The Vizio V Series V51x-J6 is a budget-friendly 5.1 soundbar and the next generation of the Vizio V Series V51-H6. It's one of the few setups in its price range that includes discrete satellites, which you can place around your couch to get a more immersive surround sound. Its subwoofer is a little smaller than its predecessor, but it's still designed to pack a punch with sound effects and bass-heavy tunes. Plus, you can plug in a voice assistant device to control the bar with your voice, which is a cool touch.
Our Verdict
The Vizio V51x-J6 is satisfactory for mixed usage. Dialogue in TV shows and podcasts is clear and accurate in the mix right out of the box, and voices and other instruments in your favorite music are even and balanced. A little extra punch in the bass range adds some excitement to the mix. It's also a great choice for 5.1 surround sound formats like Dolby Digital, thanks to its discrete satellites. However, without Atmos support, you can't take advantage of some of the most immersive formats on the market.
- Bass and treble adjustments.
- Gets loud.
- No graphic EQ.
- No height channels.
The Vizio V51x-J6 is good for dialogue-centric content like TV shows and podcasts. Since it's a 5.1 setup, there's a discrete center channel that's designed to improve vocal reproduction. Dialogue is clearly reproduced, so it's easy to follow the action on-screen. Plus, its dialogue enhancement tool is on hand if you want to make voices more crisp. However, you're limited to Bluetooth connectivity if you want to stream podcasts to the bar.
- Supports Bluetooth.
- Dialogue enhancement feature.
- Doesn't support Wi-Fi, Chromecast built-in, or Apple AirPlay connectivity.
The Vizio V51x-J6 is decent for music. Voices and lead instruments in your favorite tracks are reproduced with clarity right out of the box, making it suitable for listening to lots of different genres. There's a little extra punch in the high bass, too, which adds some excitement to the mix. You can even customize its output by adjusting its bass and treble. That said, there's slightly less low bass than last year's model, which is disappointing if you love to feel the rumble in genres like EDM and hip-hop.
- Bass and treble adjustments.
- Gets loud.
- No graphic EQ.
The Vizio V51x-J6 is fair for movies. It's one of the only bars in its price range with discrete satellite speakers, which are a great tool for enhancing the cinematic feel of your favorite movies. Sound effects stretch into the space around you, just like in the movie theater, and dialogue and other effects are clearly reproduced. That said, you can't take advantage of the most immersive height formats like Dolby Atmos, which is disappointing if you watch a lot of content on streaming platforms.
- Gets loud.
- No height channels.
Changelog
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Updated Oct 24, 2024:
We've added a comparison between this soundbar and the Vizio SV510X-0806 in Audio Format Support: ARC/eARC.
- Updated Sep 03, 2024: Updated Stereo Dynamics, Stereo Frequency Response With Preliminary Calibrations, Surround 5.1 results with new methodology from Test Bench 1.3 and accompanying text. Added text to Audio Latency: ARC, and Audio Latency: Optical boxes.
- Updated Aug 28, 2024: 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.
- Updated Jan 05, 2024: Added market comparison for the Hisense AX5125H in the Height (Atmos) box.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
This soundbar comes in Black, and you can see the label for the model we tested here.
If you come across another version, let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
Popular Soundbar Comparisons
The Vizio V51x-J6 is a 2021 soundbar that's the next generation of the Vizio V Series V51-H6. It lets you plug in a third-party voice assistant-enabled device and control it with your voice. However, it doesn't support Dolby Atmos content and lacks a Full HDMI In port.
See our recommendations for the best 5.1 soundbars, the best budget soundbars, and the best Vizio soundbars.
The Vizio V Series V51x-J6 and the Vizio SV510X-0806 are both compact 5.1 soundbar setups. Overall, the 2024 Vizio SV510X-0806 offers a bit more bang for your buck due to its Atmos compatibility, improved surrounds performance, and ability to integrate with Vizio TVs. The older Vizio V Series V51x-J6 model features optical support, though, which is a bonus for older TV owners. Beyond this, there's not much to split the two when it comes to performance, so both are viable choices.
The Vizio V Series V51-H6 is a bit better for mixed usage than the Vizio V Series V51x-J6. The V51-H6 gets louder, and it reproduces a more extended low bass, meaning you can feel more thump and rumble in your audio.
