- A few weeks ago,
I compared the top two bestselling sound bars on Amazon
to my TV audio.
Now, one of them was this guy, the Tatronics TT-SK023.
And at the time,
what I said was that this bar is certainly better
than relying on your TV sound.
So if you're going for a budget option, this one is okay.
And I still stand by that, more or less.
But now I've had even more time with the TaoTronics bar,
and, well, I've got some more thoughts to share.
So the question here
isn't so much whether it's better than your TV sound.
It almost certainly is.
The question is whether the value you're getting
is worth the budget price tag.
So let's dive in.
(upbeat electronic music)
Hey, everybody. Thanks for watching.
If you enjoy this video, don't forget to give it a like,
don't forget to subscribe, and hang with me
because at the end I'll talk about a giveaway
that I'm doing for this sound bar.
All right, so let's talk about the TaoTronics bar.
First of all, what comes in the box?
Well, you get the sound bar, of course.
You get a remote that comes with it.
An optical cable is included.
There's a little wall-mount kit
with the little screws that come with it
and, of course, the manual.
Now, there is no subwoofer with this one,
and that is notable.
We'll come back to the sound quality in just a moment,
but just know the base, yeah, it's gonna be lacking
because it lacks that subwoofer.
As for the setup process, pretty simple.
You just plug it into the wall
and then you connect it to your TV.
You got two options.
You can connect it via optical cable
or Bluetooth depending on your TV type.
Now, again, that optical cable is included.
And most TVs do still have an optical cable port,
so that should be just fine.
So you'll need to insert the batteries into the remote,
and the batteries are not included
despite what all those '90s toy commercials told you.
Batteries not included
so you gotta get your own to put in there.
And then once you get it in there,
it is important that you change the TV audio output
to the PCM setting.
That's if you are on the optical cable.
And then once you're set up, you're off to the races.
You should be just fine running it that way.
Now, a note on the Bluetooth.
With most TVs,
you are going to be able to connect via Bluetooth.
However, on my TCL Roku TV,
and this goes for yours too if you have one,
it only supports Bluetooth for Roku-branded speakers.
Now, those are great,
but maybe you want a little bit more budget option.
So if you do,
then you're not gonna be able to use Bluetooth.
In this case, you've gotta use that optical cable.
It does not come with HDMI,
which is too bad because with the HDMI ARC,
that means you can use your TV remote
to control the volume on your connected sound bar.
That's not gonna be the case
when you connect it via optical cable.
You're gonna have to use the remote for the TaoTronics bar.
Now, the Bluetooth on that bar
isn't necessarily just for your TV.
You can also connect it
to your phone or your tablet or whatever,
and you can play music or whatever sound
through the sound bar from your phone.
So if you wanna do that,
or if you are trying to set it up on your TV,
you simply pull out the remote for the TaoTronics bar
and you long-hold the Bluetooth button,
and that will set it to pairing mode.
It should show up in your device list at that point.
All right, so that's the basics on the bar itself,
what comes in the box, et cetera, et cetera,
but let's talk about the positives and negatives of the bar.
Okay, the positive side, it does feel very well-built.
It's got a good heft to it.
It's got a metal grill on the front
unlike some others that might have fluff
or something like that.
So this metal grill, it does feel like it could take
some, you know, pretty significant toddler abuse
or, you know, whatever.
If you've got animals or kids
that might end up abusing your sound bar accidentally,
then, yeah, this one is built really well.
And I do like that the light indicator up front,
it tells me a little more clearly what input I'm using.
Now, I say more clearly
because other bars have other methods.
The Polk bar that I reviewed recently had a series of dots,
and you have to memorize the patterns to decipher
kinda what's going on with the inputs on there.
I also like that it does have more presence
than your TV speakers, especially in the mid-range sounds.
It's largely because, frankly,
a sound bar shoots the sound at you
instead of a TV which tends to send the sound down
or even backwards and bounce it off the wall behind it.
So I am going to have some less-than-fluttering things
to say about the sound quality in a moment,
but I do want to reiterate
this is better than your TV sound.
And lastly, yes, in the pro column goes the Bluetooth.
