Hisense AX5125H Review (5.1.2 CH Dolby Atmos Soundbar)

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Introduction

Hisense is famous for many products in the home theater market. Especially their TVs and Laser TVs are making a lot of waves the last few years. What is less known is that Hisense is also making soundbars. And today in our Hisense AX5125H review, for the first time, we will be testing one, of their latest offerings.

The AX5125H is part of their last batch of soundbars that they released fairly recently. Hisense does not have an extensive soundbar lineup like Samsung or LG but they seem to be pretty stellar with their releases showing a continuing interest in this market.

But before we dive deeper in our analysis let’s see what this unit is all about. The Hisense AX5125H is a 5.1.2 channels, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X capable soundbar. It can output a peak 500 watts of power and comes with both a subwoofer and rear speakers in order to create a full 360 degrees performance.

This is an interesting product from Hisense to be honest. With a price of just $300 you practically get a full surround system but without much in terms of extra features. Can its performance justify its cost? Or competition is too much for this arguably interesting release? Let’s find out…

Specifications and Features

Design

Dimensions

This is the first Hisense soundbar we test so we have no point of reference regarding its design. But our initial thoughts about it was that Hisense tried to create a design that looks nice, feels modern and can match any room design and environment.

The AX5125H measures 36.2 x 2.4 x 3.5 inch (920 x 60 x 90 mm) and with a weight of just 5.78 lbs (2.62 Kg) you will have no trouble handling it by yourself. The rear speakers measure 3.6 x 5.7 x 4.3 inch (91 x 144 x 109 mm) and weight 2.9 lbs(1.37 Kg). As for the subwoofer, this measures 8.4 x 11.6 x 12 inch (214 x 294 x 304 mm) and weights 11.55 lbs (5.24 Kg).

With a height of 2.4 inches you shouldn’t have trouble fitting this under most TVs. But since there are a few models that have much less clearance under the panel we always suggest you to measure first.

Layout

The main unit comes with a chassis that has straight lines and nice curvy corners. Plastic in the main material used obviously but Hisense used a nice mix of metal and fabric, making the entire presentation more than satisfactory.

The entire front side of the soundbar is covered by a perforated metal grille. Strangely enough the top side is covered in a cloth grille hiding the up-firing drivers. To be honest we would prefer a metal grille here also as the cloth is more prone to damage and gets dirty much easier.

At the back there is an inset hiding all the connection ports along with the special handles for attaching the wall mounting brackets.

The rear speakers follow the same design as the main unit. They are made out of plastic, they feature curvy corners and use a metal grille that extends to the top. But don’t get fooled by this as there are no up-firing drivers in the rear speakers. Only a forward looking one.

The subwoofer on the other hand comes in a standard wood/melamine cubic box with the driver looking forward and the air port at the back. The grille is again from metal so it fits the rest of the design.

Colors & Quality of Materials

The Hisense AX5125H seems to be available in a single color. At least for such an affordable model, construction was pretty sturdy. The plastics were all of good quality and we didn’t notice any defects from the manufacturing process.

Display Type

One thing we pay a lot of attention with soundbar designs is the display. And the Hisense AX5125H uses a full functions display that can show up to five characters at the same time.

Hisense placed the display between the center and right channels, just below the built-in buttons.

The display is big enough and can show various information about the soundbar like input, EQ settings among other options.

Internal Hardware

Let’s take a look at what kind of hardware this one uses.

Configuration & Power Distribution

The soundbar is rated as a 5.1.2 channels system with a total of 500 watts of power. Power distribution is at 260 watts for the main bar, 60 watts for the rear speakers and 180 watts for the subwoofer.

Channels Analysis

The main unit is using a total of 6 channels. The main left and right channels use a single full range racetrack driver each. While the center is comprised of a racetrack driver along with a round tweeter. Two more racetrack drivers are used for the up-firing Dolby Atmos channels.