The Hisense AX5125H is better than the Vizio V Series V51x-J6 since it supports Dolby Atmos content, which is increasingly common on various streaming platforms and Blu-rays. The Hisense is better built, too, with 4k passthrough, which is helpful for gaming. However, if you don't watch much Atmos content, you may find that the Vizio is the better deal of the two since its surround performance is quite similar to the Hisense.
The Samsung HW-Q950A is a better soundbar than the Vizio V Series V51x-J6. The Samsung is an 11.1.4 setup that supports Dolby Atmos content and offers built-in voice assistant support, unlike the Vizio. It's better built, with better soundstage and surround performances. It also comes with more sound enhancement features, like room correction and a graphic EQ, and it can get louder.
The Vizio V Series V51x-J6 is better for mixed usage than the LG SP7Y. The Vizio comes with discrete surround speakers, so it offers better surround performance. It also reproduces a more extended low bass, and you can connect voice assistant-enabled third-party devices via its AUX In port. The LG is better built, has a better soundstage, and has a Full HDMI In port.
The Vizio V Series V51x-J6 is a better soundbar than the Vizio V Series V21x-J8. The V51x-J6 comes with discrete satellite speakers, so it offers better surround performance. It also has a more neutral sound profile and less compression at max volume. Thanks to its 5.1 setup, it has better center channel performance, too.
The Vizio M Series M512a-H6 is better than the Vizio V Series V51x-J6. The M Series is a better-built setup that supports Dolby Atmos content. It has a better soundstage and performance and can reproduce a more extended low bass. However, the V Series has better surround performance.
The Sonos Arc is better for mixed usage than the Vizio V Series V51x-J6. The Sonos is better built and supports Dolby Atmos content. It also has a room correction feature and better soundstage performance. It has built-in voice assistant support, though you'll have to purchase a separate third-party device to use voice assistants with the Vizio. However, the Vizio comes with EQ presets.
The Vizio M Series M51a-H6 is a better soundbar than the Vizio V Series V51x-J6. The M Series supports Dolby Atmos content and offers better surround performance. It also reproduces a more even midrange. Unlike the V Series, it has a Full HDMI In port supporting high-quality passthrough. However, only the V Series has an AUX In port for voice assistant-enabled devices.
The Vizio M Series M51ax-J6 is a better soundbar than the Vizio V Series V51x-J6. The M Series reproduces a more extended low bass and offers a better surround performance. Unlike the V Series, it supports Dolby Atmos content and has a Full HDMI In port.
The Vizio V Series V51x-J6 is better than the Sony HT-S400. Unlike the Sony, the Vizio is a 5.1 setup with discrete satellites, so it has better surround sound performance and a clearer center channel. It reproduces more low bass to add more punch to action-packed scenes. The Vizio soundbar has more sound enhancement features and DTS support, which the Sony soundbar lacks.
Test Results
The Vizio V Series 5.1 soundbar is a simple soundbar. It's mostly plastic, with a thin fabric fitted around the front and the sides. Like the Vizio V Series V51-H6, the control buttons are on top of the bar.
The sub is mostly melamine and sits on four plastic pegs with rubber grips. There's a port on the back, and the speaker is underneath.
The satellites have a similar design to those of the Vizio V Series V51-H6. They're mostly plastic, and there's fabric on the front and the sides. They don't have a power cable, so you only need to wire them to the sub to get them to work.
This soundbar is a touch wide, so it doesn't fit between the legs of most 55-inch TV stands. That said, it's not very tall, so it shouldn't block your screen unless your TV sits flush on your table.
The sub is a bit smaller than the sub for the Vizio V Series V51-H6. It's shorter in height than the average desktop PC, so you should have lots of flexibility when placing it in your setup.
The satellites aren't very big. That said, you need to wire them to the subwoofer to get them to work, which may limit where you place them in your setup.
This setup has a decent build quality. The bar and the satellites are mostly matte-textured plastic, while the subwoofer is made of melamine. Overall, the materials feel solid and durable. However, the fabric covering the front and sides of the bar and satellites seems like it could rip or get dirty easily, so you should take caution when handling them.
