Yamaha YHT-S401 Sound Bar - A Cut Above the Rest

Of Features and Design

Audiophiles should be well acquainted with the pedigree of Yamaha. Their products typically deliver excellent performance while embodying a unique design ethos. The TSX-140 desktop audio docking station, which we have previously reviewed, reveals the kind of attention Yamaha pays to its products' design and feature-set.

Recently, Yamaha refreshed its lineup of AV Receivers and also spruced up its sound bar offerings. The new Yamaha YHT-S401 is a step up from the previous YHT-S400. The latter was the winner of our Best Sound Bar in the 2011 Tech Awards, so we're interested to find out if the new contender could raise the bar higher than what its predecessor has set.

The Yamaha YHT-S401 comprises of a front surround system with a center speaker and a receiver which also doubles up as the subwoofer (by way of a 100W built-in digital amp). Unlike the Philips HTS7140 and the Pioneer HTZ-HW919BD, the Yamaha HYT-S401 does not have a Blu-ray player integrated as part of the package. The omission however is reflected in its price of S$999, which is a whole S$200 less than the other two sound bars mentioned.

This makes the new Yamaha sound bar a pure mid-level audio product for those who have some components of a rudimentary home theater system already set up. If you already own a Blu-ray player and wish to avoid redundancy, then this product is the ideal solution. However if you need a Blu-ray player, you can easily pick one up with the savings offered by the lower price of this device, thus offering consumers choice.

A simple and elegant glossy black finish makes the Yamaha YHT-S401 aesthetically compatible with almost all TV displays on sale these days. At a stretch, you might even call the looks of the sound bar pretty.

The AV Receiver cum Subwoofer Unit

Seeing that the subwoofer and receiver are bundled into one unit, this device is quite large and bulky. In fact, the whole package weighs in at approximately 8kg which makes it a bit difficult to carry and transport. Its big size and functionality as a subwoofer also makes it a little more difficult to find a suitable location to place the unit. Since the subwoofer utilizes bass reflex ports, you should try to place the device next to a wall or a solid surface in order to maximize performance. Our suggestion for ideal placement would be on a dedicated rack as the unit is designed to be slotted in a standard sized AV rack. That's not all however, as the Yamaha receiver is also designed to stand both vertically and horizontally, so you can put it on the floor if you wish to. It's versatile, so don't be shy and try experimenting different placements in your room for your preferred bass response. Just be sure it's still in your line of sight for you to control the unit via the remote control.

The front face of the Yamaha receiver shows the duality of the device. The left side clearly shows the volume controls, source selection, power button and 3.5mm headphones jack. Also visible is the USB port which can be used to plug in storage drives or portable music players, including Apple’s iPod. The fact that no extra proprietary dock is required is a plus point in favor of the Yamaha YHT-S401. The right hand side is taken up by the subwoofer bass reflex port.

Connections and ports are located on the back of the device. One of the best features included is the provision of extra speaker connections. While the Yamaha YHT-S401 might be a two-piece sound bar, future audio acquisitions can be incorporated into the system to increase its functionality. This scalability is a great addition from Yamaha and is sorely lacking in other sound bars on the market at present. Obviously, this also makes the Yamaha YHT-S401 very attractive to audio enthusiasts with a reasonable budget who can buy themselves a mid-level sound bar that they can later upgrade its surround capabilities by adding on respective rear surround speakers.

The receiver cum subwoofer unit also sports a total of four HDMI ports (3 in and 1 out), allowing you to connect an external blu-ray player, TV and other devices of your choosing. Since it supports ARC (Audio Return Channel), you don't need an extra optical cable to hear the sound from the TV (provided that your TV also supports the ARC enabled HDMI port). There are also inputs for digital optical, coaxial and analog audio.

The Horizontal Sound Bar

While the receiver is responsible for ensuring amplification and the subwoofer handles low frequency performance, the bulk of the audio duties are handled by the horizontal sound bar. For this purpose, the device is armed with twin 2.125-inch (5.5cm) full range drivers and an oval center speaker. The speakers are covered with a 'Saran Net Grille' which is meant to enhance sound definition and vocal clarity. We will be testing the speakers out with a wide variety of content to check the veracity of these claims.

Like the receiver/subwoofer unit, the horizontal speakers of the Yamaha YHT-S401 are also equipped with a unique feature to help in setting them up. The feet of the device can be adjusted in height from a minimum of 79mm to a maximum of 100mm so as to not infringe on your TV display. This adjustment feature can be quite handy as we have seen other sound bars that actually block the IR port on the TV, making use of the remote control a hassle.

With regards to audio technology, the sound bar’s horizontal speakers boasts of Air Surround Xtreme and Music Enhancer - both of which are proprietary sound enhancements by Yamaha. The former is intended to reproduce 7.1-channel surround sound with quality imaging and presence. The latter is a set of algorithms designed to get the most out of low grade sources such as MP3s encoded at lower bitrates. Clear Voice is also part of the audio enhancement features and it is supposed to raise the level of performance for dialogue and narration. The remainder of this review will examine closely whether or not these additions help or hinder the performance of the Yamaha YHT-S401 sound bar, so read on!

