Yamaha YAS-209

The Japanese company Yamaha, which has been producing acoustic systems, musical instruments and equipment for more than a century, is a confident leader in the niche of premium devices. The YAS-209 soundbar is an expensive mid-power product, let's see if it's worth paying $400 for it.

Everything is in place

The projector and subwoofer are united by the design of overlays and body elements made of soft-touch plastic. The edges of the projector are rounded, which gives it elegance, but the subwoofer bass reflex channel, finished with glossy plastic, makes it look a little toy. However, exactly until it sounds.

Connect and enjoy

The soundbar, of course, does not boast of special power, a total of 6 projector speakers and a subwoofer give out up to 200 W, but for a bedroom or living room up to 20 m², this will be quite enough even at a volume of up to 70%. The sound is pleasant, the basses are present, but without mumbling and hum, the middle works out excellently, the highs are moderate.

The model received not only good sound, but also wide playback capabilities. There is support for 3D, UltraHD (4K), ClearVoice to improve speech quality and virtual surround sound technology DTS Virtual: X, immersing the user in the epicenter of "cinema" events. Add in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, HDMI ARC, built-in Alexa voice assistant, remote control from a TV or from a mobile device via the proprietary Sound Bar Controller app, and we get a full-featured music processor that fully justifies its $400 price tag.

And no matter how hard JBL tries to take the lead, the good old Yamaha wins on all fronts.