Sony HT-Z9F Owners and Discussion Thread

Thanks, I will have to come up with some creative solutions to hide them

remember they still need to be powered (both have their own power cable), so placement and hiding will be restricted to where you can plug them in to power.
 
I'm looking for some advice on purchasing a new atmos compatible soundbar.

Because I'm limited with space under 108cm, I have narrowed it down to the
Sony HT-ZF9 or the Sony HT-G700

I'm not worried about cost just how it will sound. Any reason I should opt for the HT-ZF9?
In a similar boat myself over which to get, swaying to the G700 like yourself as you say it’s newer, but the ZF9 does have WiFi which the G700 doesn’t and you can add the 2 rear speakers at a later date

Waiting for a few more reviews on the G700 to land
 
In a similar boat myself over which to get, swaying to the G700 like yourself as you say it’s newer, but the ZF9 does have WiFi which the G700 doesn’t and you can add the 2 rear speakers at a later date

Waiting for a few more reviews on the G700 to land

And the g700 doesn't have rear speakers, the zf9 without rears is not as good.
The rear speakers are a game changer to the sound, with you being enveloped in a bubble of sound and front to rear travel, on sound. On a non rear system you wont get this.
 
I'm looking for some advice on purchasing a new atmos compatible soundbar.

Because I'm limited with space under 108cm, I have narrowed it down to the
Sony HT-ZF9 or the Sony HT-G700

I'm not worried about cost just how it will sound. Any reason I should opt for the HT-ZF9?

Yes the zf9 has rear speakers while the g700 doesnt, having rear speakers greatly improves the sound field and the atmos effect.

If you can hang off a bit and see if any deals appear again. The zf9 with rears was at £649 last black friday.

And john lewis quite often have a deal when rears bought with the zf9, you get £100 off. And Jl will price match other stores if you find a better deal.
 
a follow-up on eARC.
if a TV does support eARC, does that mean that if a 4k bluray player is connected to the TV, and the TV is then connected to the soundbar via eARC, the full TrueHD soundtrack will play? or does the TV also have to support Atmos/DTSX etc before it will do that?

If tv supports earc then it should pass sound through as atmos to a soundbar. But I would always connect a 4k player to the SB hdmi, even if a tv was earc compatible. Which not all are.
 
If tv supports earc then it should pass sound through as atmos to a soundbar. But I would always connect a 4k player to the SB hdmi, even if a tv was earc compatible. Which not all are.

i'm thinking ahead really, the problem is that the SB only has 2 HDMI inputs, but i have 3 devices.
so the only solution would be to have 1 of them connected to TV via eARC.
 
i'm thinking ahead really, the problem is that the SB only has 2 HDMI inputs, but i have 3 devices.
so the only solution would be to have 1 of them connected to TV via eARC.
I would connect the 4k player to the SB and one other to the TV.

I have done this with my ps4, which isn't a great loss as it doesnt support atmos, unlike the ps5.
I have a wdtive live on the other input.
 
I have had a think aroud this too, and tbh I am not going to have all the connected items on at the same time so I will end up swapping one of the connected HDMI cables to the needed device.
 
I would connect the 4k player to the SB and one other to the TV.

and what if all three are 4k devices? (which in my case they are).

Nvidia Shield Pro
Bluray player
Cable STB
 
I have had a think aroud this too, and tbh I am not going to have all the connected items on at the same time so I will end up swapping one of the connected HDMI cables to the needed device.

horses for courses, but that sounds like an awful solution :)
 
Its not an ideal solution. I currently have my xbox + PS4 hooked to the soundbar, with my eye on an nvida shiled pro at some point. I wont ever have all 3 on at the same time, so ill just swap a cable back and forth as needed when I get to that stage
 
As good as I imagine the rear speakers would be one reason the HTG700 is appealing more is the fact I’ve nowhere behind me for rear speakers to go. So I’m not sure I would invest in them
 
i'm a little confused by the "vertical surround" option.
when i pay a movie with a TrueHD Atmos soundtrack, and press display it says

"Dolby Atmos - Dolby TrueHD 48KHz + Vertical Surround Engine"

however it says the same with VS turn on or off.
i can press the vertical surround button and a screen display "veritcal surround off".
i then press display again and it still says "Dolby Atmos - Dolby TrueHD 48KHz + Vertical Surround Engine"

turn VS on and again it says "Dolby Atmos - Dolby TrueHD 48KHz + Vertical Surround Engine"

so how are you supposed to know if it is on or off unless you press the button to turn it on or off in the first place?
 
As far as I understand, VS is virtual vertical, if that makes sense. So when no Atmos is coming through the speakers create virtual effect. When real Atmos is coming through that takes over.
 
yes it is virtual vertical, but at no point do you know if it is actually turned on or not (there is a phyiscal button to turn it on and off).

the on-screen, no matter what, always says "vertical surround engine".

it should only create virtual vertical effect when there IS an atmos signal, otherwise it shouldn't as it's not appropriate to do so.
 
I own the HT-ZF9 with the optional SA-Z9R rear speakers, which I think make a significant difference. We have installed it in our master bedroom and love it. I am especially fond of the remote settings which give options to listen the way you want. Connected to the Sony KD49XG 9005BU 49” 4K TV the ensemble works very well with my Sennheiser RS175 headphones. The transmitter is plugged to the TV's headphone jack and can remain there for open audio listening; if I want to switch to the headphones, all I have to do is to turn off the HT ZF9 to stand by and the headphones kick in.

