HT-XT2

I just got it a few days ago. I haven't really gotten much time to explore all the features. It has a TON of them. There's almost no shortage of ways to play your music. You can use your laptop or phone or USB or network or Google Play Music, Bluetooth etc. The speakers really fill the room. I haven't tested the max volume. I usually use it around the 15 to 20 mark and it's plenty loud. Hardware wise, it's huge! I wasn't expecting it to be this big. I guess it's that way because you can place a TV on top of it. I love the glossy black look. It makes it look sleek and if you have a black TV (which most people do), it will complement the look. I have a Sony 4k TV so it was pretty much a plug and play setup experience. Like I said, I just got it so I'll update my review as time goes on. UPDATE (11/26/2016): The sound base is still working perfectly. I've gotten about three or four updates since I bought it. There are no changelogs so I don't know what exactly they were for. One feature I like is the "night mode", it lowers the bass and produces a sound more suitable for night time use when you don't want to disturb people who might be sleeping. I used to have an issue where the sound base would go out of sync with the TV and I would have to re-sync it. However, I've not had that issue in over two months. I guess one of the updates fixed it. All in all, I'm still happy with the purchase and would definitely recommend it. UPDATE (3/27/2017): I'm still using the sound base and I'm still loving it. So far, no issues whatsoever. There was a recent update that boosted the sound quality and added more clarity. It is definitely noticeable when watching from pure sources like blu-ray movies. The speaker also syncs up really well with my Sony 4K TV. UPDATE (11/19/2018): Over two years later and still no issues. There have been a couple of updates but once again no changelogs so I'm not sure what they're for. The speaker does have a glossy finish which attracts dust so I have to wipe it down every few weeks.

The Sony HT-XT2 is great for applications where a full surround system isn't feasible or necessary - a cost effective means of getting enhanced sound from a flat-screen television in bedroom applications or rooms smaller than a typical living room. What it isn't is a full surround experience, nor is it meant to be. The sound quality is reasonably expansive and deep, more so than most sound bar applications, especially if utilizing the wireless surround rear speaker options. The optional wireless surround essentially makes the Sony HT-XT2 an economy 4.1 surround (left, right, wireless rear left and right, plus sub). The adjustable sub provides enough boom without being overbearing. The HT-XT2 caters to a desire for a simple, clean, minimalist plug-and-play setup for people that want to keep things simple. The casing is modern and beautiful with a solid glass top, top touch sensitive controls along the front edge that don't stand out or obstruct, and an unobtrusive sub that points downward. The construction is sturdy and solid, negating any sense of shaking or rattling with distortion seeming non-existent at high volumes so far. USB, Bluetooth, and both ethernet and wireless network connectivity make this offering somewhat versatile, though some limits do exist on the connectivity part (see next paragraph). Menus are clean and attractive. What the HT-XT2 lacks, however, are many standard options. Physical connectivity is down from the XT1 to HDMI (ARC) or Digital Optical. This means the device is unusable beyond being an expensive bluetooth speaker if your TV doesn't have Optical / TOSLink output or isn't Audio Return Channel capable. Any semblance of an equalizer has been negated for pre-sets, most of which seem to have minimal differences between them to the ear. Night Mode essentially cuts the sub channel, which you could do simply by adjusting the separate sub volume to zero. The Google Cast capability has limitations - you can cast music and apps, but I believe any purchased music acquired through the service is unavailable to the HT-XT2 version. Network connectivity is picky about what can be sent from where - the device shows on the network, and I can cast to it from any network computer on a song-by-song basis or Sony's music management software, but dedicated music programs / apps like MediaMonkey can't currently locate the device for me to set it as an output channel through the program. My major gripe with the HT-XT2 is that communication between some inputs can be interrupted. If I am streaming through Amazon's FireStick and back out to the Amazon menu from a film or show while it's playing, say I quit watching a movie that isn't holding my interest, the HT-XT2 will sometimes drop sound completely - it's still connected but it's like you've hit mute. When this occurs, I generally have to shut the base off and then turn it back on and wait for it to reconnect before continuing a stream or starting another. Volume can also be misleading: most soundbars output sound separately and you simply can turn the TV volume down to zero while the bar is in use while the XT-XT2 seems to override and replace the TV sound. The TV volume will now manage the base volume instead. This is fine to a degree except for the base number is half the TV volume (if the TV is at 50, the base is at 25) and, when the previous issue creeps up, you sometimes wind up with both TV and base sound with the base no longer wanting to override the TV - even though I keep my TV at zero anyway, upping the volume when this happens will now increase the volume of both. This usually leads to me having to shut down both and restarting the TV (making sure it's at zero) before restarting the base. The HT-XT2 also seems to suffer from Sony's current practice of making an affordable mid-range device with more power than the entry model but just enough features removed to drive you toward the more expensive high-end offering. The HT-XT1 had 3 HDMI in, 1 ARC out, and standard 3.5mm input along with the digital audio but half the power output. For three times the retail of the HT-XT2 you can get the HT-XT3: 3 HDMI in / 1 ARC and 3.5mm are back, double the subs, double the watts, dual-band wi-fi, etc. It's a clear push to compel you to go high-end but, if your equipment is compatible, there really isn't a need to. If I want high-end, I'm going to do it in the main / living room with a full surround receiver.

