio Return Channel) function. At about 6 months on TV and this HT-XT1 ( 1/5/16 ) the HDMI/ARC control functions stopped working - the TV wouldn't switch the sound box inputs nor the sound box the TVs inputs. Did the normal cable swapping and reset at both ends to no avail. Sony tech support knew less about what I have than I and I was informed in bad English that what had worked for 6 months was never supposed to work. I lived with manual switching of video and sound separately with each components remotes until 5/25/16 when "spontaneously" it all started working correctly again. The only change was I turned off my furnace and house temperature dropped to 62 degree F the night before. This makes me think there is a cold solder joint in either the sound bar or the TV. The outtake here is if you have a similar issue, try chilling the suspected items and letting the change in temperature expansion "work" the connections inside. Maybe it will put it in remission. I have a lot of electronics repair experience and would not try to find the bad joint and modern circuit boards are very miniaturized and are wave soldered - my pencil soldering iron is too big and clumsy to repair it even if I could isolate the bad connection with freeze spray and may fry some temperature sensitive component.

Many people have already said enough about this sound bar so I will just give a quick review. I purchased this item in hopes of helping my terrible Vizio TV speakers. It's basically a constant struggle of having to adjust the volume due to the fact that I cannot hear dialogue then rushing to turn the volume down during loud scenes. I started looking for a sound bar but I wanted one that I could sit my TV on top of. Just not a fan of having a sound bar in front of the TV(unless it was wall mounted or I had a spot to put the sound bar without being in front of the TV). Any who, it was basically this or Zvox. Zvox had great reviews, I've seen them many times in my home theater magazine, which is now Sound & Vision, but I didn't want to pay $400 dollars for their top of the line with not near as many inputs or features. In comes the Sony HT-XT 2.1 and a very reasonable price with great reviews. I needed something that wouldn't be over powering for an apartment environment but I mostly needed it to boost the dialogue in TV and movies. Overall I'm very pleased with this product for never listening to the unit before and just simply going off of amazon reviews. However, I must say the biggest disappointment was the fact that this device did not boost dialogue near the level I wanted it too. I've tried all 3 settings as well as boosting treble while lowering the sub and it just doesn't hit the mark I was aiming for. Granted, I wanted to be able to keep the unit at low levels and have the dialogue boosted substantially so perhaps my requirements were a bit too high. However, I've read several reviews saying the bass is lacking. I must strongly disagree. For a unit of this price and driver size it is more than enough rumble. If you need bass in your face, you probably shouldn't be looking at an all in one unit in the first place. You need a receiver + speaker setup or a sound bar with a dedicated sub.Pros:Price is very reasonable for features.3 HDMI inputsBluetooth connectivityoption to download an app to control deviceoption to put TV on top of sound barvery nice finish especially on the topSurprising bass response for price and driver sizeGets pretty loud without distortingnight mode is very helpful in changing volumes for later times in the eveningCons:Dialogue was not boosted nearly as much as I had hoped(even with all 3 options being tested)not a solution in replacing a full 5.1 setupSoundstage isn't near as wide as I had hoped forThe subwoofers are not protected and that bothers me a lot. I know that once you have the sound bar in place, you shouldn't have any issues but what if you have to move it or even when you initially take it ouf out of the box. I don't know, a cover of some sort would have been just as eay to put on in my opinion.Overall:For the price and features, I just couldn't find a reason to not at the least be interested in this purchase. If you're looking for a sound bar loaded with features, allows the TV to sit on top, mostly using this to replace your crappy TV speakers and provide a bit more clarity while delivering decent sound for just under $300, I just can't see you going wrong with this purchase.

For the money this system can't be beat it is a sony the voice audio is clear the design is very nice and its overall a beautiful sound system for a regular bedroom or small living room. The only thing is that the bass isn't too great it's ok so if you like to listen to music with bass or lime the bassy effects in movies you might not be too pleased as you would be with different and more expensive models with separate subwoofer.

I bought this because I knew I needed something better than the built in TV speakers and I had no plans to mount the TV on the wall and the glass platform and Sony reputation for quality sold me. The sound was marginally better than the TV speakers so it served its purpose for a reasonable price. I found dialogue a bit muddy to understand. The build quality is excellent. This was my first soundbar so I did not want to spend a lot. I eventually mounted my TV on the wall and got the Bose 300 bar and that was definitely an improvement over this Sony but at much greater cost. I use the Sony now as a Bluetooth speaker when needed, otherwise it sits under my bed collecting dust. It has bottom firing speakers and I had it placed on a wood table so that might have had something to do with the sound not be stellar. When using it as a speaker for music, it sat on my tile floor and sounded pretty good.

