l would like to share my experience after comparing and testing two soundbars – Yamaha YAS-207 vs Samsung HW-K850. The Yamaha YAS-207 was rated 5,4, while the Samsung HW-K850 has a rating 6. The soundbars are equipped with a different number of buttons, input, mute, volume down, volume up, power for the YAS-207 and power, volume down, volume up, source for the HW-K850.
Each of the models under consideration has active amplification type. A noticeable difference is the number of channels that YAS-207 has 2.1 and HW-K850 has 3.1.2. These rivals can be compared in terms of power, 200 versus 350 (overall) according to devices. The built-in subwoofer is not implemented in any of these models. An external subwoofer can be connected to any of the units in this comparison. Rate 7 out of 10 received the Yamaha YAS-207 for audio features and specs, but the Samsung HW-K850 received 6 out of 10.
Soundbars do not have AirPlay support. Each of the competitors can play content from Spotify.
Wireless Internet connection is realized only in the HW-K850. Soundbars from this comparison have Bluetooth support. There are 1/0 HDMI inputs/outputs in the Yamaha YAS-207 versus 2/1 HDMIs in the Samsung HW-K850. As in the YAS-207, so in the HW-K850 there is the HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC). We rated the connectivity of the YAS-207 at 6 out of 10, while the HW-K850 was rated 7/10.
The manufacturer of the YAS-207 provides a device control application. 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 is onboard the HW-K850. Devices from this comparison cannot process surround sound due to lack of DTS:X. The same score of 4/10 was put to the soundbars for multichannel surround support.