IMPORTANT: THIS DOESN'T INCLUDE AN OPTICAL (TOSLINK) CABLE! IF YOU DON'T HAVE A TV WITH ARC (AUDIO RETURN CHANNEL), YOU MUST BUY AN OPTICAL AUDIO CABLE SEPARATELY! Update 8/21/18: I got tired of having to crank the volume on this thing and still not understand dialogue, so I ordered the ZVOX SB400 Aluminum Sound Bar with Built-in Subwoofer, Bluetooth Wireless Streaming, AccuVoice on sale ($246) and wow, what an improvement! As of this writing, Amazon is selling the HT-XT2 for only $118. At that price, it's a deal as long as you're aware of its limitations. I paid $145 and am reasonably happy with it for that price. Nearly three years ago I ordered a VIZIO S3820W-C0 38-inch 2.0 Home Theater Sound Bar with Integrated Deep Bass . That proved to be my most ill-fated Amazon purchase ever, and I was so scarred by the experience that I decided not to roll the dice on a TV speaker again. Until, that is, I bought the previous model Sony Sound Base (HT-XT1) for my mom nearly three years ago for almost $300. A recent visit to my mom's reassured me that the Sony is made to last, unlike the hated VIZIO, so I ordered myself an HT-XT2. The biggest difference between the XT1 and the XT2 is that the latter no longer has a remote designed like a piece of abstract sculpture. This is good and bad. While it doesn't look as nice, you don't have to slide open a panel to reveal hidden "advanced" controls. On the other hand, the new remote, like most contemporary remotes, makes unreasonable cognitive demands by assailing your brain with a bunch of arcane (and often pointless) features you'll never use. On balance, I preferred the old remote: the vital buttons (VOL + and VOL -) were large and easy to press, whereas on the new remote, the mute button is the same size as an enigmatic button labeled only "GREEN." This sort of feature overload extends to the user interface, which you can safely ignore after the initial setup. It's full of esoteric options that only an IT professional would understand (and I say this as an IT professional). Unless you have a TV that supports ARC (audio return channel), I don't recommend wasting one of your precious few HDMI ports so you can display a speaker menu—the speaker is 100% usable without an HDMI cable connected, which brings me to my next point: connectivity. Sony really pared down the ports on this thing to the bare essentials: 1 HDMI, 1 optical (aka TOSLINK), 1 ethernet. That's good and bad. It's bad if you were hoping for an analog connection (RCA or 3.5mm) because you won't find one here. It's good if you like simplicity and have a spare TOSLINK cable lying around because IT DOESN'T INCLUDE ONE! That to me is a baffling and infuriating decision since it DOES include an HDMI cable, which, again, will only work for audio output on specific, very new TVs that support ARC. For reference, I have a 2014 Samsung smart TV and it doesn't support ARC. An optical cable, meanwhile, will work with just about any modern TV, so if you're planning to get this sound base, I highly recommend picking up a good-quality optical cable too. I bought the KabelDirekt Optical Digital Audio Cable (3 Feet) Home Theater Fiber Optic Toslink Male to Male Gold Plated Optical Cables Best For Playstation & Xbox - PRO Series because the product page includes a sweet video, but you'll be hard pressed to find an optical cable on Amazon that doesn't work. Any time a manufacturer attempts to force you into some kind of (semi-)proprietary connection standard, you should be wary, and Sony, like Apple, has a long history of trying to trap people in its "ecosystem" with proprietary connections. Fortunately, there's the optical option on the XT2, which is going to be how most people who buy one of these speakers connect them. So how does it sound? In a word, decent! It's clean, clear, and emphasizes mids (that often neglected sonic region in between highs and lows where human voices and most instruments live). Bass is controlled and accurate, and treble is never shrill or piercing. It's JUST loud enough for apartment living, which is to say not too loud. For my situation (deranged downstairs neighbor), that's actually a pro, but if you really want that home theater thump, this isn't going to satisfy you. It gets politely loud, not noise-complaint loud. However, I've noticed that on some content (Amazon Prime Video seems to play at half of Netflix's volume) I've had to turn the volume all the way to MAX just to hear dialogue. Speaking of dialogue, with Night Mode ("Night" button on remote) OFF and Voice Up ("Voice" button on remote) set to UP2, dialogue is mostly intelligible, which is the main reason I bought it. I'd like to say I no longer need subtitles to understand my native language, but sadly that's not the case—dialogue STILL doesn't stand out clearly enough. If you're wondering about bass, this thing simply can't achieve the room-shaking bass of a standalone subwoofer. Again, if one of your main concerns is NOT pissing off the neighbors, this is a good thing. If you don't have neighbors, you'd be better served by something with a separate sub. Since all the speakers are housed in the same flat, relatively narrow box, you're not going to get much (if any) stereo separation. Think of it more as a monaural speaker. As a result, music can sometimes sound a little cramped, but there's no shortage of ways to get music onto it: Spotify Connect, Bluetooth, USB. I highly recommend using Spotify Connect if you're a Spotify user—it's more convenient and sounds better than Bluetooth. Regardless of how you play your music on it, the XT2 offers a clearer and richer sound than more expensive boomboxes and portable speakers. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer them! Thanks for reading!

