Yamaha YAS207 Front Surround Soundbar System with DTS Virtual X - Black

After a period of research I bought this soundbar and I haven't been dissapointed at all. The main selling point for me was DTS Virtual X, I don't have the room to cope with wired speakers but wanted a theatre feel with a decent surround experience. Having tried various other pseudo surround options and always being dissapointed, I was drawn into this with both excitement and trepidation and fortunately, it works better than I ever imagined.My review will pretty much focus on DTS Virtual X as this is the big difference between sound bars of it's type and price range. It's also pretty much the only mode I would recommend using, not that the others are bad, just that you lose a lot of immersion when running audio through the other modes.Firstly, let me manage expectations. A soundbar that sites below your TV and has a few forward directional speakers aimed at your listening position will not beat a room with 5, 7 or 11 speakers placed around your room and ceiling. That's never going to happen. If that's what you want and have the budget, the room and the understanding family then pursue that line of direction.If you don't have the above but want an immersive theatre sound for your movie in your home then continue to read because this is the solution for you.A few words about the bar itself, it's Yamaha. They're pretty damn good and have a track record of excellence. Buying into their products is not a risk, they have a reputation of quality and this bar is no exception. Google them and google the bar. The bar has won lots of awards and Yamaha are a brand that won't compromise.It has a stereo mode so you can run your tv audio through or you can use the bar as a speaker whilst streaming your music via a bluetooth connection. It sounds great, Yamaha are masters with audio.It also has a surround function of it's own (Green light). As mentioned earlier, I've been dissapointed with pseudo surround functions before, they rely on sound bouncing off walls and it seems the geometry of my room doesn't seem to cope with this well. The sound is still good, and it's probably the best of this type I've heard but not particularly immersive.Now onto DTS Virtual X. To explain, DTS is an alternative to Dolby. They both have evolved their digital sound codecs over time from 2 channel (Stereo), 5 speakers, 7 speakers and now 11 speakers (4 ceiling). The latest codec, 7.1.4 (7 speakers around the room, 1 subwoofer and 4 ceiling) is called Atmos from Dolby and DTS X from DTS.DTS virtual X is a post processing method of taking any source and attempts to decipher the sound objects into several channels to fill the 7.1.4 end point and use digital sound processing to project sounds all around you in the right place. It does this by altering the level of sound in different directions trick your brain into thinking they're around you rather than right at you.It sounds difficult to believe but works really well. Of course, the source is the important factor. The better the source, the better the effect. For instance, if you throw a 5.1 source at it, because sounds are already seperated into multiple channels it has less work to do than if you pass it a 2 channel stereo source.That said, I have had pretty astounding results from stereo sources too which is testament to how good DTS Virtual X actually is.Also, when I say any source, it can be either Dolby or DTS. They're not precious about only supporting their own standards.So what's it like. Again to manage expectations, you will not hear lots of sound from behind you and be amazed how this bar can do that. Instead, if sit 6-9 foot away from the TV, the sound bar will project an immersive broad sound stage in your direction. The speakers in the sound bar will fire multiple sound channels at you and and around you like a cone of sound heading in your direction.Imagine a sound bubble to the left and right, forward and above. You will hear 3 dimensional sound, effects will come from different areas in all directions in front of you. For example, dialogue will come from the centre, you will hear sound from left and right but other sounds further left and right and sometimes right in front of you. Not only does it project sounds horizontally. it can also project sounds vertically. The software can recognise Ariel sound types such as rain, helicopters, planes etc and project these sounds higher.Don't expect this sound to fall from your ceiling, it can't do that but it will project this type of sound above your TV screen. This in itself, is pretty amazing considering the sound bar sits below your tv and fires in a forward direction.So what we have here is a method of watching movies and tv in any shape of room with an immersive theatre sound which is night and day from a normal TV speaker experience. Night and day.I do have a couple of niggles, I've found the dialogue low in some instances. When I say low, I mean compared to other effects and sounds which the bar is projecting in the sound bubble. So to higher the volume, would be to higher the other sounds too which doesn't fix the problem. There is a clear voice button which has a really good effect on dialogue without increasing the volume of the effects but sometimes if a conversation between a few people is happening, sometimes one voice is lower which is still hard to hear.After playing about with clear voice and altering the subwoofer volume (+ and -) and the bass extention (On/off) I have been able to rectify this niggle.So all in all, a great purchase. I bought it to enhance films and tv without the expense and hassle of wired speakers and this has made a significant difference.

I like the good job Yamaha did with this soundbarwhat I like- setup it's very easy- bass it's good and controlled- clear voice option indeed enhance dialogue, helpful when watching movies with loads of sound effects and you needs a clear clear dialogue- bass extension also works as intended and make the base really punchy but well controlled- you can get some extra functions using the HT Controller mobile app (tried on android and apple smartphone)- easy switch from between imputs straight from remote control and soundbar itself- good connectivity: bluetooth, jack 3.5mm (analog audio), 2x HDMI, optical audio (digital)- wireless subwooferwhat i don't like:- I feel that the mids are recessed and and sound tiny- no subtance to the voice, unless clear voice it's enabled- surround works for sound effects as intended only, but it doesn't really blend with music and dialogs in the movie/music, probably it should even be the case to use it for such things as there are separate sound profiles for this- sound profiles are not available anywhere else, unless you download the mobile app and change the settings from there- you can't connect 2 or more simultaneous devices to the sound bar, you need to disconnect previous device to connect the new one- you can't extend setup to connecting speakers to setup to make it trully surroundOverall I'm happy with my purchase, but willing to try their top tier products, as this entry level soundbar got my interest for that.This is my opinion about the soundbar and i've tried to be as objective as possible.Thanks amazon for fast delivery as usual

I bit the bullet and bought this soundbar based on the what hi-fi awards. It's very easy to set up for aux and optical in. Bluetooth looks more difficult (I haven't bothered). I'm mainly using aux and sometimes optical. The virtual surround is quite convincing. The bass is good. It seems to me louder for music than voices. The power is good for me. It's just for watching the TV and I'm usually about 2 metres from the speaker. In a larger space, I think the sound might not be loud enough. Overall happy with this.

My third home movie system, and this one works. They all do excellent bass sound, explosions, feel the throbs around the room, but most of them you can't actually hear what people are saying. What use is a movie if you can't hear what people are saying during a quiet moment???Yamaha understand the problem and there is a button you press to bring voices out clearly. I absolutely love this system and movies are always excellent once you learn how to adjust the bass with the clear voice button.

I didn't know what to expect really, from the surround sound feature, knowing that it was really just a bar under the TV, with a remote sub-woofer. But boy, does it make a difference!The sound quality is simply amazing. Fills my fairly large open plan lounge/dining/kitchen room. Stereo separation is quite good for music, and the impact for movies is really amazing for such a small package (all things considering). I have a Bose 5.1 home theatre with an Onkyo AVR in my main living room, and the Yamaha actually sounds better for music, although, of course, it can't really provide surround sound quite like the Bose 5.1.That said, the effect when watching action movies is still quite amazing. I find myself using the Yamaha over the Bose, most times these days!The App is a bit of a problem - especially on Android. It's quite hard to find the right app - there are quite a few Yamaha apps on the Google Play Store. You need to get the Yamaha HT (for home theatre presumably) app. Once paired, you can control a few more parameters than you can via the remote. But most of the functions you need are already on the remote - so you don't really need the app.