ZVOX AccuVoice AV157 Dialogue Clarifying Soundbar – Patented Hearing Technology with Voice Boost, Ultimate Low-Profile TV Speakers Soundbar, Perfect for Home Theater and Smart TV – Black

It Does What It Claims to Do Exceptionally Well
About 3 years ago I experienced auditory damage as a result of an MRI procedure, during which I was not given adequate ear protection. Since then, my hearing has been declining, and I found TV watching frustrating, because I missed so much, particularly during movies on Netflix. I bought a Bose Solo 5 soundbar, which has a simple on/off feature that enhances dialogue, and for a while, it helped. Then, that, too, lost its usefulness as my hearing worsened. Sometimes I’d have to back up several times on my DVR to catch a key word or phrase, and if that failed, I’d have to turn the volume up really high. It made me feel old, which I am not.Recently I saw the ZVOX soundbars advertised, read reviews of them on Amazon and also by independent review sites, and was greatly encouraged. The AV157 seemed to be the best suited for my needs, and $179 seemed like a fair price–certainly less expensive than hearing aids.I took down the Bose and set up the ZVOX last night. Out of the box, I was a bit skeptical, because the unit is so small– about 2/3 the size of the Bose soundbar. But already, I can say without qualification that the ZVOX ties for first place, along with my Dyson Absolute stick vacuum cleaner, as the most useful and life-enhancing purchase I have made in a long time.I am a moderately technically savvy female, and had no difficulty setting it up, though it takes no particular skill. The directions are annoyingly on one huge, double sided piece of paper instead of a booklet, but they are written in good English and are easy to follow. The soundbar is essentially “plug and play.” First, I attached the power cord and plugged it into an outlet. The Bose soundbar also had connected to the TV with an optical digital toslink, so initially, I didn’t use the one provided by ZVOX. But I wasn’t happy with the sound quality, and noticed that the cable on the ZVOX was about twice the thickness of the Bose cable. So I switched to the new one, and the improvement was amazing. When I disconnected the Bose cable, the sound reverted to the TV sound, and it sounded like a it was coming from the crystal radio I built with my dad as a 6th-grade science project. What a difference! (So if you have a non-ZVOX optical connector, don’t use it.)I am pleased with the remote. It’s simple and small, so there’s less clutter. (The Bose came with a monstrous remote that controlled everything but the refrigerator, and I disliked it immensely.) As described, it has a few simple controls–for volume, mute, Accuvoice, Surround Sound, and Other (which is for adjusting treble and bass).Accuvoice has 6 levels of what I’ll call “clarity of dialogue.” To get the additional 6, you hold down the Accuvoice button for several seconds, and it switches over to “Super.” I didn’t find much difference between the first and second sets of functions, though, and settled on one (Accuvoice 5) that worked for me without being unpleasantly shrill. The crispness of dialogue seems to vary with the TV show or movie, and interestingly, did not degrade the quality of sound on the Music Choice stations. I am able to turn the volume down to “normal” volume, and can still understand every spoken word. The background sounds (and sometimes background music) are toned down, but is still there; it’s just no longer distracting. I haven’t tried the treble/bass adjustments, and frankly, don’t have a need to do so, because I’m so happy with the current sound quality.So, although the description says there are 12 settings, when you add the three options for virtual Surround Sound, there really are 36 options! This feature is surprisingly good, and I am incredulous at the quality of sound that come out of a little 17″ piece of technology.One other feature that I like is that the preset, default setting is that the soundbar turns off when the TV is turned off. (This can be changed, so that it can be turned off and on manually.) I like this better than the Bose, for which I had to turn the sound on and off separately. The thing I don’t like, however, is that there’s no indicator light on the unit that shows whether it’s on or off.A package insert boldly states that if you’re having difficulty with the unit, don’t send it back, call ZVOX. But I have had no problems, so I cannot rate the quality of Tech Support.Overall, I could not be happier with this purchase. It makes me wish, though, that the ZVOX 157 had been available while my mother was still alive. She was severely hearing impaired, even wearing high-tech hearing aids, and it would have made her evenings of TV watching so much more enjoyable.One final note. I bought this soundbar 4 days ago (6/21/21). Tonight I recommended it to a neighbor, whose husband (in his late 70’s) has such difficulty hearing that he watches all TV with subtitles on. When I looked on Amazon, the price had gone from $179 to $249, from the same seller and for no apparent reason. This is not OK, and I’m going to phone Amazon for an explanation.

Great value and significantly improves voice quality
This speaker was extraordinarily easy to set up. The 6 voice enhancements work very well. I haven’t tried the other 6. I no longer need captions to understand the dialogue. Some shows have so much background music that there is no way to understand the dialogue – this speaker cuts through excess background noise. Unfortunately you then discover that some dialogue isn’t worth hearing! The remote control is well marked, simple and easy to use.

Would buy again
The Zvox does exactly what it is intended to do, amplify voices while maintaining reasonable sound quality. I plugged the furnished digital optical cord into my LG television and the Zvox, plugged in the power cord and the unit started working immediately, no setup required. There are multiple sound adjustments to suit your needs. The Zvox comes on when I turn the television on. I did not set that up, it just happens; however, I have to use the Zvox remote to adjust the volume and turn the Zvox off. I have a Zvox 350 (now discontinued) that is twice the size and was twice the price that does not do the job this newer unit does.

J’avais déjà acheté cette barre de son pour ma résidence principale, et en était ravie, du coup j’en ai acheté une autre (la même) pour un cadeau.et toujours entière satisfaction, le son est extra, surtout pour les personnes un peu “dur de la feuille”…Pas besoin de l’allumer à chaque fois que l’on allume la TV, tout est lié, génial.Je recommande vivement cette barre de son.

Superb Clarity of speech Soundbox well made packaged no other manufacturer approached including Bose could not guarantee better speech clarity with Bose over twice the price I was so pleased within 2hours two of my friends had bought one also own recommendation the clarity and choice is superb and put tv sound to shame having to rely on bounced sound off walls cmon tv manufacturers get to grips with a huge problem for the elderly the sound quality from Tv cannot compare with this soundbox I don’t have to rely on tv wordscript any more or keep returning backwards to catch what someone on tv has said .A great product Zvox worth every penny and so easy to handle after set up lots of serious brownie points here 👏🙏