- User manuals
- Wall mount template
- Wall mount brackets with screws
- Optical cable (3.9 ft / 1.2m)
- HDMI cable (6.2 ft / 1.9m)
- 2x surround speaker audio cables (26 ft / 8.0m)
- Power cable for sub (8.5 ft / 2.6m)
- Power cable for bar (5.2 ft / 1.5m)
- Remote with batteries (2x AAA)
This soundbar has a decent stereo frequency response. Overall, it has a pretty even response, especially in the mids, where most voices and lead instruments are reproduced. As a result, the bar is suitable for listening to most types of audio content. Plus, there's extra punch and thump in the low-bass through the high-bass range to help bring genres like EDM and hip-hop to life.
With its bass set to '-4' and treble at '0', this soundbar offers a more neutral, balanced sound profile suitable for lots of different types of audio content without overwhelming listeners who don't like a lot of extra punch in the bass range.
This soundbar has a decent stereo soundstage performance. The soundstage is perceived to be a little bit wider than the bar itself, though it doesn't have any tricks to make it seem wider than that. Also, its focus is decent. Sound objects like voices and instruments seem to come from a pinpoint location most of the time, though they may jump to a more general area sometimes.
The bar gets loud without a lot of compression at max volume, so you can crank up the volume to fill large spaces and crowded parties without distorting your audio.
This 5.1 setup has a discrete center channel, which is designed to improve the quality of vocal reproduction in your audio. This channel's frequency response is really even, too, especially in the mids where voices are reproduced. As a result, dialogue is clear and accurate in the mix.
The Vizio V Series 5.1 Soundbar has a decent surround performance. It has two discrete satellite speakers, so surround objects like voices are clearly and accurately represented in the sound image. Audio seems like it's coming from all around you rather than just from speakers placed in front of you. The frequency response is quite bass-heavy, so your audio content may be boomy or muddy with veiled details.
This soundbar is a good alternative to other models like the Hisense AX5125H if you don't watch a lot of Dolby Atmos content.
The Vizio V Series 5.1 Soundbar has a decent selection of sound enhancement features. Unlike more premium setups on the market, it doesn't have a room correction tool, so it sounds a bit different depending on the acoustics of your space. That said, you can make up for it a bit with its bass and treble adjustments. There are also some EQ presets to customize its sound: 'Direct', 'Game', 'Movie', and 'Music'. You can also set its 'Surround' feature to 'On', 'Off', 'Front', and 'Dual' for a more immersive sound.
The Vizio V Series 5.1 Soundbar comes with some physical inputs. There's an AUX port, which is handy if you want to wire older devices to the bar to playback audio. However, it lacks a Full HDMI In port, so you can't use it as a hub between different devices. We don't consider it to have a true HDMI Out port since it lacks a Full HDMI In, and you can't plug in two HDMI devices at the same time.
The Vizio V Series 5.1 Soundbar has passable audio format support via ARC. It supports Dolby Digital content, which is the most common surround sound format for streaming platforms and Blu-rays. However, it doesn't support lossless or object-based formats like Dolby Atmos. You can always check out the similarly spec'd, yet Atmos-compatible Vizio SV510X-0806 instead.
The Vizio V Series 5.1 Soundbar supports both Dolby Digital and DTS content via Optical. You can often find these formats on streaming platforms and Blu-ray discs.
Its latency is decent via ARC. The soundbar only supports Dolby Digital through ARC, and the latency is a bit too high to watch content without some lipsync mismatch. Some TVs and apps can compensate for that.
The Vizio V Series V51x-J6 soundbar has alright Optical latency performance. PCM Dolby Digital content over an Optical connection is a bit too high to view video without lipsync mismatch, so video and audio will have perceptible lag. Dolby Digital's lag is worse than two-channel PCM's lag. However, some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience may vary.
The soundbar lacks a Full HDMI In port, so it doesn't support high-quality passthrough.
You can wirelessly stream audio from mobile devices like your phone to the bar via Bluetooth.
This soundbar doesn't have a display, though it does have a series of vertical lights on the left side that flash depending on the settings you adjust. Also, when you select one of the EQ presets, there's some audio feedback.
On top of the bar, there are physical controls that let you power the bar on/off, change the input, activate Bluetooth pairing mode, and adjust the volume.
The remote is fairly simple and lets you control the bar's settings. However, it isn't a universal remote, so you can't use it to control your TV.
The Vizio V Series 5.1 Soundbar doesn't have built-in voice assistant support. However, there's an AUX In port on the bar that lets you plug in a voice assistant device like an Amazon Echo. We don't consider this built-in support since you need to purchase a third-party device to get it to work.