Review on Enhanced Home Audio Experience: ZVOX Dialogue Clarifying Sound Bar with Patented Hearing 🔊 Technology and Voice Boost - 30-Day Home Trial - AccuVoice AV157 TV Speaker - Black by James Vachon

About 3 years ago I had hearing problems as a result of an MRI scan where I was not fitted with proper hearing protection. Since then my hearing has been deteriorating and watching TV is frustrating for me because I've missed so much, especially watching movies on Netflix. I bought a Bose Solo 5 soundbar with a simple on/off feature that improves dialogue quality and it worked for a while. Then that too lost its usefulness as my hearing deteriorated. Sometimes I had to back up my dash cam multiple times to capture a keyword or phrase, and when that didn't work I had to turn the volume up really high. I felt old which I am not. I recently saw an ad for ZVOX soundbars, read reviews of them on Revain and independent review sites and was very excited. The AV157 seemed the best fit for my needs, and $179 seemed like a fair price - definitely cheaper than hearing aids. I removed the Bose last night and set up the ZVOX. Out of the box I was a bit skeptical because the device is so small - about 2/3 the size of a Bose soundbar. But I have no hesitation in saying that ZVOX, along with my Dyson Absolute handheld vacuum, is the most useful and life-affirming purchase I've made in a long time. I'm a moderately techy female and it wasn't difficult to set up, although it doesn't require any special skills. The instructions are annoyingly written on a huge double sided sheet of paper instead of a notebook, but they are written in good English and are easy to follow. The soundbar is essentially "plug and play". First, I plugged in the power cord and plugged it into an outlet. The Bose soundbar was also connected to the TV via an optical digital Toslink connection, so I didn't use the one provided by ZVOX at first. But I didn't like the sound quality and I noticed that the ZVOX cable is about twice as thick as the Bose cable. So I switched to the new one and the improvement has been amazing. When I unplugged the Bose cable, the audio reverted to the TV audio, and it sounded like it was coming from a crystal radio that my dad and I built as part of a 6th grade science project. Doesn't matter! (So if you have a non-ZVOX optical connector, don't use it.) I'm happy with the remote. It's simple and small, so there's less clutter. (Bose came with a monster remote that controlled everything but the fridge, and I really didn't like the high and low frequencies). Accuvoice has 6 levels of what I call "dialog clarity". To get an extra 6, hold down the Accuvoice button for a few seconds and it will change to "Super." However, I didn't find much of a difference between the first and second feature sets and settled on one (Accuvoice 5) that worked for me without the uncomfortable harshness. Dialogue clarity seems to depend on the TV show or movie, and interestingly, sound quality hasn't degraded on Music Choice channels. I can turn the volume down to "normal" volume and still understand every word that is spoken. Background noise (and sometimes background music) is muted but still present; it's just not distracting anymore. I haven't tried adjusting the treble/bass and to be honest there's no need to as I'm very happy with the current sound quality. three virtual surround sound options, actually there are 36 of them! This feature is surprisingly good, and I'm skeptical about the sound quality for a small 17-inch device. Another feature I like is that the soundbar turns off by default when you turn on the TV. (This can be changed to turn it on and off manually.) I like this better than the Bose, which required me to turn the sound on and off separately. However, what I don't like is that there is no indicator light on the device that shows whether it is on or off. The package insert clearly states that if there is a problem with the device, the device should not be sent back, but call ZVOX. But I didn't have any problem, so I can't rate the quality of the customer service. Overall I am very happy with this purchase. However, I wish the ZVOX 157 was available while my mother was still alive. She had severe hearing loss, even wearing high-tech hearing aids, and that would have made her TV nights that much more enjoyable. able to. Last note. I bought this soundbar 4 days ago (6/21/21). Today I recommended it to a neighbor whose husband (late 70's) is so hard of hearing that he watches TV with the subtitles on. When I looked at Revain the price dropped from $179 to $249 from the same seller and for no apparent reason. This is not normal and I will call Revane to clarify.