The soundbar is useful for a variety of purposes because the subwoofer contributes to producing good bass. Without any dedicated satellite speakers, the soundbar’s left and right channels cannot properly project surround sound. There is a virtual surround sound setting, though, which might solve this issue. The controls are fairly simple to use, and it has an Alexa feature built in. With a sleeker design, it represents a slight improvement over the Yamaha YAS-207.
Yamaha Yas-209 review: Design
The Yamaha YAS-209 doesn’t have a tone of features because its main purpose is to quickly and easily amplify the audio from your TV. The separate wireless subwoofer uses a driver and a bass port on its front to handle the low frequencies. It is made of MDF and designed to go with the soundbar. The YAS-209 includes DTS Virtual:X in addition to Dolby Digital and DTS lossy surround support. This uses psychoacoustic processing on a two-channel system to create the illusion of more channels by increasing width, depth, and height.
Features
For what is essentially a low-end soundbar, the Yamaha YAS-209 has a tone of features: Two front-firing speakers with a 4.6cm woofer and a 2.5cm tweeter each put a strong emphasis on sound quality to start. Additionally, a separate wireless subwoofer is present, ensuring that the system as a whole can deliver rich, well-integrated bass. The sub is made of MDF and has a matte black finish and a black fabric grille to match the soundbar’s design. It has a front port, a side-firing 6.5-inch driver, and 100W of internal amplification. you can read our article on Yamaha Yas-209 review. Additionally, the soundbar itself has 50W of amplifier power for each speaker, for a total of 200W for the whole system. The YAS-209 includes DTS Virtual:X in addition to lossy Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, and DTS Digital Surround. It uses psychoacoustic processing to give the impression that the soundbar has more channels than its 2.1, which is what is meant when something is referred to as “3D surround sound processing for a single soundbar solution.” There are numerous surround modes in addition to DTS Virtual:X, including Music, TV Program, Movie, Sports, and Game, all of which serve obvious purposes.
Yamaha Yas-209 review: Connectivity
All of the connections for the Yamaha YAS-209 are housed in a recess at the left rear of the soundbar. Here, you’ll find an HDMI input and output that both support high dynamic range (HDR10) and 4K resolution, with the latter also supporting ARC (audio return channel) for simple, quick connection to a TV. Additionally, there is an Ethernet port, an optical digital input, and Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) and Bluetooth for wireless connections.
Audio quality
We start off by being impressed by the YAS-209’s quickness with the DTS soundtrack of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 on 4K Blu-ray. The magical barrage launched at Hogwarts has a genuine solidity and weight, and as the camera moves overhead during the ground assault, effects precisely swing around the large, tall soundstage provided by the DTS Virtual:X processing. also, you can learn our article Yamaha Yas-209 review. As expected, there is a lot of bass, but it doesn’t drown out the delivery. The midrange of the Sony HT-X8500, which is a single unit, is muddled and muddy, whereas the Yamaha is clear and well projected, even during intense action. When switching to Unbroken’s bombing-run scene, the YAS-209 offers a roomy and ethereal delivery. The noise from the surrounding area and the thudding engines of the B-24 Liberator are quite loud, though not quite as loud as the Sony. When the action begins, the strafing fighter planes’ intense machine gun fire is precisely focused and dispersed throughout the soundscape. However, the Yamaha’s performance in movies isn’t flawless. Although the bar is dynamic and punchy in comparison to others in the class, there is a persistent suspicion that it is holding back. Some scenes lack a little drama because leading edges aren’t quite as sharply defined as they could be and those subtler dynamic builds aren’t quite there.
Yamaha Yas-209 review: Performance
When we watched TV shows and movies, the YAS-209 provided excellent sound. Thanks to the subwoofer, dialogue has excellent depth and gravitas, and when playing in 3D Surround mode, it creates a wide sound. Although it doesn’t quite cover as much ground as the Sonos Beam, it has better bass. However, given that it has a separate subwoofer, we would have preferred it to have more low end. The YAS-209 helped viewers understand the sparse dialogue scenes in Avengers: Endgame. But we anticipated hearing more rattling from the low-frequency effects during the big battle between the Avengers and Thanos. The bass-heavy soundtrack didn’t interfere with the witty dialogue of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-many Verse’s Spider-men, women, and pigs. The YAS-209’s Stereo mode performance with a variety of music left us more awestruck. On Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy,” the bass shook the ground while her vocals remained audible. On Fleetwood Mac’s “Never Going Back Again,” the acoustic guitar was crisply and richly finger-picked. The YAS-209 has a number of sound-adjustment options, including Movie, Music, Sports, TV Program, and Game modes. To listen to two-channel sources, you can change the audio mode to stereo. Additionally, you can activate Bass Extension for richer low-end sounds, 3D Surround for a wider soundstage, and Clear Voice to improve dialogue. The subwoofer level can also be changed.
Price
The company’s mid-level “bar” for 2019 is the Yamaha YAS-209, which costs $349, £429, or AU$599. That might sound a little pricey coming from the built-in speakers on your TV, but compared to the competition, it’s actually quite affordable and provides excellent value for the money because of the wide range of features and superior sound quality. While other “bars” might skimp on a sub, the YAS-209 is more intelligent than your typical soundbar thanks to Alexa and the addition of a separate subwoofer, which guarantees that this system can mine the low frequency depths.
Conclusion
A good soundbar with a well-balanced sound profile is the Yamaha YAS-209. It produces good bass and has an excellent frequency response. The soundbar’s lack of surround sound and height channels prevents it from providing a fully immersive listening experience. A built-in Alexa feature will please Alexa users. The soundbar also has a straightforward, sleek design that blends in with the majority of TV setups.
