TCL Q65H 5.1 Soundbar Review: A Mixed Bag

• Quality two-tone matte black design
• Steel top plate panel
• Long 1.05-metre cabinet, ideal for big TVs

Rather like their oversized tellies, TCL clearly wants you to feel like you’re getting a bargain when stumping up for one of its soundbars. So, true to form, the TCL Q65H soundbar section is formed from sturdy steel and black plastic parts with a two-tone dark titanium colour scheme. An extended arc shape bisects the two materials on the top and the surfaces are luckily both matte textures.

The Q65H’s more expensive cousin, the Q75H, sports a shiny acrylic surface which rudely reflects light from the TV screen. So, the former’s design is better for most applications. While dwelling to the top side, note that you get five somewhat crude black ‘click’ buttons for control of Bluetooth, power, input selection, and volume up and down.

Although rounded edges and corners inform an increasingly common style guide for soundbars, TCL goes for a bold right-angled design geometry. Consequently, the bar looks solid and serious, and both it and the subwoofer’s combined weight don’t belie those traits.

If you are also a TCL TV owner, the 6.8cm-high soundbar topside sits just a neat few millimetres below the bottom bezel of one of their C series displays. In my case, I tested the speakers with a C845 65-inch model. But given that this TV’s stand sticks out 13 cm forward of the panel, the soundbar unfortunately does not clear it. The only solution is to create makeshift stands at either end to avoid the rise. I used modified foam pads.

Surrounding the front and sides is a stylish black cotton grille behind which reside all six drivers (more on that later). TCL provides an excellent readable and dimmable white LED front-on display; that’s not a regular feature for sub-£300 soundbars – indeed, some can be gallingly impractical.

So, I appreciate the attention to detail. The rear connection panel also recesses amply into the base and provides loads of room for your connectors and mains cord. The Q65H also comes with handy wall mount arms if you need them.

The remote control makes a nice visual companion for your other TCL clickers, if brand loyalty is your bag. It sports a comfortable palm sized outline with curved contours. Not surprisingly, it’s cast from injection molded plastic, but that’s par for the budget to mid-price course.

The sub brandishes a plain black front side, although the top and side cabinet surround is formed from a synthetic wood-grain composite. Again, these careful material choices render it quite convincing as a more high-end device.

The 6.5-inch driver and passive reflex port pop through the fibreboard rear side, so none of the workings are thankfully visible. Make sure you have room in the corner or to the side of your TV stand for its 22 cm x 36.9 cm x 27.5 cm (WHD) dimensions.

 Features

• 2 x HDMI (one eARC, Dolby Vision pass-through), 1 x Optical; 1 x USB
• Total of 8 sound units: 6 soundbar drivers; 1 x 6.5-inch bass cone; 1 x passive reflex port
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Ray Danz acoustic technology

If you were hoping for TCL to include Wi-Fi, then you would be disappointed. There are devices in this mid-price soundbar category which support an internet connection, but it’s usually omitted. That said, the Bluetooth performance was flawless for streaming and the sub-to-bar automated wireless connection was instantaneous after powering up both devices.

With two HDMI 2.1 inputs, one of which is eARC compatible for pulling sound down from your TV, it’s good to see that the second input supports Dolby Vision pass-through. That’s useful if you plan to route a 4K disc spinner or games console through the soundbar. As mentioned, TCL includes Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding, but you won’t benefit from the height information baked into those format bitstreams.

Also included on the input panel are ports for optical TOSLINK and USB (the latter for both music and software updates). I found input switching from the remote or the topside corresponding control button could induce a unwelcome time lag.

While the Q65H divvies up its eight total ‘sound units’ into six for the bar and two for the sub, the actual configuration was unclear based on the patchy resources provided to me. But note that key to the soundbar’s array are the two outermost cone designs.

These are the Ray Danz-branded acoustical technology modules. Their 60-degree amplified and angled horns with embedded tetoron cloth dome tweeters promise to produce a much wider cast soundstage and simulated surround effect. TCL touts the maximum power available as 580 watts and 150 watts of peak power for the soundbar and sub, respectively.

The Q65H comes with a number of EQ presets, namely Standard, Movie, Music, Game, Voice and Sport. They’re all worth a punt, particularly as some responded better to my music selections, for example, than others.

The Q65H employs TCL’s Tutti Choral feature which works a bit like Sony’s Bravia acoustic centre channel syncing tech. The idea here is that TV’s internal speakers take on the centre channel duties while building on the soundfield scale that the bar has to offer. My TCL TV is one product generation short of including this feature so I was unable to give it a try-out.

Sound Quality

• Impressive movie dynamics
• Music lacking midrange accuracy
• Overcooked bass

In everyday use, the Q65H lends a bit of heft to broadcast TV dialogue and impresses with its spacious output for music cues. Whether it constituted that much of an improvement over the already confident performance of my TCL C845 display could be in contention. While the subwoofer should act as an anchor for voices, it tended to get in the way and over-extend. That could lead to a raspy quality to the vocals.

Moving the sub away from the wall improved the situation, but a perfect dial-in was not forthcoming. Of course, many users will need to place the bass cabinet in a corner or close to a wall in a living room situation.

The TCL captures the raucous bass-infused opening of Pink Floyd’s One Slip (TIDAL) with conviction in music mode. But although there’s a visceral rumble, the bass feels like it’s being laid on with trowel. Even less edifying is the midrange reticence of drums and bass guitar, where I’m looking for cleanliness, instrument separation and punch. It’s not a bad overall rendition, but there too many soundbars in the £300 region now that get this balance right.

By contrast, the Q65H more satisfyingly navigates the layered and swirling high-frequency keyboard motifs in Orbital’s Spare Parts Express. I’d prefer more club-like drama from the track but, once again, the soundbar grapples to come to terms with the articulation needed further down in the frequency bands.

So, does the TCL soundbar pick up the slack on movies? Thankfully, yes. Those rib-rattling gunshots during the opening scene of Dunkirk get loads of ballast even if the sub feels like it’s working too hard. And this time, those horn-loaded drivers at the sides of the bar neatly dispatch the sound effects parcels out to the sides of the room.

Dynamics are realised and there’s scale, but ultimately it’s the neutrality and accuracy that take a hit. There’s not so much perception of height or rear action, but that could be too much to ask from a front-biased 5.1 setup.

I was also impressed with the sheer power on tap – the TCL Q65H will go loud without too much urging. If you’re looking for a mightier AV hailer for a classroom or hall, the combined soundbar/sub wattage count will happily oblige to your ears.

Should you buy it?