Hisense HS2100 Review: Budget 2.1 Soundbar With Wireless Sub

The Hisense HS2100 is a 2.1-channel soundbar with a wireless subwoofer that Hisense sells as "The Beast." The box talks a bigger game than the hardware does. What you actually get is a compact bar, a slim sub, HDMI ARC, and a street price that undercuts most 2.1 packages.

That is the whole pitch, and it is a good one if you own a Hisense TV and want a clear step up from the speakers in the set. Pair it over HDMI, leave TV Mode and EzPlay on, and the bar behaves like part of the TV instead of a second gadget with its own remote ritual. Sound is decent for the money: dialogue stays intelligible, the sub adds weight that TV speakers never will, and the six EQ presets cover the usual living-room mix of movies, sports, and music.

It is still a 2.1 system. There are no rear speakers, no Dolby Atmos on the bar itself, and no Wi-Fi. If you want height effects or sound from behind the couch, this is the wrong product. If you want a cheap, easy upgrade that works especially well on a Hisense or Roku TV, it is one of the better buys in this class.

Official specs live on Hisense's US product page. For how this kind of bar compares with Atmos and true-surround packages, see our Bose, Sony, and Polk soundbar comparison.

Pros and cons

Quick specs

Figures below come from the unit's labels, the feature sleeve, and Hisense's published spec sheet.

Spec	Hisense HS2100
Channels	2.1 (two full-range drivers + wireless sub)
Max output	240 W (120 W bar / 120 W sub, claimed)
Subwoofer	5.25 in driver, wireless, 4.3 × 11.8 × 13.8 in
Soundbar size	31.5 × 2.4 × 3.5 in
Frequency response	45 Hz – 20 kHz (claimed)
Surround processing	DTS Virtual:X; Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus
Dolby Atmos	No (TV Mode can use a compatible Hisense TV's decoder)
EQ presets	Movie, Music, News, Night, Sport, Game
Bluetooth	5.3
Wi-Fi	None
Ports	HDMI out (ARC), optical, USB-A (5 V / 500 mA), 3.5 mm AUX
Power	AC 100–240 V; Hisense lists 25 W consumption, under 0.5 W standby
Extras	Roku TV Ready, EzPlay, TV Mode, wall-mount kit, HDMI cable in the box

What you get in the box

Hisense ships the HS2100 in an L-shaped carton that holds the long bar and the cube-ish sub together. The sleeve on the bar is the marketing one-pager: 2.1 channel, six EQ modes, Bluetooth 5.3, HDMI, Dolby Audio, DTS, Roku TV Ready, EzPlay, TV Mode, and "ultra-slim subwoofer." Peel it off before you live with the system. Underneath is a matte black bar with a fabric grille and a small Hisense mark on the left.

In the box you also get a remote with two AAA batteries, two power cables, an HDMI cable, a wall-mount kit, and a quick-start sheet. There is no optical cable. The bar is light enough that wall mounting is actually realistic, which is not true of every soundbar in this width.

Build quality is the obvious compromise. The cabinet is thin plastic with a textured wrap. It does not feel expensive, and AVForums made the same observation when they reviewed it. In daily use it did not rattle or buzz at normal living-room levels, which matters more than the first impression in the hand.

The wireless subwoofer is the reason to buy 2.1

A lot of sub-$150 bars are stereo-only, or they fake bass with small drivers inside the bar. The HS2100 includes a separate wireless sub, and that is the feature that makes the price look sharp. Hisense rates the sub at 120 W with a 5.25-inch driver. The cabinet is a slim tower: about 4.3 inches deep, so it slides next to a media stand instead of eating a cube of floor.

Face the grille into the room. The back of the cabinet is a bass port, a spec label, a figure-8 power inlet, and a PAIR button with a tiny LED. Out of the box it synced to the bar as soon as both were powered. If you ever need to re-pair, that button is the whole procedure.

Bass is the point of this system. TV speakers go thin on explosions, kick drums, and sports-crowd rumble; the HS2100's sub fills that in without turning into a one-note boom box if you leave the bass control near the middle. Push bass to the top of the remote's range and it gets bigger, as you'd expect. It will not replace a proper 10-inch home-theater sub, and it does not go as deep as the subs on much more expensive 3.1 or 5.1 bars. For a small or mid-size living room, it is the upgrade you hear first.

Setup, Hisense TVs, and Roku TV Ready

Physical setup is one HDMI cable from the bar's HDMI out (ARC) port to the TV's ARC HDMI input, plus power to both pieces. Optical and AUX are there if the TV is older. Auto power-on with signal works on ARC, optical, and AUX; auto power-off kicks in when the source goes quiet.

