The Vizio M Elevate Dolby Atmos Soundbar: Is it Worth $300 Extra?

I'll be looking at the Vizio M Elevate Dolby Atmos soundbar, or Meliv8 for short, which is now the second most expensive soundbar on the company's line. But is it any good? Once upon a time, I used to play in a band. We did a recording session with an engineer who had a thing called a hitbox. It was a little box with a red light on it and he would take that to recording sessions and put that in front of the band. If they were a bit unsure about what was happening, he'd point to the box and say, "Look, it's a hit." This was way before the days of AI and it wasn't doing anything special. It was just detecting a signal and showing it. That in essence is what the elevate does.

It's a hitbox Dolby Atmos soundbars cost a fair bit more than standard versions but most of them will never tell you when you're listening to atmos on receivers. You might get a light, but it's pretty small with the M Elevate that's not a problem. Play a show on Netflix or a Blu-ray in Atmos and these gears pop straight out. It's a pretty nifty feature and it stems from the original elevate which came out in 2020.

That sound bar features the unique ability to physically change the height drivers to fronts when you weren't listening to Dolby Atmos content and it worked very well while the ends of the Melavate also revolved they don’t work in the same way. This is a full surround soundbar with front heights and a wireless subwoofer. The rear speakers aren't wireless, though, they connect to the subwoofer by these very skinny cables.

The elevate has a fetching metallic skin, but the cut down Melavate has a simpler cloth over plastic construction. It's relatively attractive, however, and should blend in with most living spaces. All of the control and setup for the soundbar is via the remote, the screen is small, and the response time can be a little slow. However, some of the latest Vizio TVs will now allow you to control the soundbar via an on-screen display, which should make it much easier to use.

The step down M512 is my most recommended soundbar at $500. So why would you pay hundreds more for the Melovate? Firstly, the soundbar and subwoofer are bigger and they can push out more air. What this means in practice is that the performance is more natural and the new sub can go much lower. The blend between the sub and the bar is superb and both music and movies sound dramatic and cohesive when you're listening to the system. It simply disappears, the sound doesn't come from the tube in front of the TV but seems to come from all around you.

I compared the Melavate to the cheaper M512A and found that the $500 soundbar actually sounded better especially with Dolby Atmos content. The Melovate struggled to fill the room in the same way, and this could be down to those height drivers. They look pretty but don’t seem to work as well.

Connections include HDMI e-arc as well as an HDMI-in plus optical and Bluetooth. Unlike the competitive Sonos Arc or the Elevate itself, the step down doesn't include multi-room streaming however it does have the ability to connect a 50 Echo Dot so you do have voice control as well as Wi-Fi music. There's undoubtedly some differences between the M512A and the Melovate under the hood, to the naked eye, the biggest difference is really this revolving light.

