Review on Yamaha MusicCast BAR 400 Connectivity by Julie Weigel

I just got this and finally set it up. I would never compare a soundbar paired with a subwoofer to a full 7.1 surround sound system. However, I think this soundbar is great and the sound is fantastic. My 7 year old Samsung TV recently stopped working so I replaced it with a Samsung QN65Q6. I had an old Klipsche SB-1 soundbar which I really liked, but unfortunately although the new Samsung TV worked with the Klipsh soundbar via an optical cable aka TossLink, the Samsung TV remote could not be programmed so that it recognizes it. One problem, Klipsh wasn't on the list of brands. Option 1 was to get a universal remote but that's another programming thing that may or may not work with everything and if my wife can't figure it out I'll end up with tech support. :-( This prompted me to explore the new soundbar and finally decided on Yamaha. The new Samsung TV immediately had a so-called HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) connection; it was introduced in 2009. Yamaha MusicCast 400 supports this technology .Using HDMI ARC and a compatible cable I was able to easily get this to work between a Samsung TV and a Yamaha soundbar.After a successful connection, the Samsung TV immediately recognized the HDMI source port and listed it as Yamaha YAS-408. As a plug and play, pretty cool! Not only did I have great sound after that, but the simple but well thought out remote that came with the Samsung TV was now able to control the volume and mute on the Yamaha soundbar - -- Wifey is super happy Mission accomplished Sound Technical Compared to the Klipsh, the Yamaha 400 is much thinner but delivers a much fuller sound My TV fro is in an open floor plan with the kitchen, living room and dining area in the same area. so unfortunately I probably didn't push the age of surround technology forward. However, the audio is still excellent and I've watched quite a few movies with great DTS sound. Basically I am very satisfied with the sound. It's full, very clean, the bass is very strong, and you can tweak the sound enhancements with the Yamaha remote control (see photo, remote control on the left). For example the amount of bass, different surround sounds, etc. I know that the choice of sound system is quite individual, but you can usually tell if something sounds decent, and that's actually very good for such a thin and compact soundbar. I have a Yamaha MusicCast 400 soundbar under a 65 inch Samsung QN65Q6 TV just to give you a size comparison. The subwoofer is slightly more compact than the Klipsch, but produces excellent bass. You can also see the Yamaha remote on the left and the Samsung TV remote on the right; Pay attention to all sound settings on the Yamaha remote control. As far as I can tell, the Samsung remote only controls volume and mute, but that's enough if you're adjusting the audio to your liking. Overall I am very satisfied with this soundbar and can recommend it. UPDATE: 06 OCTOBER 2018 I finally set up my Yamaha 400 soundbar with the MusicCast app for iOS and Alexa and I can say it's pretty cool. I have Spotify and it works great. Even with the TV off, I can select the Yamaha soundbar as a device from my phone and stream music straight to it. Not only that, but you can also customize it so that you can use the volume buttons on your iPhone to adjust the volume. Check out other MusicCast products now for a complete music experience at home. :-) The sound is still great. Just a note, if you own this speaker, install the Yamaha MusicCast app on your phone after setup. It immediately checks the firmware version on the soundbar and asks if you want to update it. I did that and it was pretty easy but it can take 5-8 minutes so be patient and just wait until you get a big 'OK' confirming the update is complete.