Yamaha TRUE X BAR 90A

The Yamaha TRUE X BAR 90A is a Dolby Atmos soundbar with a detachable trick: the surround speakers in Yamaha’s TRUE X system are battery-powered and can be lifted off and carried around as portable Bluetooth speakers.

That is a genuinely sensible answer to the surround speaker problem. Rear speakers usually need cables or mains sockets behind the sofa; these charge in a dock and run on battery.

What Apple Home actually does with it

This is an AirPlay 2 device rather than a HomeKit accessory.

• It appears in the Home app as a speaker you can play to, and as an AirPlay target in Control Centre.
• You can put it in a room and group it with HomePods for synchronised multi-room audio.
• Siri can send music to it by room name.
• It can be the audio output in a scene or an automation.

Television sound does not go through Apple Home at all. That arrives over HDMI ARC or optical from the television, and the soundbar’s own remote and app control the modes and the volume.

Before you buy

Check which package you are buying. The bar is sold on its own and with the TRUE X SURROUND 90A speakers, and the surround experience depends on having them.

Battery speakers need charging. In practice that means docking them when not in use, which is fine as a habit and annoying as a surprise.

Yamaha’s soundbars work well with its receivers and share the same app.

Specifications