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Bose Solo 5 vs Vizio V Series V21-H8

Bose Solo 5

68 reviews

View Product Details

Vizio V Series V21-H8

Vizio V Series V21-H8

121 reviews

View Product Details

Best Soundbar Under $200 For Bass

RTINGS · The 5 Best Budget Soundbars

Best Cinematic Experience On a Tight Budget

TechGearLab · Best Sound Bar of 2022

Great sound quality

Gets loud without distorting

Compact size is perfect for smaller rooms

Easy to set up and use

Affordable price point

Great sound quality for the price

Powerful bass and expressive midrange

Easy to set up

Fast UI performance

Compact size, great for small spaces

Not compatible with HDMI

No surround sound capabilities

Limited connectivity options

Not ideal for linking other devices via Bluetooth

Reports of sound quality issues after some time of use

Remote can be difficult to open

Verdict

The Bose Solo 5 TV Sound System is a great choice for those looking for an entry-level soundbar with included subwoofer. It has good sound quality and gets loud without distorting. However, it does not have an HDMI connector, which may be a dealbreaker for some users.

Verdict

The Vizio V Series V21-H8 is a great soundbar for the price, offering powerful bass and an expressive midrange. It is easy to set up and has a fast UI performance. However, it can be difficult to link other devices via Bluetooth and there have been reports of sound quality issues after some time of use.

Reviews by Topic

Our analysis shows how reviewers feel about different topics. Please note these are not full reviews.

Speaker System

youtube

Bose Solo 5 Soundbar Review

It's very very clear, and actually i listened to this one uh, the bose five solo compared to the bose tv speakers and the bose tv uh did not sound as ...

Positive

Vizio V21 review: Best soundbar under $200

5mm analog input and another, all-new 3.5mm connection for your "voice assistant speaker" (read: Amazon Echo Dot). Ty Pendlebury/CNETThe idea behind the "VA" (voice activated) input is noble enough. You connect your smart speaker to this port and the soundbar switches to the input automatically when it hears a command

Positive

Speakers

What Soundbar is expandable to a 5.1 surround sound system?

Bose and Sonos are the brands, whose products consistently can be upgraded to a 5.1 systems (exceptional the Bose Solo 5 and the Bose TV Speaker). With LG and Samsung it is really dependent on the specific soundbar.

Positive

reddit.com/r/Soundbars

The Roku Smart Soundbar seemed like the perfect solution. I used it for a few weeks and ended up returning it. Here is what I experienced:

Positive

reddit.com/r/Roku

Connectivity

Left as an Exercise for the Student

The problem: The manual control is incomprehensible and the instructions seem to have been written as some MIT Problem Set, with expectations that the "student" can find out how to solve all the problems, and there are a lot of problems. First, before getting a speaker to work, you have to sync up the TV set, the Cable sets, etc which is near impossible if the code is not there. So try this one on for an hour. Second, assuming you got past step one you try to figure out if this controller replaces your cable controller, which it does not, since you cannot change channels, period

Do Vizio soundbars support changing the volume using Google Home?

I have v21 h8 and it is been very difficult to set up. Assistant can link via Bluetooth but then you cannot have other devices link to the soundbar. There is voice assistant aux in but sadly no ga gh product has 3.5 mm jack

Negative

reddit.com/r/googlehome

Remote Control

youtube

Bose Solo 5 Soundbar Review - YouTube

I programmed my Apple TV remote to control the sound on here too. Really darn simple. So I'm keeping this remote though because I love this remote. Bu...

Positive

Vizio Customer Service scores ZERO

After extensive research for soundbar/subwoofer ordered a Vizio. Pre-read quick guide prior to arrival. Got all & was baffled at remote being impossible to open, so after googling & still couldn’t open, called Vizio. Connection to wherever the call goes to was hardly audible, finally Rep suggested I use a small coin to pry the remote open, which I gently did, and the the ENTIRE remote fell apart with pieces flying everywhere, and her suggestion was then for me to just not use the remote

Sound Quality

Easy to install and quality sound (UPDATED Jan 2021)

Install was super simple since there are only two cords: the power cord and the optical cable that goes from the speaker to the TV. It doesn’t have the same punch as a surround system with a subwoofer, but it’s definitely better than the internal speaker. Great value, especially for a Bose product.

youtube

DO NOT BUY - VIZIO V-Series 2.1 Home Theater Sound Bar With Wireless Subwoofer - Model V21-H8

It's the model number v821-h8 and it was at a pretty nice deal actually 159.99, not necessarily a steal of a deal based upon what costco can often giv...

Neutral

Features

youtube

Bose Solo 5 Soundbar 2022 Review

, And one really cool feature about this remote control is it does support over 1800 different third party codes from all AV devices, which makes it p...

Positive

youtube

VIZIO V21-H8 36" SOUNDBAR W/ SUBWOOFER | COSTCO

Wireless subwoofer that looks top of the line, looks modern and small. You can place it anywhere in that room as well. Has the better options than the...

Positive

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