Sharp HT-SB700 review

The Sharp HT-SB700 offers an easy way to boost your TV’s sound and, although it does have its limits, it’s overall rather impressive for the low price

Japanese company Sharp is something of a jack-of-all-trades, dipping its toes into a variety of categories ranging from microwaves to home cinema kit. But it’s not kitchen appliances we are here to talk about today.

The Sharp HT-SB700 is the brand’s entry into the cheap Dolby Atmos soundbar market, with a 2.0.2 speaker system nestled within its compact shell. It’s a tempting proposition on paper, but how does it sound?

Price

The Sharp HT-SB700 launched at a price of £199 in the UK, but it appears never to have made it to the UK or US.

There are precious few Dolby Atmos soundbars available at the price, with our favourite ‘affordable’ model being the Sony HT-S2000, which is these days available for around £300 / $300 / AU$595.

When we reviewed it, we gave the Sony HT-S2000 a five-star rating for its overall audio performance and its “crisp and clear dialogue” in particular.

The Sonos Ray is another competitor, costing a little more than the Sharp HT-SB700 at £279 / $279 / AU$399. While it does not feature Dolby Atmos, we gave it four stars for its forthright projection and detailed treble.

Build

The Sharp HT-SB700 is one of the lightest soundbars we have had in our test room, weighing in at just 1.9kg. It’s quite a short and stumpy little thing as well, at 7.2 x 52 x 11 cm (hwd), so it is easy to position on most TV tables.

There are two forward-facing drivers at the front of the ’bar, as well as two up-firers at either end which are exposed under a metal grille.

In terms of connectivity options, there is a nook that houses the HDMI eARC port, power socket and optical. On top of the soundbar, you will find a row of tactile buttons that allow you to control power, volume, input and Bluetooth.

Features

There is a row of white LEDs that light up to indicate what input has been selected, as well as telling you whether the 3D mode is on.

The detail of what is being changed, however, is only visible if you are standing pretty close to the soundbar itself, as it is presented on the top. This makes it frustrating when you are changing through the modes from the comfort of the sofa and need to stand up to check what has been turned on or off.

Still, the remote control is reasonably responsive. You can use it to change through the different EQ modes: Movie, Music, Voice and Night. There is additionally the option to just turn all the EQ modes off completely.

With Music, vocals are brought to the centre slightly more, while the bass is exaggerated too. Voice brings dialogue forward, but does so at the expense of making the rest of the sound feel thin and less impactful.

If you turn on Night, the dynamics are compressed and softened so as not to disturb others in your household.

Movie is the setting we most prefer when watching films and TV as it has the best sense of space, while also keeping the dialogue clear.

You can also adjust the bass and treble levels with the remote control. A 3D sound mode is available, too, which allows you to expand the sound. However, we opt to keep it off because, although it does widen the soundstage, it struggles to capture the same level of detail in the upper treble and lower bass.

Sound

We begin with Dune Part Two, as Paul Atreides speaks to Zendaya’s Chani after successfully riding a giant sandworm. Both of the voices sound natural and balanced, and the Sharp HT-SB700 manages to capture their subtle, emotional conversation surprisingly well, while keeping them clear.

There is a decent level of detail present, which becomes evident with the delicate sound of sand shifting as characters walk across the desert.

For such a small product, it packs a surprisingly big punch, too. When Paul hops onto a worm for a little commute, the soundbar succeeds in showing at least some of the expected impact of the creature bursting out of the sand.

However, it does not quite get to the lowest bass that we would expect and just falls short of delivering a sofa-shaking experience. With Baby Driver, for example, an epic car chase with Baby at the wheel has a good sense of rhythm and musicality as Neat Neat Neat by The Damned plays in the background.

But when the engines rev with what should be a bone-shaking feel, the Sharp portrays a more muted and ill-defined lower bass.

Even though the lack of detail at both frequency extremes results in a less exciting overall performance than is ideal, the midrange delivers a mostly full-bodied and rich sound that provides an easy-listening experience.

When watching the war movie Unbroken, a bomb attack on our protagonists’ plane shows off the soundbar’s effectiveness at giving a general sense of space. While its execution of Dolby Atmos is not the most precise, the Sharp HT-SB700 does succeed in delivering some of the atmosphere.

Playing the same scene with the Sony HT-S2000, the bass is much more defined and the treble sounds more extended. Of course, given the Sony’s higher price, it’s no surprise that it sounds more sophisticated.

Many people expect their soundbar to double-up as a music speaker, and some models are almost as adept with music and they are with movies. That’s unfortunately not the case with the plucky little Sharp.

Playing Aurora’s Churchyard from Tidal through Bluetooth, the soundbar portrays the ethereal high vocals at the start with surprising balance and subtlety, but when the track gets busier with a throbbing bassline and multiple vocalists, it struggles to define all the different sounds.

This results in a blobby, ill-defined overall delivery, and Aurora’s voice sounds a little crackly as the soundbar tries to figure out how to deal with the complex track.

Verdict

If you are expecting an extremely precise Dolby Atmos performance, floor-shaking bass and hi-fi-quality musicality, the HT-SB700 isn’t for you. But, frankly, at this price, it was never going to be.

If, however, you are on the hunt for an affordable soundbar that will be an instant upgrade on your TV’s speakers, particularly in terms of dialogue clarity and general spaciousness, this little Sharp is easy to recommend.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Features 4
• Build 4

MORE:

Read our full Sony HT-S2000 review

Also check out out Sonos Beam (Gen 2) review

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