Sound experience
I've always wanted to test a soundbar. I've always been curious how a soundbar performs in terms of sound compared to a 5.1 speaker setup. I do know that this is a basic soundbar without a separate sub woofer, so I don't expect deep bass. This can be a good solution for people who don't have room for a sub woofer or just want to hear simple simple sound that can replace the TV speakers to get a little more volume in the sound.
I don't like the soundbar. The volume has to be turned up a bit to experience a good listening experience.
As I said before, you won't hear deep shaky bass sounds but it's enough for movies.
With the bluetooth connection you can connect the soundbar to your smartphone or via USB on the back for music.
You can select the sources on your remote control. The volume and sources are represented by 3 LEDs in a row that change color and light up at volume (green color) from top to bottom in various intensities.
In terms of sound to stream your bluetooth music, this soundbar performs better than my WiFi speaker. It offers a little more volume to the sound. The sound quality of my music via USB in FLAC format is also good.
Surround
There are 4 different sound modes to choose from: AI Sound, Music, Movie and Game. I haven't tried the Game Mode because I don't have a game console. So I mainly use the three other modes. The surround sound (virtual) is not disappointing. For someone who wants some spatial sound, this is more than enough. Lovers of real 5.1 sound will find that this single soundbar is lacking because you do not experience the 5.1 experience. Perhaps a soundbar with separate sub woofer and separate rear surround speakers can imitate this well.
Intensity
The soundbar has enough power to provide the living room, in my case in an apartment, with good quality sound. I can certainly recommend the soundbar to people who have a smaller house.
Quality
The quality of the sound is quite good. Just don't expect the quality of more expensive speakers, but that's comparing apples to oranges. High tones and middle sound come out well. Only the lower sounds as you are used to from a woofer, you cannot get out. But this is understandable due to the lack of a subwoofer.
Ease of use
I still have an old flat screen without the HDMI-ARC connection. I connected the soundbar via the supplied optical cable to my optical OUT connection on the TV. I did, however, set the sound in the menu of the TV in such a way that the sound no longer goes through the TV speakers but directly to the optical output to the soundbar. Every time I switch on my Ziggo box and TV, the soundbar switches on automatically. All this I installed and set up within 10 minutes.
The remote control is simple, no too many buttons.
Power Button, Mute Button, Volume Button, Source Button, Bluetooth Button to enable Bluetooth pairing with your streaming device (Tablet, Smartphone or other device), 4 sound mode buttons and a cursor button (Left and right for previous or next track, Up and Down for the subwoofer volume and the center button for Pause or play the tracks)
The supplied manual is only briefly intended to install and use the product.
For the extensive manual you can download this via a QR code or via a reference to the website.
The soundbar can also be set up via the LG Soundbar app. However, not all functions can be operated with this. The app only works via bluetooth. I personally prefer to use the remote. The app is just a gimmick and nothing more than that with a small number of extra functions. What I think is a big plus is that the wall brackets to hang the subwoofer are just in the box.
Link
The soundbar has several ways to improve the sound of your music or movies. First of all, via the HDMI-ARC connection on modern TVs. or via the optical connection, especially applicable if your TV does not have HDMI-ARC but simply has HDMI connections, which is mainly the case with TVs that are older. Another method is via Bluetooth which allows you to stream your music. I mainly use this if I want to listen to music via Youtube or music that I have on my NAS / PC and want to listen to it via my smartphone with the bluetooth connection.
You can also listen to your music via the USB connection behind your soundbar. You can then use the soundbar's remote control to skip to the next or previous track and pause with the central button of the cursor button. Frankly, I don't find this very useful if you have several songs on your USB stick and want to look for a certain song. This is only useful if you want to play music from your USB stick continuously and if you want to increase the atmosphere in your room as background music.
design
The design of the soundbar is simply beautiful. It's not an everyday black soundbar. The side has a dark brown wood pattern with black accents. So a modern design. It's also not flashy under your TV as it's only 76cm wide. Personally, this soundbar does not bother in terms of size. The whole is finished with fabric from the front, top and back. Especially that the fabric continues to the back is neat.
The top has soft buttons, namely the , Power On, Connection, Volume up and Down and the Bluetooth button.
The lights on the front behind the fabric are not bright but subtle. They do light up briefly when a certain function is selected. But this speaks for itself.
The soundbar is 6 cm high and 9 cm deep. I can't imagine that the soundbar with these dimensions would be disturbing or that there would be no place to be placed in front of the TV.