The rear speakers use a single full range driver each. Unfortunately these do not have up-firing drivers in them. Lastly the subwoofer uses a single front-firing 6.5″ woofer cone.

Connectivity

Physical Ports

The inset at the back of the unit includes two HDMI ports, a single USB Type-A, a digital optical audio input and a 3.5mm stereo analog input.

With one HDMI input and one output the Hisense AX5125H supports signal pass-through but with certain limitations. Although 4K@120Hz signal are supported you cannot use 10-bit color. Dolby Vision and HDR are also supported. As for VRR, the soundbar supports HDMI Forum VRR and FreeSync, but not G-Sync. ALLM is also available.

As for the USB port, this supports playback of any external sources you connect to it and can also be used for updating the system.

Wireless Capabilities

The only type of wireless communication the soundbar offers is through Bluetooth. Surprisingly we get Bluetooth v5.3 which is one of the newer versions.

Control Options

Next we will be looking at the ways you can control this device.

Remote

Hisense has created a very nice remote for this soundbar. It may be relatively simple but has all the buttons you will ever need to change all aspects of the system. The AX5125H does not have many extra features anyway. So a remote cluttered with buttons was not necessary.

All buttons on the remote have enough distance between them and are made of a nice rubber material pleasant to the touch. Unfortunately there is no backlight available so using it in a completely dark environment is definitely problematic.

At the middle of the remote you will find the usual navigation controls. Above them Hisense included some sound management options like EQ and Surround, input selection and Bluetooth. At the bottom you will find some sound adjusting options including Bass and Treble. There is also a Dimmer option for the display and a mute button at the very bottom.

Overall a very nice and yet simple design. It matches the soundbar’s look and it is easy to memorize the function of each button.

Built-in Controls

As most soundbars, there are a few built-in buttons available. From left to right there is a power button, source selection and volume controls. A pretty standard configuration here.

Mobile App

It seems that Hisense opted not to include a dedicated app for this soundbar. So the remote and the built-in controls are your only means of controlling this unit. Don’t loose the remote!

Extra Features and Services

If you are expecting to find a lot of extra functions as we usually do with soundbars prepared to be disappointed. Hisense decided to keep things simple. And with the soundbar missing WiFi connectivity, most online features are completely missing.

The only feature we can talk about, is its ability to playback audio files from the USB Type-A. From the USB port the device can playback WAV, MP3 and WMA files. It also supports AAC, OGG and FLAC files.

Lastly we should not forget to mention that the unit is Roku Ready which means if you have a Roku TV, integrating it with the soundbar should be really easy.

Audio Formats & Technologies

Let’s move to the AX5125H’s sound capabilities. The soundbar supports both object oriented formats. This means that except from Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, all older and legacy formats are also supported.

But Hisense went a step further and added both DTS Virtual: X and DTS Neural: X technologies. DTS Virtual: X is a virtual mode capable of creating sounds that originate from virtual created speakers around your room where there are no physical speakers present. DTS Neural: X on the other hand is up-mixing tech that up-converts stereo and legacy mixes in order to make use of all the speakers you have in your setup.

Sound Management

In terms of sound management the AX5125H is relatively simple. There is no sound calibration system that can adjust the soundbar’s output to your room’s acoustics. So you will have to somewhat compensate for that manually with the limited options available.

The soundbar offers bass and treble adjustment. As for channels calibration you only have the option to adjust both rear channels at the same time. Unfortunately no individual channel adjustment is possible which can pose a problem if you have to place the rear speakers in different distances.

Also its EQ settings are fairly simple. There is no individual frequency adjustment and you will only find several presets that are ideal for specific content.

Sound Modes

The EQ presets available are 7 in total. These are Music, Movie, News, Sport, Night, Game and AI EQ. Most of them are obvious what they are meant of. The most interesting one is the AI EQ which basically allows the soundbar to choose which preset to use according to the content.

The only other available option is to turn the surround sound off and on. This can be particularly handy if you want to hear stereo sound and don’t want the sound to bleed into the rear speakers also.

