More compact than before
Sony has announced its new Dolby Atmos soundbar range for 2024. The lineup is led by two premium soundbars, the Bravia Theater Bar 9 and Bravia Theater Bar 8, accompanied by the Bravia Theater Quad wireless speakers and the Bravia Theater U, a ‘personal home theater’.
The Bravia Bar 9 and Bravia Bar 8 feature 13 and 11 speakers, respectively, and have a more compact form than their predecessors, the Sony HT-A7000 , one of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars, and the Sony HT-A5000, which they will replace. Both soundbars have built-in upward-firing speakers, and the Bar 9 adds extra beam tweeters and passive radiators for a fuller sound.
The Bravia Quad is a package of four wireless speakers that replaces the Sony HT-A9. Each unit features a new upward-firing driver, taking the total number of speakers across the four units to 16 compared to the HT-A9’s 12. The Bravia Quad speakers have a slim, flat design, allowing for a wall mount or a free-standing installation using Sony’s speaker stands.
All three models will support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X and have an HDMI 2.1 port for gaming with VRR and ALLM pass-through. They also support Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping, which uses virtual processing to create ‘phantom speakers’ between the actual ones to expand the soundstage.
The final audio addition to Sony’s 2024 AV range is the Bravia Theater U. This ‘personal home theater’ is designed to sit around the wearer’s neck and provide a more private speaker experience. Sony’s neckband speaker is compatible with Dolby Atmos and uses 360 Spatial Sound Personalization to customize the sound to the user.
The Sony Bravia Bar 9, Bar 8, and Quad speakers all use Sony’s new Bravia Connect app, which replaces the Home Entertainment app.
Read on for a detailed summary of Sony’s new audio introductions, including dimensions, features and pricing.Sony Bravia Theater Bar 9
The Bravia Bar 9 features 13 speakers in total, including two up-firing and two side speakers. It supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, IMAX Enhanced (via a forthcoming update) and hi-res audio and has two HDMI ports, one of which is HDMI version 2.
