Sony – HTA3000 3.1 ch Dolby Atmos Soundbar – Black

The massive full sound is the showcase of this Sony – HTA3000 from my experience. This fantastic soundbar met every expectation I needed except in a few cases but overall it’s my new replacement for my home audio setup. Sony HTA3000 is nothing short of an “extremely premium” soundbar coming with everything you need to get started as quickly as you can.
The package came in three separate boxes: The soundbar, The subwoofer, and the two rear speakers. All of which came with quick start guides. The soundbar is beautifully designed to go with a black setup using matte black on the surface. HT-A3000 is 3.1 soundbar with left, center, and right channels, and 2x subwoofers. This design extends to the rear speakers and the subwoofer and while it’s nothing that stands out; it just looks good in any home. Classic Sony soundbar design with bright LEDs on the front for indications for various settings. The soundbar comes with a remote that is pretty basic.
HTA3000 was very simple to set up as the back speakers and subwoofer automatically connected to the soundbar once plugged in. So setting up wasn’t a hassle. Both rear speakers have their own A/C power and are completely wireless. Once connected to the HDMI ARC there is an interface menu you can use most of the settings. This model of the speakers doesn’t have any up-firing speakers for atoms but does a great job with the speakers inside giving rich bold sound floating around the room.
Sony calls this “360 Spatial Sound” which is a technology that allows you to hear things in 360-degree surround sound. I love it, it’s as simple as that. The soundbar is rich, powerful, and full of bass. It also is effective in creating sound in corners of the living room. HTA3000 was also paired with a Playstation 5; I was able to hear sound on a game with an upstairs and downstairs allowing me to hear the footsteps that were coming in to attack me (Back 4 Blood), Gunshots hitting the wall in a basement was unique to my sound experience. There is a demo of 360 Spatial Sound once you connect the soundbar to a TV that gives you a sound experience you would certainly enjoy.
Sony’s rear speakers create multiple virtual speakers from just a soundbar and rear speakers. So the sound is really giving a theatre-like experience. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are presented in this HTA3000 and they work flawlessly with movies and streaming services. Chromecast, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and Bluetooth playback are your choices for streaming music. I’ve tested Apple Music (Airplay 2) and Spotify Connect and they worked great so no issues there.
What I don’t like about the HTA3000? It seems like a small thing but a small thing can turn into a big problem real fast. This soundbar does not have an HDMI passthrough. If this does not concern you then you should skip this part of the review. But this is a HUGE problem in my eyes, especially for a soundbar in this era. Yes, this isn’t a problem for most as most TVs have 3-4 HDMI inputs but not all.
Some TVs have 1-2 HDMI (one of them being ARC) ports that could be a big headache. While yes HDMI splitter boxes exist finding one with ARC is a pain. It would have been easier to just make an HDMI passthrough even on this version of the soundbar otherwise your solution is to just use an optical cable. This has nothing to do with the sound quality of the soundbar just an improvement I would like to see on newer versions. Clearly, this soundbar works best with Sony-related TV/devices.
Listening to movies was a surreal experience and I loved it. Watching a few Blu-ray HDR 4k movies with sound to go along with the viewing experience was nice. Hearing all things around you was great giving me my own IMAX at home. Setting up the soundbar was easy and it wasn’t much to connect. The sound is absolutely amazing and the bass from the subwoofer was powerful. It’s just an all-around great product that you don’t see that often nowadays. 360 sound is the winner of this product and it gives the sound it’s supposed to give. Recommended to family, friends, gamers, and movie watchers alike. can’t go wrong with this sony Soundbar at all.

I recently purchased a new Sony 4K TV and really wanted an external soundbar/home audio system to take full advantage of the new purchase. The Sony HT-A3000 3.1 Channel Dolby Atmos Soundbar (with optional SA-SW3 wireless sub-woofer and SA-RS3 rear channel speakers) is the perfect solution.
The soundbar comes well packaged and includes the speaker, a full-featured remote, power and HDMI cables, a center speaker cable, documentation including a quick start guide and a wall mount bracket/template. Once unboxed, setup was very straight forward…simply connect the sound bar to the TV via HDMI (eARC) if available…which my TV has. Connect any other components via HDMI to the TV as there is only HDMI port on the soundbar. There is also an optical port available as an option to eARC. Plug in the power on the soundbar, optional sub and rear channel speakers and they all connect automatically at startup.
Once power and HDMI cables are hooked up up and all pieces are connected, select the HDMI port that the soudbar is connected to on the TV and hit the “Home” button on the included remote control. There is an easy setup and a full-featured setup depending how involved you want to get during this step. The remote is easy to use and navigation around the different setup options is well mapped out. Having used other Sony soundbars, the Sony Music Center app was already downloaded to my iPhone and this app can be used for configuring audio or other features like Alexa voice support.
With 360 Digital Sound Mapping and 360 Reality Audio, Sony has really stepped up their game with this soundbar. Using Sound Field Optimization the soundbar maps to the room it’s being used in to provide the most immersive TV or music experience. During setup, I tested some 360 Reality Audio via Amazon Prime and it’s like you’re listening to a band play live right in your living room! When watching TV, the first thing that really jumped out was the clarity of dialogue in the midrange. It seems like some TV shows or stations lack clear dialogue output in the midrange and I really need to crank up the volume to hear the dialogue, that is completely gone with this soundbar. Dialogue is easy to follow and yet the bass and high ranges still sound amazing.
There are a number of sound options available including Dolby Atmos, DTX
Now for music, The HT-A3000 has built-in support for Spotify Connect and other music services via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi streaming, Chromecast built-in or Apple AirPlay 2. I was curious to see how easy this system would be to use with my iPhone or laptop. There are 2 options for connecting for music: Bluetooth and WiFi. With BT, it’s as easy as turning the sound bar to Bluetooth mode and connecting your phone…boom, deep and rich music in less than a minute! The soundbar can also connect to a home network and is supported through the Sony Music Center app.
One other area that should not be overlooked is the size of this soundbar, it’s relatively small compared to many current premium soundbars. It weighs about 10 pound and is less than 38” wide. This would make for an easy installation on a wall if desired. The build quality is top-notch as expected from Sony. There are several controls built into the top of the soundbar for easy operation if the remote is not nearby.
Pros:
– The Sound – this is an amazing premium soundbar with incredible sound
– Ease of setup
– Self connecting Wireless Sub Woofer and Rear Channel Speakers (optional)
– Bluetooth and WiFi connection options for music, updates and more
– Top-notch quality and modern design and aesthetics
– Deep rich sound quality and great dialogue clarity in the midrange
Cons:
– No backlight on the remote control makes it tough to see in a dark room (nitpicking perhaps)
– Only 1 HDMI port on the speaker (optical and USB options)
Overall, this is a great sounding, easy to set up and great looking sound bar and speaker system. I would definitely recommend this setup to anyone looking for an affordable yet premium soundbar.