Yamaha Audio - SR-B30A

Yamaha SR-B30A. Just got one for $299 CAD ($215 USD) on sale. Dolby atmos, built in adjustable subs, 4 sound modes and clear voice/bass extension settings. Love it already. Great bang for your buck

So happy with it. Truly exceeded my expectations for an all-in-one soundbar

I just bought the Yamaha SR-B30 sound bar and I am not impressed with it at all. Yeah, it has Dolby Atmos, but good luck finding anything that broadcasts it on normal TV.  The thing I don't like most about this soundbar is there is absolutely no volume leveling. 

I just bought this. It’s pretty awesome!

Add Yamaha to that list. Some of their newer ones don't support DTS either. Just bought the SR-B30A and didn't realize they dropped DTS support. Oddly enough, the lower SR-B20A model supports it.

Around Christmas I noticed there was a Yamaha SR-B30A soundbar open box return in the Amazon Resale section (FKA Amazon Warehouse Deals) listed for $239CAD. The current sale price for the soundbar is $300CAD, and the regular price is $450CAD. I also purchased a Sony HT-S2000 soundbar a week later to compare it to the Yamaha. The Sony was also an open box return at Best Buy for $359CAD. Both soundbars were in like new condition and worked without issue. I put them through the motions yesterday and came to realize that the Sony is overpriced compared to the Yamaha. Here's what I observed: - The Sony supports Dolby and DTS audio, while the Yamaha only supports Dolby. Both support Dolby Atmos. - The Sony has 3.1 channels while the Yamaha has only 2.1. - The Sony's integrated sub is weak and lacks punch. I even set the bass level to max in the app. I set the Yamaha bass to 0, the sub to 2, and bass enhancer is disabled. The Yamaha had significantly more punch. The comparison wasn't even close. - The virtual surround sound effect of the Sony seemed small and narrow. Definitely not immersive. The Yamaha's virtual surround sound is significantly more immersive and it wasn't even a close comparison again. The Sony's sound couldn't fill my bedroom, while the Yamaha could. Even raising the volume of the Sony to level 60 couldn't match the sound of the Yamaha on level 30. The Sony only got louder, which is what I wasn't trying to achieve. - Both soundbars offer a dialogue enhancement feature, and they work well but I preferred leaving it off. The vocals tend to be too forward when it's enabled on both soundbars. At least with the Yamaha the dialogue can be adjusted a bit more by adjusting the treble level. - The Sony's physical remote is better than the Yamaha's, but the Yamaha's app is significantly better with more options to change the sound. You can adjust the treble, bass, and sub in the Yamaha app, and only the bass in the Sony app. Both have options to improve dialogue. - The Sony's build quality is better. I'm not a fan of the fabric used on the Yamaha. The fabric can get dirty/dusty easier and potentially tear. - If all you care about is sound quality, the Yamaha sounds better IMO. If you're planning to expand by adding an external sub or rear speakers, then the Sony's might be a bit better. In my case I only want/need an all-in-one soundbar with integrated sub. I have no interest in adding additional components. I'm not sure if using HDMI ARC plays a factor, since I'm limiting the capability of both soundbars. Both would probably function better over HDMI eARC, but my TV is a few years older and only supports HDMI ARC. Would the Sony sound better than the Yamaha if I used HDMI eARC for both? I'm guessing it wouldn't. The MSRP of the Sony HT-S2000 is $700CAD while the Yamaha SR-B30A is $450CAD. IMO, the Sony is completely overpriced for how it sounds. I was hoping it would sound on par or better for the price along with the added DTS support, but it was disappointing. I don't imagine the Sony HT-A3000 would sound much better either for an even higher price, since that appears to sound similar to the HT-S2000. The HT-A3000 just has more functionality. I'm curious to know if anyone else has tried the Yamaha SR-B30A and what your thoughts are? It seems like an excellent option when on sale for $300CAD or less. I don't believe anything can touch the Yamaha in the same price range, unless I'm mistaken. Even the Sonos Beam Gen 2 is closer to the $500CAD price range when on sale in Canada.