Test Setup

Regular readers will be familiar with our testing material by now. While using the same tracks over and over again might seem boring, it also ensures that all products are judged on an even footing. Homogeneous testing also gives us a basis for comparison between all the different audio products which would otherwise be unjustified. Besides the core test track materials, we also tune in to other audio materials to get a better understanding of the sound bar's capabilities in general.

We used our standard MP3 tracks loaded onto a USB drive as the first salvo of materials fired at the YHT-S401. This was a simple process due to the Yamaha having a USB port capable of directly playing the audio tracks from the flash disk. You can even plug in your iPod or iPhone if you want to. After hooking up a Samsung Blu-ray player and a Philips Series 6000 TV we also proceeded to test the speakers out with Michael Jackson's This Is It as well as Superman Returns. The Blu-ray content should definitely help us gauge the fidelity with which the sound bar reproduces high definition audio. The sound bar's AV receiver is fully capable of decoding HD audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

It is always important to ensure that the testing material pose questions pertaining to different areas of audio performance. We aim to thoroughly test out aspects of the sound bar such as low frequency performance, soundstage and transient response with different audio selections. However, the final scoresheet reflects our opinion on how the device handled the entire mix as a whole.

 

Blu-ray Testing:
 

• This Is It - Michael Jackson
• Superman Returns

MP3 Audio Track Testing:
 

• Hotel California - Eagles
• Sail on Soothsayer - Buckethead
• Melt My Heart to Stone - Adele
• Elements of Life - Tiesto

Standard Fare

Without mincing any words, we had high expectations of the YHT-S401. Not only should it live up to the lofty standards set by the previous YHT-S400 model but it should surpass them. After all, Yamaha has had almost a year to improve upon the original design. Furthermore, the Yamaha sound bar also boasts a number of features designed to make it perform a cut above the rest of the recently reviewed sound bars.

Starting out, we plugged in our USB stick that held our standard MP3 tracks and we were glad that the AV receiver unit was able to detect the tracks without any problems. However, without a TV serving as a display for the menu, it was hard to navigate the list on the receiver’s tiny display.

MP3 Tracks

Apart from the menu navigation concern, the letdowns stopped as soon as we started our listening session. Sail on Soothsayer is one of the hardest tracks to reproduce for speakers of any type. With its hard distortion and chiming guitar parts, it offers a stern test that the Yamaha sound bar handled deftly. The overall reproduction had few flaws other than bass being slightly flat. This was fixed easily by bumping up the woofer EQ settings to +1. The Yamaha projected the track with a strong central channel which brought out the impact of the song, but did cause listening fatigue after repeated plays.

For Elements Of Life by Tiesto, the beat bounced along and the overall feel of the song was preserved. The Yamaha YHT-S401 had to be commended for its handling of the mix as both the peaks and the lows of the song were dutifully represented, which is no mean feat. Particular high points were the excellent reproduction of the distortion bass synth and the transition of the song around the 2-minute mark.

To test out the mids and the trebles, we played Adele’s Melt My Heart To Stone. Clarity and crispness of sound have always been Yamaha’s forte and these were again true for this sound bar. Since the song does not have a lot of bass, it played right into the strengths of the YHT-S401. Adele’s voice soared over the rest of the instruments and the dynamics of the song were immensely pleasurable.

The last track from our selections was the evergreen classic from The Eagles' Hotel California. Once again clear and crisp performance brought the acoustic guitar work of the track to life. Good transient response from the Yamaha YHT-S401 also meant that the shakers and alternate percussion used on the live recording were wonderfully reproduced.

From our listening, we can conclude that the Compressed Music Enhancer feature helps slightly with playback for file formats such as MP3. A greater level of detail was heard with our test tracks when compared to other sound bars. And while there is no sure fire way of pinpointing the reason behind the success, the higher fidelity of sound points to the Music Enhancer pulling its weight.

Handling High Definition Audio

Blu-ray ups the ante and poses a range of different questions for speakers to answer. Not only does higher encoded material require greater fidelity of reproduction, but the content also tests the sound bar’s other characteristics such as soundstage. Our Blu-ray testing material includes Michael Jackson’s This Is It and Superman Returns. This provided us a variety  audio materials spanning across music, special effects and movie dialogue.

This Is It - Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was a perfectionist and this trait is evident in his music. Speakers have to aim for the same high standards if they want to replicate his compositions in their full glory. Does the Yamaha YHT-S401 have the capability to do justice to these tracks?

The simple answer is yes. The +1 Bass EQ setting from our MP3 testing phase was kept in place and worked wonders on They Don’t Care About Us. The big bass drum thumps were both felt and heard. Unlike previous contenders such as the Philips HTS7140 and Pioneer HTZ-HW919BD, the Yamaha sound bar’s bass did not over power the track and the overall mix was preserved.