The pairing story is why this bar makes more sense next to a Hisense set than a random 2.1 from another brand.

EzPlay lets a compatible Hisense TV remote run the soundbar, so volume and power follow the TV instead of a second clicker. TV Mode is the more interesting trick: on a Hisense TV, the bar can lean on the TV's own decoder. Hisense's UK product page states that this can include the TV's Dolby Atmos processing. The bar itself does not decode Atmos. If your Hisense set does, TV Mode is how you get some of that without buying an Atmos soundbar.

Roku TV Ready is the same idea for Roku TVs: one HDMI link, and the Roku remote can control the bar. That covers a lot of Hisense, TCL, and other Roku sets.

On a Hisense TV this is close to appliance behavior. Plug it in, pick the HDMI ARC input, and the TV treats the HS2100 as its speaker. That is the "works well with Hisense TV" test, and it passed.

If your TV is an OLED with a picture this bar cannot match, the HS2100 is still a fair audio add-on. Thin TVs have almost no cabinet for speakers. Our Samsung S90D OLED review makes the same point: the set deserves better sound than the panels can produce, even if you are not ready for a full surround stack.

Connections: enough, not extra

The rear bay is labeled clearly: optical, HDMI out (ARC), USB, AUX, and a two-prong power inlet below. There is no HDMI input and no passthrough, so a game console or Blu-ray player still goes into the TV, not the bar. Hisense's spec sheet lists HDMI CEC. The port on this unit is marked ARC, not eARC, so treat it as ARC unless your TV and a later firmware pass prove otherwise.

USB is rated 5 V / 500 mA. Hisense lists it for audio playback and firmware updates (MP3, WMA, FLAC, WAV among the file types on the US page). Bluetooth 5.3 covers phones and tablets. There is no Wi-Fi, no Chromecast, no AirPlay, and no Hisense soundbar app. Music from a phone is Bluetooth or USB, not a streaming stack inside the bar. If you want AirPlay 2 and multiroom into a real stereo, that is a different product: see our WiiM Pro review.

Remote, EQ, and the voice prompts

The remote is a slim black wand with power, input, Bluetooth, SURR, EQ, a volume ring with skip and play/pause, then bass, treble, dimmer, and mute. Those extra trims are useful. You can bump dialogue with treble, pull the sub back at night, or dim the front LEDs. The bar has no numeric display, only a short row of LEDs for volume, so the spoken prompts ("power on," source, sub paired) are how it tells you what it did.

Two annoyances show up fast. The button labels are dark on dark, which AVForums also flagged. In a dim room you guess, or you light up a phone. And the power-on voice is persistent. Owners have looked for a mute for it; on this unit there is no obvious off switch in the manual or the remote. Leaving the bar in standby with CEC/ARC so it wakes with the TV reduces how often you hear it, but it still talks when it comes on.

The six EQ modes are Movie, Music, News, Night, Sport, and Game. Movie plus surround is the default for TV and films. Music with surround off is the cleaner stereo path. Night tames the sub for late viewing. News is the dialogue-forward preset if voices get buried.

Sound: good for the money, still only 2.1

This is the section that matches the price. The HS2100 is not a boutique bar and it does not pretend to be a 5.1 pack. What it does is make TV sound bigger, clearer, and heavier than the speakers in a flat panel, which is the job most people are hiring it for.

Dialogue is the first win. Voices sit in front of effects instead of disappearing into them, which is the usual complaint with TV speakers and with a lot of cheap bars. Movie mode keeps that balance. Sudden peaks can get a bit sharp, which is a budget-bar tell, but day-to-day streaming and sports do not turn harsh at living-room volume.

The soundstage is wider than the 31.5-inch cabinet. DTS Virtual:X and the SURR button push the image forward and up a little so it feels more like a wall of sound than a line under the TV. It does not place effects behind you. AVForums heard the same thing: a mild sense of height, not a rear stage. That is the 2.1 ceiling in one sentence. You bought two channels and a sub, and virtual processing cannot invent speakers you did not install.

Homes & Gardens came away impressed at the ~$120 street price, especially next to all-in-one bars that skip a sub. That matches what we heard. The extra box on the floor is the whole reason this kit beats a similarly priced 2.0 bar.

Music is fine for background and playlists over Bluetooth. It is not a hi-fi substitute. Leave surround off and EQ on Music if you care about a centered vocal. At very low volume the system flattens out and the sub recedes, so it is happier at a normal TV level than as a whisper-quiet night speaker, even with Night mode.

