We've currently tested 21 Vizio soundbars. The brand makes a wide variety of soundbars with a good price-to-performance ratio. Their products often don't look or feel as premium as models from competing brands; however, you still usually get a good amount of features, like sound customization options, different wireless playback options, and even Atmos support. While their soundbars tend to sound well-balanced, some models handle stereo dynamics better than others. That said, they still tend to provide good value for the price. Below, you'll find the best Vizio sound bars we've tested.
Updates
- 12/16/2022 Vizio V Series V51x-J6 updated
- 11/11/2022 Vizio M Series M215aw-K6 reviewed
- 10/20/2022 Vizio V Series V214x-K6 reviewed
- 09/27/2022 Vizio M Series M213ad-K8 reviewed
- 09/27/2022 Vizio M Series Elevate M512E-K6 reviewed
Best Vizio Soundbars
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Best Vizio Soundbar
Mixed Usage7.9Dialogue/TV Shows8.2Music7.8Movies7.8Channels5.1.4The best Vizio sound bar we've tested is the Vizio Elevate. This premium 5.1.4 setup offers a unique design with sides that automatically rotate upwards when you watch Dolby Atmos or DTS:X content. As a result, audio stretches all around you when you watch your favorite movies, with a wide soundstage that makes it feel like you're sitting right in the middle of the action from the comfort of your couch. Its subwoofer adds the rumble in action-packed scenes. Its rear speakers have up-firing drivers, making it seem like sound effects come from around you. For example, helicopters on screen seem like they're flying right overhead from one pinpoint location to another. That said, you have to wire the rear speakers to the subwoofer to get them to work, adding a lot of extra cables to your living room.
The bar's versatile performance makes it a great choice for listening to music and TV shows. Out-of-the-box, you get a bass-heavy sound that brings the energy to bass-centric genres like hip-hop and EDM, so you feel the thump and rumble while voices and lead instruments remain clear and detailed in the mix. There are some sound enhancement features to help you adjust its sound to your liking, though it lacks room correction like some of the more premium bars on the market. As a result, its sound can vary from room to room, but you can always use its bass and treble adjustments to get the best possible sound.
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Best Mid-Range Vizio Soundbar
Mixed Usage8.2Dialogue/TV Shows8.4Music8.0Movies8.1Channels5.1.2If you're looking for a more affordable alternative, check out the Vizio M Series M512a-H6. It's a versatile 5.1.2 soundbar, making it a great choice for everything from music to movies to TV shows. It's also one of the only bars in its price range that offers discrete rear speakers, improving its surround sound performance by bringing a more clear and real feel to your favorite movies. Like the Vizio Elevate, it supports many different audio formats commonly found on streaming platforms, including Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital. The resulting sound is quite immersive, with a wide and expansive soundstage that brings the action right to your living room—though it lacks rotating sides and doesn't have up-firing drivers on its satellites, so it's not quite as great as the Elevate.
Still, for its price, it's a solid option. Music and TV shows are accurately reproduced, too. Its dedicated subwoofer reproduces the thump and rumble in the bass range with accuracy and detail, and vocals and lead instruments are clear and present in the mix. You'll find a similar selection of sound enhancement features as the Elevate, with bass and treble adjustments that let you control the bar's sound. It's a great mid-range pick that can please lots of different listeners.
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Best Budget Vizio Soundbar
Mixed Usage7.6Dialogue/TV Shows8.3Music7.8Movies7.0Channels5.1If you're on an even tighter budget, consider the Vizio V Series V51-H6. This 5.1 setup is a more affordable alternative to the Vizio M Series M512a-H6, and it's still a great choice for listening to everything from music to movies. Thanks to its dedicated subwoofer, you enjoy a deep and rumbling low-bass that brings action-packed scenes in your favorite shows to life, while dialogue remains clear and present in the mix. The two satellites included with purchase spread sound effects throughout your room, meaning you get an immersive feel with surround sound content.
Compared to the M Series, however, this soundbar doesn't support Dolby Atmos content, which is more and more common on streaming platforms and Blu-rays alike. However, if you don't watch a lot of Atmos content, you may find this bar is a better value overall. After all, it has many of the same sound enhancement features as the M Series models, like bass and treble adjustments to customize its sound. It gets pretty loud, too, so it can fill larger, more open rooms in your home with sound. For the price, it's a solid pick.
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Best Vizio Soundbar Without Speakers
Mixed Usage7.0Dialogue/TV Shows7.7Music7.4Movies6.3Channels2.1If you don't have space in your living room for satellite speakers, check out the Vizio V Series V21-H8 instead. It's a simple, budget-friendly pick that fits easily into your existing space. Given its 2.1 setup, it's ideal for listening to stereo content, which includes most music and TV shows. Its dedicated subwoofer adds lots of thump and punch to your audio, so you get a bass-heavy sound out-of-the-box. Still, you don't have any trouble following the dialogue in your favorite shows, and the instruments in music are clear and present in the mix. If you prefer a more neutral sound, its bass and treble adjustments let you customize its performance.
