Sound quality: With the TSHD (TruSurround HD) digital sound processing feature turned off Vizio's SB3821 delivers sound quality that falls in the good range - it reproduces music and dialog reasonably well despite obvious shortcomings. Bass has good impact and goes fairly deep, but is prominent and boomy. Midrange is somewhat even, but a bit soft, deep voices can sound slightly nasal, and can somewhat be overwhelmed by the bass with some program material. Treble is extended, but is smeared and the upper treble is somewhat prominent. The upper bass and lower midrange sound somewhat echoey while not much room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded) is recovered throughout the rest of the tonal range, and the sound lacks detail and complexity. In TSHD mode the soundstage expands beyond the speaker array, but the midrange sounds metallic and echoey, the treble becomes prominent. The sound bar can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Fair overall. Setup: The soundbar can be controlled by some Vizio TV remotes; turning on and off this feature is quick and easy but not intuitive so the instructions included with the unit need to be used. All appropriate cables for TV connection are included with the system. Ease of Use: If this model has been set to respond to the volume and mute commands of your Vizio TV remote control it will work seamlessly with that TV. If you have a different brand of TV or your Vizio TV is not compatible then you'll have to rely on the soundbar's remote or console. The soundbar remote has a volume control that is a bit hard to spot and has no clearly defined control groupings. The soundbar's response to the remote's volume and input selection commands is sluggish and erratic. The soundbar console's power, source, and volume controls are adequately identified and are easy to see and access; 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 positions 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 (digital sound processing) 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: Pairing a Bluetooth device required a long push of a well marked button - easy and straight forward. 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 soundbar console's power, source, and volume controls are adequately identified and are easy to see and access; 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 positions 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.