If you already know you want rear speakers in the room, skip this and look at a package that includes them. The Polk MagniFi Max SR in our soundbar comparison is that kind of system: real surrounds, no Atmos. If you want Atmos from a single bar, the Sony HT-X8500 in that same piece is the simpler (and more expensive) 2.1-with-built-in-subs route. A full AVR and speaker set is a different project entirely; start with our Marantz, Yamaha, and Sony AV receiver comparison only if you are ready to run wire.

Who should buy the Hisense HS2100

Buy it if you have a Hisense or Roku TV and want one-remote, HDMI ARC sound without spending Atmos money. EzPlay and TV Mode are the features that make this bar more than a generic 2.1.

Buy it if the budget is "replace the TV speakers" rather than "build a theater." The wireless sub is the upgrade you will notice on movies, games, and sports, and the street price is the reason to pick this over a 2.0 bar in the same aisle.

Buy it if floor space is tight. The sub is actually slim, and the bar is short enough for many 43- to 55-inch stands.

Who should skip it

Skip it if you want Dolby Atmos from the soundbar, height drivers, or rear speakers. 2.1 is the product. Virtual:X is a widening trick, not a surround system. Hisense sells the fix further up its own lineup, covered below.

Skip it if you need Wi-Fi, AirPlay, an app, or HDMI passthrough. None of those are here.

Skip it if the room is large or you listen at reference levels. 240 W claimed into a light cabinet is a living-room TV upgrade, not a basement cinema.

Stepping up: the rest of the Hisense soundbar lineup

If the 2.1 limit is the dealbreaker, Hisense sells the fix at three price points above this one. The useful thing to know before you shop is that more channels does not mean newer processing. Hisense's own lineup chart, published on its Amazon listings, sorts out which models actually decode Atmos and which ones only add speakers.

Model	Channels	Speakers	Decoding	Rear speakers	Up-firing drivers	Price when checked
HS2100 (reviewed here)	2.1	3	Dolby Audio, DTS Virtual:X	No	No	about $130
HS5100	5.1	8	Dolby Audio, DTS Virtual:X	Yes	No	about $180
AX3100Q	3.1	6	Dolby Atmos, DTS:X	No	No	about $230
AX3120Q	3.1.2	8	Dolby Atmos, DTS:X	No	Yes	see listing

The Hisense HS5100 is the cheapest way to get sound behind you. It is a 5.1 kit: the bar, a 6.5-inch wireless sub, a center speaker, and two wall-mountable rear surrounds, rated at 540 W across eight speakers. Note what it does not change. Decoding is still Dolby Audio and DTS Virtual:X, the same as the HS2100, so there is no Atmos here either. You are buying real rear channels, not better processing.

The Hisense AX3100Q goes the other direction. It stays a front-only 3.1 bar, but it adds a dedicated center channel, a 6.5-inch sub, 500 W across six speakers, app control, seven EQ modes, and actual Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding over HDMI eARC rather than plain ARC. If dialogue clarity and Atmos matter more to you than effects from the back of the room, this is the pick.

The Hisense AX3120Q is the AX3100Q with the height layer made real: 3.1.2 channels, eight speakers, up-firing drivers, and room-fitting tuning. It is the first model in this family where Atmos has actual upward-firing hardware to work with instead of virtual processing.

So the decision above the HS2100 is rears or height, not simply "bigger." The HS5100 puts speakers behind the couch on older decoding. The AX3100Q and AX3120Q keep everything up front and do Atmos properly. Prices move constantly on these, and at the time of writing the AX3120Q was showing mainly as a renewed listing, so check what is actually in stock before you commit.

One more thing worth a look while you are comparing: on Amazon the HS2100 held the highest customer rating of this group, ahead of both the HS5100 and the AX3100Q, across far more reviews. Cheapest in the lineup is not the worst-liked in it.

Verdict

Hisense put a loud name on a quiet-looking 2.1 kit, then priced it like an accessory. The HS2100 earns that price. Sound is decent for the money, the wireless sub does the work TV speakers cannot, and on a Hisense TV the EzPlay / TV Mode pairing is the difference between a gadget and a default speaker.

The limit is structural. It is 2.1. There is no Atmos decode on the bar, no rears, and no network stack. If that is a dealbreaker, spend more and buy a different category. If it is not, this is an easy recommendation: cheap, capable enough, and at its best next to the TVs Hisense already sells.

Where to buy

Confirm the listing is the HS2100 2.1 kit with the wireless sub in the box, not a bar-only sibling. Hisense's own shop has listed it around $120; Amazon pricing moves, so check the seller and the return window before you commit.