Get Them Here:
Sony Bravia Theater 9: https://amzn.to/4702vJF
Sony Bravia Theater Bar 8: https://amzn.to/470hzXM
Sony X90L: https://amzn.to/3MiFdpa
Sony SW5 Sub: https://amzn.to/3XhgNTf
Sony RS5 Rears: https://amzn.to/4dRqNIa
So recently Sony overhauled their whole TV and soundbar line up, and their new soundbars are smaller and sleeker than their predecessors, and they have much better openess and they do a better job of bringing people’s voices out. Now Sony’s soundbars work with any tv out there, but they work best with a Sony tv, especially if it has acoustic center sync like the Bravia 9, 8, 7, or X90L. Nonetheless, if youre looking for a new Soundbar to compliment your new sony TV, here are the performance differences between the Bar 9 and the Bar 8.
Now both the Bar 9 and Bar 8 are fully contained systems, as in they dont have an external subwoofer cause they produce their own bass, which is good depending on your set up. However, with both of these soundbars you can always build them out with either of Sony’s external subwoofers like either the SW3 or the SW5… and or you can also add rear satellite speakers like either the RS3 or the RS5’s. Now in this video we’re going to see how the soundbars performs by themselves, but while connected to a Sony X90L which has acoustic center sync, cause with acoustic center sync your tv’s built in speakers will work in conjunction with your sound bar and give you a stronger center channel… but we’re also going to see how these soundbars perform when they’re full built out with the SW5 subwoofer and RS5 rear satellite 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 these soundbars, now both the Bar 9 and Bar 8 are much sleeker than Sony’s last generation of soundbars. Both the Bar 9 and Bar 8 have a mostly fabric wrapped body which doesn’t reflect any light and they do a great job of simply disappearing. Now size wise both the Bar 9 and Bar 8 have the same hight of 2 and half inches and they both have the same thickness of 4 and a half inches. But when it comes to length the Bar 9 is 51 inches long where as the Bar 8 is 43 and a half inches long. And they weigh in at a little over 12 pounds and 10 and a half pounds respectively. Also, neither of these two soundbars have a built in screen like with Sony’s last generation of soundbars, and they dont have built in media controls, so if you want to control these soundbars you do have to use the included remote, but more realistically if you’re using these soundbar’s with a sony tv then you can just use your tv’s remote and you have access to a lot of the soundbar settings directly from theta itself… or you can always just use the Bravia connect app. The only thing is, the Bar 9 and Bar 8 do have a smaller indicator light, but you can turn this indicator light off through the Bravia connect app.
But staying on the topic of design, both of these soundbars are sleeker and lighter than their predecessors, so wall mounting them is a little easier and both of these soundbars come included with a wall mounting kit in the box, and when it comes to power they both plug in via a double barrel AC port and they dont have an external power brick to worry about. And not having an external power brick to worry about just makes it that much easier to wall mount these soundbars. The only thing is, I do feel that these power cables are a little too short.
But when it comes to ports, things are identical here. Both of these soundbars have only HDMI out port that goes connected to your tv and theres one HDMI in port so that you can plug in either your Blu-ray player or PS5. And there’s support for 8K HDR but more importantly 4K at 120. And if you’re using these soundbars with a Sony TV, this is where you’d plug in your audio cables for acoustic center sync. Overall ports on these soundbars are identical and simple… just keep in mind that there are no optical ports… or any other analog ports, and even though the Bar 9 is the direct successor to the HT-A7000… it does have one less HDMI in port.
But when it comes to general connectivity, both of these soundbars have support for Airplay 2 and Chromcast, so whether you’re an iPhone user or an android user, if you’re connected to the the same wifi network as this system, then you can stream music to it. But also, they do 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 these systems are 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, these systems come included with a remote… but if you’re going to use these systems 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 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. Now the Bar 9 also has a total of 8 speakers, 4 that shoot out the front, 2 that shoot out the sides and two that shoot upwards. And the bar 9 also have a total of 3 frontward firing tweeters. But what makes the Bar 9 different from the Bar 8 if that it also has dual beam forming tweeters that shoot out the sides and it has dual passive radiators for more kick in your bass.
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 first off when it comes to the max volume performance of these soundbars… the bar 9 does get noticeably louder than the Bar 8, however both of these soundbars are going to have no problem filling a large room with sound. But like I mentioned at the top of this video, Sony’s new generation of soundbars have much better openess and they do a much better job of bringing people’s voices then their predecessors. And even though the Bar 8 has great instrument separation and its noticeably better than its direct predecessor the HT-A5000… the Bar 9 does have improved openess than the Bar 8. With the Bar 9, when watching movies with this sound bar by itself, I know that this is going to sound like marketing fluff, but the Bar 9 does a very imrepssive job of throwing sound behind and around you. With the Bar 9, it does a very impressive job of fooling you into thinking that you have rear satellite speakers, when you dont, and I think that’s thanks to the beam forming tweeters. And also with the Bar 9, you are going to get more physicality in your bass thanks to the built in passive radiators.
But obviously, if you want more bass then you can always use these soundbars with either of Sony’s external subwoofer, and if you want that better surround sound experience, you can always use either or Sony’s rear satellite speakers. But the main perfjoamcne difference between a fully built out Bar 9 versus a fully built out Bar 8 is that the Bar 9 is going to have a louder max volume… but also, voices are going to be more pronounced and and your soundstage is going to sound wider thanks to those side shooting beam forming tweeters. Just keep in mind, if you use either of these two soundbars with an external subwoofer, the external subwoofer is going to handle all of the bass, which means the passive radiators on the Bar 9 are going to be deactivated.
But with all of that being said, both the Bravia Theater Bar 9 and the Bar 8 have improved instrument separation and they have a sleeker design to them compared to Sony’s last generation of soundbars. Now if you’re trying to choose between the Bar 9 and bar 8, for your new sony tv, I would recommend that you go with the Bar 9 if you dont plan on adding the rear satellite speakers and external subwoofer. The Bar 9 has enough bass on its own so that you can feel what happening on the screen thanks to the built in passive radiators, and the bar 9 does a really good job of throwing sound behind and around and fooling you into thinking that there are speakers behind you. But if you are planning on building out your whole home theater system with the rear speakers and external subwoofer… I would actually recommend that you just get the Bar 8. This way you save a little bit of money and besides, the Sub is going to handle all of the bass and the Bar 8 gets loud enough to fill a large room with sound.