Sharp HT SBW800 Review You can use it to make high quality home cinema for not much money

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Sharp HT-SBW 800 5.1.2 Price and Features. 

Sharp recently launched the HT-S8BW800 Soundbar. It's a hardware that can do what's almost twice the price of rivals. This soundbar supports the latest and best audio formats, including Dolby Atmos. I look at when to invest in such equipment, which is what Atmos brings and whether it's worth paying attention to Sound quality.

Before describing the capabilities of this particular model of the HT-S8BW800 Sound Bar, it is worth asking two important questions first. The first is the point of having such equipment. I answered them in this text .

The second is the latest Dolby Atmos format and what it is and if you want to worry about sound quality in general.

Sharp HT-SBW800 – what makes this soundbar stand out?

Sharp HT-SBW800 is a set of speakers, including a and a subwoofer (subwoofer). It provides 5.1 channel audio with support for object-oriented formats (i.e. 3D) such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

It's one of the cheapest soundbars that Dolby Atmos delivers. Among other things, Samsung Harman Kardon HW-Q70R is placed in the same price shelf. However, Sharpa has two channels of sound more and a much higher power (570 W vs 330 W).

In addition, sharp has features that we can only find in 1000 or 1500 gold-more expensive couplings. But are these parameters "on paper", combined with a very affordable price, so impressive in practice? Let's check.

Sharp HT-SBW800 – overall experience.

Sharp speaker list is a truly good quality product at its price. Let's start with the fact that rarely in this price shelf we have three HDMI ports in such equipment. There are two HDMI inputs and one output (HDMI ARC).

So many ports are more options. These can be useful if you want to connect other equipment directly, such as Xbox one S or X, and then enjoy the best audio format, Dolby True HD with Dolby Atmos.


Alternatively, you can simultaneously connect a soundbar to a TV set-top box to get a smooth sound through the set-top box. Of course, this is not necessary if our TV has an HDMI ARC connection and most of the 4K Ultra HD receivers available for 4 years now have.

It means that we'll plug the soundbar into the ARC port, and any other TV-connected device (and Smart TV apps) will benefit from our hardware.

Performance

Sharp HT-SBW800 offers a wide range of sound, while the spatial effect is enhanced by two side speakers. This results in a good separation of channels – for example, it's easy to see where the opponent is coming from. But not only will console fans benefit from this equipment.

The biggest advantage of this is, of course, dedicated vertical speakers, which, thanks to the previously described Dolby Atmos, bring a different dimension of home cinema into our living room. And in one of the most affordable prices on the market (PLN 2499).

It will allow us to see the action as if we were to be seen as an "aureoly of sound" and to feel better at the action. It's easy to appreciate the great value of this soundbar if you're watching movies with sound in Atmos, which you can easily find on Netflixie, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

Sharp delivers very clear dialog and really good bass. Average tones could have a little more nuances for this, but in this price range you cannot have everything.

If I'm stuck, you're sure the subwoofer is. It has a lot of power, but unfortunately it has a bandwidth. In practice, it looks like it can in many cases not "enter", or suddenly be a little quiet. When, of course, we need to "get to good", we will hear him really loud. If not this manment, it would be perfect.

Look, remote control, functionality

Like your width of 120 cm (I would personally recommend a 65'' or 75'' TV), this soundbar is surprisingly light. It is not a master in terms of performance itself (in terms of materials), but it looks interesting. It has a standard profile so it won't slip from under the TV, but it's slightly higher than most soundbars.

A remote control that uses two AAA batteries has a large plus that we can not just put it on, but also place it vertically on the table.

SoundBar sharp when connecting ARC, which allows you to control the volume with the TV remote control, responds to the signal surprisingly fast. That is another, a big asset.

In turn, in the case of small inconvenient ones, I will mention two cases. When testing it with Xbox one X through HDMI ARC, he sometimes forgot what he set the treble and bass values after switching between picture sources or after a period of no action. In addition, when switching between headphones and a soundbar and selecting Dolby Atmos mode on the console, a crackle was heard.

When it comes to the ability to transmit a signal, it lacks the option to push the game's Auto Play and HDR in games (in movies and Netflixie and other apps is). So I recommend using HDMI ARC instead of making a loop with two HDMI cables (one from the console to the soundbar and the other from soundbar to TV).

Verdict, cost-effectiveness

Despite a few small defects, Sharp HT-SBW800 can become an absolute price hit in Poland. It's very affordable and one of the cheapest Dolby Atmos soundbars on the market. Its value is so much higher that the soundbars 5.1.2 cost about 3500-4000 PLN (even more so with three HDMI ports) – and here the equipment costs 2500 PLN

This equipment can be your gateway to the cinematic experience. Especially if you can't afford a powerful home theater system, and you don't want to get stuck with the poor speakers on your TV.