FUTURE of HOME THEATER Sound!! SONY HT A9 Home Theater System Review

Sony makes some pretty bold claims with the subject of today's review, and we've all seen various brands come out swinging only to pull up completely short in their delivery. So, will Sony buck the trend? Well, get ready to find out, but before you do, be sure to hit that like button and subscribe if you haven't already, because we are reviewing the brand new Sony HT-A9 home theater speaker system. The A9 is a home theater system consisting of a hub and four bookshelf-sized loudspeakers. If you go by its actual channels, the A9 is a 4.0.4 surround sound system. However, with the help of 360-degree spatial sound mapping, these same four speakers create an experience similar to that of a 12-channel system. The A9's four loudspeakers each possess a soft-dome tweeter, made it to a mid-bass driver as well as an upward-firing driver, both of which use Sony's X-Balance design. Each speaker is powered using Sony's own digital amplifier tech, and they connect wirelessly to the hub. There are a total of 12 amplifiers in the A9 system, for 504 watts of total power. The hub, or the brain, of the A9 is a small black box, and it looks a lot like an Apple TV. It features an HDMI input as well as an HDMI out, with the latter being compatible with ARC as well as eARC. The A9 system can playback both Dolby Atmos as well as DTS-X tracks, not to mention legacy surround formats as well as high-res audio, either wired or wirelessly. The hub can pass through 8K 4K 120 signals, and supports Dolby Vision, HDR, and HLG. In my test, I played Call of Duty on our PS5 without incident, confirming that the hub can pass through 4K 120 signals. There's no readily available 8K content, so the verdict is still out. The A9 supports Google Assistant, Alexa, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. For more detailed specs, please check out our links in the description below. Like I said in the beginning, Sony makes some pretty bold claims with the A9, especially when it comes to its setup. In almost every press image of the A9, you will see four speakers strewn about a living room in a not-so-traditional home theater setup. And these images are usually accompanied by a blurb about flexible layout, or place the speakers anywhere. And if you're like me, these types of promises are usually met with skepticism. But never one to pass up the opportunity to be disappointed, I took Sony at their word, and placed the speakers where they were most convenient for me and my living room. I plugged each speaker into a wall outlet using the supplied power cords or my own if the supplied ones weren't long enough. I connected the hub to two TVs during this review, including our Vizio P-Series Quantum X and Sony's brand new X95J. When powering up the system for the first time, you're walked through an easy-to-follow setup procedure thanks to Sony's excellent on-screen menus. Setup only takes a few minutes, so it's 100% necessary in getting the most out of this system, so don't think you can skip it. Once the speakers are set up and mapped to your room, you're treated to a short demo of Sony's 360 spatial sound experience. And I have to say, not since the first Dolby Digital or THX intros have I heard immersion quite like this. I know, I know, it's just a demo, and it's a demo designed to wow, but damn it's impressive. Now, before I jump into the A9's performance, I need to get a few things off my chest. First, I tested the A9's system with both of Sony's optional subwoofers, the smaller SW3 and the larger SW5. The SW5 is the only sub to get for this system, don't even bother with the SW3. I know the SW5 is more expensive, but it is demonstrably better, and no, I do not consider it to be optional, because the A9 speakers have no real bass without the sub. Second, while the speakers connected to the hub without incident, the sub did not. I had to manually connect the sub to the hub, albeit wirelessly, but it was not a plug and play experience. The good news is, once connected, the sub never lost its signal and performed flawlessly. If you decide to ignore my advice and buy the sub separately later, know that you're going to have to run the auto setup procedure all over again in order to remap the speakers and the sub to your room. Failure to do this will potentially result in some wonky sound. Now, before you get those keyboard fingers warmed up, I already know what you're going to ask me. Andrew, does the A9 sound good with music? You're damn right it does. The A9 sounds incredible with music. In fact, for me, it may be one of the more interesting aspects of its performance. Placing the A9's system in its auto sound preset and turning on the immersive AE system, which is Sony's 7.1.4 sound mapping tech, really proved to be a magic bullet for not only regular 2-channel mixes, but also for 360-degree audio. And when listening to music this way, the A9 is beyond impressive. And I'm not saying impressive for a lifestyle or soundbar-like system. No, I'm saying the A9 is impressive, period. But for you audiophiles out there, let's get one thing straight. The Sony system is not neutral. It is a Sony system after all, so you should expect a smile-like curve to just about everything. Slightly accentuated highs, leaner mids, and punchy bass. That is this system's sound in a nutshell. And this isn't a knock against Sony or the A9, as this kind of curve keeps music feeling lively and completely engaging at all volumes. And when you engage Sony's immersive AE, it elevates 2-channel playback in a way very few pseudo surround systems do, because Sony has managed to strike a balance between the front-of-stage performance and using the rears to flesh out ambient cues. And the result is a soundstage that is incredibly detailed between the speakers and vastly more spacious side-to-side, not to