Review on 🔊 Optimized ZVOX AV200 TV Speaker Technology by Eric Jefferson

I received this because I have mild to moderate hearing loss and can't hear the voice track well in background noise. I'm considering swapping for the ZVOX 203 which seems to offer some level of fine tuning for different hearing losses. Unfortunately, this device is not for sale and costs significantly more. Rumors are said to be extremely subjective, so it's difficult to really rate a product like this or "learn" from other people's comments. All you can do is read all the review comments and questions and answers and hope to find the ones that describe a hearing loss similar to yours. Then look at everything with great skepticism. Here are my impressions from my personal experience with the ZVOX 200 over several weeks. Pros: * The device is small and does not block the infrared signal from the TV remote to my 2008 Sony XBR6 TV. * It has no annoying LED lights; a beautiful low-intensity amber display briefly shows changes in volume levels and settings.* It balances high/low volume levels very easily, so (for example) commercials don't sound as loud. While this feature is barely audible to me, I appreciate the effort.* It really helps improve speech intelligibility, especially when Accuvoice is enabled.* Compared to Sony's 25-inch two-channel soundbar with speech enhancement and muddy sound. Sounding subwoofer that I bought (and returned) from Best Buy for about the same price, this ZVOX delivers a slightly cleaner sound, has a much thicker (hence possibly higher quality) optical cable, and a headphone jack (Sony's doesn't). Cons: * With Accuvoice enabled, the overall audio is pretty harsh, and despite its third driver, the device really doesn't do much to isolate or enhance the recorded voice track in movies and other programs. Cable (Comcast) because it also amplifies high-frequency background noise (city street noise, music, crickets, rain, paper or clothes rustling, etc.) to the point of almost distortion (although I don't make sure that the voice is actually transmitted on a separate track). , maybe a surround sound system is needed for fine tuning or complete voice isolation.)* When I fast forward a show and then resume it, the unit makes a brief crackling sound, as if a few seconds of the program were playing momentarily. I called ZVOX about it (and ironically the call quality on their side was abysmal, like they were throwing a loud party while swimming in the open ocean during a mega storm.) The rep said he heard about a problem with the sound in the fall and banged suggests that I should try to connect an optical cable directly to the Comcast DVR, not the TV. But when I got my Blu-ray, I had to move the optical cable again, which required careful navigation to get the TV out of the wall, crawl in with a flashlight, and each time deftly catch a bundle of heavy cables. So it's not worth it. Maybe a splitter would work?* I would have liked much smaller volume intervals than this unit offers; I find that most of the time I have to choose between a little too high and a little too low. This is one area where the Sony soundbar I tried was actually much better: it had rather small volume intervals. Other notes: * The device turns on when I turn on the TV (using the Comcast remote), but doesn't turn the TV off. However, I have not attempted to program the ZVOX code into the remote control; as soon as I do that, he might turn off ZVOX. The sound must be on to send the signal through the stereo to the speakers, and the delay in sound transmission differs by a millisecond, creating a strange echo effect.