Insignia™ - 2.0-Channel Soundbar with Digital Amplifier - Black

New for 2017, this soundbar appears to be a replacement for the well-regarded Insignia NS-SB316 model as it is virtually the same size, sells for the same price, and has two drivers with the same stated frequency response of 150-15,000 hz. Setup is simple and many will find the included quick start guide unnecessary. The remote remains the same credit-card style remote found with previous Insignia soundbars and it will even function with them for power and volume. However selecting the source input will not work on older Insignia soundbars. While the remote is entirely usable, I do wish Insignia would switch to a design that used standard AAA batteries instead of the pricier, harder to find button cell. Styling has been significantly improved over the previous model. Gone are the plasticky curved sides and front-facing Insignia logo, resulting in a more rectangular, minimalist appearance that is more in line with the looks of higher-end soundbars. The array of buttons on the top have been moved to the right side. Indicator lights remain at the top center, but are smaller and are now covered by the front grill cloth. As the top also inclines downward toward the back, the indicator lights now face slightly away from the viewer as well. In addition, there are less of them. For example, when powered, the NS-SB316 always has three green lights to denote power, source input, and sound mode. The new NS-HSB318 has just one blue light indicating the source input, which also doubles as the power indicator, while sound mode is left for your ears to determine. All this results in a much improved viewing experience when watching TV in a dark room. Sound quality of the main drivers is virtually identical to the older NS-SB316. As with the previous model, highs fade significantly around 15 khz while bass drops off rapidly below 150 hz and is no longer audible past about 80 hz. Mid bass is slightly exaggerated, but is pleasingly clean for a speaker in this price range. This does mean the audio lacks the high extension or lower bass of Vizio's similarly priced SB2820n-E0. However, the frequency range the NS-HSB318 can produce is warmer and fuller, resulting in audio that I personally find to be both more pleasing and more engaging. I would prefer highs that extended further like the Vizio offers. But I prefer the Insignia's fuller midrange and lack of bass rumble to the audio produced by the Vizio. Unlike the older NS-SB316 2.1 channel soundbar, the NS-HSB318 2.0 channel so unbar no longer has one. This does not change the frequency response much, but while it does reduce some of the muddiness in the mid bass frequencies, it also reduces the punch in the bass. Those who desire to wall mount this soundbar will find it a bit more difficult than the previous version. While the older NS-SB316 had metal bracket mounts, this soundbar simply has mounting holes in the plastic back and does not come with a helpful mounting template like the one included with the NS-SB316. The NS-HSB318 adds a USB port to the available RCA, digital optical (TOSLINK) and standard 3.5mm minijack inputs to provide audio playback through USB. Unfortunately, Insignia has removed the subwoofer out port. This, combined with the loss of the built-in subwoofer driver, means there is no ability to extend the bass response available. Deeper underlying tones in the growling of monsters, machinery or explosions will simply be absent for movie watchers. The NS-HSB318 is a stylish, speaker that's easy to set up and simple to operate. It produces full-bodied, engaging audio that is a pleasure to listen to for long periods of making it a compelling consideration for casual viewers wishing to dramatically improve the built-in audio of their TVs for as little money as possible. However, the limited high-end response makes it less appealing for music fans with discerning ears and the inability to enhance the bass performance limits the speaker's ability to engage movie viewers. At the list price of $100, this soundbar won't be an easy choice. But when it goes on sale at nearly half-price, it could keep Insignia among one of the best choices available. That said, the older NS-HSB318 will continue to be the better option for many while it remains available.