The music mode of the HT ZF9 is pretty good also. Although I use it with my old NAD C540 CD player (which has its own excellent DAC) and an analog cable, I have tested the HT ZF9 with my Cambridge Audio CXC CD transport and optical connection.

IMO, the Sony HT ZF9 plus SA-Z9R rear speakers are ideal for a master bedroom or a small to medium sized lounge.
 
yes it is virtual vertical, but at no point do you know if it is actually turned on or not (there is a phyiscal button to turn it on and off).

the on-screen, no matter what, always says "vertical surround engine".

it should only create virtual vertical effect when there IS an atmos signal, otherwise it shouldn't as it's not appropriate to do so.
Actually it will upscale a non atmos to virtualized atmos.
I notice the difference when I have a 5.1 signal. Putting virtualization on will create the bubble effect.
 
I own the HT-ZF9 with the optional SA-Z9R rear speakers, which I think make a significant difference. We have installed it in our master bedroom and love it. I am especially fond of the remote settings which give options to listen the way you want. Connected to the Sony KD49XG 9005BU 49” 4K TV the ensemble works very well with my Sennheiser RS175 headphones. The transmitter is plugged to the TV's headphone jack and can remain there for open audio listening; if I want to switch to the headphones, all I have to do is to turn off the HT ZF9 to stand by and the headphones kick in.

The music mode of the HT ZF9 is pretty good also. Although I use it with my old NAD C540 CD player (which has its own excellent DAC) and an analog cable, I have tested the HT ZF9 with my Cambridge Audio CXC CD transport and optical connection.

IMO, the Sony HT ZF9 plus SA-Z9R rear speakers are ideal for a master bedroom or a small to medium sized lounge.

If setup correctly with distances and db levels set, it will work in bigger rooms, I find it's very loud.

My one is in room at rear of house and shakes whole house when cranked up to 23/24 listening to a 4k film. With bass at 7 and rears at 8.
 
the point i'm making is that regardless of the function being on or off, the on-screen display always says "vertical surround engine".

so the only way to know if it's on or off is by pressing the button to see what it changes to.

also, maybe i'm just not testing if with suitable content, but i've not really experience any "bubble" effect with it apparently on or off. whenever i've had it play Atmos TrueHD content i've been left "meh" and felt it was no different to normal 5.1.

the layout of my room (which isn't big), the front is 1.7m away, sub is 1.8m, rears are 1.7m
couch is essentially in the middle between the TV/soundar and rears.
my levels are still set at the default of 0db, because i really don't understand how to configure these and what "base" level to use whilst testing.

rears are set to 8 and sub is set to 9.
main volume really depends on what is being watched. Live TV can be lower (and some channels are louder than others), shield pro (used for plex, youtube, netflix) again can vary depending on the content. can be 14-15 or 22-23 (but even 22-23 isn't wall shaking).

the "auto sound" also doesn't appear to be very clever at auto detecting. i play some music thru it (via plex) and it didn't auto change to the what i would deem as the appropriate setting for music (ie simple stereo), it put it to a setting that tried to simulate surround, which definetely isn't appropriate for music! pressing the "music" button on the remote correctly set it to stereo.

@Morden your thoughts would be appreciated.
 
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rears are set to 8 and sub is set to 9.
main volume really depends on what is being watched. Live TV can be lower (and some channels are louder than others), shield pro (used for plex, youtube, netflix) again can vary depending on the content. can be 14-15 or 22-23 (but even 22-23 isn't wall shaking).

the "auto sound" also doesn't appear to be very clever at auto detecting.

Our Master bedroom is 16 feet x 13.5 feet and the Home Cinema is along the shorter axis. As our flat is a penthouse, there are sloping protrusions (fairly high) on either side of the head end of the bed, forming nice & symmetrical corners for the rear speakers. I set the subwoofer to 9 but the rears to 5 as they are right above and behind us in the listening position. During daytime we set the volume at 22 to 25 (very rarely higher) and drop to 15 at night if both of us are listening. If my wife wants to sleep, I use the Sennheiser headphones.

I also did not like the auto-sound option and do not use it. If listening to music, I set the bat to 'music' and depending on where I am in the room, switch the rear speakers on or off. If I am exercising at the foot of the bed, I tend to like front bias but if listening from bed, let the rears kick-in.
 
I also did not like the auto-sound option and do not use it. If listening to music, I set the bat to 'music' and depending on where I am in the room, switch the rear speakers on or off. If I am exercising at the foot of the bed, I tend to like front bias but if listening from bed, let the rears kick-in.

surely setting it to "Music" would disable the rears completely anyway, as stereo music wouldn't have any rear audio.
 
surely setting it to "Music" would disable the rears completely anyway, as stereo music wouldn't have any rear audio.
Yes it does. I did not explain that properly, sorry. With the audio on 'Analog' for the CD player, pressing the Cinema option on the soundbar (instead of 'Music') distributes the music to the rears as well but not like an all-speaker same option. Proper surround effect. Try it.
 
why would you want "surround" for stereo audio? that's not how it's meant to sound.
 
why would you want "surround" for stereo audio? that's not how it's meant to sound.
Personal preference if listening to music at night from bed. I tend to play different types of music depending on the situation and set the system differently.
 

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