SONY A7000 Sound Bar Review - Why you should skip it.

SONY A7000 Sound Bar Review - Why you should skip it.

When someone uses the term “flagship” on a product, it’s reasonable to expect a measure of greatness. When that term is combined with a premium price tag, I tend to think the manufacturer knows something and they’re pretty confident in what they’re selling. So let’s find out if the new Sony HT-A7000 soundbar lives up to its flagship status, not to mention its premium price tag. 

SONY A7000 SPECS

The Sony HT-A7000 is the brand’s top of the line 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundbar. The A7000 is sold as a standalone bar, so the dot one and dot two refer to the bar’s built-in subwoofer as well as its dual upward firing height speakers. Using DSP and the combination of discrete forward facing, upward and side-firing tweeters, the A7000 is able to create a surround sound like experience from a single bar. The Sony has a total power output of 500 Watts that it spreads across its 11 amplifier channels. Apart from its true 7.1.2 makeup, the 7000 is capable of playing back hi-res audio tracks as well as 360-degree reality audio. It is also a Spotify Connect device, and has support for Google Chromecast, Alexa, Apple AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth 5.0 as well. Not to be overshadowed are the 7000’s two HDMI inputs and single HDMI out, which has support for both ARC and eARC. The Sony is capable of 8K/60 and 4K/120 passthrough, and is compatible with HDR, HLG and Dolby Vision. The Sony also has some support for other non-HDMI connected devices, such as an optical audio and USB-input.

Now, there are a few things that you NEED to know about the Sony up front. First, the HT-A7000 is an all-in-one soundbar, meaning if you want to pair it with a more powerful or more capable Sony-branded wireless subwoofer that’s going to cost extra. If you want to add surround sound speakers, they too are extra. So your $1,299.99 gets you just the bar. If you want to add a sub that’s going to raise the system price up to as much as $1,999.99 depending on which subwoofer you choose. Toss in the surround sound channels and you’re looking at a complete system price of $2,349.98! Normally we don’t make a big deal about price, but I’m calling attention to it, because I, like perhaps many of you, thought the A7000’s $1300 price tag INCLUDED a sub and surrounds. To be clear, it does not!

Setting up the ht-a7000 soundbar

Setting up the HT-A7000 soundbar is somewhat in a class all by itself. First, the Sony has an on-screen menu similar to what you might find on a Sony receiver. The menus are not as in-depth as a receiver’s, but still they are a welcomed addition. The Sony has an automated speaker setup procedure Sony calls Sound Field Optimization. It takes a few seconds and is fairly effective. If nothing else, it’s a great demo of the bar’s spatial capabilities while also giving you some measure of room correction. The auto setup procedure works with the subwoofer and surrounds too, though I find its effectiveness to be lacking when adding the additional speakers. My advice, if you plan on employing one of Sony’s optional subwoofers or surround speakers, go with the manual setup. At least in my experience, the results are marginally better. 

Thanks to the on-screen menus, setting up the bar manually isn’t a chore, all you need is a tape measure and an SPL meter or SPL App on your phone. Follow the on-screen prompts for measuring distance and setting the speaker levels and you’ll be up and running in a matter of minutes. Once manually or automatically setup, all you really have to adjust is which sound mode you prefer and whether or not use the dialog enhancement --both of which are found on the remote. 

Speaking of the remote, it’s a carry-over from some of Sony’s lesser TVs and is in no way complimentary to the A7000’s design and build quality. You can also control the bar --to a degree --using the Sony Music Center App, which is a far sexier solution --just not as comprehensive. 

Here’s where some of the inconsistencies of the 7000’s overall user experience start to rear their ugly head. I love that I can dial up or down the subwoofer level to my heart’s content, same for the surround speakers, BUT I don’t have control over say the center speakers, nor the left and right mains. Sony is strangely selective over what they will allow you to control here. I can turn up the side tweeters but not the center one. If you’re one who likes tone controls or creating your own EQ curves, this isn’t going to be the bar for you.  

