I have fairly significant hearing loss (60-70%). I have some good Phonak hearing aids that help with most of my daily needs. TV dialogue is, however, a huge problem. Noisy background soundtrack, effects, and music all but drown out dialogue for me. I currently have a Yamaha soundbar with a "clear voice" setting but it has upward firing speakers which bounces the sound of the ceiling which distorts anything the setting was suppose to clean up. I also use a Phonak com-pilot which is a wireless system that transmits sound from my tv directly to my hearing aids. This works great, but it totally blocks all outside sound (like having a good set of full coverage noise abating headphones on). I can't hear people talking to me, the doorbell, phone ringing, etc. It can be more problematic than you would think. ZVOX makes soundbars that are supposed to be specifically designed to enhance dialogue. The user can select from numerous options/settings of noise reduction to filter loud music and soundtrack background noises to enhance dialogue. I was hoping that someone might have some personal experience with a ZVOX sound bar and provide any pro or con comments.
Any ZVOX sound bar users
- Thread starter GaryMX5
- Start date
I have the same problem. I tried a ZVOX and it was "okay." Granted, that was over 10 years ago. Still have it connected to our loft tv upstairs. The new ones may be better.
Currently using a JBL sound bar that has a lot of the dialogue features and it's much better. I still use subtitles for some shows.
I purchased a ZVOX soundbar in 2023 to enhance the dialogue clarity on my previous TCL flat screen TV. I am of the same opinion as @Urshurak776 in that it was just "OK", but no better than any other comparably priced soundbar. There were two issues that caused me to regret the purchase: (1) the number of choices were limited to ~7 preset sound profiles which did not allow me to custom tailor the sound to frequencies associated with my hearing loss, and (2) it would require system rebooting about once per month.
Earlier this year, I replaced the TCL set with a Samsung S-90D OLED television. The new Samsung S-90 has excellent sound quality and I no longer use the ZVOX soundbar.
Earlier this year, I replaced the TCL set with a Samsung S-90D OLED television. The new Samsung S-90 has excellent sound quality and I no longer use the ZVOX soundbar.
JBL BAR 500 you can adjust the frequencies individually.
I see the new model is Bar 500 MK2 but I would assume the app with the equalizer will have the same feature.
I see the new model is Bar 500 MK2 but I would assume the app with the equalizer will have the same feature.
Thank you for the reply. I'm looking at the ZVOX av855 model. It supposedly has 20 levels of adjustment (10 "accu voice" (elevates voice over background sound) and 10 "super voice" (reduces background sound)). If I understand the ZVOX materials correctly you get one additional super voice adjustment for each "accu voice" setting. Hopefully this amount of settings would be adequate to find some dialogue enhancement. I have a 65" Samsung TV. Part of my problem is than it is not wall mounted (no practical wall to mount it to and maintain good viewing angles so it's on a stand in the corner of a room). It has rear firing speakers so sound gets lost in the space behind the TV (reduced reflection). It's unlikely I'll be replacing the TV anytime soon as it's only 5 or so years old. You mention rebooting is occasionally required. Is it a complicated process or just a nuisance? Any reason why it has to be done so frequently? Being a boomer/geezer I'm not the most tech savvy person and can get easily frustrated.
We have the ZVOX AV157 model which has 5 "accu voice" and 5 "super voice" levels. I cannot achieve a perfect enhancement level where voices are clear and natural at typical listening volumes. For my ears, voices are either slightly muffled or too sharp compared to the background sounds. I actually feel that my ancient $100 VIZIO soundbar has more natural sound than the ZVOX unit.
My 65" Samsung S-90 is actually wall-mounted and has down firing speakers; hence the better sound dispersion.
We seemed to have to reboot the ZVOX soundbar every month or two. It is a simple process that a child could master...just hit the power off button on the ZVOX remote, wait 5 seconds and turn it back on with the same power button. I am not sure if my soundbar is defective, but it has behaved like that since new. Sometimes you will turn on the TV and soundbar with the TV remote and the soundbar will emit no sound. Power cycling it on/off with the ZVOX remote (or unplugging the power cord momentarily) will reset it. I found similar (but infrequent) complaints from ZVOX owners online.
We recently installed a Zvox 855 sound bar replacing a Vizio bar. It works well for us and is a big improvement over the Vizio. That being said we do not have as much hearing loss as you.
I recommend purchasing one from Amazon or WalMart. If you are not happy with it you can return it within their return period.
I recommend purchasing one from Amazon or WalMart. If you are not happy with it you can return it within their return period.
I think zvox works well however have a polk soundbar now with voice boost and wife with 50% hearing loss can hear TV well.
I have this one : https://zvox.com/collections/cinema...nd-bar-with-accuvoice-and-built-in-subwoofers It works well for me and sounds quite good during movies. When changing from antenna to various internet channels, the sound & voices vary widely. A few clicks and the voices are up front and easily heard and understood. It ain't cheap, but it works. I do have a 12" subwoofer connected to it. The built-in subs didn't cut it for me.
