TCL Q85H Q Class 7.1.4 Channel Sound Bar Review

Audio can make or break any sort of media experience, and that goes double for a home theater system. A sound bar is arguably just as important as any TV for movies and shows, and again, that goes doubly for gaming experiences. The TCL Q85H Q Class 7.1.4 Channel sound bar is a perfect companion then to any gaming TV. The whole package includes the 7.1.4 Channel Q Class Sound Bar, a wireless subwoofer with a 6.5” driver and bass boost, and two wireless surrounds with up-firing speakers.

This may be the easiest accessory I’ve ever added to any setup. All consumers have to do to set this up is pull out the sound bar, the subwoofers, and surround speakers, put them where needed, and hook them into a wall outlet. The sound bar does need to be connected to an HDMI port (HDMI eARC preferably) too, but Bluetooth takes care of the rest. In mere minutes, the entire thing can be set up and ready to go for any TCL consumer. The result is a painless setup, leading to an overall better audio experience.

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The first thing I did was turn on YouTube and play a bass-heavy song to see how well the subwoofer and sound bar were capable of delivering this experience. It was immediately impressive with the way it transformed a normally pure auditory experience into a full-body one. Every bump could be felt, immediately immersing me in the song. While this should not be used at high volumes for prolonged periods, I found that just turning it up a little beyond where I normally keep my TV made the audio easily heard outside. I don’t really have neighbors, but if I did, it would be easy to make enemies with this sound bar. It is high quality in terms of sound delivery and overall volume.

This is true of every experience I’ve had. Watching the Saw movies for Halloween made me feel like I was in Jigsaw’s traps, watching the new season of Ink Master made me feel like I was in the studio, and watching Monday Night Raw or Friday Night Smackdown ensured I felt every bump. There was no variance across apps, movies or shows, or in gaming. I previously preferred using gaming headsets anytime I was on my PS5 or Xbox Series X, but this sound bar has truly revolutionized that. Whether it was more fantastical like Space Marine 2 or more realistic (at least in some levels) in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6‘s campaign, it truly made me feel like I was on the battlefield.

I wasn’t second-guessing or missing any sounds in Apex Legends or Black Ops 6 multiplayer, and Zombies has never been more visceral. I also played Life is Strange: Double Exposure and Dragon Age: The Veilguard utilizing this soundbar, and there is a huge immersive leap when playing any game of any genre with this sound bar versus my gaming headset. It is a revolutionary change, and while a lot of sound bars can make similar auditory adjustments, the TCL Q85H Q Class 7.1.4 Channel sound bar goes the extra mile to ensure that the sound is genuinely immersive.

Where TCL products shine is by taking typically irrelevant features and making them genuinely matter. This sound bar, for example, has different audio modes, and these can typically be ignored in any setup. The small tweaks they make don’t typically make a difference, but they do with this sound bar. Watching WWE on a sports audio mode ensured I could hear every noise involved with a move or bump, and those little but important sounds genuinely shined. The same goes for Call of Duty zombies on a gaming mode because I’ve never actually been scared by their zombies before. It brings out the subtle nuances in genuine ways and should not be ignored.

That’s not to say this sound bar is a perfect product, though, because it does have two major flaws. To be clear, the experience it offers is still second to none, but two elements of this system can be disappointing. First, the wall mount kit that comes with it is not as high quality as the rest of the product. It’s not necessarily even the wall mount kit itself, but the severe limitations in how the sound bar can be mounted in conjunction with it. Most mountable products have their mounting tapped or threaded holes in obvious support locations, while mounts themselves (that actually go into the wall) typically allow some variance depending on how it needs to go on the wall. This is because wall beams can be 16 or 24 inches apart in most scenarios, but because of the mounting locations on the sound bar and the lack of variance in the kit, this can only be mounted if someone’s wall beams are the exact needed length apart. If someone wants to mount this soundbar but finds that their wall beams do not line up with the kit, they’ll need to either set it on something or buy a separate, more universal wall mounting kit.

Secondly, the two wireless surrounds with up-firing speakers lag behind in quality, looking and acting like old computer speakers, when compared to the product. While they connect just fine like the bar itself and the subwoofer, the audio they deliver is much lower compared. Of course, these speakers are meant to create a more immersive, 360-degree environment, which means their sounds are meant to be more subtle. However, they’re not so much subtle as they are just hard to hear. No matter how or where I positioned them, the sound they produced was negligible unless I had them within a few feet of my ears at all times. Even unplugged, there was no difference in the overall experience without these speakers.

Luckily, the TCL Q85H Q Class 7.1.4 Channel sound bar system as a whole still provides a bodily audio experience and is capable of producing high-quality sounds as a complex, yet simple package. Setting the bar on my entertainment stand was not a deal breaker for me, nor is the inclusion of two lackluster supplemental speakers, but it’s still worth knowing for anyone purchasing the product. The value in this sound bar system comes from the ease of use, the excellent sound bar and all its features, and the booming subwoofer; those alone feel worth the asking price.

Game Rant was provided with a TCL Q85H Q Class 7.1.4 Channel sound bar for the purposes of this review.

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