Similarly, Wannabe Startin’ Something was a great listen. The funky track is not the easiest to reproduce with the required verve and gusto. Great low frequency performance coupled with crisp and clear highs brought the song to life. Timbre of the instruments was also impressively well preserved. These traits meant that our next track Jam was handled with aplomb as well.

The coup de grace of our This Is It listening tests is always Beat It. Biting guitars and sharp trebles from the Yamaha YHT-S401 helped it finish on a spectacularly high note. Backup vocalists for the song sounded excellent and their contributions were actually audible, which were not observed with other sound bars. All in all, this Yamaha sound bar really furthered its credentials after our thorough testing with the This Is It Blu-ray disc.

Superman Returns

The Yamaha YHT-S401’s proficiency with music can no longer be doubted. It has proven its mettle with MP3 and Blu-ray tracks. Having already established the tonal characteristics of the sound bar, our next aim next was to determine how well the audio was projected across space. To see if its performance translates to movies as well, we brought out our copy of Superman Returns and gave it a spin.

Yamaha states that the YHT-S401 is armed with Air Xtreme technology that is meant to replicate the performance of a 7.1-channel audio system. That is a tall claim seeing that this unit only comprises of a horizontal speaker and a subwoofer. To test the validity of this statement, we started off by playing the airplane scene at the 33:00-minute mark.

The crisp, clear mids and highs helped the sound bar handled the scene well, as was expected. There was great buildup of emotion and feeling as the melodies and background music were brilliantly reproduced. Bass was also on the money, and the impacts and crashes from the sequence sounded very life-like. Directionality of sound was also impressive and accurately reflected the havoc and chaos as the plane hurtled towards the ground. Looking to further test the unit, we skipped to the opening sequence of the movie. The soundstage came to the fore as Krypton exploded and the shards of the planet went zooming by.

But for some reason, the Yamaha YHT-S401 lacked that X-factor required to completely wow us during the movie testing phase. In essence, while its music playing abilities were phenomenal, the movie performance was just great. The soundstage was wide and expansive, but do not let Yamaha fool you, it came nowhere close to replicating a 7.1-surround sound system. This is to be expected from most sound bars since they can only replicate virtual positioning of audio that is supposed to be coming from dedicated rear speakers. On the whole, we felt that the sound bar lacked a little bit of magic spark and cinema feel to push it into the category of its own. It is almost as if the YHT-S401 is a victim of its own success and the high standards set by its predecessor.

 

Miles Ahead

To give a final verdict on the Yamaha YHT-S401 we have to take into consideration the design and features, performance, value and comparison with similarly positioned products in the market.

Having gone over the unit in our labs with a fine toothed comb, we can state with certainty that this is one of the better provisioned sound bars on the market. Sure, Yamaha did not include a Blu-ray player as part of the package, but the decision is based on the placement of the product. As a mid-level sound bar, it is reasonable to assume that the customer already owns a Blu-ray player. If they do not, the lower price offered by Yamaha due to the omission of the player gives the customer the choice to pick up their preferred models.

We always believe it is better to have more ports than less. Yamaha seem to hold the same philosophy as well seeing that the YHT-S401 has four HDMI ports, along with more traditional options. This means you can pair your sound bar with a variety of devices. At the same time, Yamaha thoughtfully supported more dedicated audio channels for hooking up rear surround speakers to allow for future expansion of your home audio setup. This feature would also appeal to audio enthusiasts who always have an eye on their future acquisitions. Features such as Music Enhancer and Air Surround Xtreme are also provided to better its default audio playback capabilities. While we found the former to actually improve performance, the latter turned out to be marketing spiel.

Regardless of Yamaha’s claims, we can provide you an objective opinion on the YHT-S401’s performance. The sound bar handled our test tracks close to as flawlessly possible for its class of products, which is reflected in its scoresheet. Music was handled with aplomb. The sound bar did have slightly under powered bass which can be rectified easily by bumping up the woofer EQ setting to +1. Movie audio tracks were also spectacularly rendered. The soundstage might not be up to the level of a 7.1-channel system, but was wide and expansive enough to be extremely good. Our only gripe was the lack of that cinema feel.

When compared with its competitors, the Yamaha YHT-S401 seems to be a cut above the rest. Its performance is easily the best. While the Pioneer HTZ-HW919BD one-up it with its wireless capabilities, the Yamaha sound bar does have an extra HDMI port and audio performance scalability (by adding additional speakers) in its corner. It seems that this device has almost every single angle covered.

The Yamaha YHT-S401 is retailing for S$999 which makes it S$150 less than the other contenders mentioned. This price difference compensates for the lack of a Blu-ray player and leaves you free to pick the model of your choice, as previously mentioned. In our opinion, this Yamaha sound bar is a brilliant choice for anyone looking to boost the audio performance significantly over what a TV can dish out and yet occupy only a small footprint to have your very own home theater. Besides offering performance on par with excellence, it also leaves you the option of adding in additional dedicated rear speakers later on for true surround effects. Prudent buyers will do well to give this device a try first and foremost when looking to upgrade their TV's audio subsystem or even old low-cost home theater in a box systems.

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