I bought thus soundbar for my mom as a Christmas gift. My dad passed away and since I’d be selling his receiver and 5.1 system, wanted her to have something simple, affordable, and that would get the job done. She’s at a point in life where she has the TV on a couple hours a day, doesn’t watch movies, and wouldn’t disseminate between something high-end and an entry level soundbar from BB. Therefore, this was a good choice. Again, for simplicity sake I grabbed this one knowing it doesn’t come with a subwoofer - she wouldn’t notice and if there was a sub she’d probably leave it turned off. No sub, no problem. The inputs on the back provide just enough for, AGAIN, someone wanting a simple set up. I connected the optical to her TV, connected the red & white RCA audios in to her turntable, and then connected her phone to the soundbar’s bluetooth. Two pieces of developmental feedback: 1) The remote is not great. Like many companies they skimp on making a remote that has any sort of ‘mmmmph’ to it. Does this remote get the job done? Yes. It’s just one of those remotes I can see many people moaning about. Also, the soundbar from as far as I was able to get the day I hooked it up, didn’t sync with her tv or cable remote. Therefore she still has her Sony TV remote, Charter/Time Warner cable remote, and the soundbar remote. It does allow you to switch sound outputs between movie, clear, and loudness. Nice to have. 2) When I hooked her turntable up, we got no sound out of the record player. Once I learned I had to turn the soundbar almost to maximum volume, we then started hearing her vinyl. When I flipped inputs to get back to TV it about blew our eardrums out because it was still near max volume. If you’re going to be a regular user of your record player and then toggle back to TV or Bluetooth, this will likely be a major annoyance. Then again, we could’ve had bad RCA cables. However, those were relatively new and the soundbar was obviously brand new. So, I don’t know what the heck is going on there. My guess is my mom is just not really using her record player much given this snag. Overall, I give this a 4 for ease, simplicity, a decent product design, and enough inputs to keep things moving. Docked a star for no HDMI, flimsy remote, the RCA thing I described, and the soundbar really just sounding very average. I’d recommend this to someone on a budget and/or who can live without the subwoofer and bells & whistles most soundbars come with at this point.

I purchased this on sale for $49.00 I really like the sound difference as compared to the TV speakers - big difference! I would like to see an optical digital cable included with this unit as most newer TVs do not have RCA audio output jacks. However if your sound bar is located near your cable box, which is not my case, you can use the RCA audio output jacks from it-I had to purchase the optical cable separately. As others have stated, the response from the remote to the sound bar could be better but it's not the remote that needs improvement but the remote receiver on the sound bar is is the problem. I know this for a fact because I programmed the aux button on my cable box remote to control the soundbar and it also seems to have to wake the sound bar up from an apparent sleep mode. Something I can live with as you cant expect perfection from a sound bar that cost this little. I can and will life with it because the benefits far out weight this one small area that could be improved. PS The code I used to program the cable remote to operate the sound bar was 10463. Naturally you don't have all the functions from the cable remote as you do from the units remote but it works Okay. I can mute, volume up, and volume down it. Hope this review avoids you any surprises if you purchase this unit. Averall I am happy with it.

For the price you can't beat this soundbar!. The logic behind that is i believe just about any soundbar will make your media experience better. While on a television that is, with stock speakers. But, there are some rather annoying drawbacks to this soundbar. The sound and bass are good. For movies and television the soundbar makes content much fuller, louder and deeper bass which is great! While playing music via blue-tooth is decent. Don't expect to rock the house while guests are over lol. I should have read the reviews before purchasing. The remote and dedicated buttons on the soundbar fail to work daily almost every other time. The remote tends to not work and when it doesn't you get up to press the dedicated buttons and they don't work either! The problem doesn't last long after madly pressing all buttons. Eventually things will register with the device and remote. Overall, the soundbar is decent but with how annoying the poorly built remote and dedicated buttons are.. I am almost ready to return it and shell out more money for another name brand soundbar. This device is entry level. This is not an upgrade. Consider buying this only if you have no other soundbar and you catch this on sale otherwise its not worth the retail price honestly. Spend the extra money for a Samsung or LG brand in my opinion.

