Sound quality: Sony's HT-X9000F delivers sound quality that falls in the Good range - it reproduces music and dialog reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound. In the Standard sound field mode bass has good impact, but is somewhat prominent and boomy, and the deepest bass is lacking. The midrange is fairly even, but is somewhat hazy, grainy, slightly dark and echoey, and has a touch of a plastic resonance. The treble is somewhat dull, and the upper treble is muted. This model doesn't do a good job of recovering room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded), sounds somewhat congested, and lacks detail. When playing back stereo program material in the Standard mode the sound field extends somewhat above and slightly beyond the sides of speaker array, and lacks a sense of front-to-back depth. The other sound modes have noticeable effects which may include making the sound field wider and taller, and to varying degrees also may make the sound metallic, harsh, more echoey, muffled, or somewhat telephone-like. When Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 channel program material is played back in the Standard mode the width and height of the sound field expands, and depending on the program material can extend well beyond the sides and well above the top of the soundbar. The other sound modes had a similar effect to what was heard with stereo program material, but they were less extreme and generally did not have the metallic, harsh, and echoey character. When playing Dolby Atmos and dts:X program material the width and height of the sound stage expands and depending on the program material can fill the entire front end of the room; audio imaging can extend very high up to the ceiling in the front depending on the program material, but not overhead, and sounds that should have been in the rear come from the front. The other sound modes had a similar effect to what was heard with 5.1 channel program material. There was no significant difference in sound quality between the HDMI, optical, analog, and USB inputs; the Bluetooth input sound very similar to the others but was less bassy. The system can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Very Good overall. Setup: HDMI CEC setup is quick and straight forward using the OSD setup menu but you may need to refer to included manual. The soundbar comes with an HDMI digital audio/video cable for TV connection, optical digital audio and/or stereo analog audio cables must be purchased separately if you want or need either of those to connect your TV. Ease of Use: This model can be set to respond to the volume and mute remote control commands of HDMI CEC compatible TVs when connected via the HDMI ARC ports with an HDMI cable. Its own remote's controls are well labeled, but the layout is a somewhat jumbled - the source and DSP buttons are all together at the top of the remote, and while the mute button is adjacent to the volume buttons it is mixed in with other similarly shaped buttons. The soundbar console's power, source, and volume controls are adequately identified, but because of the console texture they can sometimes be obscured by glare (slightly changing the viewing angle reduces the glare enough for adequate viewing). All controls are on the top of the console where they are easy to access. The console lacks a mute control, but if muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. The console display has a power indicator, persistent console source indicator lights with word labels that are visible and understandable from arm's length. The momentary graphical volume display has increments that are very rough, and the volume display can't be recalled without changing the level. The muting status indicator is persistent. Both the volume and muting status displays may not be visible from a distance due to their position at the top of the soundbar. The momentary DSP mode display can't be recalled without possibly changing the mode.
Features setup and ease of use: Very Good overall. Setup: Bluetooth pairing requires a press of a well marked button on the remote or console that is also used to switch to the Bluetooth source after pairing. Ease of Use: The remote's controls are well labeled, but the layout is a somewhat jumbled - the source and DSP buttons are all together at the top of the remote, and while the mute button is adjacent to the volume buttons it is mixed in with other similarly shaped buttons. The soundbar console's power, source, and volume controls are adequately identified, but because of the console texture they can sometimes be obscured by glare (slightly changing the viewing angle reduces the glare enough for adequate viewing). All controls are on the top of the console where they are easy to access. The console lacks a mute control, but if muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. The console display has a power indicator, persistent console source indicator lights with word labels that are visible and understandable from arm's length. The momentary graphical volume display has increments that are very rough, and the volume display can't be recalled without changing the level. The muting status indicator is persistent. Both the volume and muting status displays may not be visible from a distance due to their position at the top of the soundbar. The momentary DSP mode display can't be recalled without possibly changing the mode. The console has inputs for HDMI ARC digital video/audio and optical digital audio connections. The optical input is provided as an alternate connection for TVs that lack HDMI ARC, not as a separate connection for another device. These two inputs are covered under one source and the soundbar uses one or the other depending on what's connected. If both are connected the last one used takes priority.
