Vizio V-Series 2.1 Home Theater Soundbar V21-H8 review

Our Verdict

Vizio's latest inexpensive soundbar delivers broad sound, big bass and enough of options.

For

• Wide soundstage
• Lots of audio and input options
• Affordable

Against

• Bass can overwhelm voices
• Dolby Audio support through optical digital but

Tom's Guide Verdict

Vizio's latest inexpensive soundbar delivers wide audio, big bass and plenty of options.

Pros

• +

  Wide soundstage

• +

  Lots of audio and input options

• +

  Affordable

Cons

• -

  Bass can overwhelm voices

• -

  Dolby Sound back up through optical digital only

With affordable soundbar options similar the Vizio V-Series 2.ane Home Theater Soundbar V21-H8, there'southward really no excuse to suffer the tinny sound that comes out of most TVs. While there are several choices in the sub-$200 range, quality isn't always guaranteed. Vizio has earned a rep for producing splendid, inexpensive soundbars — and its latest two.1 model, which comes consummate with a wireless subwoofer, continues that tradition.

The V21-H8 offers plenty of ways to connect, including HDMI, and lets you tweak the audio with more than options than most budget soundbars. And its small subwoofer delivers a ton of bass — sometimes too much. Still, with its flexibility, the V21-H8 might be the best affordable soundbar for almost people. Read on for our full Vizio V21-H8 review.

•  Cheque out the best soundbars under $100
•  Our picks for the best inexpensive soundbars

 Vizio V21-H8 review: Blueprint

 With its nondescript looks, the V21-H8 does an excellent task blending in to your home theater fix up — who wants the soundbar to distract from what'due south on the TV? The main 36 x 3.3 10 2.two-inch soundbar is a slim, black rectangle. Similarly, the minor-but-mighty, ix.nine x viii.three ten 8.3-inch subwoofer is piece of cake to hide.

(Image credit: Michael Gowan)

The soundbar has buttons on superlative for ability, input, Bluetooth and volume. On the back yous'll detect a bevy of inputs, which is rare for a inexpensive soundbar: one HDMI input, optical digital sound, USB, a standard 3.5 mm auxiliary input and a 3.5 input labelled "Aux VA" that is intended to connect to an Alexa, Google Banana or Siri smart speaker. The Aux VA input allows y'all to use your called voice assistant while using another input to listen to your Tv sound — a clever workaround to the lack of a voice assistant being fully built-in to the soundbar.

The V21-H8 uses LEDs on the left front of the speaker to indicate various functions, such as volume level, subwoofer level and sound mode (a voice also tells yous which input or sound style you're in as you switch).

The V21-H8 comes with a redesigned remote — reminiscent of an Amazon Fire Boob tube remote in style — that is comfy to agree and packed with buttons. It has a circle in the center for side by side, previous, up and down, besides as buttons for sound mode (EQ), bass and treble, and subwoofer level. Information technology also has discrete buttons to turn on DTS Virtual:10 and DTS TruVolume.

 Vizio V21-H8 review: Performance

The V21-H8 delivers proficient overall sound, with clear voices and full midtones. Lady Whistledown'south gossip voiceover in Bridgerton was piece of cake to understand, although defective a chip of resonance.

The best thing nigh the V21-H8 is how wide the sound feels when using DTS Virtual:10. While it doesn't support Dolby Atmos, it produced a bigger and more encompassing sound than nigh budget soundbars tin can manage. Soundtrack music is peculiarly noticeable thanks to this feature.

(Prototype credit: Michael Gowan)

The modest subwoofer generates a lot of bass, though the low end lacks precision and tin sound muddy. When a certain Jedi fights the Dark Troopers in The Mandalorian, dramatic music swelled to fill the room and the subwoofer made the stomps of the troopers and the Force pushes experience tangible. In Avengers: Infinity War, the floor rattled satisfyingly as Thor brought the lightning down in Wakanda.

The V21-H8 works better for movies than music, but mainly because the subwoofer kicks out likewise much bass when listening to songs. On Billie Eilish & Rosalia's "Lo Vas A Olvidar," each vocalist sounded rich, but when the bass kicked in, it overwhelmed the mix; the same happened on The Weeknd'due south "Blinding Lights." When I turned the sub equally low equally it could go without turning off, the residue was ameliorate.

The V21-H8 gets loud enough to make full most rooms. It measured almost 88 decibels at max volume and didn't sound distorted at that level — some other rarity in a budget soundbar.

 Vizio V21-H8 review: Setup

 The V21-H8 is unproblematic to connect. If you take a TV that supports HDMI ARC, a single HDMI cable volition have you up and running. Oddly, if you want to take reward of the unit's Dolby Audio back up, you'll need to connect by optical digital audio instead of HDMI.

(Paradigm credit: Michael Gowan)

Once you're connected, you'll desire to explore the V21-H8'south many options to find the best audio for your ears. Vizio doesn't offer an app to control the soundbar, and then yous'll use the remote to accommodate the sound. There are sound modes for Motion-picture show, Music, Game and Dialog. You tin can also enable DTS Virtual:X for a surround sound result and DTS TruVolume to residual loud and soft audio in a movie or TV prove. You tin separately accommodate bass, treble and subwoofer levels, too.

I found that I most enjoyed the combination of DTS Virtual: 10, DTS TruVolume and Dialog sound mode; Flick style buried voices as well much in the mix. And, unfortunately, the V21-H8 defaults to Movie style each time you plough it on.

 Vizio V21-H8 review: Verdict

You get a lot for your money with the Vizio 5-Series 2.1 Soundbar V21-H8. It delivers impressive sound for a sub-$200 soundbar-and-sub philharmonic, particularly when watching movies and TV shows. The trivial subwoofer cranks out a ton of bass, and while it can sound muddy, having any bass in an inexpensive soundbar package is a bonus. With features like DTS Virtual: X and the ability to conform the audio, yous're likely to notice a audio combination that pleases your ear.

If you're willing to spend a little more, Yamaha's YAS-109 will provide more counterbalanced audio without as much work on your office. The YAS-109 likewise includes Amazon'south Alexa and produces good bass without the need for a split subwoofer — but not every bit much bass as the V21-H8. And the Vizio soundbar does a better job filling the room with sound thanks to DTS Virtual:X. If you don't want to spend much to improve on the sound coming out of your TV, the V21-H8 represents seriously skilful value.

Michael Gowan covers soundbars, TVs, portable speakers and other audio- and video-related topics for Tom'south Guide. He's written about music and technology for more than than 20 years for a raft of publications including Wired, Men's Journal, PC World and Macworld. When he'south not reviewing speakers, he's probably listening to one anyway.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/vizio-v-series-21-home-theater-soundbar-v21-h8-review

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