Review: Vizio M-Series Elevate Soundbar

Most people are looking for one of two things in a soundbar: the most affordable option or the best-sounding one. While it’s easy to find products that fit one of those criteria, Vizio’s M-Series Elevate tries to meet both.

In terms of price, features, and quality, this $700 soundbar system nestles in the gap between the company’s $500 M-Series and its $1,000 Elevate. Like the original Elevate we reviewed in 2021, the new M-Series Elevate uses rotating, ceiling-firing drivers for the Dolby Atmos height channels. However, the new bar opts for a wired setup and ditches extra features like Wi-Fi to cut costs. 

This “best of both worlds” approach could have easily mired the M-Series Elevate in a no man’s land of compromises, but it manages to be one of those rare Goldilocks options that delivers great-sounding 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos in a relatively inexpensive package. 

One of the main reasons to choose a soundbar over a complete speaker configuration is the ease of setup, and the M-Series Elevate absolutely nails it. It uses a mostly wired setup (in which each speaker is physically wired to the subwoofer, rather than just to a power outlet), which may disappoint some users, but the process is remarkably easy.

The soundbar connects to your TV via an HDMI ARC/eARC port, and you can connect an external device like a streaming box or video game console via an additional HDMI input. You can also hook the soundbar up to your TV or other devices through USB or digital optical audio cables, which are included. 

The two surround speakers link up to the subwoofer via included 3.5-mm cables and a power cable. The only wireless component in the core setup is the subwoofer, which syncs to the soundbar automatically when you turn it on; there’s no pairing step to deal with, and its wireless nature means no unsightly cable running through the middle of your room. Because the surrounds connect to the subwoofer, it's better to put it in the middle or rear of your room.

Optionally, you can connect an Echo Dot speaker to the soundbar to enable voice controls, and you can pair it with a smartphone or other Bluetooth device to stream music to the M-Series Elevate.

Aesthetically, the M-Series Elevate is subtle and will easily fit in with most people's decor. The soundbar is slightly rounded and covered in a simple charcoal-gray fabric, and the surround speakers and subwoofer feature the same sleek design. Very little about the setup sticks out—though the surround speakers are oriented horizontally and will quite literally stick out from the wall a few inches if mounted. That said, they’re small enough to fit on most shelves.

The only standout visual feature is the tiny speakers that pop out at both ends of the soundbar in Dolby Atmos mode. These tiny drivers rotate upward to act as ceiling-facing height channels. Customizable colored LEDs inside the speakers make the Atmos Mode even more obvious, but you can turn off the lighting if it’s not your style. It’s worth noting that this feature adds a smidge to the soundbar’s footprint—something to keep in mind if you have limited space.

Photograph: Vizio

The physical setup is simple, but dialing in the M-Series Elevate’s settings can be tedious, depending on your desires. To Vizio’s credit, the bar is packed with options, and I appreciate the granular control you have over every aspect of the listening experience. The problem is actually just navigating all these menus.

Some Vizio TVs integrate the M-Series Elevate’s audio settings into the TV’s menu, which is simple to use and will be familiar to anyone who spends time tweaking their TV’s picture options, but everyone else has to deal with a constricted, remote-based interface.

There’s no screen on the soundbar itself. Instead, settings and options are navigated with the included remote’s tiny LCD display, while discrete LED lights on the front of the soundbar display additional information. The screen on the remote is fine, but the small size can’t show much information, making navigation harder. I also experienced occasional button-response lags. Altogether, the initial setup was a tad more work than I expected. You'll need to keep the user manual handy while you’re learning what each light configuration means.

The TV-based menu is the best option if you've got a late-model Vizio screen. You can program your TV’s remote to control the M-Series Elevate and your Vizio TV seamlessly, but I ran into some strange hiccups where the TV or the soundbar simply wouldn’t respond when first booting everything up. It was infrequent, and I couldn’t replicate the issue, so it's possible it was an edge case due to my personal setup, but it's worth mentioning since it added needless frustration to the watching experience. 

Photograph: Vizio

All my concerns with preferences melted away once I started listening to the M-Elevate: Even without menu dicing, the M-Series Elevate sounds excellent. Sound quality is crisp and clear, and the overall mix is balanced. I like big bass but not at the expense of rattling hardware or overpowered dialog, and I can happily report that this bar lands in that sweet spot. The subwoofer delivers a punch, but it’s never overpowering, and sounds felt appropriately spread throughout the room rather than concentrated on just the bar or the subwoofer.

I started my testing off easy with a few episodes of Cobra Kai season 5 to see how the soundbar sounds in casual, non-Atmos watching. The quality was immediately noticeable: Voices, music, and other elements of the mix are separated well enough that everything was audible, whether it was an intense material arts brawl or a quiet conversation. Every room is different, so you may need to spend more time messing around with the settings, but the default mix out of the box is good enough that I didn’t need to change much.

Heck, even listening with just the soundbar and no subwoofer or surround speakers sounds pretty good (though there are much less expensive options out there if you’re looking for a soundbar-only setup). The point is, the M-Series Elevate sounds good even if you’re watching non-Atmos content.

Dolby Atmos, which uses a height channel to create 3D surround sound, deepens the surround-sound effect on any Atmos-capable setup, the M-Series Elevate included. I found the Atmos performance to be decent overall. It achieves the all-around-you 3D effect that makes scenes like the factory battle in Andor episode 3 shockingly more immersive. 

It’s also great for gaming. Normally, I play with a headset for the best-possible immersion, but the depth of the sound stage makes Returnal’s hostile alien planet feel absolutely enveloping. Better yet, the surround-sound positioning was accurate and clear enough to track enemies (and the projectiles they blast at you) during heated shootouts.

That said, you might need to crank the height-channel setting up to notice the up-firing speakers bouncing off the ceiling. They’re present in the mix for sure, and I was perfectly content with their performance once I found the right volume level, but it’s worth noting that they start a bit quiet for an Atmos diehard looking for peak performance. Then again, I’m not sure this soundbar is for Atmos diehards, anyway.

Other more expensive soundbars and speaker setups might do Atmos better, but it's surprising how good blaster shots and speeder parts ricocheting around you sound on a streamlined soundbar like the M-Elevate. For most normal people, this system will offer more than enough to enjoy with the lights off.