l would like to share my experience after comparing and testing two soundbars – Yamaha YAS-109 vs Yamaha MusicCast BAR 400. The Yamaha YAS-109 was rated 6.8, while the Yamaha MusicCast BAR 400 has a rating 8.2. The soundbars are equipped with a different number of buttons, power, volume down, volume up, input, microphone for the YAS-109 and power, volume down, volume up, input, mute for the MusicCast BAR 400.
Each of the models under consideration has active amplification type. A noticeable difference is the number of channels that YAS-109 has 2.0 and MusicCast BAR 400 has 5.1. These rivals can be compared in terms of power, 120 versus 200 (overall) according to devices. A built-in subwoofer is available only in the Yamaha YAS-109. An external subwoofer connects to the YAS-109 via wired and wireless, but MusicCast BAR 400 has wireless connection type. Rate 6 out of 10 received the Yamaha YAS-109 for audio features and specs, but the Yamaha MusicCast BAR 400 received 7 out of 10. Each of the competitors can play content from Spotify.
Both models have a wireless Wi-Fi interface. Soundbars from this comparison have Bluetooth support. 1/1 HDMI inputs/outputs are in each of soundbars. As in the YAS-109, so in the MusicCast BAR 400 there is the HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC). Connecting devices via USB is possible in both models. The connectivity of each of the models was estimated at 8/10.
The manufacturer of the YAS-109 provides a device control application. The soundbars in this review are equipped with a microphone. The Yamaha MusicCast BAR 400 may become part of a multiroom system.
Dolby Atmos audio decoder support is not implemented in either the YAS-109 or MusicCast BAR 400. 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.