mention top-to-bottom. And it's more spacious than just about anything on the market right now. Traditional stereo setups can't touch this. Seriously, listening to Mr. Luck Live featuring Ronnie Wood and the Ronnie Wood Band sounded spooky real with respect to the A9's recreation of physical space. What's more impressive is the fact that the remapping isn't a one-size-fits-all solution, as the surround channels seem to adjust in their intensity based somewhat on the source signal. Live albums do a little more heavy lifting, whereas studio recordings are a little more subtle. It's just incredibly effective. Now switching gears to movies, Dolby Atmos mixed content sounds bloody brilliant. Films like A Quiet Place 2, 6 Underground, and the remastered Matrix Trilogy are presented with all of the scale and dynamics and presence you would expect from a dedicated 12-channel system, only you're doing it with four speakers and a single sub. Transformative scale is not an issue for this system, nor is face-ripping dynamics, which I'll touch upon more in a moment. What impressed me most was the sheer resolution and detail retrieval of Dolby Atmos mixes. Watching A Quiet Place 2, I heard things in the mix other speaker systems have missed entirely. Through the A9, these cues were given a level of importance that I have to imagine the filmmakers intended. The subtle heartbeats and breath reverberating inside the chest cavity of Regan, the hearing-impaired daughter in that film, that underscores her point of view throughout the movie was really something to behold. I've heard the heartbeat before, but I've never heard it with this type of dimension, purpose, and clarity that I experienced through the A9. But like with 2-channel music, the more impressive aspect of the A9's surround sound performance was just how good it was with lesser formats like Dolby Digital. There was almost no difference in the cinematic experience between Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital. Watching the disaster flick San Andreas was awesome. I've seen this film a dozen times, on a dozen different setups, and the A9 ranks among my favorites. Spatially, had you told me it was an Atmos mix, I would have believed you. Had you blindfolded me and said there were more than four speakers in the room, I would have believed you. If you told me that the subwoofer was a 500-plus water with a 10- or 12-inch driver, I would have believed you. No bulls**t, it was a true cinematic experience. What's more impressive is that despite not having a true center speaker, the A9's dialogue intelligibility and center fill is center speaker-like. It's actually better for me, because I find some center speakers to be too directional, sometimes pulling my focus away from the screen and down towards the speaker itself. This simply does not happen with the A9, so actors never sound trapped in a box. And while I would be curious to hear the A9 with a dedicated center, its phantom center performance is so good, I guess, why bother? But all of this isn't to say that the A9 is perfect. It's not. It's impressive, yes. Ideal? Well, that's going to depend on a few things. First, the effectiveness of any upward-firing Atmos speaker is going to rest on ceiling height. Our ceilings are 9 feet, which is ideal. If yours are higher than, say, 12, your mileage may begin to vary. Also, I absolutely hate that Sony does not include a subwoofer with the A9 system. This is a premium product that has no real bass on its own, and as a result, it needs a sub, and one is sadly not included. But Sony at a minimum has agreed to at least offer a bundled option, so you can save a little bit of money. But about those subwoofers. Sony gives you the illusion of two choices, when in my opinion, there really is only one, the larger, more expensive SW5. The smaller SW3 subwoofer is too boomy, vague, and not up to snuff for a system as good as the A9. Thankfully, Sony gives you some measure of control over the sub in terms of volume, but the system is limited with respect to its overall control. You don't get independent channel controls, really. Tone controls? Nope. So, like the Cinema 1200, you're somewhat at the mercy of what the manufacturer wants for you, which in Sony's instance worked out, but man, it could have easily gone the other way. Just ask Klipsch. Now, Sony likes to tout how well the A9 integrates with their latest-gen Bravia TVs, and they're not full of it when they say this, because when paired with a Sony TV, the whole A9 experience becomes more streamlined, save for one feature, and that's using the Sony TV as the center speaker. It's not good. First, Samsung and LG have similar tech between their TVs and soundbars, only theirs is wireless. The Sony forces you to use a headphone-like cable to tether the A9 hub to the TV in order to use the TV speakers as a center channel. Why? Moreover, the timbre of the TV speakers are in no way a match for the rest of the A9 system, so the experience sounds rather disjointed sonically. Does it work? Yeah, I guess, but would I use it? No. Before we get into third-party comparisons, we need to address the other Sony product that launched alongside the A9, and that's their new HT-A7000 soundbar. We have it. And frankly, I think that bar sucks, and like the Cinema 1200, which still has no app update, by the way, you should skip it. The 7000 is built to the standard set by Bose and Bang & Olufsen, but that's really where the good news stops for me, because despite being based on the same tech and arguably the same platform as the A9, it simply does not deliver the cinematic goods. The 7000 sounds like a soundbar, only not a good one, or at least not a modern one. It is easily bested by the likes of the Samsung Q950A, and the Samsung does all of this for less money, because the 7000 is an a la carte system that's going to run you more