Vizio V Series V21x-J8 Soundbar Review

This soundbar has a simple, sleek design. It's mostly made of plastic, and there's fabric covering the front and the sides. It sits on four rubber feet. Overall, it looks very similar to the Vizio V Series V21-H8.

The sub is mostly made of melamine and sits on four plastic pegs with rubber grips. The port is located in the rear, and the speaker is underneath.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar is wide, but it should still fit between the legs of most 55-inch TV stands. It also isn't very tall, so it shouldn't obscure your TV screen unless your TV sits flush on your table. If you want a smaller bar, consider the Vizio V Series V214x-K6 instead.

The subwoofer is about the same width as an average desktop PC, but it isn't very tall. It connects to the bar wirelessly, so you just need to plug it into an outlet to get it to work.

The back of the bar has two openings for the power cable and the inputs. There are also universal holes on the underside, so you can mount the bar to the wall using the included wall-mounting kit.

The port is located on the back of the sub. There's also an input for the power cable as well as a pairing button.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar has a decent build quality. The bar is mostly plastic, which feels solid and durable. However, the fabric covering the front and the sides of the bar seems like it could rip or collect dust easily, which is disappointing. That said, the subwoofer's melamine build also seems sturdy. For a better built soundbar, check out the Hisense HS218.

• Manuals
• Wall mount template
• Wall mount brackets with screws
• Optical cable
• HDMI cable
• 2x power cables
• Remote with batteries (2x AAA)

The Vizio V Series 2.1 has a satisfactory stereo frequency response. On its 'Music' preset, it has a bass-heavy sound profile that adds extra punch and boom to your audio. That said, its mid-range is mostly balanced, so voices and lead instruments are mostly clear and detailed. There are also bass and treble adjustments and EQ presets to help you customize its sound.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar has a very good stereo frequency response with calibration. With its bass set to '-5' and its treble set to '1' and on its 'Music' preset, it offers a very neutral, balanced sound profile that's suitable for listening to lots of different types of audio content.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar has a decent stereo soundstage performance. Its soundstage is perceived to be a bit wider than the bar itself. Its focus is good, too, so sound objects like voices can be pinpointed to an accurate location, though it can also sound like a more general area is moving at times.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar has a fair stereo dynamics performance. It can get loud, which is handy for listeners who like to crank up the volume to fill up large spaces and crowded parties. However, there's compression at max volume, especially in the bass range.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 has a decent stereo THD performance. At normal listening volumes, it falls within good limits, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction. There's a jump in THD when the bar is pushed to max volume. That said, THD can be hard to hear with real-life content, so you may not notice it.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar has a middling center channel performance. Due to its 2.1 configuration, it lacks a discrete center channel. Instead, it uses its left and right speakers to simulate a sound in the center. As a result, voices seem to come from a more general area rather than a pinpoint location.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar has a poor surrounds performance. It has to downmix surround content into stereo in order to play it. Unfortunately, this doesn't sound as clear or real as a setup with discrete surround speakers, like the Vizio V Series V51x-J6. Surround objects like voices and footsteps seem like they're coming from speakers placed in front of you rather than from all around you.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar has an okay selection of sound enhancement features. You can customize its sound using its bass and treble adjustments as well as its EQ presets: 'Movie', 'Music', 'Dialogue', and 'Game'. You can also use the TVOL button on the remote to activate the auto-volume mode, which balances the volume level across different programs. That said, it lacks more premium sound enhancement features like a graphic EQ or a room correction feature, so it may sound a bit different depending on the room you're listening in.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 comes with several physical inputs. There's an AUX port, so you can plug in older devices to the bar for audio playback. There's also a USB port so you can listen to music from a thumb drive.

Note: According to our testing methodology, we don't consider this soundbar to have an HDMI Out port. It doesn't have a Full HDMI In port, so users aren't able to plug in two HDMI devices at the same time.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar has good audio format support via ARC. It supports Dolby Digital, which is the most common surround sound format found on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms. That said, it doesn't support eARC, so it doesn't support lossless or object-based formats like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar supports both Dolby Digital and DTS content via Optical. You can commonly find these formats on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar has an impressive latency performance. It has fairly low latency via both ARC and Optical, so the audio you hear is mostly in sync with the video you see. As a result, it's suitable for watching videos over these connections. However, some apps and TVs can compensate for latency differently, so your experience may vary.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 only supports Bluetooth connectivity. You can wirelessly stream audio from your mobile devices to the bar over this connection, but you can't connect devices using Wi-Fi, Chromecast built-in, or Apple AirPlay.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar doesn't have a Full HDMI In port, so it doesn't support high-quality passthrough.

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

The Vizio V Series 2.1 has a series of indicator lights on the left side of the bar. They flash different colors and patterns depending on the input you select. There's also audio feedback when you change between the four EQ preset modes.

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

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar's remote is simple and lets you control the bar's functions. You can adjust the volume, the bass, and the treble, and activate the auto-volume mode.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 has an AUX In port that lets you plug in voice assistant-enabled devices so you can control the bar with your voice. However, we don't consider this as built-in voice assistant support since it requires purchasing a third-party device.

The Vizio V Series 2.1 Sound Bar has an eco-power mode that automatically turns the bar off after a period of inactivity. However, this feature is turned off by default, according to the manual. It also has HDMI CEC support, so you can use your TV remote to control the bar's basic functions.