This bar also supports 5.1 surround sound formats like Dolby Digital and DTS, commonly found on many streaming platforms and Blu-ray discs. Since it's a 2.1 setup, it has to downmix this content into stereo to play it. That means it doesn't sound as clear or real as our top picks. Sound effects seem like they're coming from a speaker placed in front of you, and the action doesn't expand around you. If you want a better surround sound performance, it's worth upgrading to a setup with rear speakers like the Vizio V Series V51-H6, but if you want a simple bar to enhance vocal-centric TV shows, the V21-H8 remains a good choice.
Compared to other brands
- Generally good value for the price. Vizio is well-known for delivering the latest technology at a reasonable price, and their soundbars are no exception. The brand makes some of the best 5.1 soundbars we've tested, especially for the price.
- Good low-bass performance. Vizio's soundbars have a lot of thump and rumble in the low-bass. They bring an impressive low-frequency extension, making them ideal for listening to action-packed movies as well as bass-centric music genres. This is true even with more budget-friendly models, which makes them stand out from other soundbar manufacturers.
- Voice assistant support available. While even Vizio's most premium models don't come with integrated voice assistant support, you can still control them with your voice using a third-party device. If you own a Google Home or an Amazon Echo, you can plug them into Vizio's soundbars through the included AUX VA In port to use the voice assistants.
- Build quality not quite on par with more premium brands. Although this won't come as much of a surprise given the pricing of most Vizio soundbars, it's still worth noting that even their pricier options don't look as well-built as competing models from other brands. On the upside, Vizio's cheaper models do feel better built than what some budget brands provide.
- Inconsistent stereo dynamics performance. While some of Vizio's soundbars can get plenty loud without much compression, other models tend to compress at higher volumes or simply don't get very loud. There doesn't seem to be a correlation between price and performance with stereo dynamics, either. This inconsistency isn't ideal since it makes it hard to know whether or not you can expect good dynamics from future releases.
- Satellites have to be wired to the subwoofer. Generally speaking, the Vizio soundbars that come with satellites have a slightly inconvenient design quirk. Since the satellites have to be wired to the subwoofer to work, you're limited in where you place them in your room. Plus, all the extra wires can easily get tangled, which can be annoying, especially since other manufacturers have wireless satellites as an alternative.
Vizio vs Samsung
You can find budget-friendly and more premium soundbar models from both Samsung and Vizio. Samsung's offerings shine in the premium category, and generally, their products offer more sound enhancement features like graphic EQs so you can customize their sound. Meanwhile, some of the best Vizio soundbars are available in the budget category, as their cheaper models have impressive low-frequency extensions to bring more bass to the mix.
Vizio vs LG
LG is another popular soundbar brand with a wide array of soundbars available at both budget-friendly and more premium price points. Compared to Vizio, their bars tend to be better built, even at wallet-friendly price points, with more wireless connectivity options as well as integrated voice assistant support. However, their budget models generally don't reproduce as much low-bass as Vizio's.
Vizio makes a ton of different soundbars at various price points. In general, they provide pretty good value for the price, especially if you find an older model on sale. Other popular brands like LG or Samsung tend to follow a pretty tight yearly release schedule, discontinuing prior years' models not long after the new ones come out. However, Vizio is a bit more like Sony in that their soundbars tend to stay on the market for longer. It's not uncommon to see models that are two or even three years old that are still available for purchase. It makes it possible to find some really good deals, especially on models that are soon to be discontinued. While their products tend to look and feel cheaper than competing models from other brands, it's a pretty minor sacrifice for the solid performance you generally get in exchange.
Lineup
Vizio's naming strategy hasn't changed much since they launched their first soundbar, the VSB210WS, in 2009. They use a combination of letters and numbers to designate the soundbar's size and the number of channels. They also add a letter at the end to indicate the release year, starting with the letter 'A' in 2012. 'B' covers both 2013 and 2014, while 'C' is used for 2015, 'D' for 2016, and so forth up to 'K' for 2022.
For example:
- The SB36512-F6 is a 36-inch soundbar with 5.1.2 channels, released in 2018.
- The SB3820-C6 is a 38-inch soundbar with 2.0 channels, released in 2015.
- The M Series M215aw-K6 is a 2.1 soundbar, released in 2022.
Recent Updates
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Feb 28, 2023: Confirmed the accuracy of picks. Minor updates to the text for clarity.
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Nov 04, 2022: No changes in product picks after verifying their accuracy and availability.
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Jul 08, 2022: No changes in product picks after verifying their accuracy and availability.
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Mar 10, 2022: No changes in picks after verifying their accuracy and availability. Minor updates to the text for clarity.
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Dec 10, 2021: Replaced the Vizio M Series M51a-H6 with the Vizio M Series M512a-H6 as 'Best Under $500'.
Conclusion
Vizio is best known for their competitively-priced TVs, and their soundbar division follows suit. They have a wide range of soundbar models at various price points to satisfy all kinds of users. Most of their products provide very good value for the price, and their soundbars are no exception. It's possible to find surprisingly fully-featured models at a relatively low price point, especially when there's a sale. However, their products usually don't look or feel very high-end. If you're not picky about build quality, Vizio soundbars are worth considering.