If I could give this 3.5 stars, I would. This unit isn't bad, for a sound bar. My two gripes are fairly normal sound bar gripes and are as follows: The overall volume level it is capable of is honestly pretty low coming from the Samsung TV source, which is being passed directly via an optical cable. That being said and to be fair, if I play Bluetooth audio from my phone, it is capable of decent volume. However, I use it for TV more than anything else and on certain dialogue-heavy shows I feel like it still isn't as loud as I need it to be, even though changing the voice setting does help a bit. The other gripe is that if you put the bass at even 2/3 of its limit, it makes the whole thing rattle. I understand the realities of sound bars and this is still better than TV audio by itself, by far.

Very good sound and works perfectly as a pedestal for your television, however, the quality is an issue. We had this for 11 months when it stopped powering on. Fortunately, it happened right before the one year warranty expired, so Sony had us ship it to United Radio for repair at our own expense ($20). It took approximately a month and half to have it returned to us, since the circuit board had to be ordered and installed.

THE Optical connection is fine. The device will not sync to my 2015 SAMSUNG SUHD TV . SAMSUNG SMART REMOTE HAS NO CONTROL OF SOUND BAR. I also cannot connect SONY and SAMSUNG HDMI (ARC). No effect

I can only give this sound bar a lukewarm rating. It has been real picky about how it is hooked up to our entertainment stuff. The stuff is a little older, that gives the sound bar some excuse for not working well. There is a very definite order in how the sound bar is turned on and going from device to device. We stream some shows from the computer to the TV, we also have an older Magnavox DVR, and the TV is a Panasonic Viera with the early version of ARC hookup. The mix is just barely workable. And the sound itself from the sound bar is just some better than the TV, we still miss some words in the dialogue from one show or another.

I had a ZVox 555 that died in a power outage and decided to try a different brand sound bar. After some research, I settled on the Sony HT-XT1, mostly because of the price and the fact that it has multiple HDMI inputs. In comparison to the ZVox, the sound quality was pretty similar but with the big difference that it has no HDMI inputs. The Sony looks pretty polished and the tempered glass top is nice. The remote, which looks like a long square wand was actually kind of cool looking reflecting that Sony did not skimp on the design or quality. So why only three stars? The great thing about the ZVox units is that they have the ability to program your TVs volume and power control directly to it, and it's really easy to do. The Sony relies on ARC and Bravia sync (for Sony TVs). I thought that since I have a Sony TV it would all just kind of automatically work. Apparently it does not with older model Sony TVs. I have a 2010 LED TV and despite the fact that it is a Bravia brand Sony TV, I could not get my TV remote to control the sound bar. The instructions are pretty basic and doesn't go into much detail on the ARC capability. I consider my home theater technical skills as advanced and if there was a way to make this combination work, it was lost on me. Seems pretty silly that a Sony TV can't fully integrate with a Sony sound bar. On a more minor note, the menu command layout took a little time to figure out as, once again, it does a poor job of explaining things.So, if you can live with the possibility that you might have to use the included remote as the primary way of controlling the sound bar, then it's a good device, especially if the price is under $300. For my money, I'd go with a ZVox sound bar. The ability to program your remote into it is a huge plus and as long as you don't need HDMI inputs and can connect via SPDIF audio the ZVox is the way to go. I ended up getting a ZVox 570 and will sell the Sony HT-XT1.

Worked perfectly fine for a little over a year by connecting the speaker from its TV HDMI port to an HDMI port on our LG TV. I then had various devices connected to the other TV HDMI ports such Roku, NAS, DVD player. I would then set the Sony speaker to TV input and would toggle using the TV remote and could use either the TV speaker or the Sony speaker at any time by raising/lowering the volume. Suddenly It stopped working this way and no sound would come out. I eventually solved it by plugging the other devices into the sound bar instead of the TV and then toggling the inputs on the sound bar instead of the TV. No idea why it worked one way for over a year and then suddenly stopped.

Not much better than the TV speakers. Well, not good enough to keep.

Pros:* Has a built in HDMI switcher* Looks really nice* Mids sound nice* Good price (I paid 179.99 on Amazon).Cons:* Gets very muddy, very quickly. The sound quality isn't that great. The unit tends to overdrive the "woofers". I tried cycling through all the sound stages programmed into the unit and the bass frequencies overpowered the mids after just a nominal rise in volume.* Zero way to adjust bass/mid/treble. I tried fixing my first con listed, but found zero way to adjust even a very basic level of EQ. Looked in both the app and remote menus.I bought this as a means to replace my cheap bookshelf speakers and sub 200$ Yamaha receiver. Unfortunately, the sound quality was so far below the aforementioned setup, that I can't keep it. Perhaps my unit is defective, but it's questionable at this price point.

