So the Sony HT-S2000 is the start of a new generation of soundbar from sony which I feel looks much sleeker, and overall its just a lot more refined. But today we’re going to take a closer look at these new changes found on the S2000 by comparing it to the Sony A3000.
Now for the time being, the A3000 isn’t going anywhere, and when it comes to pricing, the S2000 has a retail price of $500 where as the A3000 has a retail price of $700. But just knowing sony I do expect both of these sound bars to go on sale from time to time. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these two soundbars up, they’ll be linked down below.
Now first off, with both of these systems, they’re both self contained systems, as in they don’t need an external subwoofer cause they create their own bass… and in general, both of these soundbars has a lot of bass for a sound bar. But with both of these systems, you can always build them out by adding an external subwoofer and or satellite speakers from sony.
But one of the most important differences between these two soundbars is that the A3000 has support for Sony’s Acoustic Center Sync where as the S2000 doesn’t. Now what Acoustic Center Sync is… if you have a compatible sony Bravia TV… in this case we’re using the 2023 Sony X90L… the built in speakers own the TV will play in conjunction with the A3000… giving you a much more defined center channel. So either of these two soundbar’s are good options if you’re not using a Sony TV… but if you are using a Sony TV, then you’ll want to go with the A3000 simply cause of the Acoustic Center Sync.
Now design wise, one of the things that I like about the S2000 over the A3000 is that it does look a little sleeker and it has a slightly smaller footprint… but my main grip here is that it has an external power brick, so if you plan on wall mounting the S2000, you’re going to have to hide the power brick behind your tv.
Now when it comes to ports, things are pretty much the same here, both of these soundbars have an HDMI eARC ports that goes connected to your TV and they both come included with an HDMI Cable, and they both have a USB A port so that you can plug in a USB Stick and play music off of it. Unfortunalty, neither of these two soundbars have an HDMI in port… but the A3000 does have that S Center audio jack which is used for the Acoustic Center sync feature if you’re using a Compatible Sony TV.
But when it comes to wireless connectivity, this is one area where the S2000 does fall short when compared to the A3000, cause the A3000 has support for Airplay and Chrome Cast, so whether you’re an iPhone or an android user, as long as you’re connected to the same wifi network as the A3000, you’ll be able to stream music to it, where as with the S2000, it only has bluetooth.
Now both of these soundbars also come included with remotes, but the remote that comes included with the S2000 is smaller and looks much sleeker than the remote that comes included with the A3000… but I never use the remotes that come included with my soundbar and instead I just use their apps, and again, the S2000’s app is just much sleeker looking and much easier to use than the app that’s found on Sony’s previous gen soundbars. But with both of these soundbars, if you were to use them with a Sony TV, you won’t even have to use their app all that often cause you can access a lot of their settings directly from the TV itself.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set ups… both of these soundbars have 3 frontward firing drivers and dual frontward firing subwoofers with exhaust ports that shoot out the sides. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest. Both of these soundbars are playing at 75% Volume, but the A3000 is playing with Acoustic Center Sync being turned on… and we’re also going to be using the built in speakers found on the 2023 Sony Bravia X90L and they’re going to be playing at max volume.
So like you may have just heard, obviously a sound bar is just going to sound better than your TV’s built in speakers. Your TV most likely just has a pair of drivers that shoot sound downwards, they don’t get all that loud and when the bass really gets going they’re just going to be a distorted mess.
Now the speakers on the Sony X90L’s get decently loud and distortion isn’t a problem for them like with some more affordable TV’s… but with the Sony X90L you’re still going to want to upgrade to a sound bar if you want to truly enjoy your movies.
Now when it comes to the overall sound quality of these soundbars… both of these soudbars lean towards a warmer sound signature and they both have a lot of bass to them… so even if you don’t have a subwoofer, you’re going to be able to feel what’s happening on the screen.
Now even though both of these soundbars have a warmer sound signature to them… they’re still very immersive cause they have really good instrument separation… at higher volumes. Cause at lower volumes sometimes it can be heard to hear dialog with these sounds bars cause of their warmer sound signatures.
Now they both have a voice mode which is going to make it easier to hear when people are talking… but even still, at those lower volumes it can be a little hard to hear dialog. And unfortunately, you can’t manually adjust the EQ on these soundbars to your liking… you can only adjust the bass or activate voice mode.
Now when it comes to Max volume performance, these two soundbars get equally as loud as one another… and they’re both going to be good options for a small or medium sized living room or bedroom… and they also do an okay just filling a larger living room with sound… but I still feel that you’re going to want more volume for a larger living room.
But in this soundtest, the A3000 was playing with Center Sun being turned on, meaning that the internal speakers on the Sony Bravia X90L were helping the A3000… and in the soundtest, the A3000 had a more defined center channel and the mids were more pronounced… and the A3000 sounded louder as well.
So I feel that if you’re looking for a soundbar and if you already have a Sony Bravia TV that has acoustic center sync… even though the A3000 isn’t as sleek looking, and even though its app isn’t as elegant… I do think the A3000 is the better buy here cause you might was well use the built in speakers in your Sony TV when you’re using your soundbar.
But if you have a non-Sony tv, and if you’re looking for a soundbar with a lot of bass all on its own, cause maybe you might not want or have the space for an external subwoofer… then the Sony S2000 is a good option. It has a lot of bass and I sounds very immersive at higher volumes. It also has a new sleeker design, even though it does have that external power brick, and it has a new sleeker app… but personally I am looking forward to Sony’s future soundbars if the S2000 is something to go off of.