Product Reviews

Bought this to replace an older model. I'm very pleased with this unit.

Best soundbar by far that I’ve ever heard, and so many customization options especially in the music center

One of my very few regrets in life is purchasing this sound bar system. The only thing I regret more is waiting until now to do anything about it. I purchased it from Best Buy in May of 2021 and I was excited. It wasn’t the most expensive system in the world, but at over $1000, it was a lot of money to me; I couldn’t wait to use it. And the thing is, it sounds beautiful when it’s working correctly. The lows are strong and even at a very uncomfortable volume, the audio is crystal clear. The atmos surround sound is immersive. However, within the first month, the satellite speakers and sub started periodically cutting out, varying in intensity/duration. I would unplug the soundbar for about ten seconds and the symptoms would usually dissipate for some time. Maybe a day, maybe a week. Then I saw the reviews and tutorials by others who outlined their great efforts to remedy similar problems they discovered with this system (eg turning off the RF channel, then turning it back on to force it to choose a new channel frequency). Today, some days are worse than others. Speakers go through cut-out episodes several times per week on average, disabling and re-enabling the RF Channel usually remedies these problems. Sometimes it fails to change HDMI inputs. It repeatedly fails to recognize Chromecast device without changing the input from HDMI 1 to HDMI 2 until it finally detects the device. Look, this soundbar system is really great when it works and if it consistently operated, I’d be thrilled for the money I spent. The fact is it is temperamental and absurdly unpredictable. I will not knowingly sell the system to someone else and I am out of warranty; I’m currently exploring repair or replacement. If you own this system, you can blame me for not speaking up sooner. The bottom line is: Sony blew it and next time, I’ll pony up a little more for a Sonos system.

Had it almost 3 months and is much improvement for my needs

The sound is a disappointing soundbar, it is inconsistent, and it is a nightmare to attach the ARC/HDMI cables at the back to the lack of space at the back, you cannot get your hand into the compartment where the sockets are placed. I have a top model Sony TV, DVD Player, along with this soundbar. and I will never buy Sony again. After two years ARC socket has become very loose and causes interference, so I can no longer use it. The soundbar is poorly designed, the instructions are inadequate and their website is not much better. They assume everyone is an expert and in my case, I use a set-top box as well, but finding out the correct way to connect all the items to each other is a joke. The worst thing of all is the cost of all these items, you don't! always get what you pay for and Sony has proved that.

I am upgrading from an older traditional wired 5.1 surround home theater system by Yamaha, but it did not support Dolby Atmos. I selected this product because it supported Dolby Atmos, received good reviews, and offered the ability to upgrade to full surround with the optional rear surround speakers. Now that I've heard the quality, I really wanted to also add in the rear surround speakers, but those have been discontinued, so I am stuck with this unit that sounds good, but not what I ultimately wanted.

sounds good works really well and simplified with my Sony tv

Amazing sound and super easy setup. Sony makes great products

Very expensive sound bar and not the best volume cannot get it to do half what it’s supposed to do And it’s linked to a Sony TV

Bought it to match the television. It kicks the sound up a bunch of notches.

We bought this to go with our new Sony TV and glad we did. Love being able to switch the sounds between live TV and movies.

The look and the ease of setting up is great. However I can not get the sound bar to sound as great as it did in Currys. Maybe I have done something wrong? Still fiddling with it. I am using the HDMI cable at the moment and have since switched to the optical which sounds better??? The sound is good but will sound better when I purchase the rear speakers to go with it for the 5.1 sound. I will go back to Currys for advice. If not I will speak to Sony.

Had this sound bar a few months now .easy to set up and connect multiple devices .the sound is good quality nice and soft and not too piercing.which is probably why it has no tweeters ,though having no tweeters sound gets muddled up a bit now and then .good buy though overall for midrange equipment.

I bought the Soundbar about 3 months ago, the sound quality is truly excellent. I have one major concern however, as I didn’t purchase the dedicated rear speakers at the same time thinking that I would add them later I now find that theses are now unavailable in the UK. All attempts through Sony or other sources to locate the HTZ F9 rear speakers have failed, I now cannot enjoy the system to its full capabilities - very disappointed! Sony, please reinstate the HTZ F9 rear speakers or provide a compatible alternative.

I bought this a couple of weeks ago as I moved house and have had to down-size my surround sound set-up, the fact it had two hdmi inputs was a big factor in my choice to replace my Sony AV receiver, it meant I could connect my 4k blu ray player and firestick directly to the soundbar for dolby atmos sound, my tv only has arc and it doesnt do atmos, you need earc for atmos so this is perfect for me, being honest moving from 7 speakers and a sub to a soundbar is going to be a bit of a comedown, I love my surround sound music and the soundbar sounds great with music since it seems made for hi-res audio, the only downside is there's no discrete sounds coming from all corners of the room, when watching movies it sounds as good as it could without being fully immersive, the atmos feature is good but not great compared to proper atmos speakers, all in all i’m not sure I could have chosen a better soundbar without spending a small fortune

I bought this two weeks ago and I am very happy with my purchase. Connectivity is at the top. Dialogs very easier to understand while watching TV. On the other side, spatialization is not very present and it could not read .wma files bought from Qobuz. Video play with Chromecast would have been a plus. In the whole, a very nice purchase.

I did a lot of AV research prior to buying this soundbar. I had 5.1 surround with Dolby True HD and DTS -MA. I wanted a genuine upgrade, from a medium sized soundbar with Atmos The ZF9 is absolutely incredible. I could argue that being able to switch between Sony's DSP Presets and Dolby's processing via the remote would be handier, but that is pretty much the only criticism. The sound is crisp, clear and well balanced. Object based sound tracks work, even although the height channels are virtual. It must be noted I have a low ceiling lounge(approx 3m or 9ft), so the sound bubble effect is genuinely noticeable. If you have a high ceilinged room the effect would be much less effective and other solutions would be required. I also purchased the rear speakers (which I believe are now discontinued/ very hard to get hold of). The rear speakers were essential to my set up, your set up is up to you.

I bought this soundbar because, to replaced my hifi system.

Bought it nearly a year ago and it just completely died. No sound coming from it in any mode. For months the subwoofer has been going in and out while watching tv like it can’t hold the wireless connection. It’s sitting 5 feet from the sound bar. Not good.

Night this and wasn’t sure it would live up to its expectations how wrong I was. Truly amazing sound and so realistic and the bass is brilliant especially with an action packed movie.

Suitable for quality and money. If it redesign smallest will be great

I've had this for about 9 months. The subwoofer will just randomly cut out. Sony is aware of the issue but wont do anything. They wont replace it nor refund my money despite me having a FIVE YEAR WARRANTY that I paid extra for. My only option is to hope for a software update or not use certain importantfeatures (eARC). Awful customer service. I have tons of Sony products (A80J, HTZ9F, surround speakers, PS5, PS4, Xperia phone, Vaio laptop) but won't be buying them again in the future after this terrible experience.

Very good option if you have a budget. it's not the same as a high end cinema amp, but if you are after a soundbar that's adds volume dimension to movies and entertainment, you might consider this option. It fits nicely under most 55" TV's

I've used this sound bar over the last few weeks and it's been brilliant. Looks good and sounds good. My only gripe is when playing music the sub doesn't pick up really deep bass. Overall a great product good quality and will definitely make a difference.

Taken from argos.co.uk