Yes.

Been testing the Sony CT-770 for over the month, my conclusion on the soundbar is coming to an end. Been thoroughly impressed by it so far.
What I can say is that the CT-770 is perhaps the best soundbar in the 1.5k range currently.

Short review soon.

Quite a linear sounding soundbar. It has a very wide soundstage (one of the widest in the market), but details in the mids are quite flat and I wish they were a little more upfront. Bass is so-so, it's tight but it lacks impact. Treble has good extension and energy, thankfully not harsh sounding at high volumes.
It's an okay soundbar but depending on how much you paid for it, could or could not be a good choice.

You can try changing your wifi channel to help alleviate the issue, but I doubt it'll fix the problem.

This is why I love Philips Fidelio range of soundbars, their subs, detachable speakers (if any) works on a proprietary 5.836ghz range where even 5Ghz routers/devices would not interfere with. Never had a single Philips Fidelio soundbar disconnect or have any audio cutting issues.

Hold on, if you've used it less than 10 times... does that mean you haven't used it beyond a week? If it's under a week, you should be able to claim for a 1-to-1 exchange on the spot.

Glad you like it.

Haven't heard it.

I mean I know about the XT1, just haven't heard it in person. Was never a fan of soundplates though, poor dynamics. RM999 for a soundplate is also way too expensive for the sound quality you'll get.

Now, I may be wrong and the XT1 may actually sound quite good. But I'm willing to bet that the XT1 certainly isn't going to sound as good as the similarly priced CT370.


Yes. It's quite a balanced sounding soundbar, good stereo image and very fluid mids (for its class that is). Bass is a little too floaty though, not sure why Pioneer didn't go with the sub on the SB23W though, as that is more balanced and still kicks hard enough. Too bad the N700 does have some design flaws, which is no HDMI input.

It does have HDMI out which is ARC compatible, so basically you'd have to control your sources from your TV's inputs instead. Sucks if your TV has too little inputs or if your TV just doesn't want to work with the ARC function on the soundbar. Know that ARC isn't always fool-proof like optical or standard line-in/out connections, often times it'll work but when it doesn't then you can be at a total loss.

I like the N700 and since it has reduced in price, it's actually not a bad deal if you have enough HDMI inputs on your TV and don't mind just using optical. I still think there are better choices out there though.

I don't think it is worth the money to be honest. Personally, I feel there's a design flaw with it that just doesn't justify its price even after the price cut. It sound decent enough, but I'd trade it for the cheaper Sony CT770 instead.

Yes your other devices will work through HDMI ARC, assuming if there are no ARC issues.

Other soundbars around the 1.5k range that I can recommend is the Sony CT770 and the Pioneer SPSB23W.

If the HTL9100 can be had for under RM2.3k then yes, go for it. Pretty sure there will be shops selling them for clearance to make way for the B5. Not much of a huge difference between them really, the B5 does have better battery life (this is as claimed, I won't say so until I have it tested). Also not sure if they tweaked the drivers or anything like that as well.


Did you test the CT770 with default settings? Because if so, then yeah the CT770 is very bloaty sounding out of the box. The bass will mud-up the lower mids way too much and there's very little air in the treble. I've said it earlier, the CT770 needs to have its bass toned down a few notches and also have the EQ set to vocal to be more balanced.

The N700 will always sound better, but as I said before, I'd trade up the slightly better sound quality for a more versatile system (3 HDMI inputs on the CT770 with low input lag is great thing). Otherwise you know, going for the almost barebones Pioneer SWS23 is the better choice.

Soundbars will never be good at wide open space. They'll of course still sound better than those puny TV speakers, but buying a soundbar for a wide living room (like in a bungallow or semi-D) isn't a very good decision. Soundbars are always best for bedrooms where space is an issue for larger multi-channel setups.

Have not heard the HTL5140 yet, so no judgements on that.

The HTL6140 thoug... I was dissapointed by it. It was filled with a lot of promises, it's supposed to be Philips midrange soundbar but it somehow just doesn't live up to it.
The 6140 has a rather good soundstage, but that's all there is to it. Everything else felt dull, there isn't the forward detailed mids that Philips other soundbars are known for (particularly the cheap 2140 series). The sub is either too loose or does not have enough depth, it's inconsistent and doesn't fit a wide range of genres. Up top in the treble, there's no energy at all. The high mids does not synergise well going into the trebles, it sounds tinny and has a very odd balance that just somehow doesn't work.

So no, I don't recommend the 6140. The 5140 seems interesting though, but I haven't had the chance to test it out yet.

