Get Them Here:
Bravia Bar 8: https://amzn.to/470hzXM
Sony X90L TV: https://amzn.to/3MiFdpa
Sony SW5 Sub: https://amzn.to/3XhgNTf
Sony RS5: https://amzn.to/4dRqNIa
So recently Sony overhauled their whole TV and soundbar line up, and today we have the Bravia Theater Bar 8 which has a much more minimalistic and slimmer design than Sony’s previous generation of soundbars… and the Bar 8 puts a lot more emphasis on vocals and openness than with Sony’s last generation of soundbars. Nonetheless, if youre looking for a Sony soundbar to compliment your new Sony TV, or any other TV, lets see what the Sony Bravia Theater Bar 8 is all about.
Now the Bar 8 can be used with any tv out there, however if you use it with a compatible Sony tv that has acoustic center sync, then your tv’s built in speakers will work in conjunction with the soundbar and give you a stronger center channel, and you’re going to have access to a lot of quick setting from the TV itself. But in this video we’re going to be using the Bar 8 with a Sony X80L TV so that you can see simple sync in action.
Now the Bar 8 is also a fully contained system, as in there is no external subwoofer, but if you want you can always build out this soundbar with either of Sony’s external subwoofers like either the SW3 or the SW5 and you can also add rear satellite speakers like either the RS3’s or the RS5’s. Now in this video we’re going to be using the Bar 8 by itself, but we’re also going to see how it performs when its fully built out with the SW5 subwoofer and the RS5 rear speakers. Now if you want to pick any of these products up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
So first theres the design of this soundbar, Sony’s new generation of Soundbars are much slimmer and sleeker than their last generation of soundbars. Now here we have the Bar 8 and this is the direct successor for the Sony HT-A5000 that we’re using today. Now the Bar 8 has a length of 43 and a half inches, by 2 and a half inches and its 4 and a half inches thick and it weighs in at 10 and a half pounds. Where as the HT-A5000 has a length of 48 inches, by 3 inches and its 5 and a half inches thick and it weighs in at 14 pounds. So in general, Sony’s new soundbar’s are smaller and they are much sleeker looking cause they now have a mostly fabric warped body that does a great job of not reflecting any light and simply disappearing. Where as with Sony’s last generation of soundbars, these had a much more industrial design to them with visible drivers. However, it is important to point out that the Bar 8 no longer as a built in display like with Sony’s older soundbars and there are no media control buttons on this speaker. So if you want to control this speaker, everything has to be done either with the included remote, or if you’re using a Sony TV you can just use your TV’s remote or you can always just use the Bravia Connect app which is very nice. However, there is an indicator light on this speaker which you can easily turn off through the app.
But staying on the topic of design, obviously its great that these speakers a much smaller and sleeker now cause they are much easier to place in your home theater set up… and since this soundbar is significantly lighter, its much easier to wall mount this sound, and it does come included with a wall mounting kit. And when it comes to power, the Bar 9 plugs in via a double bar AC port, and there is no external power brick that you have to worry about, which is also great if you plan on wall mounting this soundbar. My only critique here is, this power cable is a little short .
But when it comes to ports, the Bar 8 is very straight forward, it has an HDMI out port that connects to your tv and it also has an HDMI in port so to that you can either plug in your Blu-ray player or PS5. And theres support for 8K HDR, but more importantly 4K at 120. And if you’re using a Sony TV like we are here, this is where you’d plug in your audio cable for acoustic center sync to work. The only thing that I do have to point out here is that there is no optical port on this soundbar… but in general you should be connecting your soundbar to your tv with an HDMI cable so that you can take full advantage of dolby atmos.
But when it comes to general connectivity, the Bar 8 has support for Airplay 2 and Chromcast, so whether you’re an iPhone user or an android user, if your connected to the the same wifi network as this system, then you can stream music to it. But also, it does have bluetooth support which is good cause this way you can easily let someone else play music without having to share your wifi password.
Now the Bar 8 is also using Sony’s new Bravia connect app, and this I feel is very important cause this app is a lot nicer and sleeker than Sony’s previous music center app. And from here you can do things like adjust the settings of this system, you can adjust the sound of this system and you can go through the calibration process as well. And this calibration process has also been updated cause its now using your phones built in microphone and you can also calibrate this system for where people are going to be sitting in the room. Overall, this app it much nicer and sleeker than before. But also if you use this system with a Sony TV, then you’ll might not have to use this app all that much cause you can very easily and quickly adjust the sound of these system from the TV it self. And personally I really like this cause if im going to watch an action movie than I want to crank the bass up, but if I'm going to watch the game, then I don't want all that much bass but I want the rear speakers to be cranked up. And like I mentioned earlier, the Bar 8 does come included with a remote… but if you’re going to use this soundbar with a Sony TV then you can just use your TV’s remote or you can always just use the App.
