Zebronics Newly launched Juke bar 9550 pro 5.2 Soundbar (625 Watts), Dolby Audio, Dual Wireless Subwoofer & Satellite, BT v5.3, HDMI ARC, Optical, Powerful Bass, RGB LED Lights,…

This true review comes after 3 days of purchase. I may update it later.

I will start with the things that I didn’t like, in fact, “disliked” is the correct word for many (‘dislike’ is a stronger emotion):

1. The chord length is just too short. Do note my subwoofer placement. This placement is highly undesirable. But because of the short chord length (barely 1 m), I have no option. ALL ADVANTAGE OF WIRELESS BLUETOOTH IS LOST.
2. There is no setup guide and I had to look at YouTube videos before I could get it working.
3. My Sony TV (65″ X80K) has eARC. I first connected this out to HDMI-In 1 of the soundbar. But there was no sound. Then when I connected to the HDMI-ARC of the soundbar, the sound was heard.
4. Later, I will list other issues between connectivity and getting/receiving Dolby Atmos.
5. The remote is pretty basic.
6. The display is pretty basic and when on standby, it always displays “–” in bright LED. It would have been nicer if the LED display could be completely turned off.
7. When we start a program the surround mode such as “Dolby Surround” or “Dolby Atmos” scrolls across the display and then the display shows “ARC” (see second pic). So after the program has started there is no way to know what kind of surround sound is playing. It would have been better if tiny LEDs had been provided to indicate Standby (red/green), Dolby Digital (white), Dolby Atmos (white), etc.
8. Atmos sound does not feel much different than regular surround sound. It is not 5.1.2 but I knew that and I DIDN’T WANT 5.1.2 as I do have a dedicated theatre room with projector/screen, AVR, BDP, etc.
9. Unboxing is not that easy.

But I guess within the price, this is not bad. Still, the short mains cable length (for the soundbar itself and the subwoofer), is just not acceptable. One may have to buy an extension board. I know, I will have to. Not that that is great extension board is expensive, especially for a TV of ₹95,000 and a soundbar of ₹16,000. But the point is the additional clutter. Have a look at the complete pic of the TV, soundbar and s/w. Now more clutter will be added which really peeves me off.

OK. Now the plus points:
1. The soundbar has very good 2.1.2 sound. Please see point 8 above. Don’t expect miracles. I was not.
2. The sound is really powerful. I play between levels 04 to 08. Even 08 is really loud.
3. The main soundbar has 6 speakers – 2 main left-right speakers pointing straight, 2 surround left-right speakers pointing slightly outward and 2 upward pointing speakers on the top at some 45° upward. Together these can produce very good surround effects including 3D height effect by bouncing the sound off the ceiling.
4. Soundbar has 2 HDMI-In, 1 HDMI ARC in-out, Optical and mini-RCA in. So we cannot connect the soundbar to any source. There is USB-in also.
5. All cables and mounting brackets are included.
6. Atmos sound (2.1.2) will be via HDMI connection only. (Please read the last section). Dolby Surround (2.1) can be via Optical-in. RCA connection will produce pure stereo 2.1 sound (will not fire the 2 surround speakers inside).
7. S/w connects wirelessly to the soundbar. If the connection is not automatic, there is a red press button at the rear to establish it. I did not have to do this.
8. There is a USB port at the back of s/w. But this is for firmware updates only.

(We can play off the USB also. Load the audio or video on the USB and connect it to the USB port of the main soundbar. It will play sound and video will be sent to the TV when the ARC-out of the soundbar is connected to TV. Even if the USB video has Atmos sound, I don’t think that it will play Atmos sound – just guessing, not tested this.)

Don’t go too much by the cons that I listed. These may not apply to you. The price and features are very attractive for this unit and it is “paisa-vasool”. RECOMMENDED BUY. But use it in smaller rooms such as 14′ x 12′ or smaller. For bigger rooms, go for the 5.1.2 soundbar like the ZebronicJuke BAR 9750 PRO 5.1.2 or similar.

——

Now the issues that I faced with getting Atmos sound:
1. I have a Sony X80K TV that is connected to the network via Ethernet.
2. I have subscribed to Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar. All are UHD plans.
3. Whereas Netflix shows icons such as Dolby Vision/HD, Atmos/5.1, etc., Prime and D+ do not show anything.
4. A lot of programs on NF have D-Vision and D-Atmos whereas almost none on Prime/D+H. I was pretty disappointed that all the Avengers movies were DD+ only.
5. I also have TataPlay Binge+ Box (HDMI-1 of TV) and Sony UBP-X700 4K all region Blue-Ray player (HDMI-2 of TV).
6. I play OTT content directly from the TV.

After connections, I expected plug-and-play sound such as Atmos when enabled programs. But initially NF shows with Atmos sound wouldn’t play sound; DD+ sound was not an issue. I was not figuring out why. Then I had to change the TV settings and enable the soundbar from TV. Still no luck. After putting both on standby and restarting, the Atmos sound was playing. So yes … this soundbar can play Atmos sound provided:

– The TV or device has the capability to decode it
– One is subscribed to the highest plan
– The TV has an HDMI eARC port (sorry, plain ARC won’t work)
– High-speed cable is connected to the TV’s eARC port and ARC port of soundbar
– Just for fun, I connect the HDMI-2 sound-only port of my BDP to the soundbar’s HDMI-1 via another HDMI cable; I played Captain America – The Winter Soldier 4k/UHB Blu-ray (it is visible in one of the photos) and the display flashed/scrolled “Dolby Atmos”

The point is the TV must enable sound via the eARC port; it is not automatic. Every TV will have different settings so I cannot go into many details. But once again, the soundbar can output Atmos sound if the source has it. One may not notice much difference, but that is another story; maybe a very loud volume is required.

Hope this review helps potential buyers.