The package is huge. It is much heavier than I thought. Sound is clear and the bass is present. Subwoofer is not as powerful as an independent unit, but it does the job. You can adjust the subwoofer volume indecently which is nice when, especially if you live in an apartment. Setup was a simple and worked right out of the box, just plugged it to my TV's HDMI ARC output and performed the recommended updates. Bravia Sync feature worked well, so I can control everything using my Sony TV remote. Spotify connect is pretty neat, worked really well with my Mac and iPhone/iPad. I didn't try the Chromecast audio feature. Bluetooth connection is great and it's able to connect to Amazon Echo (Alexa), and my to computer/phone. It is the best sound base I have found for the price (109 on Amazon). I recommend this product for people that don't want/can't set up a bigger home theater system and want to improve their TV sound without spending too much money and dealing with a lot of wires.

I replaced an older 42" Toshiba LCD that had front firing speakers and excellent sound with a new Sony Bravia XBR 49". I didn't realize at the time the Sony had down firing speakers. This is apparently very common for modern thin bezel LED TV's. The sound from the Sony TV is very shallow. After researching several sound bars and sound bases, I opted for this Sony unit for ease of integration. I makes a world of difference in sound quality, very similar to the Toshiba I previously had, but better. This unit is claimed for 170W. When connected to the TV, the TV (Sony) automatically switches the speakers to the unit. When you raise the volume of the TV, it no longer jumps in increments of 1, but now 2. There is an indicated (not audible) volume difference between the TV and sound base where when the TV shows 40, the sound base shows 20. This has no impact on the audible sound other than the overall loudness. I have it hooked up with the HDMI/ARC right now, perhaps that is how it is supposed to work. I am going to try hooking it up with a digital audio cable and see what the difference is. The unit doesn't tout this anywhere, but it is made of MDF internally. You can see it looking through the various vents. It is cased in plastic with a glass top, and has touch sensitive buttons on top. ZVOX (another mfg) claims their units are made of MDF. Just thought I'd share these are too. Overall I am happy with the sound. The bass is not punchy like a home stereo would be, but it is clearly audible. It sounds great overall, but isn't going to shake the walls. My new Sony TV sounds like it should now.

