Description

 Yamaha YAS-209

In the world of affordable soundbars, three major trends appear to be happening right now: the ditching of separate subwoofers, the addition of voice control and the move to Dolby Atmos delivered via eARC. Of those three trends, Yamaha is adhering to just one with its new YAS-209 soundbar.

Like its predecessor, the YAS-207 (which continues alongside the YAS-209 for the time being), Yamaha’s new soundbar comes with a large, wireless subwoofer and eschews Dolby Atmos and eARC in favour of DTS Virtual:X and standard ARC. The headline change is the addition of Amazon Alexa, which is built directly into the bar (rather than the remote control), thanks to two far-field microphones.

Of course, what matters most is the performance, and the Yamaha YAS-209 largely upholds the fine reputation that Yamaha has made for itself with soundbars.