Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

[*UPDATE*] Everything is still great and honestly even better. After adding a PS4 to the mix yesterday, I decided to quit procrastinating and re-configure the cables to test HDMI ARC (previously used optical input). NOW, after nearly 8+ months, I have an on-screen volume indicator again instead of relying on the sound bar LEDs and the sound quality is even more amazing (Dolby D+/DTS used with TV, bitstream DTS w/PS4) If your TV supports HDMI ARC, take advantage of it with this sound bar. I’ve also since ditched the tiny, stroke inducing OEM remote for the sound bar plus 2 others and programmed everything through a Harmony Ultimate remote. All the thumbs up! ————————————————————- [*FYI*] I bought this product with my own hard-earned salary and have gained no reward or free crap from a 3rd party for leaving this review...sorry it's kind of a novel :) It has been 6 months since purchasing the MagniFi mini and I'll have to say I have gotten quite a bit of well welcomed, unexpected bang for my buck. I was skeptical at first thinking that one tiny bar and sub couldn't possibly give me a believable theater sound experience...WRONG!!! The coolest part about the sound is that even though the bar is positioned in front of me, underneath my TV, the sound "feels" submersive like it's coming from all around the room. The main bar speaker is heavy as a brick, very well made. The down-firing sub is quite light, very well-made and fits just about anywhere. There is, however, quite the learning curve when it comes to figuring out your optimal audio settings. You'll be tweaking the your TV's audio out settings for a while before finding the sweet spot. Also, getting used to knowing the what the colored lights on the speaker front were telling me was different especially when being used to seeing a visual indicator on the TV. It took about a month to finally work the kinks out of the TV's audio out setting situation and find the optimal setting for at least 3 out of the 4 things I have connected to the speaker. I honestly don't think I've been able to use this speaker to the potential I have no doubts it has like really crank it up to an ignorant level, but I can say that when I have turned it up (using just the optical input) like for a PlayStation game or streaming movies with my TV audio out setting to Dolby+/DTS, there's a TON of power behind that set-up. 99% of the time I stream content from TV apps (Pandora/Netflix/Amazon Prime Video/E! Now etc.) Sound is amazingly balanced and has rarely required any tweaks from the remote. Quiet movies like Moonlight was a bit of a nightmare, but I watched that the night I got the speaker and hadn't figured things out yet. I also replaced the puny factory wire with a high quality/premium optical cable and noticed a richer improvement in the sound quality. Bluetooth streaming quality is equally as amazing. I've tested streaming from my iPhone, a couple old Androids and my Mac. Each one worked equally as well and pairing was effortless. My U-verse cable box takes up the only ARC HDMI port on the TV so I have yet to test the sound quality from TV over ARC to the speaker. Pretty sure it's excellent though. Once I do get to test that I'll come back and update if anything significant comes out of it. My one gripe with inputs is, for example, channel changes or changing content while streaming. There's a sound delay that takes takes several seconds to resume unless you trigger it manually by mashing a volume button. It's slightly annoying and I keep wondering if this is remedied by using ARC HDMI...I'll test it eventually. On the other side of the review token, audio when watching cable TV (AT&T U-verse) has always been and continues to be a butt pain. I'm not blaming the speaker system at all because I'm betting the U-verse cable box is the problem, it just needs to be upgraded...old tech + new tech=all kinds of weird sometimes. Some channels apparently only support certain audio formats over optical. The main issues are that some channels will have no sound until I change the TV audio out setting to plain Dolby+ (no DTS). Or, others will be so quiet I have to crank it to 11 to hear anything then get then need a change of pants once a commercial comes on because it'll blare so loud that the rest of the city will know what I'm watching. At this point, I know which channels are borked and avoid them. Meh. No biggie. Last gripe is the remote. Whoever thought of this design should've called in sick that day. #1) It's not very responsive. You have to point it directly at the speaker or else nothing is going to happen. It's mainly the scalloped/flat buttons that have major responsive issues. Mute button is the wrong place so when you need to quickly cut the sound and it takes 3-4 presses before it actually works. Volume Up and Down are both scalloped out. In a perfect remote world, Volume Up should be raised so you can feel the difference in your hand without looking. If you aren't pressing in exactly the right spot, you're gonna do the opposite of what you intend. Very annoying. Then there's the speaker LED's. Gauging the number of clicks to change the volume level remains a mystery so I STILL have to look at the lights to know my remote press registered (which isn't always do-able depending on where I am in the room). It always 1 click to display the sound level LED's then 4-6 clicks to actually affect the volume level. I could count for clicks forever and it'd never end up being the same ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I've eliminated these issues entirely by just programming the speaker on my Harmony remote. Bam...perfection anywhere. Since my purchase 6 months ago, the price has gone dropped to $199 so I kinda wish I had waited, but I needed an audio upgrade immediately back then. This product was very well worth the original $269 price tag, though. Don't hesitate on getting your hands on this little system! I always pre-search major purchases until it becomes ridiculous, but there's really no need if you're looking for awesome audio quality, high product quality and ease of use. You will NOT be disappointed especially at this new lower price, it's pretty much an un-pass-up-able* steal! (*wonder how many scrabble points that word would gimme :P)