The mid-range Sony HT-G700 offers Dolby Atmos at a budget, and its appeal extends through clear dialogues and diverse EQ presets, but it fails to impress when it comes to immersion.
For the price, you’ll find alternatives with better soundstage, sound profile, and Atmos performance.
Launched in 2022, the Sony HT-G700 is a 3.1-channel entry-level soundbar that, despite its low number of speakers, boasts Dolby Atmos support to deliver a wide soundstage inside living rooms and home theaters.
Just like the best-rated speakers on the market today, this soundbar can get extremely loud (95.1 dB SPL), but it also suffers from quite a bit of compression artifacts and distortion at the max volume.
And similar to the most popular soundbars in the industry, the HT-G700 comes with a dedicated wireless subwoofer unit to deliver extended low bass. But if you don’t want a dedicated subwoofer in your setup, check out our Sony HT-A7000 review.
In terms of wireless connectivity, this soundbar only features Bluetooth and lacks Wi-Fi, Chromecast, or Apple AirPlay. And when it comes to wired connectivity, this soundbar features one full-speed HDMI eARC passthrough port (4K 60 Hz with 10-bit color, 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, and HDR 10 support) and an optical audio jack.
Consensus
our Verdict
The 3.1 channel Sony HT-G700’s subwoofer connects wirelessly, while the soundbar connects securely through Full HDMI, HDMI ARC, and Optical connections. Audio is disturbance-free, and latency stays at remarkably low levels (-13ms via ARC and -97 via Full HDMI).
The soundstage hardly stretches beyond the bar’s dimensions, and the speakers downmix sounds to stereo, hindering an immersive surround experience for movies. With a subdued low bass and treble, the sound signature is slightly uneven out-of-the-box, but the vocals are mostly clear.
Although the soundbar is Dolby Atmos-compatible, the audio doesn’t fully envelop the listener. You get a slim, EQ-enabled remote, and the bar is sturdy with thick plastic. Although input commands are responsive, and you can customize sounds with seven EQ presets, there’s no app to control soundbar functions.
Launched in 2022, the Sony HT-G700 is a 3.1-channel entry-level soundbar that, despite its low number of speakers, boasts Dolby Atmos support to deliver a…
Launched in 2022, the Sony HT-G700 is a 3.1-channel entry-level soundbar that, despite its low number of speakers, boasts Dolby Atmos support to deliver a wide soundstage inside living rooms and home theaters.
Just like the best-rated speakers on the market today, this soundbar can get extremely loud (95.1 dB SPL), but it also suffers from quite a bit of compression artifacts and distortion at the max volume.
And similar to the most popular soundbars in the industry, the HT-G700 comes with a dedicated wireless subwoofer unit to deliver extended low bass. But if you don’t want a dedicated subwoofer in your setup, check out our Sony HT-A7000 review.
In terms of wireless connectivity, this soundbar only features Bluetooth and lacks Wi-Fi, Chromecast, or Apple AirPlay. And when it comes to wired connectivity, this soundbar features one full-speed HDMI eARC passthrough port (4K 60 Hz with 10-bit color, 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, and HDR 10 support) and an optical audio jack.
Thanks to its extra up-firing speakers, the 3.1.2 channel Samsung HW-Q800A soundbar features a broader soundstage and better Dolby Atmos experience than the Sony HT-G700….
Thanks to its extra up-firing speakers, the 3.1.2 channel Samsung HW-Q800A soundbar features a broader soundstage and better Dolby Atmos experience than the Sony HT-G700. The Samsung soundbar also features Wi-Fi and Apple AirPlay 1.0, both of which the Sony model lacks. Moreover, the Q800A features a built-in microphone to natively support the Amazon Alexa voice assistant, but the Sony soundbar doesn’t have any such functionality.
The Yamaha YAS-209 soundbar doesn’t offer as wide of a stereo soundstage as the Sony HT-G700, as it only features a 2.1-channel speaker setup. But,…
The Yamaha YAS-209 soundbar doesn’t offer as wide of a stereo soundstage as the Sony HT-G700, as it only features a 2.1-channel speaker setup. But, the Yamaha soundbar does have Wi-Fi, which the HT-G700 doesn’t support. Even though the YAS-209 can’t get as loud as the Sony model, it also doesn’t suffer from as much distortion and compression artifacts at the max volume. Unlike the Sony HT-G700, the Yamaha YAS-209 doesn’t have Dolby Atmos.
Despite both coming with similar 3.1-channel speaker setups, the Sony HT-Z9F soundbar delivers a wider stereo soundstage than the Sony HT-G700 with better Dolby Atmos…
Despite both coming with similar 3.1-channel speaker setups, the Sony HT-Z9F soundbar delivers a wider stereo soundstage than the Sony HT-G700 with better Dolby Atmos performance. The HT-Z9F also features a built-in Chromecast module and Wi-Fi for seamless wireless streaming, both of which the HT-G700 soundbar lacks. In addition, the HT-Z9F features two full-speed HDMI passthrough ports that allow it to double as an HDMI hub, but the HT-G700 soundbar only has one HDMI.
