Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat sounding and cool looking soundbar at a great price!
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2021
I got this for the TV in my gaming room/spare bedroom, paired with a 40" Sony TV. I want to say right off the bat that this soundbar is at least 2 years old, and I believe it has since technically been replaced by the Vizio M Series All-In-One soundbar for only about $30 more so If you want the latest and greatest, go with that one. The newer one also had HDMI-ARC, while the best connection on this one is Optical. The reason I went with this one regardless is that it is easier to mesh with my Logitech Harmony Hub. Most newer Vizio soundbars use a small LCD screen with menus on the remote to change a lot of the settings, so I would still need the original remote, defeating the point of the Harmony Hub. I also like the design on this one a lot better too, it looks very sci-fi tech with the slanted sides and triangular bass vents on either end, but it's not distracting or gaudy either. I didn't want to spend a lot, because I use a wireless headset much of the time, but didn't want anything that sounded like junk either. Whew boy, this thing actually surprised me! It has "built in" subwoofers, and it really does bring on the bass! I have no desire for a standalone subwoofer with this. Also, a separate sub on the floor or near a wall has a chance of projecting the "thumping" sound through walls or other structure and disturbing people in other rooms. I can turn this bar up to a pleasing volume and it doesn't bleed into any other rooms of the house. I didn't have any of the problem some other people were mentioning about volume steps being too far apart and having to settle for either too loud or too quiet, it's been granular enough for me to find the perfect volume, anyway. Maybe since I bought this so long after release it has a newer firmware pre-installed that addressed that or something. The DTS Virtual-X surround mode is really convincing, at least in my situation in an approximately 120 sq. ft. room, and sitting about 5 feet from the TV with the bar on the TV stand at about chest level. The soundstage is really wide, and directional audio is clear. I even detect sounds coming from behind, very nice for positioning in a videogame. Tested it a lot on Apex Legends, a game I've been addicted to as of late, and I'm pretty sure the positional audio saved my butt on a number of occasions, hearing players try to sneak up behind me. I know it's all science and physics, but it really does seem like magic. I really don't know how they get this kind of precise 3D audio out of what's just a stereo signal being fed to it. I don't detect much if any overhead audio, which I think DTS-X is supports, but that's not that important to me. Tru-Volume however I don't like. At first it seems to balance the volume of everything as intended, so you don't get blasted by commercials that are much louder than the show for example, but it also really compresses the dynamic range, and it makes weird adjustments to stuff that is supposed to be louder than everything else. For example when an explosion goes off it also lowers the volume of everything else too, which sounds unnatural. I leave it off and am content to quickly adjust the volume manually if something gets way louder or softer. Overall, I'm extremely happy with this soundbar, especially for the price! Like I said the newer M Series bar might sound better and have more features, but for my use this thing is perfect. I would definitely recommend it for a bedroom, dorm, or other small area where space might be at a premium.