But that isn’t where the inconsistencies stop. More so than any other soundbar we’ve reviewed on this channel (save for the VIZIO Elevate) has the performance of a bar varied as much as it has with the Sony. This is not a one setting fits all soundbar —despite the Sony literally having a sound mode called, AUTO SOUND. For starters, Sony’s Immersive Audio Enhancement sound technology is not, I repeat NOT, something I would ever turn off. Yes you can toggle it on and off with the remote, but I strongly recommend leaving it on, for when it’s “off,” the Sony is remarkably forgetful. 

SONY’S IMMERSIVE AUDIO ENHANCEMENTS

With Sony’s Immersive Audio Enhancements on, the HT-A7000 is terrific in creating a sense of space. I wouldn’t call it three dimensional but the A7000 can sound very spacious. The problem I have with this spaciousness is that it feels, and often sounds, like a gimmick --especially when it comes to taking a stereo mix and converting it to surround sound. With Immersive AE on, and in either the Auto or Music sound mode, stereo tracks definitely open up, but they also lose some focus in the process. So when listening to tracks such as Tove Lo’s “Beautiful Disaster” the more ambient cues were near 3D but the rest of the song, especially vocals, were pushed WAY into the background and treated like an afterthought. Engaging the Sony’s Voice enhancement feature brought vocals back to the foreground --it actually brought the whole soundstage forward --but it also introduced a whole new problem - distortion. 

Aside from Sony’s Immersive AE feature, no other button will likely have as profound an effect on what you’re hearing as the one labeled “Voice”, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you toggle it on and off frequently as some music and movies demand it, whereas others will not. I wish voice really only affected the A7000’s vocal reproduction, but it doesn’t. It really should be looked at as a dynamic or maybe loudness button. In its off position, sound, be it music or movies, through the Sony is lean and recessed, bordering on vague at times. Turned on, and the sound is still lean but far more focused with a bit of added dynamic snap. However this newfound focus is because of a significant boost in the treble which at higher volumes is prone to considerable distortion not to mention can become fatiguing fast! Tone controls or the ability to create a user EQ-curve the way you can with Sony’s own XM4 headphones would no doubt curb this excessive brightness, but as of this review that functionality does not exist with the A7000. While Sony isn’t the only soundbar that lacks tone or EQ controls --cough Klipsch-- at such a premium price, the absence of this level of adjustability is unforgivable. 

On its own, the A7000 is a bar capable of great spatial feats and top-end intelligibility. It is very detailed when both its Immersive AE and voice enhancement feature set is on, but it lacks midrange weight and real, defined bass. The bass the bar is capable of reproducing isn’t what I would call detailed. It’s boomy and frankly sounds like a bad ported subwoofer. It does the trick in coming off as sounding, and maybe even feeling deep. There is a sense of air moving out of the bar, but it’s all port and no texture --the opening kick-drum on “Hella Good” or the bass notes in the opening scene of The Matrix more than illustrate this point. Moreover, the bass never fully connects to the midrange, so there is a gap between the two. This results in a sound that is bottom heavy to a point, or with some source material, but overall is just sort of all highs and no lows. 

HT-A7000 and subwoofer performance

Adding the smaller of the two wireless subwoofers and the surrounds DEFINITELY firmed up the A7000’s bottom end not to mention fleshed out a bit of its midrange, but did little to curb the rest of the Sony’s problem areas. If anything the spatial cues now travel front to back and side to side seamlessly with very notable and rather impressive vertical extension, but you’re still left with having to choose which type of overall presentation you want -spacious and vague or forward and in your face. 

When watching A Quiet Place II in Dolby Atmos; Auto Sound, Music or Standard with Voice set to off and Immersive AE on, resulted in a performance that was good but not what I would call best in class. The system had good scale, and spatial cues were rendered with some accuracy, but dialog sounded recessed and frankly a bit lost in any given scene’s room tone. Now switching to the Cinema sound profile definitely brought things more forward and allowed for dialog to stand out from the mix a bit more without having to rely on the dialog feature -but the sound on the whole could come across as brash or shouty in the process --especially if you turn up the volume. I thought Cinema was the best of the four sound profiles when watching movies -but I wouldn’t call it outright ideal. Still, it did enable the Sony to have a measure of focus without introducing outright harshness or distortion up top, which definitely happens on Atmos tracks when Dialog is set to on. 

