Tom’s Guide Verdict
The Sony HT-S100F is a great basic soundbar.
The Sony HT-S100F is one of the cheapest soundbars Ive ever laid eyes on, let alone tested.
$99 for a soundbar feels almost too good to be true.
Other super-budget soundbars Ive tested have failed to reach the astronomical heights promised by their marketing.
However, the Sony HT-S100Fs promises arent broken.
The 2 channel soundbar is simple and easy to use, and thats all its trying to be.
No lofty claims of Dolby Atmos or incredible bass.
Just clean, balanced, easy listening.
On those fronts, the Sony HT-S100F excels.
Could it be a worthy upgrade from your default TV speakers?
Find out in this Sony HT-S100F review.
Its MSRP is listed as $129, but it regularly retails for under the $100 mark.
In the U.K., it goes by the name Sony HT-SF150 and its99 from Amazon.
This is a blinding price for a soundbar: most decent soundbars start at $200.
One of the best affordable soundbars Ive tested is theSamsung HW-B650at $249.
If youre on a serious budget, though, the Sony HT-S100F is a great starting point.
Its sound is much more balanced and layered than the tinny, lackluster $99Majority Elias.
Its 35 inches long, with five icons on the top and a Sony logo.
The remote is quite light, but its constructed well, and isnt flimsy at all.
The buttons have a nice amount of press, so you dont accidentally activate the wrong setting.
Why isnt there a Bluetooth pairing button on the remote?
Other than entering Bluetooth pairing mode, the Sony HT-S100F is easy to control thanks to the handy remote.
However, this didnt occur often enough to be really annoying.
Id happily put up with turning on the soundbar manually to getthissound quality at under $100.
I found Auto Sound and Voice to be best, but Ill get into that fully later.
Cinema mode increases the bass for more immersive movies.
Voice performs as youd expect it improves dialogue clarity.
Standard doesnt change much, and Night reduces bass to prevent waking up neighbors.
As youd expect on a soundbar of this price, there arent really any more features.
Movies
I watched Top Gun: Maverick and Deadpool & Wolverine in Cinema mode.
In the opening scene of Top Gun: Maverick, I was really impressed with the level of bass.
Considering the HT-S100F has no subwoofer, I wasnt expecting the bass to be great.
This is a blinding price for a soundbar: most decent soundbars start at $200.
$99 is cheap.
For the price, though, the sound quality was pretty awesome.
Later, in the first dogfighting scene, I could hear all the headset dialogue clearly.
There was no muffled speech, and I wasnt straining to hear even over the radio crackling sound effect.
Next, I watched Deadpool & Wolverine.
Cringeworthy humor aside, the opening voiceover was clear and audible.
Unfortunately, there were a few moments where the soundtrack overpowered dialogue.
Even so, the sound quality was most definitely superior to the built-in TV speakers.
This soundbar isnt priced as a hi-fi setup: its merely a step up from TV sound quality.
Theres no Dolby Atmos and the channel setup is minimal; just two center speakers.
If you want an immersive, surround soundbar, this isnt the option for you.
As promised, this mode made dialogue clear without overpowering the sound effects and background music.
I could still hear characters pouring cereal and drinking beer without drowning out dialogue.
$99 is cheap.
I switched to Standard mode to compare audio quality.
I was immediately shocked by the difference; the speech was quiet and almost inaudible.
I had to put Voice mode on to get the best sound.
As with all soundbars, you should probably fiddle with tweaks to obtain the best results.
Auto Sound is also pretty good: it basically works by choosing the best EQ for whatever youre watching.
I enjoyed watching TV with either Voice mode or Auto Sound over any other setting.
Cinematic upped the bass too much, which sounded odd on a soundtrack with little bass.
However, for the unbelievably low price of $99, its a major upgrade from TV speakers.
Or you’re able to connect via Bluetooth, which is what I did.
I listened to Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan in Music EQ mode.
The piano-led synth pop track sounded good, but there wasnt much bass.
I played Back on 74 by Jungle next, which, again, seriously lacked bass.
The music playback sounds about as good as on something like theJBL Flip 6on default EQ.
Decent, but wouldnt impress an audiophile.
Sony HT-S100F soundbar review: Verdict
As you might have guessed, I really like this soundbar.
If youre a serious movie fanatic, I would skip it, though.
It likely wont impress you theres not enough bass, and theres no Dolby Atmos integration.
