The Yamaha SR-B30A is a hidden gem!
I bought the SR-B30A over the holiday to compare it with the Samsung HW-Q600C that I bought. And I ended up keeping the Yamaha. It performed much better in bass despite only having the built in subwoofer, as compared to the separate subwoofer on the Samsung. The Samsung had better sound separation, as it's a 3.1.2 vs the Yamaha's 2.1 -- but the Samsung was WAY too tinny. The Yamaha despite having less channels sounded much richer.
The audio from the Samsung was pretty good for movies, though the bass was still a bit lacking, but where it failed miserably was with MUSIC. I played with all the settings on the Samsung, which are fairly limited and couldn't get music to sound decent, zero bass... and again, very tinny. The Yamaha sounded almost as good for movies, still much richer sound, but not as clean sound separation -- but for music it sounded much much better than the Samsung -- almost like it was in a different class.
The reason I chose the SR-B30A over the SR-B40A is the built in subwoofers AND it supports an external subwoofer. So I picked up a wireless Klipsch subwoofer from Costco to pair it with the B30A. It's an AWESOME pairing, more bass than you'll really need -- but you can crank it up if you want to physically feel the rumble! And the sound quality and bass from that pairing is way better than any out of the box soundbar/sub combo you can get for the price I paid.
CONS
The few things I don't like about the Yamaha are the fabric vs the metal construction. But I think the fact that really high end speakers use fabric to cover speakers, I think it was a deliberate choice by Yamaha to use fabric over metal for quality of sound purposes! So I think there's a reason it's using fabric and it's not to save money! This could be a reason why the Samsung, which was all plastic/metal, sounded very tinny.
The other minor things I don't like are it doesn't pair as well with my Samsung TV, which is to be expected. It doesn't show volume level on screen. And the soundbar has no display, only a few lights that blink -- which isn't very intuitive. Samsung wins in terms of usability, but Yamaha wins in terms of sound quality.
| Material | Cloth Plastic Various |
|---|---|
| Model name | SRB30A B |
| Speaker type | Soundbar |
| Compatible devices | Smartphone |
| Subwoofer diameter | 3 Inches |
| Controller type | Remote Control |
| Surround sound channel configuration | 5.1 |
| Included components | Sound bar with built-in subwoofers, power cords, HDMI cable, Remote control, Wall mounting template |
| Product Dimensions | 13.4D x 91.2W x 6.7H Centimetres |
| Item weight | 8.6 Pounds |
| Is waterproof | false |
| Manufacturer | Yamaha |
| Model | SR-B30ABL |
| Part Number | SR-B30ABL |
| Number of Processors | 1 |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Audio encoding | DD, DD 7.1 Plus, Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 7.1 |
| Speaker Amplification Type | Active |
| Wattage | 120 watts |
| Power source type | Corded Electric |
| Batteries included | Yes |
| Batteries Required | Yes |
| Battery Cell Composition | Lithium |
| Material Type | Cloth Plastic Various |
| Does it contain liquid? | No |
| Includes rechargable battery | No |
| Manufacturer | Yamaha |
| Item model number | SR-B30ABL |
| ASIN | B0CCCZS73P |
