LG SN9YG Review

June 15, 2020 at 4:05am
By Jason Stettner

Like with the previous year I was able to combo this review with another loaned LG product. This product was the OLED55CXPUA TV and I was able to pair it with this special SN9YG soundbar from the company. The two worked well together since they’re from the same brand, and it enhanced the overall reviewing experience both ways. This soundbar does deliver a number of expected modern features, has great passthrough and does pack some quality sound to it.

This design is to be used with TV screens of 55” as a primary. That’s just due to the length, and style of this device aesthetically. If you’re not familiar with soundbars, these are used to enhance your general audio experience. I personally never quite saw the point of them since the actual TVs are so loud these days in my opinion, but I’ve certainly gained an appreciation for them after having checked out two models at this point. There’s a certain nice ambience that’s provided, and a more room filling sense of atmosphere from any audio that’s brought through this device.

This is a 5.1.2 Channel 520W RMS system, featuring Meridian Technology. It has Dolby Atmos support which really is the audio standard these days across any device so that’s expected for sure. You get a high res audio format of 24bit/192khz from it. There’s also 24 bit upscaling for the sound.

It takes advantage of a DTS:X immersive audio decoder and that creates the more natural sound space you get with it. It has support for FLAC, WAV, AAC/AAC+, MP3 and OGG audio file types. It has essentially any of the standard audio formats of today, and then some. This model has great passthrough at 4k (HDCP 2.3) with HDR10 and Dolby Vision which is great for hitting those continuously developing properties.

To elaborate on that, more and more services are supporting these features. I believe that will only continue to grow over time. You do get Google Assistant support over WIFI, that works well and does provide some updates over time. You can use Chromecast also, which makes sense considering the Google integration aspect of this. That goes further with “Group Play Mode” on the Chromecast. You can also skip that entirely and easily use the Bluetooth 5.0 option for quick music play.

I enjoyed sitting there working and just listening to tunes from my iPhone XS. It was a nice option for just listening to audio in general and I think that’s perhaps an undervalued feature of a soundbar. Now onto the speaker aspects of this setup and its accompanying subwoofer. You get front speakers of 40Wx2, a center speaker of 40W, front height being 50Wx2 and Surround of 40Wx2. Finally, there’s the subwoofer with 220W being wireless.

I was actually pleased with this subwoofer, it brought some nice extra base and or well a decent hit to it compared to what I tried the previous year. That being said; I still feel they could push it more as it’s good at this point, it does sync well and swiftly. You could also pair some other speakers if you want an even more immersive setup. I’ll also mention that the subwoofer is 17.2lbs with dimensions of 8.7”x15.4”x12.3”.

In comparison the soundbar itself is 13.9lbs at 48.03”x2.2”x5.7” for its dimensions. On the device you do get an optical port, an HDMI pass through port as mentioned previously and a USB slot for playback. These are integrated fairly well into the design, and easy to access. There are a number of options for tweaking the sound, this is shown through the LCD display. That has an auto-dimmer, and there’s a night mode too.

It’s easy to adjust things whether you’re using the smooth touch symbols on the top, or the handy remote. The remote can be used physically as there’s one included, but you can also download an app to control it for IOS or Android devices if you’d like to. The remote is simple, and straight forward. I would have preferred a more minimalistic layout for it however considering the few buttons that are present on it. It gets the job done, and just barely seems necessary yet I totally understand why it’s there.

You do feel a good sense of bass with this device, though I feel they could take further as it’s a functionality that many give high priority to. It was definitely loud, and provided great clarity the entire time through. This was a good pairing between the soundbar and the subwoofer with the latter being generally good this time around. I feel they could push that further in the future, but they do work well together and can be upgraded with additional speaker options if that’s of interest to you. That is to get 7.1.2 surround sound as an expansion.

You can of course just enjoy the bar, and play around with the setup thanks to that wireless subwoofer capability. I thought the surface of the device was very appealing, slick and nice to the touch. This provides a good setup option whether you’re just placing the two around, or doing some sort of mounting. It’s nice to have an aesthetically pleasing device around that can blast some tunes out, or make the movies and games sound just that much more immersive. I should also note this has AI Sound Pro to deliver optimal sound settings through an adaptive sound control.

The Conclusion

The LG SN9YG is a great option for a soundbar, it provides an immersive sounding experience whether it’s connected to a TV or playing some music by itself. I used it for a number of games and movies, to take advantage of the lovely Atmos support while getting an idea of what it can do in many situations.

It was excellent to take in, and greatly enhanced my audio atmosphere by providing something that felt more immersive. This was boldly noticeable whether I was dropping down in Warzone or working through the tense visceral combat of The Last of Us Part 2. It made each attack, and moment feel gripping the whole way through across the various games I played.

Past that, it made each film moment a little more epic and impactful. It’s also really awesome for musicals if you’re into those movies. I also used this soundbar by itself to listen to some music, it was great for that and what I’d probably mostly use one for if I’m being honest. Not saying it’s not great for other stuff, I just like having something play music while I work and it delivers.

I played a number of various tunes, and got a full sense of what this had to offer for audio quality. This has all the features you really need, and is well future proofed for the visual passthrough options of tomorrow. This was clear, the subwoofer was decently impactful and this is an excellent upgrade for your TV experience.

Read our LG OLED55CXPUA Review
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LG SN9YG Review product loaned by LG tested with LG OLED55CXPUA and Xbox One X with Games, Movies and Streamed Content. Games; Gears 5, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Warzone, Minecraft. Movies (all 4k, some Atmos); The Dark Knight Rises, La La Land, Thor Ragnarok, Mission Impossible - Fallout, Singin’ in the Rain.

Rating Overall: 8.2