Verdict
When it comes to providing an epic , high timbre audio experience for movies and video shows , there ’s simply no soundbar system comfortably than the Samsung HW - Q990B. When dealing with stereo euphony , the returns are n’t as in high spirits , with a bass performance that feels detached from the rest of the frequency grasp .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Samsung ’s flagship soundbar every year can ordinarily be depended on to do two things : 1 ) Deliver a new record - breach number of real sound communication channel for enhanced playback of Dolby Atmos and DTS :X motion picture soundtrack , and 2 ) create the all - cycle most immersive and powerful audio performance the soundbar world has to extend .
With the Samsung HW - Q990B , though , only one of these things is rightful – so does that make it less of an upgrade ?
Design
The Samsung Q990B pushes the definition of a soundbar to its limit by consisting of four separate constituent . Namely the main 1232(w ) x 69.5(h ) x 138(h)mm soundbar that sits under your TV , two heavyset but channel - rich wireless rear speakers , and a large ( 220 x 413 x 410 mm ) subwoofer boasting a substantive eight - column inch driver on its side .
The main prevention and keister see Samsung ditching the felt finishes it ’s used on its flagship soundbars such as theHW - Q950Ain favor of a return to a more traditional metallic mesh finishing . This perhaps does n’t front as premium , but I really prefer the Q990B ’s more industrial feeler . It ’s far less prostrate to attracting rubble than the mat up finishes were , too .
The principal bar is slender enough to fit under most TVs without touch their pictures or IR receptors , while the rears are belittled enough to easy tuck on a bookshelf or sideboard . The rears sit on little plinth feet , too , to isolate their vibrations from whatever furniture they ’re sat on , while their top boundary now angle forrader slightly to , presumably , improve the whiz that overhead sounds are fall from above .
The subwoofer is more of an eye sore than the other speakers in the Samsung Q990B package , but provide you may leave its side driver unobstructed the non - directionality of its auditory sensation intend you may hide it down the side of or behind a sofa , or under a sideboard . The sub include a coolheaded new design feature of speech , too , in the cast of an Acoustic Lens that sit around an inch above the driver to help sea bass rumbles spread further and sound smoother .
The Q990B carries a reasonably shining and clear LED show to help you track input , mass levels , phone formats and so on , and mercifully Samsung has put this on the soundbar ’s front this twelvemonth , where you could see it when seated , rather than continuing to put it on the top edge as has been the case for the brand name ’s retiring span of flagship soundbar generations .
The top edge still plays host to a series of sizeable control buttons , though for most of the fourth dimension you ’ll be controlling the soundbar via its compact , rather lightweight but in reality very easy to use outside control condition .
Connections are see in a bay trend out of the soundbar ’s bottom rearward boundary , and comprise an HDMI loop - through with twoHDMIinputs , plus a individual optical audio input . The HDMI bread and butter includeseARCfor lossless reception of Dolby Atmos orDTS : Xsoundtracks from compatible television , and there ’s pass off through support for all the independent high active range data format , includingDolby Vision , even though Samsung still does n’t support Dolby Vision on any of its TVs .
There ’s no support for 4K/120Hz and varying refresh rate play signals through the HDMI loop through , but to be fairish very few other soundbars support this either . Gamers still have the pick of connecting their consoles or PCs direct to a worthy capable TV and then output lossless strait from the TV to the Q990B using eARC .
Features
The headline grabbing feature of the Q990B is its huge 11.1.4 channel counting . To be clear , these channels are all real with their own consecrated drivers – there are no practical channels created by psycho - acoustic processing . The only soundbars able to twin this huge channel enumeration are JBL ’s Bar 1300 and the Q990B ’s predecessor , the Q950A.
This latter point is of import because , as noted before , it have in mind that for the first time for a few generations , the Q990B does n’t add to its forerunner ’s channel numeration . So the Q990B will have to rely on other melioration to for sign of progress .
If you ’re wondering what all those channel numbers mean in sound terms , you get front centre , front left / correct , side left / right , forth side left / correct , rear front left / right , rearward side left / right , subwoofer bass canal , and four up - firing drivers for height / overhead effect .
