l would like to share my experience after comparing and testing two soundbars – Yamaha SR-B20A vs Samsung HW-S50A. The Yamaha SR-B20A was rated 3.8, while the Samsung HW-S50A has a rating 4.8. Soundbars have the same set of buttons - power, source, demo, volume down, volume up.
Each of the models under consideration has active amplification type. A noticeable difference is the number of channels that SR-B20A has 2.1 and HW-S50A has 3.0. These rivals can be compared in terms of power, 100 (overall) versus 40 (overall) according to devices. A built-in subwoofer is available only in the Yamaha SR-B20A. Rate 5 out of 10 received the Yamaha SR-B20A for audio features and specs, but the Samsung HW-S50A received 6 out of 10.
Soundbars do not have AirPlay support. The units in this comparison do not support Spotify.
Both models do not have a wireless Wi-Fi interface. Soundbars from this comparison have Bluetooth support. 0/1 HDMI inputs/outputs are in each of soundbars. As in the SR-B20A, so in the HW-S50A there is the HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC). We rated the connectivity of the SR-B20A at 4 out of 10, while the HW-S50A was rated 8/10.
None of these soundbars can be controlled using the app. Soundbars in this review are not equipped with a microphone. The models under consideration cannot become part of a multiroom system.
Dolby Atmos audio decoder support is not implemented in either the SR-B20A or HW-S50A. Devices from this comparison cannot process surround sound due to lack of DTS:X. The same score of 6/10 was put to the soundbars for multichannel surround support.