A really cool style object that too quite good sound ...

I do not dwell on whether and why you can opt for a Soundbar, what alternatives are there to, and what advantages and disadvantages has the respective variant. Firstly, because I believe that the interested reader has made in advance about thoughts, on the other hand because the variables simply are (starting from the room size, the space available to the personal preferences in film and sound) to many.

Nevertheless, I would again expressly mentioned that no solutions in sound bar area is a serious competitor to true 5.1 or even 7.1 combinations. I am working now for quite a while with the theme "Sound & sound" and have found that in most cases Dolby Sorround is mistaken for a room-filling bass. In practice, I confirmed my environment better sound, the more inflated the bass and vibrates the room, and not as differentiated one perceives the different channels. And exactly at this point really separates the sound bar area massively wheat from the chaff - bass can almost all.

But now the HT-ST3 ...

* Packing &. Delivery *
The slimmest Soundbar the world, as Sony calls the little sister of the HT-ST7 lovingly, comes in a completely unconventional carton. This of course has an L shape at the bottom, thick portion rests the Basreceiver, the long part is actually tiny Soundbar. This looks much unfamiliar and. even funny from a delivery to a packing station, for example, falls here but definitely flat.
Once opened, the package includes the Bass receiver, the sound bar, a remote control (incl. Batteries 2x AAA), a packet with rubber feet for the soundbar, 4x Filzklebern (if you want to make the receiver), 2x rubber adhesive (speaker pads, not specified what are much. if you hang the Soundbar to the wall, that they not looped ?!), an optical cable and manual ... which is really, pictographic up for a change, simply and clearly, and you immediately all the functions of the ST3 understands.

* Set up and connection *
Construction is actually the wrong word here. In the Soundbar achtphasiges a flat cable is installed, you just plug in 4 color-coded jacks on your receiver. Then connect the power and the optical cable and away you go.
As connections has 2x optical In (TV and AV), 1x analogue RCA In, 3x HDMI In and one HDMI Out Arc connection. As a rule, these connections should absolutely sufficient, unfortunately, this bar does not support automatic signal input detection. Thus, you have to manually select the desired input.
Very pleasant I feel the length of the flat cable. Just when you bass receiver much. wants to put next to the TV furniture or want to hang the bar on the wall, then the nearly 3m are not too tight.
Respect. the wall mounting are unfortunately in no screws or dowels or even a drilling template. Holes for this are on the back of the bar and it is simple and straightforward plugged onto the screw heads.
An aesthetic shortcoming at this point is not centrally mounted flat cable for me. So my currently used cable channel falls unfortunately flat ... at this point I would have almost wished a white cable that does not really stand on the wall. Granted, style technically would certainly look in an unmounted state strange, but on the wall certainly better. But well, much. is because my aesthetic standards and my aversion to cables simply too high.

* Design, processing and remote control *
Here is the very clear strength of Sony. The bar itself is made entirely of aluminum, with the front grille can be seen discreetly the speakers and the processing is top notch (an absolute style object that to black TVs / monitors fits sensational and on the wall the room noticeably enhances). The receiver is mostly made of plastic, presumably. Composite wood and chic design front, from the metal grid and the pressure outlet. The underlying display is illuminated in white chic and large enough to be able to read it from the couch. Only if you turn on the receiver and sets up standing, then the display does not rotate. All in all, the design looks very modern and high quality - but what you can expect at the latest on the required rate of 699.00.
And the remote control is very special: a "square bone", which you can postpone below to get to the extra buttons. Chic, handy, functional ... and yet here patzt Sony again. The remote control is indeed super chic, but entirely of plastic and if you postpone, it seems flighty and unstable. The additional buttons look cheap and partly have an easy game, which for the price is an absolute no-go in my eyes. Why Sony omitted here in a chic, for example, aluminum solution, I can not understand for the life (or I can do it economically, of course, yes, but it is not cheap for a high-end product).

* Equipment and sound formats *
The ST3 plays the following media formats (taken from the official website): DTS HD, Dolby TrueHD, LPCM (2 channel / 5.1 / 7.1), Dolby Digital / DTS, DTS 96/24, Dolby / Dual / Mono, 96 kHz / 24 bit PCM.
Of course it also supports the current pass-through standards such as 3D and 4K.
A special feature of the ST3 is definitely the NFC Spot, which is enough to go on any television set close to the sensor and you're paired and can hear his Mucke via Bluetooth. Of course you can also completely normal to pair with the Bluetooth and then listening to his favorite music.
Despite this great package of almost all current opportunities and formats, I prefer the ST3 another point in the B-Note from, for the lack of a FM module. KA what something costs in the production or as the technical expenditure is ... in my Yamaha 401 I have such a radio module and we enjoy it immensely if we can, for example, just listen to the radio while having breakfast. Well, you could stream via smartphone ... anyway!