Sound is just ok and the volume isn't controlled with the Sony tv remote.

The unit is big and packs a lot of power but the sound quality is mediocre and somewhat muffled. It is certainly not a clean and clear audio profile, and the bass is dull. Dialogue does not sync well and you cannot make adjustments to the sync time. There is a feature allowing you to either turn sync on or off, and that is it. It does not work well and there is no noticeable change.

The sound was not as good as expected. Could not use my Centurylink remote to adjust volume or mute. Called both Sony and Centurylink and both said would need to use 2 remotes. Sent unit back.

Sound quality is not what it's cracked up to be (distortion at higher volumes and tinny, "digital" sound), and to top it all off, the unit stopped working after 1 year and 2 months - just past the warranty. Very odd little remote too - never quite got used to it. Not happy.

It is so unfortunate, I wanted to like it.The sound quality is actually quite good, helps equalize volume when watching movies (between spoken voice and loud action).That is actually why I bought it in the first place.The fatal problem is that it cannot seem to switch to a valid input that has both audio and video signals when I turn on my TV and DirecTV receiver.It always selects "TV" as the input which shows the video, but has no audio.HDMI1 works just fine, HDMI2 has a Roku plugged into it and it also works fine.I literally cannot understand the purpose of this "TV" input, what is this supposed to be?There are 3 HDMI inputs, which are numbered as such and I can toggle through, and one HDMI output.For me at least "TV" is just a muted version of HDMI1.I have a Samsung Smart TV, which has HDMI-CEC functionality.So the TV discovered both of my devices, I even set the CEC function to not turn off remote devices, which actually leaves the Sony HTXT powered on when I power off the TV.Then when I power on the TV, the soundbar switches from HDMI1 where I set it last, to the "TV" input which of course has no sound.Then it switches momentarily back to HDMI1, for 4 seconds (I hear sound), then permanently switches back to TV.Not sure if this is a firmware problem, but it sure would be nice to have a setting where you could default the input.Or at least have it remember the last setting? Or maybe re-order the list?

I can't believe how far down Sony has come. Their products have diminished in quality and customer service is abysmal. This sound bar is an example. i bought it as I have a Sony TV and thought this would be a better fit than other companies' products. Big mistake. There is something very wrong with it. It will not stay in sync with the satellite box and remote. Every couple of weeks I have to unplug the sound bar to get it back in sync. Lately it has gotten even worse and I called Sony. Three "customer service" reps and almost 2 hours later, I am now escalated as I refused to have to pay to get the damn thing shipped to the repair station on the east coast. We shall see what happens next.It used to be No Baloney Sony, now it's all baloney.

I have had this sound bar for 10 months and it has completely stopped any function-having to work now with Sony for warranty protection. I would just take my money back.

I've had this for a few months. Unfortunately the subwoofer went bad and the any sort of base causes bad distortion. I've also noticed that the unit turns itself on to the BT (Bluetooth) mode. I turn it off and a few minutes later its back on again. Either its ghosts or poor workmanship. Not sure which. Also when playing music from my iPhone it disconnects at random intervals even though the phone is right next to the speaker.I wouldn't buy this again. I always liked Sony and this is a HUGE disappointment.

It turns out this sound bar has a known will-not-fix problem with LG TVs. The problem is discussed in Sony's forums (see http://goo.gl/07w0p5 or search for [sony arc hdmi lg]) and Sony representatives have acknowledged that their implementation of HDMI ARC is not fully compatible with non-Sony TVs and will not fix the problem.This is a huge issue. If you buy speakers for your TV, you want to be able to control the volume of those speakers through your TV remote. You cannot do that with optical connections. You want to use the HDMI ARC connection (or the analog, but the HDMI ARC is preferable and why I bought this). And Sony has a known bug that prevents this sound bar from working with some TVs.I ended up having to go through all the hours of effort of installing this sound bar in my system, trying many things to debug the issue, searching forums and finding Sony knows about the issue but didn't disclose it, and then uninstalling the sound bar and returning it to Amazon. I hope some people reading this will at be warned and not have to go through all the hassle I did. And, Sony, you really need to disclose, on the item product pages, that your equipment will not work with some TVs.