Initial Setup

Chose How to Connect

The first step is to choose the way you will connect the soundbar. Here you have various options. You can use the HDMI ports in two ways. Either in pass-through mode or at the end of the chain utilizing the soundbar’s eARC functionality. Keep in mind that if your other devices support only ARC and not eARC you are not going to get Dolby Atmos through the Dolby TrueHD container. You will also lose support for DTS-HD along with LPCM 5.1.

If HDMI is not an option then you can also use the soundbar’s optical port. But this will further reduce the options you will have concerning the audio formats that can be passed through this connection. So you have to decide what you really want in comparison to what your other equipment can do.

The manual has a detailed table so you can clearly choose accordingly.

Further Steps & Calibration

There is no app support here. So what you have to do next is to adjust the rear speakers, calibrate the bass and treble and choose the appropriate sound mode. That’s all there is to it.

Movies and TV

We move on to our real content testing text. For this review we tried the film Dune in 4K UHD with its majestic Dolby Atmos mix and also Greyhound that is streaming in Apple TV+ which comes with a bombastic Dolby Atmos track.

Front Soundstage

The Hisense AX5125H surely is able to create a really powerful front stage. In fact we were a bit surprised at first given its low $299 cost nature. Sound would expand beyond the physical limits of the main bar itself, although not to such an extent as some other premium soundbars with side-firing channels.

The two main channels had good separation and many panning effects would smoothly switch from one channel to the other. Although the soundbar is definitely front oriented we never felt that is was overshadowing the rest of the channels. Everything really sounded very balanced without any extremes.

In terms of actual sound quality the Hisense surely scores above average. Obviously this is not a premium HiFi system so some subtle details and very fine characteristics in the tracks are lost. But most of what defines both performances were there. With the available hardware we can say we were more than pleased.

Dialog

Equally satisfying was the center channel. Hisense’s decision to combine a full range racetrack driver with a round tweeter surely paid off. All the actor’s voices were clear and distinct and even during action heavy scenes we never lost a single word.

Characteristic of this, was in Greyhound when the U-boats are attaching the USS Keeling. When its 5 inch guns and 40mm Bofors guns shoot at the enemy U-boats the captain’s orders and directions to the crew are crystal clear no matter the surrounding cacophony of the scene.

Surround Sound

If you really want immersion then having rear speakers is a must. And the Hisense really excelled here. Cannon fire and bullets would fly past our heads with amazing precision. We did feel the surround effects were a bit weak but this was fixed with upping the rear channels a bit to make them more pronounced.

The rear speakers may not be on the same level as some more premium soundbars that include multiple drivers at different angles nowadays. As a result you will certainly feel a few gaps in the 360 degrees immersion bubble. For example to our right and left sides there was not so much activity and you could sense that sound was coming directly from each rear speaker.

But nevertheless what the Hisense AX52125H offered us was far above what the average soundbar can do at this price level where most systems do not come with rear speakers at all.

Dolby Atmos

As for its Dolby Atmos performance this was good but not great. Usually with up-firing speakers, sound feels a little lower and a bit less precise and this was the case here also. Also with only front Atmos channels you are going to find the Atmos performance entirely front-oriented.

Keep in mind that there are certain limitations when it comes to up-firing Atmos channels. Since all these Atmos soundbars bounce audio on the ceiling and down to you, your room will define the AX5125H’s performance. A high ceiling that is not horizontally straight will diminish the Atmos effects to a great extent. A small room with low straight ceiling on the other hand will make Atmos effects more pronounced.

So always keep in mind of the area where you are going to place the soundbar. Because it can make a huge difference.

Bass

Since the soundbar does come with a subwoofer the bass performance was really good for its category. The 6.5″ woofer may not have the power to punch you in the chest and create that pressure effect that top of the line subwoofers are capable of. But surely can extend the low end to a satisfying degree.

Cannon fire had nice punch, the Bofors cannons were thunderous while the harvesters and giant sandworms in Dune would make our walls shake revealing their true size and magnitude.

