Sony has announced its latest soundbar, the HT-S2000. A slim and compact (31.5 x 2.5 x 5 inches, W x HXD) model with a basic black exterior, this soundbar is the company’s first to work with Home Entertainment Connect. Adjust volume, select sound mode, etc.
The HT-S2000 is priced at $499 (approximately £415 / A$735). Sonos Beam (2nd Gen) the model ranked as the best small soundbar with Dolby Atmos on the list best soundbar Will the new Sony replace the Beam (Gen 2) on our list?
The HT-S2000 is a 3.1 model with left, right and center speakers and dual built-in subwoofers. A five-channel amplifier delivers a total of 250 watts. Both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are supported, using Sony’s Vertical Surround Engine and S-Force PRO front surround virtual processing to deliver immersive audio from the 3.1 channel bar.
The new Sound Up Mixer built into the HT-S2000 allows you to deliver 3-D surround from regular 5.1 channel and stereo content. In Sony’s words, this is done via an algorithm that “extracts individual sound objects according to localization and reassigns them to achieve stereoscopic surround sound.”
The HT-S2000’s port is 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.
And like the Sonos Beam, the HT-S2000 can be expanded to add Sony’s optional wireless rear speakers (SA-RS3S) and wireless subwoofers (SA-SW5 / SA-SW3) for full surround sound. system can be created. Also, when used with a compatible Sony Bravia XR TV, the soundbar settings will appear in the set’s quick settings menu and can be controlled using the TV remote.
Analysis: Does the new Sony soundbar’s DTS:X advantage over the Sonos Beam?
One complaint some users have about Sonos Beam (Gen 2) and Arc soundbars is the lack of built-in decoding of lossless DTS:X and DTS-HD master audio formats. Instead, if you want to play a movie with a DTS soundtrack, you’ll have to resort to the lossy version of DTS.
With built-in support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, the new Sony HT-S2000 looks better than the Sonos Beam (Gen 2). The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is the same price and offers immersive audio without the up-firing speakers. Soundtrack by virtual processing.
However, getting a DTS:X bitstream into a Sony soundbar isn’t as easy as it sounds. To route a soundtrack in that format from a connected Blu-ray Disc player to his HT-S2000, with the TV’s HDMI eARC port connected to his single HDMI port on the Sony, DTS:X Passthrough should be supported. There are TVs that can do this (Sony makes some of them), but certainly not all.
So, if you have a compatible TV, the HT-S2000 looks better than the Beam (Gen 2) when it comes to DTS:X. But looking at the specs on Sony’s new soundbar, it looks like Bluetooth is the only way to stream music, and while convenient, it’s not the best quality option for listening to music. Sonos Beam (Gen 2) lets you stream lossless music over Wi-Fi. And many other soundbars let you cast wirelessly using protocols like AirPlay.
Does that, in itself, put Sony’s new soundbar at a disadvantage? Not exactly because most people use the soundbar primarily to watch movies and TV shows. Listening to music is definitely secondary use case, and Bluetooth is sufficient in most cases.
We’re excited to see how well Sony’s new 3.1-channel Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundbar sounds with movies and music streamed over Bluetooth. HT-S200.