Is it worth $300 extra? While the Melovate sounds good and looks cool, save yourself some money and get the M512A instead.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entoday i'll be looking at the vizio m elevate dolby atmos soundbar or meliv8 for short it's now the second most expensive soundbar on the company's line but is it any good so once upon a time i used to play in a band we did a recording session with an engineer who had a thing called a hitbox it was a little box with a red light on it and he would take that to recording sessions and put that in front of the band and if they were a bit unsure about what was happening he'd point to the box and say look it's a hit this was way before the days of ai and it wasn't doing anything special it was just detecting a signal and showing it and that in essence is what the elevate does it's a hit box dolby atmos sound bars cost a fair bit more than standard versions but most of them will never tell you when you're listening to atmos on receivers you might get a light but it's pretty small with the m elevate that's not a problem play a show on netflix or a blu-ray in atmos and these gears pop straight out it's a pretty nifty feature and it stems from the original elevate which came out in 2020 that sound bar features the unique ability to physically change the height drivers to fronts when you weren't listening to dolby atmos content and it worked very well while the ends of the melavate also revolved they don't work in the same way this is a full surround sound bar with front heights and a wireless subwoofer these rear speakers aren't wireless though they connect to the subwoofer by these very skinny cables while the elevate has a fetching metallic skin the cut down melavate has a simpler cloth over plastic construction it's relatively attractive however and should blend in with most living spaces all of the control and setup for the soundbar is via the remote the screen is small and the response time can be a little slow however some of the latest vizio tvs will now allow you to control the soundbar via an on-screen display and this should make it much easier to use the step down m512 is my most recommended sound bar at 500 so why would you pay hundreds more for the melovate firstly sound quality the soundbar and the subwoofer are bigger and they can push out more air what this means in practice is that the performance is more natural and the new sub can go much lower the blend between the sub and the bar is superb and both music and movies sound dramatic and cohesive when you're listening to the system it simply disappears the sound doesn't come from the tube in front of the tv but seemingly from all around you i compared the melavate to the cheaper m512a and found that the 500 soundbar actually sounded better especially with dolby atmos content the melovate struggled to fill the room in the same way and this could be down to those height drivers they look pretty but they don't seem to work as well connections include hdmi e-arc as well as an hdmi in plus optical and bluetooth unlike the competitive sonos arc or the elevate itself the step down doesn't include multi-room streaming however it does have the ability to connect a 50 echo dot so you do have voice control as well as wi-fi music though there's undoubtedly some differences between the m512a and the melode under the hood to the naked eye the biggest difference is really this revolving light is it worth three hundred dollars while the melody sounds good and looks cool save yourself some money and get the m512a instead this is type handlebrew for cnet.com for more information check the links below thanks for watchingtoday i'll be looking at the vizio m elevate dolby atmos soundbar or meliv8 for short it's now the second most expensive soundbar on the company's line but is it any good so once upon a time i used to play in a band we did a recording session with an engineer who had a thing called a hitbox it was a little box with a red light on it and he would take that to recording sessions and put that in front of the band and if they were a bit unsure about what was happening he'd point to the box and say look it's a hit this was way before the days of ai and it wasn't doing anything special it was just detecting a signal and showing it and that in essence is what the elevate does it's a hit box dolby atmos sound bars cost a fair bit more than standard versions but most of them will never tell you when you're listening to atmos on receivers you might get a light but it's pretty small with the m elevate that's not a problem play a show on netflix or a blu-ray in atmos and these gears pop straight out it's a pretty nifty feature and it stems from the original elevate which came out in 2020 that sound bar features the unique ability to physically change the height drivers to fronts when you weren't listening to dolby atmos content and it worked very well while the ends of the melavate also revolved they don't work in the same way this is a full surround sound bar with front heights and a wireless subwoofer these rear speakers aren't wireless though they connect to the subwoofer by these very skinny cables while the elevate has a fetching metallic skin the cut down melavate has a simpler cloth over plastic construction it's relatively attractive however and should blend in with most living spaces all of the control and setup for the soundbar is via the remote the screen is small and the response time can be a little slow however some of the latest vizio tvs will now allow you to control the soundbar via an on-screen display and this should make it much easier to use the step down m512 is my most recommended sound bar at 500 so why would you pay hundreds more for the melovate firstly sound quality the soundbar and the subwoofer are bigger and they can push out more air what this means in practice is that the performance is more natural and the new sub can go much lower the blend between the sub and the bar is superb and both music and movies sound dramatic and cohesive when you're listening to the system it simply disappears the sound doesn't come from the tube in front of the tv but seemingly from all around you i compared the melavate to the cheaper m512a and found that the 500 soundbar actually sounded better especially with dolby atmos content the melovate struggled to fill the room in the same way and this could be down to those height drivers they look pretty but they don't seem to work as well connections include hdmi e-arc as well as an hdmi in plus optical and bluetooth unlike the competitive sonos arc or the elevate itself the step down doesn't include multi-room streaming however it does have the ability to connect a 50 echo dot so you do have voice control as well as wi-fi music though there's undoubtedly some differences between the m512a and the melode under the hood to the naked eye the biggest difference is really this revolving light is it worth three hundred dollars while the melody sounds good and looks cool save yourself some money and get the m512a instead this is type handlebrew for cnet.com for more information check the links below thanks for watching\n"