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  1. Product

Dell KB216: Main Discussion

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  • Product Purchased
    Mar 17
  • In The Lab
    Mar 29
  • Testing
    Apr 6
  • Writing Review
    Apr 11
  • Editing
    Apr 14
  • Final Review
    Mar 23
    Full Review
Posted 2 years ago

Our full review is now available.

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  1. Update: Converted to Test Bench 1.2. Updated the results for audio format support via ARC/eARC, HDMI In, and Optical. Added Video Passthrough to TV results as well.

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    When my new TV wouldn’t play nice with my old Vizio soundbar, I decided to upgrade to the Vizio Elevate, mostly because Rtings says it is the best Vizio soundbar. I’ve only been using it for three days, but so far I’m pretty disappointed. The bass on this system is just ridiculously overpowered, and not in a good way. I have the sub level turned down to -9 (it turns off at -10), and the bass set to -10, and it’s still overwhelming. Admittedly, I’ve been testing it mostly by streaming Atmos-enabled movies from Disney+ and Netflix, so maybe it’s those services. Either way, I think I miss my SB3651-E6 that I bought at Walmart.

    Edited 1 year ago: Clarity
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    After setting Bass to -8 and Treble to +6 did you feel the Sub was still too powerful? Did you change the Sub level at all? Thanks!

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    This bar sounds great but the software is pretty bad. I have the center channel for PCM 5.1 going into HDMI in failing consistently with my Nintendo switch, and looking online it’s been that way for years. Typical Vizio, decent hardware with buggy, unusable software.

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    After setting Bass to -8 and Treble to +6 did you feel the Sub was still too powerful? Did you change the Sub level at all? Thanks!

    Hello beardontwalk123,

    During calibration, the only settings we use are the Bass and Treble adjustments, with the goal of making the slope as flat as possible without negatively impacting the score. As you can see from the graph, even after calibration and bringing bass down to -8, the Vizio elevate still retains a bassy sound profile. Whether or not you will enjoy this profile is up to personal preference and the type of content you will be listening to. If you feel like the bass is still too prevalent, you could reduce the Bass all the way to -10 and adjust the Subwoofer level. However, keep in mind this could affect how extended the bass is, resulting in less thump or rumble.

    I hope this answers your question.

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    Hello beardontwalk123, During calibration, the only settings we use are the Bass and Treble adjustments, with the goal of making the slope as flat as possible without negatively impacting the score. As you can see from the graph, even after calibration and bringing bass down to -8, the Vizio elevate still retains a bassy sound profile. Whether or not you will enjoy this profile is up to personal preference and the type of content you will be listening to. If you feel like the bass is still too prevalent, you could reduce the Bass all the way to -10 and adjust the Subwoofer level. However, keep in mind this could affect how extended the bass is, resulting in less thump or rumble. I hope this answers your question.

    Thanks for the reply, I think so, just trying to understand how to get the best balanced sound out of the sound bar. When I set the bar to your recommended setting of -8 Bass and +6 Treble and take an SPL meter to the sub it reads way above the 75 dB I measure everything else to which is why I ask. When I also lower the Sub to -9 on top of the -8 Bass adjustment i get like an 80 dB reading from my SPL, I just wonder how it affects everything else reducing the Sub to -9. So I guess what I’m asking is what does Bass -8, Treble +6, and Sub -9 look like in regards to accuracy and am I extremely limiting the Sub at these settings?

    I’m guessing you recommend keeping Sub at 0 for the best accuracy correct? If that’s the case then I’m probably limiting the Sub quite a bit. My only concern is the best flat EQ from the bar and Sub, thanks!

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    Thanks for the reply, I think so, just trying to understand how to get the best balanced sound out of the sound bar. When I set the bar to your recommended setting of -8 Bass and +6 Treble and take an SPL meter to the sub it reads way above the 75 dB I measure everything else to which is why I ask. When I also lower the Sub to -9 on top of the -8 Bass adjustment i get like an 80 dB reading from my SPL, I just wonder how it affects everything else reducing the Sub to -9. So I guess what I’m asking is what does Bass -8, Treble +6, and Sub -9 look like in regards to accuracy and am I extremely limiting the Sub at these settings? I’m guessing you recommend keeping Sub at 0 for the best accuracy correct? If that’s the case then I’m probably limiting the Sub quite a bit. My only concern is the best flat EQ from the bar and Sub, thanks!

    Hi again beardontwalk123,

    The purpose of the preliminary calibration is to flatten the curve without impacting sound quality or the overall score for frequency response. It does not represent the best possible sound achievable with the soundbar. Rather, it is an improvement on the original frequency response that users will easily be able to achieve with simple Bass and Treble adjustments, something we suspect most people will be using. It is possible that further tweaks, such as lowering the sub volume, could improve sound quality even further, but we are not sure.

    As was mentioned in the previous comment, it’s likely that lowering the Sub level will negatively impact bass extension. It will be a tradeoff between a flatter curve and bass extension, but I’m not certain by how much exactly. I’d suggest lowering the Sub level in increments, that way you can determine what works best for you.

    Have a good day!

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    Hello there! I noticed this soundbar has a lower score than the Vizio M series Elevate despite this one being the more premium option. You guys even recommend it over the M series elevate in the comparison and say it’s atmos performance is better yet it has a lower atmos score from you guys than the M series elevate as well. So I am confused which to consider. Also do the upfiring speakers on the rear satellites of the elevate not make a difference since it also scored worse in surround? Sorry just curious!

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    Hello there! I noticed this soundbar has a lower score than the Vizio M series Elevate despite this one being the more premium option. You guys even recommend it over the M series elevate in the comparison and say it’s atmos performance is better yet it has a lower atmos score from you guys than the M series elevate as well. So I am confused which to consider. Also do the upfiring speakers on the rear satellites of the elevate not make a difference since it also scored worse in surround? Sorry just curious!

    I’ll link to a side-by-side comparison of the two bars so you can get a better sense of why we recommend the Elevate over the M Series Elevate here. It’s important to keep in mind that our scores don’t tell the whole story, especially when you’re dealing with more subjective measurements like soundstage. Currently, a soundstage score isn’t implemented as part of our Atmos testing, which is why you see the discrepancy despite the fact that the Elevate performs better. We’re actually looking to change this with some future test bench updates, but for now, we use the text in the reviews to explain the difference.

  10. Update: We’ve converted this review to Test Bench Update 1.3. If applicable, we’ve retested stereo sound based on the manufacturer’s recommendations. Additionally, we’ve expanded our audio latency tests to the following boxes: Audio Latency: ARC, Audio Latency: HDMI In, and Audio Latency: Optical. You can see the full changelog here.

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