Sound quality: Polk Audio's Command Bar delivers sound quality that falls in the Very Good range - although it has some noticeable sonic quirks it reproduces music and dialog very well. In the Music sound mode the bass has good impact , but is somewhat prominent and boomy and the deepest bass is lacking. The midrange is fairly even, but is slightly hazy and echoey. The treble is extended, but slightly sizzly, smeared, and prominent. The overall sound is slightly congested, and while it does a decent job of recovering the actual room ambience of recordings (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded), that ambience is a bit obscured by the slightly echoey quality of the midrange. In the Movie sound mode the sound becomes louder, more echoey, and the bass becomes more boomy. The Sports sound mode is even louder and more echoey, and midrange sounds like voices become more prominent. The Voice level control can be used to raise or lower sounds in the center channel in the vocal frequency range (whether they are voices or other sounds). There was no significant difference in sound quality between the HDMI, optical, and Bluetooth inputs and high quality WiFi streaming. The system can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Very Good overall. Setup: Programming to respond to a TV remote was quick, easy, and straight forward, but you'll need to refer to the instructions. HDMI CEC activation is done on the connected TV and not on this unit, and the instructions that come with the soundbar clearly indicate that. It can also be controlled by TV remotes from major brands; the instructions state that this feature is always active. All appropriate cables for TV connection are included. Ease of Use: This model has several features that allow it to work seamlessly with your TV - it can be programmed to respond to most TV remote control volume and mute commands, it can be set to respond to the volume and mute commands of many major TV brand remotes without programming, and it can respond to the volume and mute commands of HDMI CEC compatible TV remotes without programming when connected via the HDMI ARC ports with and HDMI cable. Its own remote's controls are well labeled but the layout is a bit jumbled. The remote's mute control was somewhat unresponsive - it sometimes took multiple presses to get the soundbar to respond. If the Command Bar's built-in Amazon Alexa digital voice assistant function has been activated voice commands can be used to adjust or mute the volume and switch to and from the TV input. The soundbar's console only provides volume controls, which can also unmute the unit if it has been muted with a remote or voice commend, an on/off control for the Alexa microphone, and an Alexa action button that lowers the soundbar volume to more easily use Alexa voice commands. The volume controls are well marked, and all controls are on the top of the console and are easy to see and access. The console lacks a power status indicator, but is always in standby mode and will auto turn on when needed for any function. It has a highly visible momentary graphical volume display and a blinking light that's visible form across the room indicates with the soundbar has been muted. There are voice announcements when inputs are chosen and DSP modes are selected, but there is no visual indication of the input source, no visual indication of the DSP mode, and after the initial voice announcement no means to check the input or DSP status.
Features setup and ease of use: Fair overall. Setup: WiFi setup requires an app download to an Apple or Android mobile device and is straight forward (however it is slightly easier with the Android app than with the Apple app). The soundbar must be registered with the manufacturer for network functionality; registration on the Polk setup app requires the user's email address and a password. Setting up an Amazon Alexa account, which is required to use the Alexa digital voice assistant and for streaming audio content from Internet service providers, requires a name as well as an email address and password. 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 to the Bluetooth input. Ease of Use: The remote's controls are generally well labeled but the layout is a bit jumbled and the mute control was somewhat unresponsive - it sometimes took multiple presses to get the soundbar to respond. If the Command Bar's built-in Amazon Alexa digital voice assistant function has been activated voice commands can be used to adjust or mute the volume, switch between the soundbar inputs, and switch between Internet streaming services that are connected to the Alexa account. The soundbar's console only provides volume controls, which can also unmute the unit if it has been muted with a remote or voice command, an on/off control for the Alexa microphone, and an Alexa action button that lowers the soundbar volume to more easily use Alexa voice commands. The volume controls are well marked, and all controls are on the top of the console and are easy to see and access. The console lacks a power status indicator, but is always in standby mode and will auto turn on when needed for any function. It has a highly visible momentary graphical volume display and a blinking light that's visible form across the room indicates with the soundbar has been muted. The are voice announcements when inputs are chosen and DSP modes are selected, but except for Bluetooth there is no visual indication of the input source, no visual indication of the DSP mode, and after the initial voice announcement no means to check the input or DSP status.
