Gadgets

Hisense 2.1 Soundbar (HS212)

This is a sort of round about note as there were a few issues I was trying to solve here. These were that my old hi-fi amp was not working anymore, my Sony Bravia TV is quite old (but image quality is still better than some of the newer TVs I have looked at) and Pat has a bluetooth gadget for TV audio, which connects to her hearing aid. This last device was the biggest problem in this whole exercise. It had two input cables, one for the TV's headphone jack and the second was a TOSLINK (optical) cable. Now the TV is too old to have an optical audio output, so using this cable was out of the question. Using the headphone jack would mean the hearing aid would have the only audio output from the TV. Fortunately, the audiologist also supplied an RCA connector. Connecting this to the TV would mean the hearing aid gadget would also have the only sound output from the TV. What I needed here was some way to split the output from the TV to share the sound between the hearing aid gadget and an external speaker. So, this called for something along the lines of a soundbar with suitable audio input ports.

The only device that I could find that fitted my requirements (and pocket) was the Hisense HS212 as this device has an RCA input port (in addition to HDMI and optical). With RCA, it was relatively easy to find splitter cables for each of the ports on the TV and then to connect these to the soundbar and the hearing aid gadget. (Please note that the HS212 has now been replaced by the HS219, and I am not sure whether this still has RCA input ports.)

Opinions

These are some of my opinions on the device after having used it for a few years.

Sound quality The sound quality is ok. It is not up to the same standard as my old Technics amp with Dyna/Jensen speakers, but then it costs nowhere near the price I paid for the hi-fi system in today's terms. For the purpose that the soundbar was bought for (delivering improved sound from the TV) it does what I want.

Volume This my major gripe with this device. Nine times out of ten, every time it goes into standby mode (which seems to be after about 10 minutes of no sound), the volume level drops to 21. It does not retain the level it was at before it went into standby mode. I normally run the device at around 34 for a comfortable listening volume. I am not sure what the maximum volume level is, but it is more than 40.

Remote This is really very flimsy when compared to the build quality of the soundbar itself. The dimensions are 86mmx40mm, but the thickness is only 6mm. It really feels like something that one can break without trying too hard.

The five buttons below the power/mute buttons are for choosing the input type. The three buttons along the bottom are the only controls for any kind of "equalizer" settings. The five buttons in the middle are volume controls (up and down), changing tracks on a USB flash drive (left and right) and the centre button for pause/play from a USB flash drive or for pairing a Bluetooth device. All of these functions can be performed from the soundbar itself, but with a lot more difficulty.

My biggest gripe here, is that the volume-up button no longer functions. I can find no way to open the device to try and clean it to see if that would help. This means that the problem, mentioned above, in which the volume reverts to a much lower volume after going into standby, forces me to go to the soundbar to re-adjust the volume. All the other buttons are working.

It would appear that Hisense ZA do have the remote in stock, but with courier costs from Cape Town, it will end up costing me just over R400. They do not give an option to pick it up. I certainly do not think that this remote is worth that much money.

Comments The question here is would I recommend this soundbar? For the system I am running, the analogue inputs make it indispensable. The sound quality is better than that from the TV, but if you are looking for better equalizer options, I suggest try something else. A phone app would have gone a long way to remove some of the problems I have. It could replace the remote AND have an equalizer built in.

(updated: 28 November 2022)