Sound quality: Q Acoustics' M4 delivers sound quality that falls in the Good range - it reproduces music and dialog reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound. Bass has good impact, but is somewhat boomy and prominent, and the deepest bass is lacking. This midrange is fairly even, but is grainy, somewhat hazy, and a bit constricted. The treble is a touch subdued, a bit sizzly, and the upper treble is muted. The overall sound is somewhat congested, and the soundbar only does a so-so job of recovering room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded). With both stereo and multi-channel program material the sound image extends a bit above and beyond the sides of the soundbar, and lacks depth. There was no significant difference in sound quality between the analog, optical, and Bluetooth inputs. The system can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Good overall. Setup: All appropriate cables for TV connection included. Ease of Use: The very basic remote's layout is uncluttered and controls are well labeled. The soundbar console's power and volume controls are well marked; the power button is also the source selection button, but that function is not marked. The console lacks a mute control, but if muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. All controls are on the top of the console where they are easy to see and access. The console has an indicator light on the top that is highly visible unless the relative positions of the soundbar and user makes it hard to see. The light shows the power status, changes color to show the input that has been selected (the user will need to refer to instruction manual to decode the light colors), indicates if the volume is being changed (but does not indicate the level), and shows when the soundbar has been muted.
Features setup and ease of use: Good overall. Setup: Bluetooth pairing is very easy - if no Bluetooth device has previously been paired or the paired device does not have Bluetooth activated the unit is automatically in pairing mode once it has been switched on. Optional NFC pairing is available for use with Bluetooth devices that have that feature. Ease of Use: The very basic remote's layout is uncluttered and controls are well labeled. The soundbar console's power and volume controls are well marked; the power button is also the source selection button, but that function is not marked. The console lacks a mute control, but if muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. All controls are on the top of the console where they are easy to see and access. The console has an indicator light on the top that is highly visible unless the relative positions of the soundbar and user makes it hard to see. The light shows the power status, changes color to show the input that has been selected (the user will need to refer to instruction manual to decode the light colors), indicates if the volume is being changed (but does not indicate the level), and shows when the soundbar has been muted. The soundbar has two line inputs but they share one input setting and can't be selected individually. The mini-jack line input has priority over the RCA line input if both connected.