I was using a Bose TV Speaker and both soundbars I tested sounded better than that at least. Assuming you paid $400CAD for the HT-A3000, that's a very good deal. In Canada the lowest I've seen those go for is $600CAD (~$430USD), and open box for about $500CAD (~$350USD). If it was in the $300CAD range I'd consider trying it but based on how poorly HT-S2000 performed, I'm not sure it would be it would be much of an upgrade. Maybe I'm wrong about that. The streaming app support doesn't matter to me either since I have Sonos speakers around the house. I was also considering to buy a Sonos Beam (Gen 2) but couldn't justify the price. For the price the Yamaha SR-B30A gave me the sound I was looking for. I've also used several Yamaha soundbar systems over the years, and they've always exceeded expectations. The Sony and Bose ones seem to always underdeliver by comparison. I've used the Sony HT-CT150, Sony HT-CT60BT, Bose Solo 5, Bose TV Speaker, Bose Cinemate 3-2-1 system, etc over the years. I'm sure there are some I've missed.

I bought the Yamaha SR-B30A recently. I compared it to a Sony HT-S2000 and it destroyed the Sony IMO. I also used to own a Yamaha YAS-101 which I gave to my parents, and the sound is an upgrade on that. The virtual surround sound effect is similar, but definitely upgraded on the B30A.

Honestly, the **Yamaha SR-B30A is a hidden gem**! Even more so than the SR-B40A. I bought the SR-B30A ($299/ regular $450) over the holiday to compare it with the Samsung HW-Q600C ($350/ regular $700) that I bought. And I ended up keeping the Yamaha. It performed much better in bass despite only having the built in subwoofer, as compared to the separate subwoofer on the Samsung. The Samsung had better sound separation, as it's a 3.1.2 vs the Yamaha's 2.1 -- but the **Samsung was WAY too tinny**. The Yamaha despite having less channels sounded much richer. The audio from the Samsung was pretty good for movies, though the bass was still a bit lacking, but where it failed miserably was with **MUSIC**. I played with all the settings on the Samsung, which are fairly limited and couldn't get music to sound decent, zero bass... and again, very tinny. The Yamaha sounded almost as good for movies, still much richer sound, but not as clean sound separation -- but for music it sounded much much better than the Samsung -- almost like it was in a different class. The reason I chose the SR-B30A over the SR-B40A is the built in subwoofers **AND it supports an external subwoofer**. So I picked up a wireless Klipsch subwoofer from Costco to pair it with the B30A -- total cost was maybe \~$500 CAD for both the B30A and the Klipsch subwoofer. It's an AWESOME pairing, more bass than you'll really need -- but you can crank it up if you want to physically feel the rumble! And the sound quality and bass from that pairing is way better than any out of the box soundbar/sub combo you can get for $500. CONS The few things I don't like about the Yamaha are, like you said, the fabric vs the metal construction. But I think the fact that really high end speakers use fabric to cover speakers, I think it was a deliberate choice by Yamaha to use fabric over metal for quality of sound purposes! So I think **there's a reason it's using fabric** and it's not to save money! This could be a reason why the Samsung, which was all plastic/metal, sounded very tinny. The other minor things I don't like are it doesn't pair as well with my Samsung TV, which is to be expected. It doesn't show volume level on screen. And the soundbar has no display, only a few lights that blink -- which isn't very intuitive. Samsung wins here.

dude, solid reviews honestly. i was in the same boat a while back trying to pick a soundbar for music and podcasts, and it’s such a pain to figure out what’s actually good without testing them yourself. props for doing the legwork. the yamaha sr-b30a sounds like a winner for your setup, especially with the dialogue clarity you mentioned. i had a similar experience with yamaha stuff—they just nail the midrange for vocals and podcasts. polk’s bass-heavy sound is fun but yeah, can get tiring if you’re not into that vibe. btw there’s the anniversary sale going on on aliexpress which makes the miyoo mini plus $32 right now if you’re interested. not a soundbar obviously, but it’s a steal for retro gaming. [here’s the link](https://www.reddit.com/r/China_Deals/comments/1jlt61g/aliexpress_anniversary_sale_miyoo_mini_plus_for_32/) if you wanna check it out. anyway, hope you’re vibing with the yamaha!