Computer Shopper - UK (2020-03)

40 MARCH2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE385

VIZIO SB362An-F6E

★★★★★

£137•From http://www.amazon.co.uk

SOUNDBAR

VERDICT

It maybebasic, but the SB362An-F6E delivers very high sound quality forthe money

DRIVERS (^4) • RMSPOWER OUTPUTNotstated•
DIMENSIONS53x914x132mm•WEIGHT2.5kg•
DOCK CONNECTORNone•NETWORKINGBluetooth•
WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.viziosoundbar.
uk•PART CODESB362AN-F6E

SPECIFICATIONS

VIZIO,THETOPsoundbar manufacturer in

the US, is anameperhaps less familiar to

consumers in the UK. Thefirm hasbeen

around since2002and is prolificinits native

country, butit’swaited until 2019tomakeits

move in the UK,with the launch of three TV

audiosystems.

The SB362An-F6E sits in the middle of this

new UK range, andit’s typical of Vizio’s

approach, aiming to deliver decent sound

quality andfeatures fornot much cash.

FINDINGTHEANGLES

It’s notluxuriously made and, as you’dexpect

of asub-£150soundbar,it’s predominantly

built from plastic. Evenso, it does look pretty

good and hasavisually interesting shape,like

aflattened hexagonal cylinder or squashed

Toblerone,withfabric covering the main

body of the device.Underneath thatfabric in

the centre is aseries of whiteLED lights, all

arranged in ahorizontal line, andonthe right

end of the barisaseries of controls for

adjustingvolume, inputand power.

At 914mm wide,the SB362An-F6Eis

compactand anatural companiontoaTV

between 32in and 45in in size. It’s not tootall,

so there’s little need to worry about it

obscuring your view of thescreen, andit

can be wall-mounted,with the required

brackets included in the box.

Setup is as straightforward as it gets:all

you need to do is plug the SB362An-F6E into

the mains and hook it up to your TV via the

opticalor3.5mm port. There’salsoaUSB port,

whichsupports WAVand MP3formats, and

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playingback music from your phone.Cables

areprovided, as is auser-friendly infrared

learningremote, whichmakes it possible to use

the Vizio remotetocontrol volume andmute

on yourTVwhen the soundbarisswitched off.

QUALITY STREET

In termsofsound quality,the first thing that

really hitsyou aboutthe SB362An-F6E is its

clarity,balance andscale. Asimple 2:1 setup,

this isn’t the most extravagantsoundbar on

the market, and the audio doesn’tcompletely

envelopeyou as it does withfull surround-

soundsystems, but it is remarkably easy to

listen to forthe most part. Withinits

limitations, the SB362An-F6E delivers

positional audio reasonably convincingly.

The soundstage is fairlywide,too,and

there’s also support forDolbyDigital audio via

the opticalconnector,not to mention DTS

Virtual X. Enable the latter viathe remote

controland theSB362An-F6E will attempt to

simulatethe effect of overheadsound,abit

like DolbyAtmos. In practice,thishad the

effect of adding somedepth to the sound, but

it alsoadded atouch of harshness to vocals

and speech. We were happy to go withoutit.

The SB362An-F6Eincludestwo

‘subwoofers’ within its frame.Thesecan’t

match the low-end gruntofadedicatedsub

–the drivers are simply toosmall–but the

bass that thisall-in-one bar produces is

surprisingly good,and it complements the

mid-range andtreble withoutdrowningitout.

This isn’t adevice that will shake the

floorboardsand rattlethe upstairs windows.

Instead, it strikes abalance betweenimproving

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it to home cinema levels.

Despiteits simplicity,you get plentyof

room foradjustment. Forstarters, thereare

two EQ modes, onespecifically formovies and

one formusic, with the Moviemode producing

amore expansive sound and the Music setting

aslightlycleaneroverall presentation.

Shouldyou wish to go further,there’salso

the option to tweakthe bass and treble on

the remoteand scaleitupor down to taste.

This is particularly useful forboosting dialogue

if needbe, as well as giving alittle extra

thunder to action films, but it’s easy to get

carried away andoverdo things. Ramp up the

treble toomuch, forinstance,and thebar

sounds tooharsh,sowe’drecommend you

keep your adjustmentssmall.

The only thing to completelydislike about

the SB362An-F6E is the lackofaproper

display. Inputs, bass, treble and volume levels

are allindicated viathat simple horizontal line

of whiteLEDs, and figuringout what’s what

can getconfusing.

SOUNDBARGAIN

At this low price,however,there isn’tmuch

that competes with the SB362An-F6Eonvalue

and sound quality.The £80 Creative Stage 2.1

can enhance your television’soutput and

comes with itsown subwoofer,but is half

the size of theViziosoundbarand doesn’t

kick outaudiowith quitethe same scale.

Meanwhile,the Polk Command Bar(Shopper

380) offersAlexavoice control,comes with

aseparatewireless subwoofer andsounds

more rounded than the SB362An-F6E, but it’s

about£100more expensive

In otherwords, it’shard to argue against

the Vizio SB362An-F6E. It maynot be the most

stylishsoundbar,and some featuresmight be

restricted, but sound quality is excellent and

it’s incredibly simple to connect and set up.If

you don’thavemuchtospend on enhancing

your TV’s sound, this is the soundbartobuy.

MarkWhite