Sony has announced its latest soundbar, the HT-S2000. A slim and compact model (31,5 x 2,5 x 5 inches W x H x H) in a basic black look, the soundbar is the company's first to work with Home Entertainment Connect, a new app that guides users through initial setup and can be used to control volume, select sound modes, and more.
At $499 (around $415 / AU$735), the HT-S2000 is about the same price as the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), a model we rated as the best small Dolby Atmos soundbar on our list of the best small soundbars with Dolby Atmos. best sound bars Will the new Sony replace the Beam (Gen 2) on our list? Let's see what he has.
The HT-S2000 is a 3.1 model with left, right and center speakers, as well as two built-in subwoofers. A five channel amplifier delivers 250 total watts. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are supported, with Sony's vertical surround sound engine and virtual S-Force PRO Front Surround processing to deliver immersive sound from the 3.1 channel bar.
A new sound mixer built into the HT-S2000 allows you to deliver 3D surround sound from 5.1 channels and stereo content. In Sony's words, it does so through an algorithm that "extracts individual sound objects based on their location and remaps them, resulting in three-dimensional surround sound."
HT-S2000 ports are limited to a single HDMI eARC (same as Sonos Beam). Music streaming is done via Bluetooth and there's also a USB port for connecting storage devices loaded with music files.
Also similar to the Sonos Beam, the HT-S2000 can be expanded to create a complete surround sound system by adding Sony's optional wireless rear speakers (SA-RS3S) and wireless subwoofer (SA-SW5/SA-SW3). And when used with a compatible Sony Bravia XR TV, the soundbar's settings will appear in the TV's Quick Settings menu, allowing you to control it with your TV remote.
Review: Does the DTS:X advantage of Sony's new soundbar make it a better Sonos Beam?
One complaint some users have about the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) and Arc soundbars is that there's no built-in decoding for lossless DTS:X and DTS-HD Master Audio. Instead, you are forced to rely on the lossy version of DTS when playing movies with DTS soundtracks.
With built-in support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, the new Sony HT-S2000 seems to have an advantage over the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), which costs the same and, without speakers, also offers surround sound. soundtracks through virtual processing.
However, getting DTS:X bitstreams on the Sony soundbar won't be as easy as you might think. With the TV's eARC HDMI port connected to Sony's only HDMI port, it will need to support DTS:X passthrough to route DTS:X soundtracks from a Blu-ray Disc player connected to the HT-S2000. There are TVs capable of doing this (Sony makes some), but certainly not all.
So if you have a compatible TV, the HT-S2000 seems to have an advantage over the Beam (Gen 2) when it comes to DTS:X. But looking at Sony's specs for its new soundbar, it seems like Bluetooth is the only way to stream music, and while useful, it's not exactly the best quality option for listening to music. The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) lets you stream lossless music over Wi-Fi, and this and many other soundbars let you stream it wirelessly using a protocol like AirPlay.
Does that in itself put Sony's new soundbar at a disadvantage? Not exactly, as most people use their soundbars primarily for watching movies and TV shows. Listening to music is definitely a secondary use case, and in most situations, Bluetooth will be enough to get the job done.
We can't wait to hear how well Sony's new 3.1-channel Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundbar sounds with movies as well as music streamed via Bluetooth, and something we might do when Sony finally announces a shipping date for the HT-S200.