But the biggest issue I had with the Sony’s Atmos and frankly even Dolby Digital performance was the dynamic limiter. Not since the now discontinued LG SN11RG have I heard an internal limiter this aggressive. The Sony seems to play a guessing game with what it needs to “limit”. So a single round from a baddies gun can rip through your room with all the immediacy and frankly violence you may expect when watching at full tilt, but the car exploding as a result of the bullet hitting the gas tank? You can literally hear the A7000 scurry to not wake the neighbors. Before you accuse me of not turning off any dynamic limiters etc in the menu, I checked and double checked that all were off before making such a statement. Some sounds pass through loud and clear and others, well, they’re just not up to the scale and impact of the moment -and the Sony is very hit or miss in this regard. A Quiet Place II the limiter was audible but not AS aggressive. 6 Underground, the Sony completely neutered that film. The only way I found to bring some of the dynamic snap back was to engage the voice feature, but as you might expect, at higher volumes, this also excited the treble and caused some vocal tracks to be unnaturally sharp. 

I really don’t want to beat on the Sony anymore than I already have for maybe it is just me. Maybe I am just THAT picky and to many of you the sound of the A7000 will be fine. But I review a lot of soundbars, all of which get treated the SAME way, in the same room, playing back the same source material and none have been quite as frustrating sound-wise as the Sony HT-A7000 and that includes the Klipsch Cinema 1200 and it’s still not completed app.

comparing the SONY A7000 to other soundbars

Comparing the A7000 to other soundbars, the Samsung Q950A, is hands down a better sound bar and home theater experience! The Samsung is equally impressive spatially, sounds way more balanced top to bottom with both music and movies, and is a soundbar where you can set it up once and basically forget it. Oh, and it’s cheaper, a lot cheaper in comparison.

The LG SP9YA we just reviewed, while not perfect, and having a cooler demeanor itself, is, in my opinion, also better than the Sony. It’s not even worth asking about the AMBEO, you know the answer, it’s better in every regard. What’s more, the AMBEO is now cheaper than the Sony system reviewed here! Even with the optional sub and surrounds mated to the Sony I’d still choose the AMBEO. 

I still have no comment on the Sonos Arc, or the newly announced Bose 900 as I have not heard them yet. I’m still withholding final, final judgement of the Klipsch Cinema 1200 until the app update comes out, whenever that may be. Honestly, the Klipsch 1200 and Sony A7000 are two of the biggest surprises of 2021 --just not in the way you want to be surprised. 

In the end I think it’s pretty clear what I think about the Sony HT-A7000 soundbar. On the whole it’s not anything I would choose for myself. Spatially the A7000 has the potential to wow, but a home theater experience is more than just tricks and gimmicks, it’s about emotion, impact and substance and too often the Sony just fails to deliver on those fronts. If you would like to know how the HT-A7000 soundbar compares to the Sony HT-A9, be sure to head on over to our YouTube channel to watch our full review of the Sony A9 speaker system and why I think you should get the Sony A9 instead!

Shop the sony a7000 soundbar

SONY HT-A7000 Soundbar: at Crutchfield and Amazon

SONY SA-SR3S Wireless Surround Speakers: Crutchfield

SONY SA-SW3 Subwoofer: Crutchfield and Amazon

SONY SA-SW5 Subwoofer: Crutchfield and Amazon

SONY X95J 85” TV (used in the evaluation): https://amzn.to/3zFCCN1, https://bit.ly/3uaJTn5

VIZIO 85” TV (used in the evaluation): https://amzn.to/35cC8BO

SONY PS5: https://amzn.to/3j61hUR