Sony has done some course correction in 2020. The company aims to sell more affordably priced audio products to the Indian audience. India, as we are all aware, is a price-sensitive market. Cue in, the Sony HT-S20R. A budget soundbar-based 5.1-channel home theatre system (HTS) meant for the budget TV users.
So, is the Rs 14,990 HTS worth your money?
Well, yes and no, depending on how much you are willing to compromise.
Sony HT-S20R design and setup
So, here's the thing about budget HTS', they look very bland. The HT-S20R is no different. It comes in an L-shaped box that houses the single soundbar, a couple of channel speakers, and a subwoofer. All the individual units are made entirely of plastic. Sony has reduced the size of the soundbar purely to complement 32-inch TV sizes. Unfortunately, you do not get an HDMI cable in the box. Although, you can mount the speakers to the wall if you wish.
By the way, talking about HDMI, I used it for the duration of my review with HDMI ARC for music delivery. I could use my OnePlus TV's remote to even control the volume on the system thanks to ARC. As for the rest of the connections, you get a USB Type-A port for playing music directly from your pen drive. You also have Bluetooth 5.0 connection for streaming music directly from your phone. Finally, you have your trusty 3.5mm out for connecting it to any source of your choice directly. The lack of optical SPDIF is a bit disappointing, though. We could've expected better audio quality considering even over Bluetooth you only get support for the SBC codec. No aptX or LDAC support here if you were hoping for it. Anyway, All the ports are on the woofer, which acts as the central node for all the circuitry and connections.
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Sony | Sony HT-S20R | HDMI