than $2,000 all in. And don't believe for one second that the 7000 achieves a cinematic experience without a sub or surrounds. It doesn't. The 7000, in my opinion, just isn't worth it. Getting back to the A9, I struggled a bit with what to compare it to, soundbars or dedicated home theaters. Now, I'm going to err on the side of soundbars, because at its core, I think that's the market Sony is targeting with the A9. And compared to the best soundbars on the market right now, the Sennheiser Ambio or Samsung Q950A, the Sony A9 is better and is my new reference at this more premium price point. Now, obviously, I know the Ambio is an all-in-one solution, and as a true all-in-one solution, it has no peer, though the Q950A comes close. But in terms of transforming your room into a cinema, the A9 simply does a more convincing job than either of them. If you're already on the Q950A or Ambio, don't feel like you're missing out. Both are still great systems. And if you pair a Q950A with one of the newer Samsung TVs, and you take advantage of their Q-Symphony technology, understand that the gap between the A9 and the Q950A's performance really does start to narrow. But I know you guys, here's the comparison you really want. With respect to dedicated home theaters, the A9 competes favorably and in many respects matches or surpasses the performance bar set by our monitor audio bronze 5.1.2 system driven by either a Sony or Yamaha receiver. Now, this type of a setup will run you approximately $3,700, and that's before cables and stands, so let's call it an even $4,000. At that price, the Sony is a relative bargain, coming in at $2,500 for the A9 plus the larger SW5 sub. Plus, you just have a system that takes up less real estate, is easier to set up and live with, and gives you a fuller, more immersive Atmos experience. True, a setup like the monitor audio bronze theater does give you the flexibility to upgrade and improve your rig with time, but if you're looking for an ease-of-use, set-it-and-forget-it home theater setup, the A9 is hard to beat. Now obviously, if you're rocking a dedicated home theater built around say Klipsch 8000Fs, Focalcora 826Ds, or even the Heco Aurora 700s, you're already having a different discussion, and no, the A9 is not likely to best those types of setups, but I'd wager the A9 would surprise you, and definitely would not be outright embarrassed by them either. In the end, I just was not expecting to be this blown away by the HT-A9 from Sony, especially after our initial A7000 experience. Like many of you, I saw the launch videos, I heard the testimonials from movie producers and sound engineers, and I thought, yeah, okay. But at least when it comes to the A9, I don't think Sony has misspoke or overpromised. Dialed in, and especially when watching movies, the A9 with the SW5 subwoofer absolutely delivers, while I'm sure my reaction to the A9 will be met with eye rolls and snarky remarks and skepticism from my usual critics. When it comes to home theater, what matters most to me is the system put me in the center of the film and keep me there until the credits. If I have time or the inclination to look at the speakers, think about the receiver, or go full on internet forum nerd in the middle of the movie, I don't care what anyone says. That's not a good home theater setup. The A9 kept my attention and my focus on what matters most, and in doing so, it impressed me in ways very few products manage. Is it perfect? No. Is it sonically the most accurate speaker system? Nope. Would I rather watch a first run movie on HBO Max through the A9 system than just about anything else I've heard in the past year? Hell yes. 100%. If you can park your ego at the door, have the funds, and the open mind to match, I think the HT-A9 from Sony is freaking awesome. So that's it. That is now my review of the Sony HT-A9 home theater system, but now it's time to find out what Christy thought of it. I loved it. Yeah. Yeah. This thing has been so much fun. I really agree with pretty much everything you've said throughout this review. I thought it sounded great with music. It was amazing with movies. I mean, the fact that you can put the speakers just about anywhere, it's really cool. I mean, we really did put these in places that we have not typically put speakers. We really did experiment with Sony's claims. You could put them anywhere. We really did put them wherever we wanted, and not necessarily in what would be a traditional surround sound setup. No matter whether we did it the traditional way or just like wherever they fit best, it worked great. So the whole mapping thing, that thing works as promised. It's really impressive. The thing that really surprised me was, and you mentioned this in the review, when we were watching A Quiet Place 2, the first, I would say, five minutes or so of that movie is such a great demo test for your home theater system. And when Andrew mentioned that there's a moment, it's like right after the monsters make their appearance. There's a scene where John Krasinski and the girl that plays his daughter, Reagan, they're in the pickup truck. And when the focus shifts to her, a lot of times it's silent because she's deaf, right? Now there is a moment where you hear in that truck scene, you hear her heartbeat. And I can tell you, I have never, ever, ever heard her heartbeat in that scene until we had the Sony HTA9. And I remember when we first sat down and watched it, I was like, what was that? And we had to rewatch it. We had to like, we rewound it to make sure we were actually hearing what we thought we were hearing. And I know you said you've heard it before, but I personally haven't. And I was shocked. I couldn't believe that there has been a heartbeat in that moment this entire time, but I've never, ever, ever experienced it. And that was incredible. Incredible. And we've had some