Bought a sound bar (Sony z9f) for my ps5 and i’m not impressed
- Thread starter Thwomp
- Start date
I disagree I have a soundbar and it makes a significant difference.
The "sound bars are a scam" crowd here are about as relevant as those still saying streaming looks like garbage and will never compare to physical media.
We aren't living in 2011. There are plenty of sound bar options that sound amazing and comparable to a mid-range home theater system.
We aren't living in 2011. There are plenty of sound bar options that sound amazing and comparable to a mid-range home theater system.
Exactly. The ease of connectivity and with a sub makes it more than enough for an apartment. Yes, you can get better sound from a separate system and gaming on headsets are better when playing games but it doesn't make soundbars bad. They are great sound quality, spacious, limited wires and more than enough decible level for most people.
I opted for KEF LSX instead of soundbar, and feels that good 2.0 setup can enhance soundscape enough.
Still, might get additional Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal for additional gaming option.
Still, might get additional Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal for additional gaming option.
Compared to what? Are you saying you can't tell the difference between your TV speakers and the soundbar?
I agree, but for the amount of money these soundbars cost, you can get a proper sound system. Also, OP wanted to decide between the two. So a headset is any day better.
They're an improvement over TV speakers, but won't beat separates or headphones. They're a good solution when space is extremely limited though or you don't like headphones. Many of them also need a sub to hit some decent lows. Of course, I haven't looked at what's out there for the past few years, so things I'm sure have improved (I have an older Yamaha soundbar for our TV in the living room, and while it's better than the TV speakers, I still wouldn't call the sound very good).
If that is what he is saying then something is not right. He must not have it hooked up correctly.
Sound bars can sound far far better than a lot of TV's audio. But it depends on the set. Sony's audio can be really impressive out the box so a sound bar might not be that much better for example.
I do think if you have the space a surround setup is far superior though. A decent 5.1 or above is leagues better than any sound bar or headphone to me.
I do think if you have the space a surround setup is far superior though. A decent 5.1 or above is leagues better than any sound bar or headphone to me.
Fair. If you are willing to spend the money get surround or decent headphones. If you just want an upgrade on your tv speakers there are a lot of decent priced soundbars to do that
Eh, that's really going to be dependent on what headset you get. Being a headset doesn't automatically mean the audio quality is better as there's a wide range of headsets and how they sound.
Eh? I beg to differ lol. I'm sure there's a few sets with decent onboard speakers, I don't get to play with all of them, but I think anyone saying modern TVs have good speakers probably weren't around for the TVs that existed before LCDs.
I guess I could say that it's impressive what some TVs can do with the shit they have, like my TCL's sound is loads better than my older LG despite them being downward firing speakers. Engineering wise I guess that's pretty good. I have a 23 year old TV with better sound than it though.
Pretty much. Makes me seriously doubt they've ever used a half decent soundbar.
I would say my sound bar + sub sound better than my admittedly mid range hd598 headphones.
I believe you, I'm not saying it doesn't make a difference, but at least in Brazil these soundbars (a similar one from the OP from Sony too) costs more than R$4.000, which is more than you'd pay in a 7.2 Sony Muteki Surround System here. The main difference would be space, of course, this HT takes a bunch of room and a soundbar doesn't. So because of the price I don't see these soundbars as a viable option.
Buy a decent pair of headphones, otherwise if you're after an excellent bang for buck set of speakers, I highly recommend these. I've owned and compared them to speaker systems multiple times more expensive, and I've preferred the accuracy, clarity and overall punch of these.
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Edifier S2000Pro Bookshelf Studio Monitors
The Edifier S2000Pro are a fully realized set bookshelf studio monitors. Coaxial, optical, RCA, AUX and Bluetooth included. Switch between four different EQs too.
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I have the Vizio v series 5.1 home theater and I recommended it I like it a lot, I still use my headphones every now than when I'm playing games like returnal or re8 but even still sound quality is great in my opinion.
Never heard a soundbar that wasn't leaps and bounds better than even the best sounding integrated TV speakers. If you can't tell the difference then something is wrong.
This thread is also another good reminder that there needs to be some advancement in tech for truly/fully wireless surround sound systems that are convenient to use and easy to setup, as well as don't sacrifice sound quality. I hate having 2 clunky speaker stands in my apartment near the couch with cables going to the sub, and then a sound bar on my TV stand.
If the speakers were truly wireless I could put them anywhere or arrange them in the room in a better way. As far as I can tell wireless still limits quality and my experience with (an ex-gf's) Roku Speakers aren't great.
This thread is also another good reminder that there needs to be some advancement in tech for truly/fully wireless surround sound systems that are convenient to use and easy to setup, as well as don't sacrifice sound quality. I hate having 2 clunky speaker stands in my apartment near the couch with cables going to the sub, and then a sound bar on my TV stand.
If the speakers were truly wireless I could put them anywhere or arrange them in the room in a better way. As far as I can tell wireless still limits quality and my experience with (an ex-gf's) Roku Speakers aren't great.
Soundbars are probably the worst audio solution, but they are convenient which is why people get them. They should sound better than the tv speakers though.
I'd love to have them listen to my sonos 5.1 lol. Shit still be making me jump at times lmao. Upgrading to an arc bar prob this year or next year.