But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set up, the Bar 8 is very different from its predecessor. The Bar 8 has a total of 8 speakers, 4 that shoot out the front, 2 that shoot out the sides and two that shoot upwards which are going to give you that verticality affect and for your dolby atmos. And we have a total of 3 frontward firing tweeters. Where as with the HT-A5000 it has a total of 5 speakers, 3 that shoot out the front and 2 that shoot upwards, its also has frontward firing subwoofers with exhausts ports that shoot out the sides, and it has dual beam forming tweeters that shoot out the sides.
Now like I mentioned earlier, both of these soundbars are self contained soundbars, as in they don’t need an external subwoofer, but if you want you can add from Sony and or you can also add rear satiate speakers. And with both of these soundbars, if you use them with a compatible Sony TV then you can use Acoustic Center sync where your tv’s built in speakers will work with your soundbar and give you stronger center channel. But now we’re going to jump into the Soundtest, both if these soundbars are going to be playing at 60% volume and they are both using Acoustic Center Sync with our Sony X90L. We’re also going to be using these soundbars with the SW5 subwoofer Set to 5 and the RS5’s set to Max. And we’re also going to be using the Sony X90L’s built in speakers set to max.
Sound Test
So first off, your tv most likely just has a pair of downward firing speakers that bounce sound off of the table. They dont get all that loud and at high volumes the bass becomes a rattling mess. And since tv’s are getting slimmer and slimmer, these speakers need to get smaller and smaller.
However, if you have a more premium TV like the Sony X90L like we’re using today, the built in speakers on this tv sound and preform better. The bass doesn’t get as distorted and they get decently loud. However the built in speakers on this tv are going to be better suited for hearing dialog with, and if you want to get a better movie watching experience then you do want to invest in a soundbar at least.
Now when it comes to the overall performance of the Bar 8 compared to Sony’s last generation of soundbars, I do have to point out that the Bar 8 doesn’t get as loud or have as much bass as the HT-A5000. Now dont get me wrong, the Bar 8 still gets loud enough to fill a large room with sound and it still has enough physicality in its bass so that you can feel what’s happening on the screen… but the HT-A5000 does get louder and it has more kick in its bass. So if you’re going from an HT-A5000 to a Bar 8… then you are going to notice that you’re going to have to increase the volume a little more than you would with Sony’s last generation of Soundbars.
However, even though the Bar 8 doesn’t get as loud as the HT-A5000 and it has less kick in its bass, what the Bar 8 does have is better instrument separation. So with the Bar 8, its sound more open than Sony’s previous generation of soundbars, and the bar 8 also does a better job of bringing out those more subtile back ground sounds and it also does a better job of bringing people’s voices out.
Ive always really liked Sony’s last generation of soundbars cause they had a lot of bass without needing an external subwoofer, but they were always just super big compared to their direct competitors, but now with this new generation of soundbars, they’re slimmer and sleeker, and they have much better openess.
But obviously, if you want a better surround sound experience and if you want to better feel whats happening on the screen, then you can always build out the Bar 8 with Sony’s rear satellite speakers and external subwoofers. And obviously, if you have the rear satellite speakers you’re going to get a much better surround sound experience, cause things that are happening in the background are going to be more pronounced, your overall volume is going to be louder and obviously the external subwoofer is going to rattle the walls in your house in a way that the Soundbar by itself cant.
But the difference between a fully built out Bar 8 versus a fully built out HT-A5000 is going to be that the vocals on the Bar 8 are going to be a lot more pronounced than on the HT-A5000 and those smaller details are going to come out more with the Bar 8, cause with the HT-A5000, the bass can over power the vocals and smaller details.
And also keep in mind, if you were to use either of these two soundbars with an external subwoofer, all of the bass is going to be covered by the subwoofer. The built in subwoofers in the HT-A5000 and the passive radiators on the Bar 8 will be deactivated.
So with all of that being said, from a performance standpoint the Bravia Theater Bar 8 doesn’t get as loud as Sony’s last generation of Soundbars and it has less kick in its bass… however the bar 8 still gets more than loud enough to fill a large room with sound and it has enough bass so that you can feel whats happening on the screen, you’re just going to have to use this soundbar at a higher volume.
But this new generation of soundbar from sony has better instrument separation and it does a better job of bringing people’s voices out. So when you’re watching a movie, its going to be much easier to understand people and you’re also going to be able to hear those smaller details cartridges hitting the floor, keys jiggling, or stairs creaking, or lets say a helicopter is flying into the scene.
And the bar 9 does all of this while being in a much smaller and sleeker package, so the bar 9 is going to be much easier to place in your home theater set up or its going to be much easier to wall mount. And the bar 8 now has a much more minimalistic design to it so it does a much better job of simply disappearing.
Now the Bar 8 works with any TV out there, however if you use it with a compatible sony tv with acoustic center sync, then your TV’s built in speakers will work in conjunction with the Soundbar and its going to give you a stronger center channel and you’re going to be able to easily adjust the sound settings directly from the tv it self. And the Bar 8 sound great all on its own, but if you want you can always build it out with rear satellite speakers and an external subwoofer so that you can get the movie theater experience while at home.