Sony Soundbar HT-X9000F review

Sony is one of the top brands in the tech industry that produces quality gadgets such as TVs, speakers and a lot more. Today, we’ll check out the HT-X9000F — the brand’s latest soundbar that packs the latest audio and connectivity features. Is it worth the purchase? Find out in our review below.

Design and Construction

Sony maintains a sleek and stylish design when it comes to their soundbars and the HT-X9000F is not an exception. The main unit’s trapezoidal design is pleasing to the eyes especially for those who are into symmetrical shapes.

The subwoofer unit sports the traditional box shape design. Both units have a matte finish which feels great to the touch.

Let’s check out the soundbar first. The HT-X9000F has five ports at the back. Two HDMI ports are located side-by-side, one for devices such as laptops and one for TV connections (ARC), an Analog in, TV in, and USB 3.0 Type A port, all of which are compressed in one area.

There are two IR repeaters located at the back which transmits the remote signal of the TV remote control to the TV.

There are five capacitive buttons. The power button, input button which selects the input for playbacks, Bluetooth button to enable or disable pairing, and volume management. There are also 5 LED indicators namely TV, HDMI, Bluetooth, Analog, and USB that will light up whenever they are enabled or being used.

The Power and Link buttons are located at the back of the subwoofer. A single LED indicator can be found in front which indicates if the subwoofer is connected successfully or not.

There’s also a remote control for the soundbar for easier navigation and control.

Both the soundbar and subwoofer feels premium and solid. The soundbar is light and can be easily carried with one hand but the subwoofer is quite heavy and needs to be carried with both hands.

Setup and Features

The HT-X9000F features a 7.1.2ch surround sound placed at the ceiling of the speakers, five sound modes (Theater, Game studio, Sports, Music, and News), wide range of connection capabilities, and 4K HDR audio quality which is used for home theater formats including Dolby Vision, HDR10, and Hybrid Log Gamma.

This soundbar can easily connect to a TV wirelessly, via Bluetooth, or via an HDMI ARC port while other devices such as smartphones can be connected via Bluetooth.

We’re using the Sony A8F OLED TV so connecting it is not that complicated. Instead of using the soundbar’s own remote control, we used the TV’s remote to navigate throughout our setup. To connect the soundbar and subwoofer to a TV, first, the TV must have an HDMI ARC port. Once the soundbar is connected via HDMI cable, change the input of the TV to where it is located. Go to the Setup tab and choose Advanced Setup. From there you will need to enable the “Secure Link” option and press the “Link” button of the subwoofer. The soundbar will be able to detect and successfully link both devices.

Author’s Note:  The only way to connect the subwoofer to the soundbar is by setting it up on the TV and doing the steps that we mentioned earlier. After connecting it, users can simply detach the HDMI cables and they’re good to go.

Pretty simple, right? Well, it’s not really beginner friendly as we failed to set it up for the first time even when we tried to follow the soundbar’s manual that is provided in the package. One weird problem is that even if we successfully connected the soundbar, it doesn’t produce any sound when we tried to watch videos on the TV. What we did was we restarted the soundbar and it automatically synced and worked well.

Audio Quality

We tested the HT-X9000F’s audio capabilities on different formats. Watching YouTube videos and movies on TV wirelessly is not a problem since the audio is in sync but with slight delays whenever we adjust the volume.

As expected, the quality is superb as the sound is clear and crisp with no distortions even at max volume. The highs, mids, and lows are impressive on the soundbar alone but, with the subwoofer linked, our entire listening experience went to a whole new level. Imagine that you have a mini theater in your homes without having to install a lot of speakers in the corners of your room. This is all thanks to the 7.1.2ch surround sound which enhances the dynamic range of the soundbar.

The sound modes also match our listening experiences. The Theater mode emphasizes more on the boom of the subwoofer while the Game studio mode works almost the same but it is more balanced. The Sports and News modes are more treble-inclined to provide clear dialogs. Lastly, the Music mode is the best one, in my personal opinion, since it can blend well with anything that we play.

Conclusion

The Sony Soundbar HT-X9000F is an excellent audio accessory that can be used by devices such as smartphones, laptops, and, of course, televisions. We had a quite hiccup while setting it up but it was worth the wait as it delivers great overall audio quality. The Sony Soundbar HT-X9000F is priced at Php31,199 and is available at Sony Centers and Authorized dealers nationwide.

To answer our earlier question, if you have enough dough for a good and long-lasting audio system, then it is worth the purchase. However, if you are on a tight budget, we suggest that you sit this one out since the price is no joke.

Sony Soundbar HT-X9000F specifications:

• 4K HDR
• 2.1ch Dolby Atmos/DTS:X
• 7.1.2 Surround sound
• S-Master amplifier (300W)
• Wireless Subwoofer
• 1x HDMI ARC
• 1x HDMI
• 1x USB 2.0 Type A
• 1x Analog in port
• 1x TV in port
• Bravia Sync
• HDMI CEC
• Dolby Vision support
• Optical-audio input
• Analog in (stereo mini)
• Bluetooth 4.2
• TV Wireless connectivity
• HDCP2.2
• 930 x 58 x 85mm (main unit)
• 190 x 382 x 387mm (subwoofer)
• 2.5kg (main unit)
• 7.8kg (subwoofer)

What we liked:

• Great audio quality
• Great dynamic range
• Soundbar is relatively light
• Easy to navigate
• Easy connection with mobile devices

What we didn’t:

• Problems with syncing at times
• Expensive