Vizio M Series M512a-H6 Soundbar Review

The Vizio M512a-H6 is a high-end model released in 2021. It supports Dolby Atmos content, and it offers a better soundstage performance than the Vizio M Series M51a-H6. Its main competitors include the Samsung HW-Q850A, the Vizio V Series V51x-J6, and the Sonos Arc.

The Vizio M512a-H6 has a simple design. It's mostly made of plastic that's draped with fabric. In the middle of the bar, there's a metal grille protecting the two up-firing speakers.

The sub is mostly made of melamine, and the top is made of plastic. It sits on four plastic pegs with rubber grips.

The satellites are mostly made of plastic. There's fabric covering the front and the sides. They need to be wired to the sub to work.

The Vizio M512a-H6 likely won't fit between the legs of a 55" TV stand. That said, it isn't very tall, so it shouldn't block your TV screen unless your TV sits flush on the table.

The sub is the same size as the sub for the Vizio M Series M51a-H6. It's a bit shorter than the average desktop PC.

The satellites are fairly small. They need to be wired to the sub to get them to work, but they don't require a power cable, which is handy.

The back of the bar has two openings for the inputs and the power cable. There are also universal holes on the underside of the bar so you can mount it to your wall. The wall-mounting brackets and screws are included with the bar, which is nice.

The back of the sub has a port. There's also an input for the power cable and two jacks to connect the satellites.

The satellites have a fairly plain back. There's an input for the cable that connects them to the subwoofer. Also, there are proprietary mounting holes so you can mount them to your wall.

The Vizio M512a-H6 has a good build quality. The bar is mostly made of plastic, which feels solid and durable, and there's a metal grille on the top middle of the bar to help protect the up-firing speakers. The sides of the bar are draped with a tight fabric, though this could collect dust easily. The sub is mostly made of melamine with a plastic top. The satellites are also mostly made of plastic, with fabric covering the front and the sides.

• Manuals
• Wall mounting template
• 4x wall mount brackets
• 4x wall mount screws
• 4x cable ties
• Remote with batteries (2xAAA)
• Optical cable
• HDMI cable
• 2x audio cables for surround speakers
• 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable
• Stereo RCA to 3.5mm audio cable
• 2x power cables

Update 09/17/2021: The manufacturer contacted us since they suspected that some of our results were unique to our test unit. In compliance with our out-of-spec policy, we purchased and retested another unit and can confirm that that was the case. We've updated the results for all of our sound tests accordingly.

The Vizio M Series 5.1.2 has a great stereo frequency response. On its default 'Direct' preset, it has a pretty neutral sound profile suitable for listening to most types of audio content. Its dedicated subwoofer helps reproduce an extended low-bass, meaning that you feel the deep thump and rumble in bass-heavy music and action-packed movies. There are EQ presets and bass and treble adjustments so you can customize its sound more to your liking.

The Vizio M Series 5.1.2 comes with bass and treble adjustments so you can customize its sound profile. However, if you prefer a more neutral sound profile, its default settings already have a slope within the ideal range.

The Vizio M Series 5.1.2 Soundbar has an impressive stereo soundstage performance. Its soundstage is perceived to be a bit wider than the bar itself, and its focus is very good. It's easy to pinpoint sound objects like voices and footsteps to an accurate location in the sound image.

The Vizio M Series 5.1.2 has an impressive stereo dynamics performance. The bar gets pretty loud, and there isn't a lot of compression when you push it to max volume. As a result, it's suitable for listeners who like to crank up the volume to fill up large spaces and crowded parties, since your audio remains clean at loud volumes.

The Vizio M Series 5.1.2 Soundbar has a good stereo THD performance. At normal listening volumes, the amount of THD falls within good limits, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction. There's a small jump in THD when the bar is pushed to max volume; however, this can be hard to hear with real-life content.

Update 09/17/2021: We've updated our test results and the text after testing a new unit.

