Zvox Z-Base 555 photos
The Zvox Z-Base 555 has a nearly perfect sound-bar design and a solid feature set, but it won't please critical listeners.
Zvox Z-Base 555
We've been fans of Zvox's sound bars for years, but we've often griped about a few missing features: no front-panel display, digital inputs or true input switching. Zvox has recently released two new Z-Base units (555 and 580) and there's virtually nothing to complain about on the design and features end. The new front-panel display is excellent, there are two digital inputs plus true input switching, and the Z-Base pedestal design remains by far our favorite sound bar form factor.
Still, the Zvox Z-Base 555 fell a little short of our (admittedly high) expectations. That's largely due to its sound quality, which isn't bad, but didn't impress us as much as previous Zvox units. If you're not picky about sound quality or are just looking for an upgrade over your built-in TV speakers, the Z-Base 555 is an excellent choice, especially since the Z-Base 555 gets just about everything else right. (It's also a standout choice for dialogue clarity, with several useful adjustment options.)
But if you're planning on playing a lot of music or looking for big home theater thrills, you'll want to look competitors like the Harman Kardon SB 16 or Vizio VHT510.