Bought this soundbar for $40, usually $100. Was excited to get it home and connect to my new TV since the TV speakers are in the back and kind of muffled/not vibrant. Easy to connect with RCA cables, easy to control the volume with the TV remote using variable analog audio output setting on the TV. But I had to turn up the volume on the soundbar all the way just to hear sound at a normal volume level on the TV. The sound from the soundbar was barely distinguishable from the TV speakers. The best sound was when both the soundbar and the TV speakers were on, but that was only minimally better than the TV speakers alone. So the soundbar is really just marginally better than the TV speakers and not worth even $40. The worst part was controlling the soundbar. After powering on the soundbar, all the functions worked fine using the remote or the buttons on the side of the soundbar. But after a few minutes, nothing seemed to work without pushing buttons a bunch of times, like a lot of times. There was no response from the soundbar when pushing any of the buttons even just a few times - the power buttons didn't even respond. I repeated the problem multiple times, so it was not a one time fluke. Do not buy this soundbar, you will be disappointed and will have to return it. Might make a good white elephant gift as a joke....

Most new tv speakers suck. They just don't make them how they used to. On many of the new flat screen tv's, i have to put the sound to 40-60 just to hear it over the fan that is blowing right next to me. That's not cool. At first i thought i was losing my hearing, but no, it's just the cheap tv speakers. I bought this sound bar for 20 bucks. I knew going in it wasn't 5.1 dolby sound, i knew it didn't have blu tooth connection, and it even lacks av cord connections (which that one did hurt a bit). I still us av on some of my gaming consoles. But It's very easy to connect (5 min's or less), It sounds amazing and loud, and clear. Almost theater quality, now it makes me wonder what the 5.1 dolby sounds like. But if you are just looking to increase the volume to your normal tv, then this will do it. It only has hdmi connection, so it's no fuss in the back. The plug is a bit of a pain, it's one of those massive brick ones that take up 2 to 3 slots on those muti plug strips. Other then that i have no complaints. It serves it purpose. So due to lack of av cord connection, and it's massive plug, i'm taking away 1 star. If i knew it worked this good i would bought another one for my dad's tv.

At the sale price tag of $39.99 this soundbar is well worth getting. I hesitated on it due to the reviews that I was seeing for this product but decided to go for it. Figuring I can always return it if I'm not satisfied. When I got home? Set up took seconds. When I turned it on though, no sound was coming through until I realized I didn't have it set to the correct channel. It was set to the analog output (red/white) when it should've been set at Digital Optical Output. When I took care of that? Whoa! I was very pleasantly surprised, what a difference in overall quality of sound compared to the TV itself. Obviously in a good way of course. I kid you not when I say this thing gets loud. I could actually hear what characters are saying in the video games I play, and I hear the music much clearer too. I ended up checking out some games in my library that I hadn't played in forever because of this just to hear how it handed different ranges of sound. Gotta say it did a solid job of it. No distortion on any of what I heard. To get the best sound from something like this though? You gotta use a TOSLINK or digital output cable, and set it to Channel 1 on the speaker itself. Makes a huge difference in the quality. All in all, I'm very satisfied with this speaker thus far. The price is nice and the sound quality is too. Definitely recommend it.

The sound is really great. Gives off some of the better sound compared to similar models and brands in my opinion. You won't be disappointed by the sound. And it's easy to plug in and and start working. The only con with this soundbar is that the connection to the remote is horrible. I have a Roku TV, so the volume is connected to the roku remote. I find that I have to repeatedly push the volume button for a good 30 seconds before it finally responds and changes the volume. I thought it might be the roku remote causing the problem in the delay, so I even bought an optical cord to connect the soundbar to the tv (meaning that because it is a more accurate connection, you HAVE to use the soundbar remote to change the volume and settings.) I then tried to change the volume using the provided soundbar remote and it still took 30 seconds to respond to change the volume. I even tested changing the volume pressing the buttons on the side of the soundbar itself and found the same issue. Its sad that this is the con because I truly love the sound that it gives off, just horrible response time to volume adjustments.