Nathan Rizzuti, dedicated to Gadget Review for over 4 years, specializes in home entertainment technology and purchasing decisions. Outside of work, Nathan finds solace in playing bluegrass. With 50 months of consistent contributions at GadgetReview, Nathan’s expertise lies in navigating the realms of home entertainment technology and aiding purchasing decisions. His insightful articles, such as “Oh Ballers of Pittsburgh, Where Art Thou,” reflect a unique perspective that resonates with readers.
The Sony HT-A5000 has an immersive sound, optimized room acoustics, and sturdy build quality. It excels in dialogue clarity and latency performance but lacks EQ sound customization. Overall, its price is steep for the performance and features provided.
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Table of Contents
Product Snapshot
Overview
The Sony HT-A5000 is a mid-range soundbar that touts an expansive soundstage with Dolby Atmos support to provide immersive audio.
Released in 2021, this soundbar’s flat frequency response slope allows it to perform on par with the best-ranked speakers available today while delivering a balanced and neutral sound profile.
But, unlike the top-ranked soundbars, the standalone HT-A5000 does not come with a dedicated subwoofer, although you can add a separate wireless unit to the setup in the future if you need thumping bass.
And despite supporting the DTS audio codec, it does not feature the more advanced DTS: X codec for a wider soundstage.
Its wireless connectivity options consist of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Chromecast, and Apple AirPlay 1.0 for seamless streaming from almost every device out there.
But if you don’t need Chromecast support, be sure to check out our Sonos Ray review. And in terms of wired connectivity, this soundbar comes with a full-speed HDMI eARC passthrough port (4K 60 Hz with Dolby Vision and HDR 10), one optical audio jack, and a USB port to play audio files from external hard drives and thumb drives.
The Sony HT-A5000 has great connectivity. The system has extremely low latency and robust wireless playback options. Sound-wise, it’s immersive, neutral, and has a nice U-shaped profile.
It also offers tech like Virtual Surround Engine and S-Force Pro Front Surround for an impressive bass range and amped-up dialogue clarity. However, there are no bass and treble adjustments.
Build-wise, it’s sturdy and has great protective metal accents. The sound bar has a nice set of touch-sensitive controls, along with a voice assistant and remote.
The center channel’s finicky behavior with Acoustic Center Sync and the diffuse soundstage with S-Force Pro Front Surround can mar its audio performance.
Moreover, the lack of sound customization tools is disappointing. It’s a strong upgrade for TV sound, but that hinges on tolerance for its quirks.
ReasonS to Buy
Impressive sound quality
This soundbar delivers great dialogue-rich sound for movies and TV, given its immaculate center channels and Acoustic Center sync feature. The Sound Field Optimization adjusts to a room’s acoustics and gives the bar a U-shaped profile that enhances bass and treble.
Great vocal clarity
With a dedicated center channel and effective Acoustic Center Sync feature, the soundbar delivers great, crisp mids, perfect for dialogue-heavy content.
Robust wireless connectivity features
Supports many wireless connections, including Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, Apple Airplay, and WiFi connections. Additionally, the bar supports Dolby Digital and DTS through its optical connection and ARC for enhanced surround sound connectivity.
Impressive latency performance
The soundbar is highly accurate when syncing audio with visuals, given the hyper-fast lip-syncing latency that tests in at 14 ms, which is above average compared to our certified tested devices.
Durable build quality and controls
It is built with premium materials and touch-sensitive controls for quick adjustments. There’s also a handy remote and a Sony Music Center app, which allows users to control their soundbar from a smartphone.
Disappointing surround sound
As a standalone bar without dedicated satellites or a subwoofer, it fails to deliver a truly immersive sound. Using side-firing speakers sacrifices clarity and accuracy, leaving it with a less true-to-life sound performance.
Poor bass performance
The device fails to produce a deep rumble during action scenes or bass-heavy music.
Reason to Avoid
Lack of smart features
No built-in voice assistant; third-party devices needed for Alexa or Google Assistant
Sony HT A5000 Specs
Bluetooth Enabled
Yes
Depth
5.62"
Dialogue Enhancement Feature
Yes
Energy Star Certified
No
Equalizer Settings
Basic
HDMI ARC
Yes
Height
2.75"
Number of Audio Channels
5.1.2
Subwoofer
Optional (sold separately)
Surround Sound Supported
Dolby Atmos, DTS:X
Voice Assistant
Amazon Alexa
Wall Mountable
Yes
Weight
13.8 lbs
Width
47.75"
Wireless Connectivity
Bluetooth
Wireless Subwoofer Connectivity
Yes
Works With
Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
All Specs
Test Results
These are the most important criteria to test for Soundbars based on our comprehensive Testing Methodology.
Low End Roll Off (Hz)
62.586
High End Roll Off (Hz)
18,510.994
Max Volume Test (db)
90.4
Latency (ms)
14
THD @ 80dB
0.38
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The Sony HT-A5000 is a mid-range soundbar that touts an expansive soundstage with Dolby Atmos support to provide immersive audio.
Released in 2021, this soundbar’s flat…
The Sony HT-A5000 is a mid-range soundbar that touts an expansive soundstage with Dolby Atmos support to provide immersive audio.
Released in 2021, this soundbar’s flat frequency response slope allows it to perform on par with the best-ranked speakers available today while delivering a balanced and neutral sound profile.
But, unlike the top-ranked soundbars, the standalone HT-A5000 does not come with a dedicated subwoofer, although you can add a separate wireless unit to the setup in the future if you need thumping bass.
And despite supporting the DTS audio codec, it does not feature the more advanced DTS: X codec for a wider soundstage.
Its wireless connectivity options consist of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Chromecast, and Apple AirPlay 1.0 for seamless streaming from almost every device out there.
But if you don’t need Chromecast support, be sure to check out our Sonos Ray review. And in terms of wired connectivity, this soundbar comes with a full-speed HDMI eARC passthrough port (4K 60 Hz with Dolby Vision and HDR 10), one optical audio jack, and a USB port to play audio files from external hard drives and thumb drives.
Thanks to its much broader 7.1.2 channel speaker setup, the Sony HT-A7000 offers a better soundstage and a more immersive Dolby Atmos experience than the…
Thanks to its much broader 7.1.2 channel speaker setup, the Sony HT-A7000 offers a better soundstage and a more immersive Dolby Atmos experience than the 5.1.2 channel Sony HT-A5000 soundbar. The former model also has a better build quality and features one additional full-speed HDMI passthrough port over the A5000 soundbar. However, the HT-A5000 does get louder than the A7000. To learn more about the HT-A7000, visit our Sony HT-A7000 review.
Despite its more compact 5.0.2 channel speaker setup, the Sonos Arc soundbar delivers a much wider soundstage and better surround and center channel performance with…
Despite its more compact 5.0.2 channel speaker setup, the Sonos Arc soundbar delivers a much wider soundstage and better surround and center channel performance with Dolby Atmos than the 5.1.2 channel Sony HT-A5000. But, the Sony soundbar does feature a full-speed HDMI passthrough port that the Sonos model lacks. Unlike the Sonos Arc, the A5000 comes with a built-in Chromecast module and Bluetooth support for wireless streaming from smartphones.
Although the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 comes with a meager 5.0.2 channel speaker setup, it boasts a wider soundstage and better center channel, surround, and…
Although the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 comes with a meager 5.0.2 channel speaker setup, it boasts a wider soundstage and better center channel, surround, and Dolby Atmos performance than the 5.1.2 channel Sony HT-A5000. However, the Sony model has support for the DTS audio codec along with a full-speed HDMI passthrough port, both of which the Bose 900 soundbar lacks.