Note: If the 9100 is cheaper, just go for the 9100.

NB4540 or HTL-5140 if you want something on the balanced side.
HTC370 if you want more bass and more versatility.


No.
The reason you are getting audio delay is because of how the Xbox One is processing audio through optical. Just do a search on Google for Xbox One and its optical audio delay issues, you'll see thousands of comments on it.

I do not have an Xbox One now, so I don't know if they've fixed anything. But since you said you're still getting audio lag today, that means they haven't done a damn thing about it?
Switching to HDMI should fix things. I don't know if you should get a new soundbar yet though.

Basically 5140 is a more balanced soundbar, less quantity on the bass, less versatile. The CT770 is more versatile with more input optioins, but bass is a little too bloaty even after tuning the sub's volume.

If you are playing twitch reaction games (fighting or FPS/TPS), turn off CAS as that does introduce some bit of input lag when using HDMI. Not significant, but last I remember it was in the region of 5-7ms.

Glad you like the CT770 though, shame that Sony went for the bassheads. If the sub was leaner and tighter, it would have been quite perfect.

All surround encoded movies (unless it's LPCM), will sound like they are in stereo. So don't worry about it. And yeah, soundbars really only work best interms of soundstage when in a bedroom.

Depending on the soundbar. In my experience, many of them have adequate volume.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Jan 9 2015, 05:05 AM

It's currently the price-performance king IMO. You could actually get it as low as RM400. Limited connectivity, but its sound quality is just so beautifully balanced at its price range.

I haven't listened to it enough to make any big judgement call on it. But the YAS-203 did impress me as usual with most Yamaha soundbars. Well balanced, forward mids with good seperation and detail. The highs is quite energetic, considering it doesn't have twitters (correct me if I'm wrong).

The sub is unfortunately the same model from the NS-Px range of 5.1 speakers except it's wireless, so it's very entry level and does not have enough depth to compliment the soundbar IMO.
It's also unrefined and I think Yamaha did a mistake by matching it an entry level NS sub. But cost cutting is how they are bringing the soundbar to you at 1.5k or less.

But the deal breaker here is that the YAS-203 only has optical, coax and analog in. While it's nice to have both DD and DTS decoding, most TVs does not pipe DTS through its optical out. Not even all TVs will passthrough DD through its optical out either.
Then the second issue where optical passthrough can introduce audio sync issues, optical was never made for passthroughs so that's a whole other thing to remember when buying soundbars with limited connections.

Unfortunately, it's not available here... yet.

Just wanna let you guys know that Sony has discontinued the CT770 soundbar. Most places are now out of stock, including Sony's own retail stores.

Only place I know of that still has a few left is Harvey Norman at the moment, of which they are clearing out at a price of RM1399.

So to those who wants the 770, get it now. Not sure what Sony's replacement will be for it yet. But I suppose they'll be refreshing the ST series first.

So, finally got a brief listen to the Philips HTL9100 successor the Fidelio B5.

The good news, it sounds just as good as the HTL9100. The rear speakers now have auto volume adjustment based on how far you them apart and from your sitting position.
Previously, the rear speakers on the 9100 will play at the same volume of the 9100 and the only way to reduce the rear volume was to actually move the speakers further away from you. On the B5, the speakers will automatically adjust the volume so that rear audio is always lower than the front audio (which is how proper multi channel setups are done).

So sound quality wise, everything still stands. Nice, upfront midrange with a good sub that has authority and depth. Treble is nicely balanced and is there when the source needs it without sounding too harsh. Soundstage is again extremely wide due to the fact that the B5 is a 4.1 setup.

But there's where the good news end. For whatever reason, the sample that I got to test and also another unit that I re-tested at a store, there's distortion. I used a variable amount of sources (from games to demo discs to actual movies), but there's distortion on the soundbar itself (not the sub).
This was not present in the 9100, but for whatever reason the high-mids runs into distortion when the soundbar gets stressed (very apparent in action scenes). No amount of EQ solved the problem either, so it's definitely a driver limitation (of which again, didn't occur on the HTL9100).

I cannot talk about the battery life of the rear speakers, the HTL9100 tops out at 7 hours at 60% volume. Philips rep is telling me the rear speakers will hit 10 hours now at least, regardless of volume level but I'm skeptical about that.

Price of the Fidelio B5 is still RM2999. Recommended? I don't think so. I'd suggest to go hunt and snatch up the remaining HTL9100 that are being sold for under RM2.3k at the moment instead.

Didn't try. I don't use Astro.

Sony CT770.