Sony HT-X8500 Owner/Comments/Reviews

Only via bluetooth, perhaps. Has anyone talked to Sony about the issues?

The 8500 is very reminiscent of the previous XT1 soundbase, which I have, in terms of operation etc., and again there’s no option to update firmware.

The audio loss during switching wouldn’t really bother me much, but audio dropouts would drive me nuts and would warrant a return.
 
If you go to the product page on Sony website it just states there are no firmware downloads for this device. They seem to have just released it as it was so to speak which is strange in this day and age considering my hue light bulbs have updated a number of times in the last few years :)
 
Very odd, for sure. Perhaps the audio drop out is one of those issues that doesn’t affect many punters, unless of course Sony has fixed the issue in later versions of the hardware.
 
This is the one major gripe i have with this soundbar, that there is a 2-3 audio delay when watching youtube content.
 
That might be source depend. I can’t use the Youtube app. on my LG TV into my Yamaha soundbar as the lip sync is appallingly bad, but the same app. on my Sony BR machine into the soundbar is perfect.
 
Greetings everyone!

I am using my soundbar with my Xbox, but I'm having an issue where I can't turn off Vertical S if the soundbar is set to Game mode or Cinema while im using the Xbox. All the LED lights are flashing two times when I click on Vertical S.
I am able to disable Vertical S if i set it to Music mode. Atmos is enabled by the way.
Also I noticed that when I played a demo video on the Dolby access app on Xbox with Music mode enabled, that the LED light for Atmos was not lit. While it was lit if I'm using Game mode or Cinema. That seems only to be an issue while playing a demo video on the app though, but I thought it was worth mention.
 
Just got this Soundbar today and really enjoying it.

I’m a bit confused with the vertical S as on some things I cannot turn it off?

Also - if I am using vertical S do I need to ensure the sound mode is on or off? I didn’t like the Dolby of DTS versions.

For ps5 gaming I’ve found it sounds better with vertical s off, anyone else?
 
Just got this Soundbar today and really enjoying it.

I’m a bit confused with the vertical S as on some things I cannot turn it off?

Also - if I am using vertical S do I need to ensure the sound mode is on or off? I didn’t like the Dolby of DTS versions.

For ps5 gaming I’ve found it sounds better with vertical s off, anyone else?

I also prefer having the vertical S off when I'm gaming. You should be able to turn off Vertical S if the sound bar is set to Music. at least in my case with the Xbox.
Only time I have the Vertical S on is when I'm watching a movie or series with the mode set to Cinema.
 
I think DTS: Virtual X only works with a DTS signal with this soundbar, might be wrong though. In my opinion, you don't need it though as Sony's equivalent is better.

Hello mate, when you say Sony’s equivalent do you mean the 3 settings when you hold the vertical s button? So on, Dolby and DTS?
There is an option to set to off too, but I guess they just turns out the vertical s light?
 
Been a bit underwhelmed by this - last night I realised whilst I had set the enhanced format to on, I hadn't turned on the eArc mode!

Made a big difference to me, feels like I am getting some quality audio being passed through to it now.
 
I was wondering if anyone could help me, I was looking at picking the sound bar up but I’ll be hooking it up to my Xbox/projector setup.

Will I be able to get atmos with this if I run the Xbox to the sound bar via hdmi 1 and then run an hdmi to the projector via the eArc port ??

Also does the vertical surround work on any audio source or does it have to be atmos/dts x
 
Hello everyone, do you all use the Vertical S option when viewing content? Not sure if it sounds better with it on or off.
 
Hello everyone, do you all use the Vertical S option when viewing content? Not sure if it sounds better with it on or off.
Mine has been demoted to the living room solely for the purpose of getting sound from the Sky box.
I have it set to vertical and cinema as the wife likes that sound better. TBH I cannot tell the difference but she apparently can.
 
Hi
I ve this sound bar connected to a Bravia TV 43X85 through eARC socket but the bass is overwhelming on most programmes, despite setting the bass to minimum. It swamps the dialogue and my wife puts ear plugs in. Is there any easy fix for this such as using a low quality HDMI lead in the other socket?
 
How do have the bar installed? The bass boom could be caused by cabinet resonance, for example. A cheap set of 4 rubber feet from Amazon, circa £2, is worth a punt, to see if decoupling the bar from whatever it’s standing on, helps. Is there a sub-woofer level control, that might be worth checking? Sound modes too, perhaps.
 
Good idea about rubber feet, will try as I’ve some thick acoustic sheet material (somewhere). It’s on an oak TV cabinet with a nice solid appearance but that’s only the edge, sound bar is on ply, guess only 10-15 MM thick. I can’t find a subwoofer control, just a lot of buttons on handset such as bass, cinema, audio, music, voice and these make a bit of difference but the bar has disabled the controls on the TV. Let’s hope the isolation you suggest works. Will post back when I’ve found the material. Thank you
 
Could your sound bar be faulty? I have one of these and bass is surprisingly good considering how small the speakers are but it is in no way substantial. I have never experienced what you have mentioned.

have you tried changing mode to see if that makes a difference?
 
Thanks for the comments, very helpful. The bass is good there's just too much of it and I rather suspect the problem is our ears which seem more intolerant of low frequencies than other people’s. I ought to have the reviews more thoroughly before purchase, Techradar says ‘thumps like an ogre’s headache’. Plus my inability to work the various settings on the handset, very difficult to work out the various button presses. Experimented last night by putting a thick woolly blanket in front of the subwoofers, this improved things a lot, though I’m not sure you’d agree as it must have degraded the bass.

Beginning to think best long term solution is to buy a sound bar with separate subwoofer and leave that turned off.

Will post how I get on.
 
You will miss the low end if you buy a soundbar then disable the sub., as lots of soundbars use the sub. for low-end mid range audio, say from male announcers voices.

It might help to set the bar to standard audio, and both night mode and voice mode to 'on', then dial-back the low end.

When I checked-out the bar a while ago, I found it pretty bass heavy, which was surprising for a small lump, but that came at the expense of clear vocals. I suspect that that's the issue here. You need something that offers more of a balance. The Sony HT-G700 might be worth a look, if you can still find one. I have one of those, and in comparison to my Samsung bar, the bass is pretty low, and the sub. only really seems to kick-in when needed. Alternatively, a different bar from another manufacturer might be an idea, but listen to them first.
 
That’s really helpful Clem, thank you. I will try the settings tomorrow, we’re out this evening, and hope that soothes our ears - I did think of getting some acoustic matting to put over the 2 subwoofers in the centre but that wouldn’t look very attractive. I see the G700 has separate volume control for subwoofer and it’s 3.1, hopefully a centre speaker will be better for dialogue, so if all else fails I’ll look at a different bar. Beginning to wish I’d gone for the zf9 in first place.
 
The ZF9 is a similar beast to the G700, but would be a better quality bet. The G700 is definitely wanting in some areas.
 

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