If you want better sound for your TV, without having to sacrifice both the savings and the living room for a complete home theater system, then a soundbar is right up your alley. And the new Sony HT-S400 seems to be able to solve that need for many.
It is a 2.1-channel system, ie a soundbar with a separate subwoofer. But no rear speakers. To achieve an amount of surround effect, Sony uses its own virtual solution, which they have chosen to call S-Force PRO Front Surround technology.
The stream of amazing technical terms goes on in the description of the HT-S400 soundbar, where we are informed that the front drivers are of the type X-Balanced – which actually means that they are square shaped instead of round. And having Separated Notch Edge technology, which means that the suspension has grooves.
About the subwoofer we are told that it is wireless and equipped with a large 160 mm woofer. Calling a 6.5″ woofer “large” is streching the terms a bit, but it should at least deliver fairly good bass in a not too large living room.
Since we are in the more budget-friendly price range, there is no point in asking about Dolby Atmos and similar posh features. the soundbar supports Dolby Digital and uncompressed LCPM. That’s all. If you have a Sony Bravia TV, the HT-S400 can be connected wirelessly via Bluetooth. Otherwise, there is HDMI ARC and optical digital input.
On Sony’s website you can read that the soundbar measures 90 cm in width and 6.4 cm in height, and the subwoofer measures 19.2 x 38.7 x 40 cm (WxHxD).
Price and availability
HT-S400 can be purchased from April 2022 and we expect a retail price around GBP 300.