Sound quality: Vizio's SB362AN-F6 delivers sound quality that falls in the Good range - it reproduces music and dialog reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound. In the Music mode the bass has good impact, but is a somewhat prominent and boomy and doesn't go deep. The midrange is fairly even, but is echoey and a bit grainy. The treble is fairly extended but is prominent, generally smeared, and with some program material can also sound sizzly. The echoey effect in the midrange obscures whatever actual room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded) may be recovered from recordings. In the Movie sound mode the sound gets louder overall and the midrange sounds less echoey but a bit harsher. The Virtual X mode makes the sound even louder and harsher, extends it more up toward the ceiling, and makes the soundfield a bit bigger. There was no significant difference in sound quality between the table or wall mounted orientations or between the optical, USB, analog, and Bluetooth inputs. The system can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Good overall. Setup: Programming the soundbar to respond to the remotes of most TV's, or activating/deactivating the soundbar's feature that lets it respond specifically to a Vizio TV remote was quick and easy but not intuitive so the instructions included with the soundbar need to be used. All appropriate cables for TV connection are included. Ease of Use: This model has two options that allow it to work seamlessly with your TV - it can be programmed to respond to most TV remote control volume and mute commands or it can be set to respond to the volume and mute commands of many Vizio TV remote controls. Its own remote has a volume control that is a bit hard to spot, no clearly defined control groupings, and the soundbar's response to the remote's volume and input selection commands is sluggish and erratic. The console's power, source, and volume controls are on an angled side panel that is fairly easy to access but have low contrast markings that are hard to see from arms length. Although the console lacks a mute button it can be unmuted by pressing one of the volume controls. The console display consists of unlabeled patterns of indicator lights that can be seen from a typical listening position but generally require referencing the instructions to decode. There's an indicator for power status, a momentary pattern for the source that's selected and the DSP effect mode that has been chosen, a momentary graphical volume display with very rough increments, and an indicator that shows when the soundbar has been muted.
Features setup and ease of use: Fair overall. Setup: Bluetooth pairing requires a long press of a well marked button on the console or remote that can also be used for Bluetooth source selection. Ease of Use: The remote has a volume control that is a bit hard to spot, no clearly defined control groupings, and the soundbar's response to the remote's volume and input selection commands is sluggish and erratic. The console's power, source, and volume, controls are on an angled side panel that is fairly easy to access, but have low contrast markings that are hard to see from arms length. Although the console lacks a mute button it can be unmuted by pressing one of the volume controls. The display consists of unlabeled patterns of indicator lights that can be seen from a typical listening position but generally require referencing the instructions to decode. There's an indicator for power status, a momentary pattern for the source that's selected and the DSP effect mode that has been chosen, a momentary graphical volume display with very rough increments, and an indicator that shows when the soundbar has been muted.