* Settings and the sound *
Besides the input source can be selected the following things:
Sound Mode: Movie, music, football and STD (standard, ie TV)
- Voice: 1-3. The higher you screwed here, the more is the voice emphasized, for example, news etc.
- SW Tone: 1-3, 1 clear bass, 2 optimized for the different sources and 3 dynamically.
- You can dim the screen brightness and even turn off completely.
- The bass itself has 12 levels, where you can adjust the intensity accordingly.
- There are also on the menu for a few ways to play itself, including DRC (Dynamic Range Control, compresses the sound), Sync (in 4 steps, when the sound is asynchronous), a Sound Optimizer (even at low volumes a clear Sound) and a few small gadgets.
Basically, I am a friend of clear ease of use and do not think much of inflated menus. Nevertheless, I have no equalizer settings of the different channels. On my 401, I can easily eg the center channel set differently than the two side channels and much more. This is useful if, for example, the sofa is not 1to1 front of the TV and to the spatial conditions a bit so can adjust.

But we finally come to the sound ...
To compare the soundbar directly to the reference model in recent years, I have the ST3 built directly in the living room and let the Yamaha 401 run in parallel.
Most notable is actually the difference in sound. Both system work in perfect harmony to the receiver and bass (thanks to the cable). Both systems work very harmoniously ie in this regard and the respective sound is absolutely homogeneous and balanced. Nevertheless, the HT-ST3 significantly softer than the Yamaha sound. In the 401 the different channels are much more sophisticated (eg if 2 people sitting on the couch, you can see quite clearly that a left and a right talking), but also works pretty cold and clear by implication. An absolute advantage for messages or discussions for stereo sound in music.
The ST3 sounds here "washed-out", in that the whole bar consists of speakers and therefore the sound is more space-filling as distinguishable. For small to medium-sized rooms (from the belly, I would say so to 30-35m²) but adequate and space-filling! In large rooms, on the other hand I was afraid that the sound to be washed and is thus unclear.

My girlfriend like this sound but with us (25m²) much better and I have to confess that it speaks to me in the whole something more.

So you ST3 forms rather from a medium-sized whole room of people who are all messed up talking, not quite differentiated, who has now spoken exactly, yet very pleasant to listen to, because it is close to reality.

In the overall picture ST3 provides a very pleasant, surprisingly full sound, which of course more lives by the perfect harmony with the powerful bass than the minibar.
Thus, the Sony very well living with the design constraints, actually swallow all centers, which is compensated by very precisely reproduced treble and bass but again.

Another quick note regarding positioning:. Sony is applying the Bass Receiver yes so that 2 bass run in parallel and therefore vibrations are avoided. Whether that's true I do not know, I feel even with my 401 no vibration, and working with the Downfire principle.

Nevertheless, the receiver needs a sound body also here! When I put the receiver just in the room to compare it directly with the 401, the bass went down completely and I was extremely disappointed. When I asked him the other hand under the desk, began to the pump. Thus, a very clear recommendation: represents the receiver as possible on a wooden floor or in a TV furniture ... until he makes powerful steam.
Also, I found that even here the best sound is produced when the bass is (best under) positioned as close as possible to the soundbar.

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Conclusion:
The ST3 is a super chic Soundbar, conjures the amazing amount of good and pleasant sound from very little volume. So if more paying attention to that in the living room governs the aesthetic harmony to whom it is worth and who good, but not perfect sound enough, you can strike here in good conscience.

In my mind, Sony has unfortunately completely miscalculated the price and the related competition. In the same price range of ~ 350.00 / 400.00 I would raise the Sony quite on a level with the 401 - even though I warmly want to commend to all a previous trial hearing because both really sound completely different. But if (RRP 699,00) competes with Sony products like Sonos, Klipsch, Cardon etc. although all are not so small, but should provide a noticeably better sound, if only by the volume (see also the ST7, the not for nothing is 4x as large).
And also really useful solutions in speaker + AVR range come with such a price already in question ... what you can at 400.00 just not yet say.

So should the HT-ST3 remain a lover product that clearly designed to appeal more aesthetic perfectionist when audiophile purists!