Compared to the speakers in the Sony tv I bought this for, the sound is amazing! A regular sound bar would have blocked the tv’s remote sensor and I didn’t want to mount it on the wall. This unit was perfect for me. It’s abour 3” tall and the tv sits on top of it. Setup was surprisingly easy. My experience didn’t match the directions. The setup menu never appeared, so I restarted the sound bar and it installed itself. The sound bar works with my Fios remote and powers on and off with the tv. There are different sound settings for movies, sports, music and tv. The only negative is a lag in the sound at start up and changing channels, especially high number cable channels. I took off one star for that. If I turn off the sound bar and listen through the tv speakers, I wonder how I lived with the horrible sound quality. This unit also supports wireless speakers, Songpal and other stuff I don’t know what they are. Update 1/6/18. The volume goes up and down by itself for no apparent reason. Commercials, changing channels, even within a show. Driving me nuts. 01/09/2018. It broke. I’m lowering my review to 1 star.

I bought this sound "base" to gain greater voice clarity when watching TV shows or movies. My 3 year old Samsung TV has speakers in the back of the TV. Consequently, I must turn up sound to hear clearly and then turn the sound down to avoid the unwelcome blast of TV commercials. While I believe that the SONY has successfully increased the audibility of TV shows, it does not maintain level volume, as advertised, when commercials begin their rant. The good news is that I find that the voices of the actors on TV to be substantially clear now. Sound and clarity aside, I found the installation of the Sony to be annoying. The instructions that SONY provided were vague and offered little help if installation is unsuccessful. Worse, Sony expects the initial installation to be so intuitive that they don't bother to describe what to expect during installation. The fact that it takes the Sony about 10-15 seconds for the sound to come on makes installation more confusing. Initially, I tried to connect the Sony to the TV using an HDMI cable. It took me a while after trying various alternatives to be able to see the SONY menu on the TV. While I was able to see the Sony menu, there was no sound. I gave up the HDMI approach and purchased a audio cable to get sound. That worked but I then I was unable to see the Sony menu on the TV and follow its Setup menu. When I reconnected the HDMI cable (in addition to the audio cable), I became able to hear and see the menu but I cannot see the Sony menu unless I change the TV input away from the FIOS cable input. This is workable (though annoying) but I cannot use the Sony remote to change stations and cannot use the cablebox remote to adjust volume on the soundbox. Perhaps there is a simple fix but it is not apparent to me. I didn't return the Sony as I planned to contact a Sony tech to help me but haven't thus far since my primary goal in buying a soundbase (ie, being able to hear the voices clearly) was met. I will follow up this post after I contact SONY for help. Ironically, I also have a Sony TV and a Zvox soundbase which work together flawlessly. Bottom line, the soundbase is likely to achieve a buyer's basic audio goal but, in my experience, installation is both finicky and counter-intuitive. If I could go back in time, I would spend a few bucks more and purchase another Zvox.

OK. I see a lot of people complain about the volume of this unit. its comparable to a standard tv output BUT. thats not the point. nobody ever puts on 100% volume up on a tv thats deafining. you buy this because flat screen TVs speakers are not forward facing With this. I have it twice as loud as my tv. and I cannot hear barely anything outside the living room. with the tv I Can hear it from behind better than sitting in front because thats how flat screen tvs are designed. for them to be slim bezzeld they need to have the speakers on the back. bottom facing Great bass as it has a built in woofer. Great device. works well. compatible with bluetooth headsets as most tv's are not. would have liked for more input options. but its fine I think bluetooth and home network is more than enough. pretty easy to set up. TLDR: If your tv base sound is all over the place buy something like this