Maximum Volume

The soundbar can get pretty loud, considering its overall size and power output. But we did sense some distortion when pushed too much. This can be obvious to some and not so much to others, depending how sensitive you are to sound in general.

But this is something that we expected. Never forget that this is not a dedicated HiFi system. And all soundbars, some more than others, cannot avoid a certain level of distortion in the upper volume levels.

Music

The device offers multiple ways to stream music. You can do that through the USB and through Bluetooth obviously. You can also connect a media player through HDMI and playback music that way. For our review we opted the last option as we used our trusted Zidoo Z9X media player which we connected to the Hisense AX5125H through its HDMI port.

Fidelity & Overall Quality

The AX5125H exhibited similar performance characteristics as some more expensive releases we tried out lately. While minor discrepancies did exist, the sound profile remained consistent, showcasing commendable fidelity and overall quality.

The midrange frequencies were rendered without effort, while the high-end frequencies maintained the necessary energy without causing listener fatigue. The sound signature retained a notable linearity, a trait that surely adds to the whole experience.

As with many soundbars, the AX5125H offered satisfactory sound imaging without venturing beyond the capabilities typical of similar sound systems. Panning effects demonstrated pleasant spatial movement, and channel transitions were handled with precision and accuracy, enhancing the immersive quality of the listening experience.

Despite the robustness of the integrated subwoofer, our evaluation revealed room for refinement in representing the low-end frequencies. Particularly during more demanding musical passages. Nevertheless, the overall performance remained satisfactory, offering a balanced audio reproduction suitable for a variety of musical genres.

Different Content

Our comprehensive testing across various content types confirmed the AX5125H’s consistency as a stellar performer. While it may not match the finesse of dedicated HiFi equipment in certain scenarios, it undeniably shined as a versatile soundbar, catering to a diverse range of musical preferences and content formats.

Compared to other Systems

First comparison is with the Bose TV speaker which comes at almost the same price at $279. The AX5125H is hands down the better soundbar here. The Hisense has rear speakers and a subwoofer creating a more complete surround environment. The Bose’s 2.0 channels configuration is very limiting in terms of immersion and overall sound output.

Next we have the Denon DHT-S217 with a price of $249. The Hisense AX5125H is again the better system. The Denon is missing a subwoofer and rear speakers so its output is more front oriented. It performs better than the Bose TV Speaker mostly due to its larger size but again you are not going to get a full surround experience as the Hisense offers.

For last we have the Klipsch Cinema 400. The Klipsch does have a subwoofer so it performs better than the other competitors we mentioned above. But it does not have neither rear speakers nor up-firing channels for Dolby Atmos sound. And considering its price is slightly higher than the Hisense at $329 the AX5125H wins this round also.

Final Thoughts

There is a huge selection of soundbars that come with both a subwoofer and rear speakers. But none of them can match Hisense’s price which makes the AX5125H a really interesting unit for the entry-level, Dolby Atmos capable soundbar market.

We always judge a soundbar’s performance and features compared to its price. And it was evident that Hisense first and foremost wanted a good performing soundbar, even if they had to sacrifice a few features to achieve that. And they really did it. The Hisense AX5125H did really good for a $299 system. You will get a full surround experience with minimal cost which is what this is all about in the end.

As for its weaknesses, we would like Hisense to include a room correction feature. Missing WiFi means that there is no online functionality and features. And lastly the rear speakers do not have up-firing drivers meaning that the overall Dolby Atmos effect is vastly inferior and less pronounced compared to other Dolby Atmos capable units.

Closing our Hisense AX5125H review we can say with certainty that Hisense took all the right choices. If you want a soundbar that can create a full surround experience, is Dolby Atmos capable, gives priority to its sound output and not so much to extra bells and whistles and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg this one is definitely the right one for you.

For more reviews you can check our dedicated Single Soundbar reviews section or even look at our Product Reviews Table where you can find the brand and specific product you are looking for.

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