This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I've used a lot of soundbars over the years with both wired and wireless subs. Each of them has had it's quirks and left much to be desired. When I had the opportunity to get my hands on this yamaha soundbar I couldn't wait. Yamaha is one of the oldest names in the game when it comes to high end home audio equipment. So how did they do? They nailed it.
This bar is built like a beast; solid, heavy, and very durable feeling. Ditto for the sub. Setup is a breeze. Plug the ac cables into the bar and the sub, plug your arc cable from tv into soundbar and you're off and running. Out of the box the sound is very good, but you can make fine adjustments using the remote. Unfortunately the led lights on the soundbar that indicate volume level and other setting changes don't give you much in the way of information, so you're going to need to use the app ... speaking of
The app is mandatory. If you don't have a smartphone or tablet by now, don't buy this bar without one. The app is absolutely necessary for updating firmware and knowing exactly what settings you're changing on the soundbar. The app quickly found and paired the soundbar and updating was smooth and fast - no problems whatsoever.
In the app you'll find options to rename your soundbar, link the built-in alexa to your amazon account, as well as more sound settings. In order you have 3d surround, Sound Program (EQ settings), Clear Voice, Bass Extension, and your independant subwoofer volume. On the main menu you can control the volume of the whole system.
3d surround provides a faux 3D effect, it's kind of gimmicky and I don't really care for it but it does give you more of a room filling experience. Your personal taste will of course vary, but it's not for me.
Sound Program is what Yamaha calls their equalizer, I don't know why they didn't just call it EQ but whatever. You can select from 6 presets; Movie, Music, Sports, Game, TV Program, and Stereo. They all sound a bit different, but they're so similar that you're preference will be entirely subjective. The movie setting seems to offer the most balanced sound so that's where I keep it. I don't know why there isn't a custom setting where you can modify the sound to your exact preferences, seems like a huge omission. Maybe it'll come in a future firmware update? Yamaha if you're paying attention, please give me custom EQ. That said I'm very happy with the sound in Movie mode. Highs are clear and crisp, mids are present but not overwhelming or washed out, and bass is very punchy without any distortion even at higher volume levels. Without exaggeration I can say that this is the best sound I've heard from a soundbar, besting even two high end ATMOS bars I've used that cost well over 2k. Very good job from Yamaha.
Clear Voice accentuates "voices" or really the frequencies that human voices tend to fall into. I've heard this on soundbars and tv sets for years and never been overly impressed, but the Yamaha bar does an amazing job of bringing voices - and only voices - to the front of the soundscape. It doesn't feel phony or overprocessed, the voices of actors in movies and tv shows and vocals in music come across very clean. There's definitely some magic going on behind the scenes here that I haven't heard before. I keep this on all the time, and if you knew me you'd know that I never use any post-processing effects in AV equipment. And yet here I am. It's just so good and natural sounding, I don't know what to say. Again you may or may not like it, but I happen to love it.
Bass Extension ostensibly is there to provide a richer fuller bass if the massive subwoofer isn't bumping hard enough for you, but I found the performance to be very inconsistent. In some movies and tv shows it seems to offer a wider sound field while in others it seemed to actually mute the thump of punches landing or explosions booming. In music it's the same story, at times yielding a window-rattling thump and at others completely muting the bass line in the song. This one is most definitely staying off for me.
Lastly we have the subwoofer volume - so let's talk about the sub. It's big. It's heavy. It's awesome. Stock settings are certainly adequate with this subwoofer, but I like to increase the volume to +3. Any higher and it's honestly just too much bass for me, still very clean and precise just ... too much. The bass provided here should surpass all but the most hardcore bass-head's expectations. It's simply put, very very good. And another thing! A common problem with wireless subwoofers, every one I've used up until now, is that they routinely lose connection to the soundbar. Sometimes briefly sometimes for awhile, but it's always jarring when it happens. I've watched several movies and more episodes of TV than I'd care to admit with this Yamaha soundbar already and I have not experienced a single drop. Not once out of more than 40 hours of play time. It's unheard of. Even my high end ATMOS soundbar's sub cuts out when the bass on a soundtrack fades out, taking a second to kick back in. It's something you quickly grow accustomed to but now that I have a system with a wireless sub that works flawlessly I hate watching TV in my other rooms. In other words, this thing is perfect.
Lastly I want to talk about the remote. It's a perfectly functional remote, but without any sort of visible readout on the soundbar itself the remote is kind of pointless. You'll need the app to know exactly what the settings are, and since you can change them far more quickly and easily on the app the remote just sits in a drawer not getting used. The remote, strangely, uses one of those flat watch type batteries, which means when it runs out of juice you're likely going to have to run to the drug store as chances are you don't have any of these lying around the house. I don't really get why Yamaha went with this battery as opposed to triple or double As, but it's a minor annoyance. There's also a button on the remote for swapping between different audio codecs which is crazy. Does everyone know what audio codec (DTS, dolby true HD whatever) the movie/tv soundtrack is using when they play back? No of course not. On every other device the system just takes whatever source it's fed and processes it correctly. This soundbar does the same thing. So why is that button there? It's very confusing, and even more confusing when you realize that this option isn't even available in the app. It's almost like this remote is a pre-existing design that they just tossed in the box as an afterthought. Don't use it, just stick with the app. It's far more convenient and feature rich.
So overall this soundbar gets 10 out of 10 for me. I wish I could rate it higher. It's class-leading at it's price point, and although it doesn't feature ATMOS support but I've found it produces higher quality sound than systems that are 3 or 4 times the price. The remote is pretty much garbage, but I've never used it outside of checking to see if the buttons work. I really wish there was a way to set custom EQ but I'm not going to knock off a star for that. The performance of this system is just too good. Yamaha have a long tradition of making industry-leading speakers and receivers. They're carrying on that tradition with this soundbar, which is hands-down the best soundbar I've ever used. It's worth your hard-earned coin. Buy it.