pretty, pretty high end. We've had some really impressive home theater setups in here. Hats off to Sony. Like you knocked it out of the park. Now your soundbar sucks. What a hot mess. I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened with that either. That just seems like, I don't know. There is no logical explanation why that system is such a drastically different experience. It really is. It really is. And we did everything we could. I mean, talk about pressing every combination of buttons, trying to get that bar to sound its best. It was just, it was a complete mess. Yeah. It just, it didn't want to open up. It sounded tinny at times. Sibilant. Very sibilant. The dialogue was trash. It's a beautiful bar. Built extremely well. You can tell they didn't cut any corners. I don't know what is going on internally, but it just doesn't, it's just the weirdest sounding bar I've ever heard. Period. Skip it. Now the biggest surprise for me, besides the bar being so terrible, was the Sony TV as a center channel. Right. Right. Now I know you completely panned that experience and I am at 100% agreement with you. What happened? Because look, we had the Samsung newer Q90800A or whatever. Their 8K. Their TV. We had the 85 inch TV and we had to send it back because it had some issues. But before we did send that back, we were able to pair that TV with the Samsung Q950A. Holy crap. What a transformative experience having that TV as a center speaker mass matched with the Samsung soundbar. Not only kind of as a center, but also it uses the speakers that are higher up on the TV to further the height of like Atmos effects and everything. So it kind of like takes the presence of the soundbar, which was already really good and just like stretches it to much more of a cinematic wall of sound. And it freaking works. It was, it was incredible. We were both like, holy crap. Yeah, that was impressive. And it wasn't just for movies. It was great for music, music too. So if you were sort of on the fence about what to get and maybe you already owned the newer Samsung TVs with the, um, that the new fancy tech, the Q Symphony or whatever they call it, I would really take a look at the, the, the Samsung Q950A soundbar simply because the pairing between those two is pretty much next level. And the Q950A at, because they've discounted since it's dropped in price, it's such a steal. Um, so I was really disappointed with the, the whole, you know, Sony, um, center channel experience with the, the A9. I, it was a, it was an utter letdown. And the fact that you have to use this tiny cable to put them together. They do a really good job kind of marketing this as being on a level with Samsung. And so when you, when you're opening the box and you're like, okay, I'm going to connect this and you're in the menus and then you realize why is there a headphone cable in the box? And then you go, oh no, this thing has to be tethered to the television. It's like, come on. Yeah. I don't, I don't, I don't pretend to know why that has to be the way you do it. It's with, with the, especially when I look at the advances that Sony made with this A9 speaker system. Exactly. I'm like, what happened? That's what I don't understand. You've created all, you've created one of, if not the current ultimate wireless home theater system on the right now. And then you've got a wire to the television. Yeah. It just seems, it just seems it's a huge miss opera missed opportunity. Yeah. But beyond that, even if you just forget like the fact that you have to use this little cable to connect the two, the sound quality just wasn't there. And I was really hoping that, you know, for me, because I have sometimes a bit of harder time than Andrew does when we're watching movies or visual content, like understanding dialogue. And I was hoping that it would give me a little bit more dialogue clarity with the TV being the center channel. And it really didn't. I agree with Andrew. It was a lot better without that involved. So I don't want to take away from the A9 system performance and the whole comment you made about the demo that they give you the three 60 mapping demo or whatever. I'm the one that told you, I thought it was sounded like it reminded me of back in the day when the TXX THX experience in the movie theater, it really, I mean, I gave me a little bit of goose bump feeling. I was like, Whoa, that's pretty cool. But yeah, I am really impressed by this system. I'm just the A9 that this, this is the way that you get more people into the hobby. Yes. So don't hate the player, hate the game. I like that. I like that. All right. Well, that's it. That is now our review of the Sony HT-A9. Now it's time for you guys to tell us what you think about it. And while you're down there in the comments, I have a question of the day for you. And the question of the day is this. Do you think the future of home theater is more speakers or more processing? And I mean more processing like DSP kind of what Sony is doing here with the A9. Let's get that conversation going. If you liked this video, please do give it a thumbs up, like, and subscribe. That really does help the channel and go ahead and ring that bell so that you're notified when new videos come out. If you use any of the links that Christy left for you down below, know that that is a great way that you have continued to show your support for this channel and the work that we do here. But what you may not be aware of is that's also a way that you have shown support for dealers big and small that support this community. And we all thank you for doing that. Follow me on Instagram at Recovering Audiophile. And that is it for us today. Time to get editing. So remember, the only person who has to like the sound of your system is you. So happy listening everybody. Thank you again for watching. We'll see you on the next video. Bye.