This is pretty much mandatory these days,
but there are bars out there that don't do it,
and so I'm glad this one does.
It also includes a 3.5-millimeter auxiliary jack in the back
so you can connect things more manually that way.
On the negative side, like I said earlier,
there is no HDMI connection on the bar.
And so that ARC, HDMI ARC on a lot of bars
that's gonna connect straight to your TV is great
because it allows you to control the volume
with your TV remote.
So it's, yeah, it's a big lack.
I really wish they had one,
but it would raise the price a little bit
if they included that.
Now, as far as the sound quality
that you're getting from the optical line
if you're connecting it that way,
it's gonna be fine.
You probably won't tell any difference
between optical and an HDMI connection.
Now, if you do opt for a Bluetooth connection,
that means that the sound quality
probably will drop a little bit.
Again, unless you're an audiophile,
you probably won't notice that big a difference.
Anyway, regardless, I do wish they had an HDMI connection.
Second negative one here
is that the power cable doesn't detach.
Now, how big a deal is that? Probably not huge.
But, you know, it's the little things.
It's nice to have something that can detach,
not even necessarily for day-to-day use
or portability or whatever,
but partly because if that cord gets worn out
or if a pet chews through it or something like that,
then replacing the cord becomes a lot easier
when it is detachable.
And speaking of the little things, no batteries included,
okay, I already complained about this,
but I had to put it in my con margin
just would it really cut into your profit margin so much
to throw in a couple triple A's?
C'mon.
And now we should talk about the sound quality.
Like I said,
I've got some less-than-fluttering things to say about it
because, frankly, it's not good.
As far as sound quality goes, it's not good.
There is no more base response on this bar
than you would get from your TV.
So while it does fill a room better with more presence,
it's not actually a very pleasant sound to listen to.
Now, you can go back to my other video
where I compared it to TV sound
when we talked about decibel levels and that sort of thing.
But, ultimately, what it comes down to
is, yeah, this is not a very good sounding bar.
But, again, compared to what?
So I'll talk about that more in just a moment.
Now, I should note if you are using this bar,
it's got three EQ profiles on it.
It's got music, game, and movie.
And frankly, bottom line, music sounds terrible.
Never use that EQ profile ever.
So, is this TaoTronics bar worth the price?
Has it earned that number one spot on Amazon?
Well, it's probably about half the price of what you'd pay
for almost any bar that comes with a subwoofer.
And a good sound system does need that good base response
because if you want it to be balanced,
if you want it to be pleasant to listen to,
you're either going to need a sub or a much pricier bar
that fields the base into that bar.
And this isn't so that you can vibrate the whole house
with your bass, right?
In fact, a good sub will be adjustable.
It's about rounding out that sound, and that's vital
if you want a pleasant listening experience.
So, in my humble yet amazing opinion,
(upbeat rock music)
this bar doesn't up the quality enough compared to your TV
to justify even its budget price tag.
So if at all possible,
you should be carving out a minimum of 150 bucks,
maybe more like 200 and up,
if you wanna get the bang for your buck
that you need out of a soundbar.
And if you want some recommendations,
go check out the description below.
I'll put in some of my favorite bars on Amazon
that will, yeah, be dollar-for-dollar,
pound-for-pound better than this bar
even if they will be a little bit pricier.
So, is the TaoTronics bar worth the price?
No, no, I don't think it is.
However, like I said before,
this is better than your built-in TV sound.
And so if you would like a sound bar
and you don't really wanna go out and buy one,
I would say check the description
because even though this bar isn't worth the price
they're asking for it,
it is worth free.
So check the description,
and I will be giving one of these away.
Just click on the link down there. It's really simple.
Make sure you, you know, like the video and all that stuff,
and you can get entered to win a giveaway of this bar,
this very bar that I've been testing.
I'll send it out to you.
So I don't think it's worth the price,
but, hey, it is the bestseller on Amazon, right?
So what do I know?
50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong, right?
So hit me with your opinions
and with your favorite sound bars
what you think a decent budget price point should be,
all of that stuff.
And on your way down, don't forget to like,
don't forget to subscribe,
don't forget to call your loved ones
every once and a while, you know.
I'll see you next time.