I actually hate surround sound for home use. It makes basic television and movie watching such a fucking chore. It all really comes down to the mixing but since everything varies so much you go constantly need to baby your settings unless you want to do some slight audiophile dynamic range compression heresy. Better wireless than bluetooth would make it easier to place speakers for sure but I'm, sticking with 2.1 out of convenience of listening until these fools in the entertainment industry can decide on how to mix shit.
I got a VIZIO V-Series 5.1 Sound Bar (V51-H6) for $ 160 last Black Friday. Definitely better than the 2.1 I had and immensely better than the TV speakers. Music sounds beautiful, movies/TV shows sound great too (both dialogs and sound effects), games vary. COD sounds great on the sound bar, ESO meh. Games always sound considerably better with my ~50 buck headphones, sound feels fuller even for games like ESO. I don't use headphones too often tho cause I find they give me a headache when playing long sessions, the sound bar might sound worse but it's still good enough for me.
I'm not sure I understand your issue. If you're complaining about the volume range from the different channels, that volume range doesn't go away with limiting it to a 2.1 speaker setup. I'm trying to understand why you find it such a chore as I really can't think of the last time I had to fiddle or baby the settings because of a particular sound mix of a show.
That's fair, for the usability compared to a surround system I prefer a soundbar.
I have that soundbar and it works well for a small room. 3 tips:
1. If you didn't buy the rear speakers to go with it, then it's not very good. The rears help out a lot.
2. Turn off Sony's processing in the audio settings and switch it to Dolby Speaker Virtualizer. It's much more natural and the voices are clearer.
3. Do the measurements in the settings and also use a sound meter so that all your speakers output at the same level when you do the test tones.
1. If you didn't buy the rear speakers to go with it, then it's not very good. The rears help out a lot.
2. Turn off Sony's processing in the audio settings and switch it to Dolby Speaker Virtualizer. It's much more natural and the voices are clearer.
3. Do the measurements in the settings and also use a sound meter so that all your speakers output at the same level when you do the test tones.
I have a sonos beam and my biggest issue with it is that my TV won't relay 5.1 sound over to it through HDMI-ARC. has nothing to do with the soundbar itself. Sound quality is plenty good for what I need it for.
It's almost always dialogue, so the center channel as the worst offender. Of course I've been back with 2.1 for years and years now so at this point maybe things are better but when I jumped in at the start of home 5.1 with DD and DTS dialogue was a shit show. Mind you that was probably 20 years ago or so now so maybe things are better and I should try again. I imagine all my old movies that I have ripped would still vary wildly but maybe the contemporary stuff is done better now.
I love my sound bar. Wearing headphones for an extended period of time is uncomfortable and the built-in speakers on my TV are laughably bad. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that the speakers in my phone are better than the shit that they built into my TV.
Could you elaborate on your issues with dialog and the center channel?
Good soundbars like the sonos are a lot more than a slight upgrade.
headphones have always been great though.
Have a JBL 9.1.2 setup or maybe it's 9.1.4 dunno, but it's been amazing. Everything sounds perfect to me, can hear the separation in left right front rear etc, voices come over crystal clean and not muffled behind the music and the sound itself just sounds like it exists in the room not like it's coming from the TV, makes for a really enjoyable audio experience.
It's simple, basically on the early 5.1 stuff the dialogue is generally done on the center channel, and nonsense like Christopher Nolan style mixing was common enough that if you had them leveled it was too quiet in relation to the rest of the audio. Of course you could change the center's level but then when you watch something else the center was too loud. Course you could say fuck it and enable dynamic compression and that'd help but that brings it's own issue. Generally for every day use I found it easier to stick with 2 channel as that was easier. This was back when we used to have different DVD releases for DTS or DD so it's been awhile and maybe I should revisit things I just found it annoying.
The Sonos Beam works great for me.
This is hilariously untrue.
Yup. I sold my 5.1 setup and quite decent Denon receiver right before PS5 and Series X came out and got the Arc instead, absolutely love it and not missing the old setup one bit. More than good enough for me.
I have a Sony soundbar (Sonos is just too out of my comfort price range) and the difference is like night and day compared to the TV speakers.
I think it's perfect for someone like me who still wants quality sound but doesn't really care to have a surround sound audio setup.
I think it's perfect for someone like me who still wants quality sound but doesn't really care to have a surround sound audio setup.
See, that's the part that I don't get. Switching from 5.1 to 2.1 should still have the level balance issue that you're describing. Maybe it is because it's been two decades since you last checked it out and I'm no longer remembering how bad mixes were back in the early days of DVD, but I can't say that it's a common issue now at least in my setup because I'm not really messing with my receiver setup to compensate for anything. What you're describing though shouldn't go away with the mix being mixed down to less speakers though so that's where I'm getting confused.
What TV are you using out of curiosity? I'm finding it hard to believe you can't tell the difference unless you've got a setup problem or there's something wrong with your hearing.
Sound bars aren't a scam, but they won't compete with full speaker systems or great headphones. I've had a Vizio sound bar for going on 6 years that I really like - it's way better than my TV's speakers and I don't yearn for - or live in a place where - a fully kitted sound system makes sense. I also don't like using headphones if I don't have to. I only use them when playing specific games where audio positioning is important.
That being said, I wouldn't put huge amounts of money into a sound bar setup.
That being said, I wouldn't put huge amounts of money into a sound bar setup.
