Vizio 2.1 Soundbar SV210M-0808 Review: Best New Soundbar Under $200

Four years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, I reviewed a speaker that had become a staple of CNET’s Audio Lab: Vizio’s V21. While the soundbar had its flaws (namely, the one-note bass), nothing else could match its performance for the price. Today, I can say that the V21’s true successor has arrived — and it’s noticeably even better, and it’s also affordable.

The Vizio 2.1 Soundbar (SV210M) is a great soundbar, especially for the price. You don’t even have to own a Vizio TV to enjoy it. The speaker is compact, and the wireless subwoofer is so small that it’s easy to find a place for it. For listening to music and watching movies, the Vizio 2.1 soundbar is all that many people will need.

I listen to a lot of audio components over the course of a year, but when a soundbar does what this model does, and for the money, it really makes my year. The Vizio 2.1 Soundbar is the best new soundbar under $200 right now

Design and Features

The Vizio 2.1 Soundbar is nominally a Dolby Atmos speaker, but I’ll get to why in a moment. This model has a stereo soundbar paired with a wireless subwoofer.

The design of the 2024 models has undergone a significant upgrade since I last reviewed the Vizio model, and this 2.1 model boasts the best look of any of the other bars except the Elevate. It has a modern look with rounded edges, and it’s also fairly compact — 30 inches wide, 2.3 inches tall, and 3.2 inches deep. The wireless subwoofer that accompanies it uses a 5-inch driver and is roughly the size and shape of a cylinder, so naturally I used it to pay homage to guitarist Slash.

Just a normal day. Creating a Slash shrine with a subwoofer and a non-slip mat photo:twitter.com/28lpMHPsrZ

— Ty Pendlebury (@typendlebury) July 23, 2024

In terms of surround sound, the SV210M is like similarly-branded budget soundbars in that it can read Dolby Atmos (and DTS:X), but I found that it can’t read it. It’s strictly two woofers and a separate subwoofer—2.1 channels. Unfortunately, you can’t throw Duolingo (Dolby-lingo?) into it to better reproduce Atmos. It does, however, include some signal processing to make the soundstage seem wider than the size of the enclosure would normally allow.

Unlike the $1,000 Sony Bravia Theater 8, the Vizio has the two modes most people need: Music and Movies. It’s worth noting that the previous “Clear Dialog” feature is no longer a separate mode, but is now an adjustable slider in the companion app. That means you can tweak the dialogue whenever you want without sacrificing sound quality.

Vizio’s connections include a single HDMI, Bluetooth 5.2, and a USB-A port. Are you running around with a USB stick full of WAV files and despairing about how to play them? Vizio has a solution for you. It’s also important to note that if you have a much older TV — one that doesn’t have an HDMI connection — you’ll need to buy a different soundbar, as this model doesn’t have either analog or optical connections.

Another notable absence is any kind of remote control. While most people use their TV remote anyway, adding a remote to the soundbar allows for quick changes when needed — like switching from music to a movie. The company now moves all the settings changes to the Vizio Mobile app. The app is user-friendly enough, but it does require a Bluetooth connection first.

Testing

When it comes to budget soundbars, there are three main brands to consider: Yamaha, Polk, and Vizio. While the first two are increasingly moving towards more expensive single soundbars like the Polk React and Yamaha True X Bar 40A, there are still models that compete with the Vizio 2.1 soundbar. I chose the Yamaha CR-30A for comparison, which is on sale for $190 while I write this.

Given that the Vizio 2.1 Soundbar has Dolby Atmos, I started the comparison with the opening scene of Mad Max: Fury Road. It was immediately obvious that this soundbar lacked height dimension. Voices that usually come from every corner of the room were on the same plane, even with the height control set to maximum. But that’s okay, because for the money and a 2.1 setup, you can’t expect that.

While soundbars like the Sonos Beam are able to accurately simulate height, they are also 2.5 times larger than the Vizio. What I he did appreciate the room-filling sound of the Vizio; the device did not behave like a small speaker at all. I was sitting right in front of it, but if I closed my eyes, I could not tell where the speaker was, and that is an achievement for a budget model. Mad Max’s (Tom Hardy) voice lacked chestiness, and the sound quality of speech was almost sizzling. The subwoofer may be tiny, but it could pack a little punch when needed, whether it was explosions in an engine or the car itself.

It wasn’t until I swapped the Vizio for the Yamaha that the differences between the two bars became obvious. The Yamaha sounded significantly quieter than the Vizio, and less cinematic. What made up for that was the subwoofer’s performance. Every crack, every beat, every explosion seemed raw, untamed (in a good way, not uncontrolled). While the Vizio’s ability to switch between movie and music modes can help — since you can adjust the subwoofer volume separately — that requires using the app.

Given that the soundbar has a Bluetooth connection, I was curious to see how well the Vizio could play music. As it turns out, it did quite well. However, I found that the punchy sound that was good for movies was too punchy for songs. I turned down the subwoofer volume a bit and as a result, Life by The Beta Band sounded natural and pleasant, and the soundbar was able to hit all the notes in the deep bass outro riff. I enjoyed listening to the song so much that I started over from the beginning of the album it’s on: Hot Shots II. Here, I must also reiterate that the soundbar lacks a direct mode — the soundbar bounces sound off the walls, even when set to music mode. However, it sounds so good that it’s not even an issue. In comparison, the Yamaha sounded quiet and a bit reserved when listening to the same song.

Is it worth buying?

While a lot of code has been poured into even flashier home theater gear like the Sennheiser Ambeo, there’s always a place in my heart for the budget performers. Whether it’s the ELAC B6 speaker or the Vizio soundbar, products like these show that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get great sound. With the Vizio 2.1 soundbar, the company continues to push the boundaries, and that’s great news for everyone. This speaker is an absolute winner.