VIZIO 2.0 Sound Bar with Bluetooth

Sound is good, has Virtual surround sound options and such. Connectivity is good i have it connected to my bluetooth. The major problem though after months of use that makes me want to return it but its too late, is you will always, constantly be turning this stupid speaker back on. After couple mins or so it will shut it self off if theres no sound, so I have to reconnected it back on bluetooth. I do this about 10 times a day Not even exaggerating, I’m constantly pushing the bluetooth button on the soundbar or on my remote. It is annoying as f**. I use mainly bluetooth so not sure if it’ll auto shut off on other connections.

also if there is no sound for couple min, and something comes through it, it will slowly ramp up the volume over a second or two. I guess they do this so you won’t get shock by some sound coming out of nowhere but if you have this connected to like a pc, and your comp will play a quick alert sound, you may not even hear it.

also there is noticeable lag on bluetooth, maybe half a second or so. You get used to it but it is there.

I can’t complain about the sound quality, it is good but that major drawback of it shutting itself off, and I’m constantly reconnecting it throughout the day is a deal killer. Cannot recommend.

**Update:
so its been a good 6months of using this, I found out that you can turn off the auto off feature so I don’t have to deal with the issue of it turning itself off every 5min. The only annoying thing is if you are using this with a PC when the computer makes a quick alert sound or a beep you won’t hear it. When the speaker get some sound it will slowly ramp up the volume, i guess they do that so you won’t get startled. But this will basically ‘mute’ any quick alerts or beeps on your pc.

EDIT: A significant problem is when playing music where that has a lot of space or significant dynamic range with points of low (but not zero) volume level, the soundbar will mute itself completely and not unmute until the level rises. I have verified that this has nothing to to do with the cables and happens on aux input most frequently. This is a rather irksome design flaw.

VIZIO 2.0 Home Theater Sound Bar – SB2020n-J6 20″ version. For me, this sound bar works much better than most others at over twice the price. It is clear, plenty loud and the DTS gives a very wide soundstage. It fits perfectly under a monitor. It has an adequate remote control that allows for selecting the source, the general EQ contours (theater, music, gaming, etc.), treble, bass and volume, DTS and TrueVolume. It has top mounted controls as well.

The remote control settings are mostly cyclic with audible messages (male voice, English) detailing the setting choices made. It flashes a few LED’s to indicate the source. The audible messages are OK but I’d rather not have them and prefer that there be consistent positive visual feedback by temporary LED indications. I guess that there is less product cost to program in a voice than to add such LED’s. In retrospect it was a reasonable design/value choice.

For inputs it has Aux, Optical and Bluetooth that all work perfectly with no problem pairing Bluetooth. The sound quality is essentially identical on all the inputs (not so for many other soundbars). It has an RCA output to drive a subwoofer.

There are a few cons. It does not have HDMI though for me, this is moot, I am using it with a game rig, my graphics card has only one HDMI port which is version 2.1 that I use for the monitor video input. Considering the video bandwidth advantage of the HDMI 2.1 port over DP, in my case, the HDMI port would be wasted on audio. YMMV.

Another minor problem is it doesn’t have a lot of bass and really needs a powered subwoofer, but I have used and tried many sound bars and every one has needed a subwoofer. Since this soundbar doesn’t try to be a subwoofer, it blends well with a quality sub. It results in very seamless transitions and adds a lot of punch which is great for gaming as well as listening to music or watching videos.

A significant problem is when playing music where that has a lot of space or significant dynamic range with points of low (but not zero) volume level, the soundbar will mute itself completely and unmute when the level rises. I have verified that this has nothing to to do with the cables and happens on aux input most frequently. This is rather irksome. You may not notice this if you tend to play the bar loudly.

Except for the annoying muting problem, this sound bar is well worth the $78US I paid for it — a steal, especially for the high quality sound and small size. It easily fits it on my cluttered gaming/work desk (you can hardly tell that it’s there). I am very glad that I ignored the haters and tried it, it works and sounds much better than might be expected for the price, the savings gave me a little more slack to buy a higher quality sub (which will be needed).

I am very impressed by the big sound that’s coming out the tiny box. It even has excellent bass. I don’t think an extra subwoofer is needed. The compact design is perfect for the 32″ TV in my bedroom. Perfect in every way. Very easy setup.

Sounds quality is awesome but lacks eARC connection. Using digital audio cable creates a slight delay in picture/sound sync