Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module  Soundbar Review

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module is a unique setup. There's a small black control box with rounded edges. Instead of a large soundbar, there are two white front left and right speakers made of metal grilles with plastic casing. You can tell them apart from the satellites thanks to marking on the bottom that distinguish 'FL' for front left speaker and 'FR' for front right.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module's subwoofer has a very premium feel. It's encased in hard plastic with a leather-like texture, and there's fabric covering the sides. You can find a front-firing driver behind the front fabric and a down-firing driver at the bottom of the sub.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module comes with two satellite speakers. They have the same design as the front left and right speakers, with off-white colored plastic and metal grilles. You can tell them apart thanks to the markings on the bottom. The rear left speaker is labeled 'RL', and the rear right speaker is labeled 'RR'.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has a uniquely compact design. Its small control box easily fits between the legs of a 55" TV stand, and it isn't tall enough to obscure your TV screen.

Note: The measurements above are for one speaker. However, the control box's dimensions are 5.9" (15 cm) long x 5.9" (15 cm) wide x 1.9" (5 cm) tall.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has a slightly bulky subwoofer that's a little larger than a typical desktop PC.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module's satellites are a bit larger than the satellites for some of the other models we've tested. However, it shouldn't make much of a difference when placing them in your room, especially if you put them on their own stands.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has an excellent build quality. The speakers are amazingly well-built, with a solid plastic casing and metal grilles to help protect the drivers inside. The subwoofer also feels quite solid, and its plastic build feels quite sturdy. While there's fabric covering the sides, it doesn't seem like it could rip very easily. Unfortunately, the plastic control box feels a bit cheap. It can also get hot when the setup is in use.

• Manuals
• 2x AAA batteries
• Remote
• AC adapter (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• TV center speaker mode cable (6.5 ft / 2.0m)
• HDMI cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• 4x AC power cords (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• Subwoofer manuals
• Subwoofer AC power cord (4.9 ft / 1.5m)

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has a good stereo frequency response. Its Sound Field Optimization feature automatically calibrates audio reproduction based on your room's unique acoustics. You can set up this feature when the bar is paired to your TV. On 'Standard Surround' mode, its sound profile is fairly balanced, although there's some muddiness in the high-bass that can slightly thin out vocals and lead instruments. Compared to the standalone Sony HT-A9, the subwoofer helps reproduce a more extended low-bass. That said, its performance isn't as impressive as other premium setups like the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 with Speakers + Bass Module, and there's a touch of low-bass missing in your audio.

Note: We performed all our sound tests with the Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module in 'Standard Surround' mode. During our subjective listening tests, we found that both 'Standard Surround' and 'Cinema' mode filled the room with sound and offered a solid listening experience. All channels seemed active, while the 'Music' preset seemed to only play audio from the front left and right speakers.

Note: Since the Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module uses the same subwoofer as the Sony HT-A7000 with Speakers + Bass Module, we expected similar results for the bass range. However, this setup doesn't reproduce as extended of a low-bass as the HT-A7000 full setup. We tested these setups multiple times and redid the room calibration, but our results didn't change. We believe that the HT-A9's control box processes the bass differently than the HT-A7000's bar, but we can't confirm this.

If you prefer a more neutral sound profile, we recommend using this setup with its default settings.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has a fantastic soundstage. Its 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology creates a very wide soundstage, and you can even customize the experience by moving the speakers around your room. The focus is pretty good, although you may notice some audible holes at times due to the lack of a discrete center channel. We used Acoustic Center Sync to pair the setup with a BRAVIA TV, which helps anchor voices to a more pinpoint location in the soundstage. However, there was a slight drop in sound quality when using this feature.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has a disappointing dynamics performance. It doesn't get very loud, so it's not really suitable for listening in a large room or at a crowded party. Also, there's quite a bit of compression when you push it to max volume.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has a good stereo THD performance. It falls within good limits at a normal listening volume, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction. There's a slight jump across the range when you push it to max volume, but this shouldn't be too noticeable with real-life content.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has a fair center channel performance. This setup doesn't have a discrete center, so it uses its left and right channels to simulate a phantom center. Unfortunately, this doesn't anchor voices to an accurate location in the soundstage as well as a discrete setup.

