Vizio V Series V51-H6 Soundbar Review

The Vizio V51-H6 is a simple, sleek soundbar. It's mostly made of plastic, with a thin fabric covering the front and the sides of the bar.

The sub is mostly made of plastic. It sits on four plastic pegs with rubber grips. There's a port on the back of the sub, and the speaker is underneath.

The Vizio V51-H6 comes with two satellite speakers, which are mostly made of plastic with fabric covering the front and sides.

The bar isn't too wide, but it might not fit between the legs of a 55 inch TV. However, it isn't very tall, so it shouldn't block your TV screen unless your TV sits flush on the table.

The subwoofer is similar to the subwoofer for the Vizio V Series V21-H8, and it's shorter in height than the average desktop PC.

The satellites aren't very big. They don't need to be wired to a power source, but they need to be connected to the sub to function.

The back of the bar has two openings for the input ports. There are also universal holes underneath the bar that let you wall-mount it.

The port is located on the back of the subwoofer. The power cable connects at the bottom, and there are also two jacks for the two satellites.

The satellites have a plain back. There's a connection for the cable that connects to the sub. You can also mount these satellites to the wall using the wall-mount screws and bracket included, but you'll have to purchase a bracket screw separately.

The Vizio V51-H6 has a decent build quality. The components are mostly made of plastic, which feels solid and durable. However, the thin fabric on the front and sides of the bar and the satellite speakers seems like it could get dirty or rip easily.

• Manuals
• Wall-mount template
• Wall-mount brackets with screws
• 4x cable ties
• Optical cable
• HDMI cable
• 2x surround speaker audio cables
• 2x power cables for sub and bar
• 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable
• Stereo RCA to 3.5mm cable
• Remote with 2x AAA batteries

Update 02/22/2022: There've been quite a few reports of the subwoofer emitting a rumbling sound when audio is played at lower levels or when no sound is being played at all. The setup was retested at different volume levels, and with every EQ mode, via Bluetooth and ARC. However, the issue never presented itself on our unit, even after updating the setup's firmware to its latest version (2.0.3.0).

The Vizio V51-H6 has a great stereo frequency response. It has a pretty neutral sound profile suitable for listening to many different types of audio content, and there's a little extra boom in the bass range. Thanks to its dedicated subwoofer, it can accurately reproduce the deep thump and rumble found in bass-heavy music and action-packed movies. There are also some bass and treble adjustments so you can customize its sound.

With calibration, the Vizio V51-H6 has an impressive stereo frequency response. With its bass set to '-2', it has a very neutral, balanced sound profile that's suitable for listening to lots of different types of audio content. Its bass range is more balanced, so there's less boom in the bass.

The Vizio V51-H6 has a decent stereo soundstage. The soundstage is about as wide as the bar itself, but it doesn't have any tricks to make it sound wider than that. Its focus is good, so objects like voices and instruments seem to come from an accurate, pinpoint location rather than a general area. For a soundbar with a better stereo soundstage, check out the Vizio M Series M512a-H6.

The Vizio V51-H6 has excellent stereo dynamics performance. This bar can get loud without many compression artifacts present, making it suitable for large rooms and crowded environments like parties.

The Vizio V51-H6 has a decent THD performance. At normal listening volumes, the THD falls mostly within good limits, resulting in clean and pure sound reproduction. At max volume, there's a small jump in distortion, especially in the bass range. However, this distortion may not be audible with real-life content.

The Vizio V51-H6 has a great center channel performance. This 5.1 setup has a discrete center channel, so voices are anchored to an accurate, pinpoint location in the soundstage. Its frequency response is slightly bass-heavy, but you likely don't notice it since there usually isn't a lot of bass reproduced on the center channel.

The Vizio V Series 5.1 soundbar has a fair surrounds performance. It comes with two discrete satellite speakers, so sound objects like voices are clearly and accurately reproduced in the soundstage. Audio seems like it's coming from all around you, rather than just from speakers placed in front of you. Unfortunately, the frequency response is quite bass-heavy, resulting in a muddy, boomy sound that's overwhelming for some listeners.

If you want a 5.1 soundbar that supports Atmos, check out the Vizio M Series M51a-H6.

The Vizio V51-H6 has a decent selection of sound enhancement features. It offers four EQ presets to help you adjust the bar's sound to your liking: 'Movie', 'Music', 'Direct', and 'Game'. There's a dialogue enhancement feature to help make voices sound clearer and more crisp and a TruVolume feature that provides a consistent volume level across different programs. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a room correction feature, so it may sound different depending on the room you use it in.

The Vizio V51-H6 has several inputs, including a 3.5mm AUX port, which allows you to connect older devices to the bar using a wired connection. However, there isn't a Full HDMI In port, so you can't use the bar as a hub between your devices.

Update 07/20/2021: Following user feedback, we retested this soundbar using our new testing methodology. We confirmed that this soundbar doesn't support Dolby Digital+ via ARC.

Over its HDMI ARC port, this bar supports some of the most common formats for streaming platforms and Blu-ray discs, including Dolby Digital and DTS. However, it doesn't support lossless or object-based formats like Dolby Atmos.

The Vizio V51-H6 supports Dolby Digital, the most common surround sound format often found on Blu-rays and streaming platforms. It also supports DTS content.

The Vizio V51-H6 has an excellent latency performance. It has fairly low latency, so the audio you hear appears in sync with the video you see. As a result, it's suitable for watching videos over these connections. It's important to remember that some apps and TVs can compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience may vary.

The Vizio V51-H6 supports Bluetooth connectivity, so you can wirelessly stream audio from your mobile device to the bar.

The Vizio V51-H6 doesn't have an HDMI In port, so it doesn't support 4k passthrough.

You can connect the bar to the sub wirelessly. You just need to plug it into an outlet to get it to work.

The satellites connect to the subwoofer using a wired connection. They need to be close enough to the sub to be connected by a wire, which may limit where you can place the satellites in your room.

The Vizio V51-H6 doesn't have a display, but there's a set of vertical lights on the left side of the bar that flashes depending on your settings. There's also audio feedback when you select one of the four preset modes.

There are a few buttons on the top of the bar that let you control its basic functions. You can power the bar on and off, change the input, activate Bluetooth pairing mode, and adjust the volume.

The remote is fairly simple, and it lets you control all of the bar's settings. There's even a display screen, unlike the remote for the Vizio V Series V21-H8.

Update 12/10/2021: The Vizio V Series V51-H6 doesn't have built-in voice assistant support. However, you can connect it with a third-party voice assistant device to control it with your voice. The manufacturer says that it supports both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant-enabled devices.

The Vizio V51-H6 comes with an eco-power mode that powers down the bar after a period of inactivity. You can also use your TV remote to control the bar's basic functions as it has HDMI CEC support.