The Vizio M Series Soundbar has an excellent center channel performance. It comes with a discrete center channel which helps to more accurately localize voices within the sound image. It also has a neutral frequency response that's quite balanced in the mid-range, so vocal-heavy content like dialogue is reproduced clearly and accurately.

The Vizio M Series 5.1.2 Soundbar has a good surrounds performance. It comes with discrete surround speakers, so surround objects like voices are clearly and accurately represented in the soundstage. Audio seems to be coming from all around you, rather than just from speakers placed in front of you. Its frequency response is also slightly bass-heavy, so your audio content packs a little extra thump and punch.

Update 09/17/2021: We've updated our test results, as well as the text after testing a new unit.

The Vizio M Series Soundbar has a middling Atmos performance. It comes with two up-firing speakers that bounce sound off the ceiling and back down towards you to create the illusion of height. However, the localization of objects is diffused, especially compared to the discrete localization found with down-firing speakers in home theater setups. That said, the new unit we tested offered a slightly more immersive height performance when its height level was increased, though this isn't part of our testing process.

The Vizio M Series Soundbar has a decent selection of sound enhancement features. You can customize its sound using its EQ presets: 'Direct', 'Movie', 'Music', and 'Game'. There's a dialogue enhancement feature to make voices more clear and crisp, and a night mode feature that helps balance the volume level across different programs. Unfortunately, it lacks more premium sound enhancement features like room correction, so it may sound different depending on the room you're listening in.

The Vizio M512a-H6 comes with several physical inputs. There's a Full HDMI In port, meaning you can use it as a hub between different devices. However, even though the bar comes with a 3.5mm to RCA cable, there isn't an RCA In port, which can be disappointing if you want to use that connection to link your bar to your TV.

The Vizio M Series Sound Bar has incredible audio format support via ARC. It supports all of the formats we test for, including Dolby Digital, which is the most common surround sound format. It also supports lossless and object-based formats like DTS:X and Dolby Atmos.

The Vizio M512a-H6 also has fantastic audio format support via Full HDMI In. It supports Dolby Digital and DTS, which are commonly found on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms. Also, it supports more premium object-based formats like DTS:X.

The Vizio M512a-H6 supports both Dolby Digital and DTS via Optical, handy for listeners who watch lots of Blu-ray discs and content from streaming platforms.

Update 09/17/2021: We've updated our test results after testing a new unit.

The Vizio M512a-H6 has a fair latency performance. It has high latency, so the audio you hear may not sync with the video you see. As a result, it may not be suitable for watching videos and movies over these inputs. That said, some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience may vary.

The Vizio M Series Sound Bar lets you wirelessly stream audio from your mobile devices to the bar via Bluetooth. However, Apple and Google users may be disappointed that it doesn't support Apple AirPlay or Chromecast built-in.

The Vizio M Series Sound Bar can passthrough the highest bandwidth signals. When connected between your PC and your TV, text on the screen appears clear and crisp.

The sub connects to the bar wirelessly. You only need to plug it into a power outlet to get it to work.

The satellites connect to the subwoofer using the included cables. They connect to the bar wirelessly, so you don't need to wire them to a power outlet, which is nice.

This soundbar doesn't have an interface. Instead, there are a series of vertical lights on the left side of the bar that flash different patterns depending on the settings you control. There's also some voice audio feedback when you change between one of the preset modes or change the input.

On top of the bar, there are physical controls that let you power the bar on/off, change the input, activate Bluetooth pairing, and adjust the volume.

The remote is fairly simple and lets you control all of the bar's functions. It even comes with a display screen.

The Vizio M Series Sound Bar has an AUX VA In port that lets you connect voice assistant-enabled devices like an Amazon Echo to the bar. However, this isn't considered built-in support, since it requires that you purchase a third-party device.

The Vizio M Series Sound Bar has an auto-off function that shuts off the bar after a period of inactivity. You can turn this feature on and off by pressing and holding the power and volume down buttons for five seconds.