However, you can use Acoustic Center Sync to pair this setup with a compatible BRAVIA TV. This feature uses the TV speakers as a discrete center channel. In our subjective listening tests, we noticed this feature does a better job anchoring voices to a pinpoint location in the soundstage, meaning you can hear them clearly from anywhere in the room. However, it also seems to decrease the sound quality. Sound isn't quite as immersive, and the volume level between the bar and the TV seems to differ. Some users may prefer to not use the TV as a center channel to maintain better sound quality.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has a good surrounds performance. Its discrete speakers more clearly and accurately represent sound objects like voices in the soundstage. As a result, audio seems like it's coming from all around you, rather than from speakers placed in front of you.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has up-firing speakers in the bar and the satellites that bounce sound off the ceiling and back down towards you to create the illusion of height. It may not seem as clear or real as the performance offered by a discrete setup with home theater systems, but it still offers a solid performance. Especially compared to other soundbars we've tested, it fills your room with sound to create an immersive listening experience. You may notice some holes in the soundstage, but this is likely due to the lack of a center channel. You can use the speakers from a compatible BRAVIA TV as a center channel with Acoustic Center Sync, although in our subjective listening tests, we felt that this feature decreases the sound quality a bit.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has an amazing selection of sound enhancement features. If you want to customize its sound, there are some EQ presets available: 'Standard Surround', 'Music', 'Cinema', and 'Auto Sound'. You can also adjust the subwoofer volume. The Immersive AE feature even lets you activate the up-firing drivers. However, this feature is locked on when you watch Atmos content in 'Standard Surround' and 'Cinema' modes. However, you can adjust this feature with Atmos content on 'Auto Sound' and 'Music' modes.

Sound Field Optimization is a room correction feature that optimizes audio reproduction based on your room's acoustics. You can set up this feature once the bar is paired with your TV. If you want to see the setup process, there's a video here.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has several physical inputs. You can use it as a hub between different devices using its Full HDMI In port. There's also an S-Center Out port on the control box so you can connect it to a compatible BRAVIA TV for Acoustic Center Sync.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module supports all of the audio formats that we test for via ARC. It can playback common surround sound formats like Dolby Digital as well as lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module also supports all of the audio formats that we test for via Full HDMI In. Dolby Digital is the most common surround sound format, and you can find it on many Blu-rays and streaming platforms. It can also playback lossless and object-based formats like DTS:X.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module has a good latency performance. It has fairly low latency, so the audio you hear is in sync with the video you see. If you notice any issues, the manufacturer says that its A/V SYNC feature can help with lip-synching. You can turn on this feature in the app. Some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience can vary.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module lets you wirelessly stream audio from your mobile devices to the bar over many different platforms. We did notice some issues in our Bluetooth and Apple AirPlay tests that caused sound to pop in and out. You may not encounter this at home, as our testing space has a uniquely high number of active wireless devices.

This soundbar can passthrough many common resolutions and refresh rates, which is handy if you plan to use it as a hub between devices like a TV and a gaming console. Since it supports HDMI version 2.1, it supports a higher bandwidth than other bars with HDMI 2.0 technology, so you can passthrough 4k @ 120Hz @ 10-Bit @ 4:4:4 content found on certain gaming consoles, too. Updating the bar to firmware version 1.779 adds support for ALLM and HDMI Forum VRR technologies.

There's a small display on the control box that shows you the input, setting, and menu you adjust.

There aren't any controls on the box itself besides a power button. You can also find pairing buttons and power buttons on each speaker.

Like many Sony remotes, there are many buttons to choose from. The remote lets you adjust the volume, change the sound mode, and activate the Immersive AE feature. The Sony Music Center app also acts as a remote.

The Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module doesn't have built-in voice assistant support. That said, you can still activate it with your voice if you pair it with a third-party voice assistant device. The manufacturer says that it supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.