Sound quality: LG's SL10YG delivers sound quality that falls in the Fair range, meaning that it has sonic shortcomings that leave a lot to be desired when listening to music but don't rule it out for dialog and movie effects. In the Standard sound effect mode the bass has good impact and goes fairly deep, but is a bit prominent and somewhat boomy. The midrange is somewhat hazy, grainy and congested, has a noticeable plastic resonance, and is slightly echoey. The treble is extended, but is prominent, smeared, and somewhat shrill. While it does a decent job of recovering room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded), that ambience can be slightly obscured by the echoey quality of the midrange. The overall sound is somewhat congested, and the upper midrange/lower treble has an etched quality. When playing back stereo program material the sound field doesn't extend beyond the width of the speaker array and there is not much height and no sense of depth. Compared to the Standard mode all of the Sound Effect settings have noticeable effects; the ASC mode, which also adds a synthesized center channel, sounds less boomy, but more grainy and a bit harsh. The Music mode, which adds a synthesized center channel, sounds somewhat muffled. The Bass Blast synthesizes the side and height channels and sounds bassy, harsh, and loud, and the soundstage gets wider and higher. The Movie mode takes the Bass Blast mode and adds an pronounced echoey quality (think stadium), and makes the soundstage even wider and taller; it extends further beyond the width of the speaker array and has a noticeable "sound bouncing off the ceiling" effect. When Dolby Digital and DTS multi-channel program material is played back in the Standard mode the width and height of the sound stage expands, and depending on the program material extends somewhat beyond the width of the speakers and is decently high. The Music and ASC sound modes sounded very similar to the Standard mode, but the ASC mode was louder and, as with stereo sources, more grainy and a bit harsh. The Bass Blast mode made the sound louder, more bassy, and a bit echoey. The Movie sound mode synthesized the height channels once again, and made the sound much taller, louder, more bassy, and produced the same "sound bouncing off the ceiling" effect it did with stereo material and also made the sound echoey (but the echo wasn't as extreme as with stereo sound sources). When playing Dolby Atmos material the width and height of the sound stage expands and depending on the program material can fill the front end of the room; audio imaging can extend up and above from the front of the room to directly overhead depending on the program material, but there was no side and rear surround effect, and sounds that should have been in the rear and at the sides come from the front. The sound can also get a bit harsh. DTS:X program material provided imaging that was similar to Dolby Atmos, however the sound field that wasn't as wide or tall, that didn't extend overhead, and wasn't as harsh. There was no significant difference in sound quality between the HDMI, optical, Bluetooth, USB, and WiFi inputs; Dolby Atmos and DTS:X program material can only be played through the HDMI input. The system can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Very good overall. Setup: HDMI CEC (LG calls it SIMPLINK) activation and deactivation is done on the connected TV and not on the SL10YG. The instructions that come with this unit refer to on-line instructions. When a HDMI CEC connection is not used the soundbar can be still be set to be controlled by TV remotes from LG and other major brands, and LG Sound Sync provides TV remote volume and mute control of the soundbar via an optical connection when used with compatible LG TVs. Activation and deactivation of these features is quick and easy, but not intuitive so easy to follow instructions in the on-line manual have to be referred to. The system comes with an optical digital audio cable for TV connection, HDMI digital audio/video cable must be purchased separately if you want or need it to connect your TV. Ease of Use: This model has many options that allow it to work seamlessly with your TV - It can be set to respond to the volume and mute commands of HDMI CEC compatible TVs when connected via the HDMI ARC ports with and HDMI cable. It can also be set to respond to the volume and mute commands of TV remotes from many major brands including LG, and to be controlled by LG TV remotes by a proprietary optical connection. Its own physical remote is easy to use. If the soundbar is connected to a network (see the Features setup and ease of use section for details), LG app remotes that operate via WiFi can be downloaded onto Apple or Android mobile devices; we found these remotes to be easy to use and glitch-free. Network operation also allows the soundbar's volume and mute functions to be controlled by Google Assistant voice commands. The soundbar console has the typical power, source, and volume controls as well as a Google action function control that lowers the soundbar's volume and allows the digital voice assistant to execute commands during TV use. The power, and volume controls are marked with commonly used symbols but the source control uses a non-standard label and the Google action control uses an unfamiliar symbol; all controls are on the top front of the console where they are easy to see and access. Although there is no mute control, if the soundbar has been muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. The display is visible from the typical listening position and can be used in conjunction with the app remote screens. It shows on/standby status, has text source selection, mute, and DSP effects mode indicators, and a numeric volume level indicator. It also has a Google Assistant indicator that shows the voice control microphone muting status and flashes to show that a voice command has been received or is being acted on.
Features setup and ease of use: Very good overall. Setup: Network WiFi streaming setup requires a Google Home app download to a mobile device and is straight forward. The setup requires a Google Gmail account; if the user doesn't already have one, setting up the account requires name, birthdate, and gender, so it's more intrusive than the typical soundbar WiFi set up app which asks for any valid email address, location and password. In addition, Google assistant activation is mandatory. The soundbar must be connected to WiFi before any Bluetooth devices can be paired. From there Bluetooth pairing is very easy - if no Bluetooth device has previously been paired or the paired device does not have Bluetooth activated the soundbar is automatically in pairing mode once it has been switched on. Ease of Use: The SL10YG's physical remote is easy to use. After network setup LG app remotes that operate via WiFi can be downloaded on to Apple or Android mobile devices. We found both the general sections (used to control the soundbar like a typical physical remote) and the streaming content player sections (used to play audio streamed from the Internet, the mobile device, or from a computer on your home network) of these app remotes to be easy to navigate, well marked, well organized, and glitch-free. The LG apps can stream audio content from the mobile device it has been downloaded to and from DLNA servers on the same network, otherwise the soundbar relies on Internet service provider Chromecast apps for content streaming. Network setup also enables the SL10YG's built-in Google Assistant digital voice assistant function. Google Assistant voice commands can be used to switch between the soundbar's TV, WiFi, and Bluetooth inputs, control the soundbar's volume and mute functions regardless of the input, switch between streaming services that are connected to the Google account, play and pause Internet streaming services, and skip tracks on non-live Internet streaming services. Voice commands using the "OK Google" wake phrase only work when using the Bluetooth or WiFi inputs, with the other inputs voice commands can only be used after the Google action control on the remote or soundbar console has been pressed. The soundbar console has the typical power, source, and volume controls as well as controls for muting the Google Assistant microphone, and the Google action function that lowers soundbar volume and allows the digital voice assistant to execute commends without saying "OK Google" first. The power, volume, and Google Assistant microphone mute controls are marked with commonly used symbols but the source control uses a non-standard label and the Google action control uses an unfamiliar symbol; all controls are on the top front of the console where they are easy to see and access. Although there is no mute control, if the soundbar has been muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. The display is visible from the typical listening position and can be used in conjunction with app remote screens. It shows on/standby status, has text source selection, mute, and DSP effects mode indicators, and a numeric volume level indicator. It also has a Google Assistant indicator that shows the microphone muting status and flashes to show that a voice command has been received or is being acted on. Bluetooth connection is not automatic - previously paired Bluetooth source devices have to be manually re-connected when the soundbar switched to Bluetooth from a different source or is turned off and back on again. The console has inputs for HDMI ARC digital video/audio and optical digital audio connections. The optical input is provided as an alternate connection for TVs that lack HDMI ARC, not as a separate connection for another device. These two inputs are covered under one source and the soundbar uses on or the other depending on what's connected. If both are connected HDMI ARC TV connection takes priority.