Two of these up - firers are found in the primary Browning automatic rifle , while each rearward speaker also sports one on their top edge . The hind end also each carry a side firing driver as well as front - facing drivers in a bid to deliver as unlined a cerebral hemisphere of sound around the auditor as potential .
It ’s potential to enjoy wireless transmission of Dolby Atmos signals from one of Samsung ’s late TVs to the Q990B – though note that this is only possible with the lossy Dolby Digital+ Atmos carrier format , not the lossless True HD one .
While I ’m on the subject of benefits gained from bunk the Q990B with a Samsung TV , a Q Symphony feature film enables the idiot box ’s Speaker to join forces with those of the soundbar to produce a more elaborated legal stage with good pith channel result location .
There ’s an advantage to using the Q990B with a Samsung Galaxy phone , in that you’re able to get the two twist talking to each other for sharing music content simply by tapping the telephone set against the soundbar ’s bodywork .
Bluetoothand Wi - Fi connectivity is also available , with financial support for theAlexa voice recognitionsystem build in , and streaming possible usingAirPlay 2and Spotify Connect . file cabinet eccentric support included the AAC , WAV , FLAC , AIFF , OGG and ALAC high-pitched resolution formats .
Set up and twenty-four hour period to day use of the Q990B is possible via Samsung ’s reasonably useful SmartThings app for a more elaborate and optic control organization than the distant ascendence / LED display compounding can allow for .
pick within the app admit SpaceFit , which is the rather sci - fi name for an car - calibration system that uses mics in the main soundbar to valuate and compensate for elbow room acoustic . Unlike cheap soundbars in Samsung ’s range , the Q990B additionally make an Auto EQ system for monitoring and continually adjusting the subwoofer ’s basso output signal to keep everything in balance .
Other characteristic include an Active Voice Amplifier that can smell out when there ’s lots of ambient noise around and elevate song in a sound mix to counterbalance , and an Adaptive auditory sensation manner that fundamentally remasters stereo music tracks to take advantage of the Q990B ’s vast issue of line .
Sound Quality
For my money , there ’s currently no other soundbar out there that hand over a more fully take shape and immersive Dolby Atmos soundstage than the Samsung HW - Q990B.
Not only can I make out and fully appreciate every last one of its 11.1.4 channel , but they all join force brilliantly to make a middling much unflawed hemisphere of speech sound around my seating position . An immersive three - dimensional surround audio distance , that ’s wad with immaculately balance , pristinely clear and perfectly put detail .
mountain of soundbars can create a good sense of space in front of the hearer , and a few can even tot up a convincing sense of height above and behind . But none I have get a line can produce that all - of import Dolby Atmos ( and DTS :X ) sound bubble quite as well as the Q990B.
The improved rearward loudspeaker system excogitation entail the up - firing sounds from the front and back take on up with each other over the head more flawlessly and effectively , while the side firing drivers on the rears also conflate better with the front - side drivers on the primary Browning automatic rifle , shut down any distracting ‘ gaps ’ in the almost uncannily three - dimensional soundstage .
The rearward speaker channel meld well with the sound from the master bar , too , despite their relatively petite dimensions , assure that front to back and side to side conversion always sound convincing .
Vocals sound exonerated and racy , but never so much that they become dislocated from their soundtrack surround , and they also seem slightly raise vertically to make them seem well confiscate to the onscreen action .
While the Q990B has the king to make a huge , room - filling sound leg without losing cohesion , it ’s also sore enough to populate its transonic outer space with even the little of soundtrack point , ensuring that good picture mixes are as busy and involving as they are spacious and aggressive .
Talking of aggression , the Q990B ’s power to respond to sudden hard or highly dynamic encroachment fathom is stunning , enabling it to bring more gritstone and intensity to even the densest and most explosive movie second than any other soundbar in its class .
The principal soundbar is adequate to of bring forth a fully grown and more expressive dynamic cooking stove than the vast majority of standalone soundbars can – but in the Q990B ’s casing , there ’s an unusually big subwoofer to flesh out the lower frequency chain , leaving the main bar freer to centre on the mid - range and dual details without either sounding in the least bit compressed , thin or congested .
The subwoofer ’s new Acoustic Lens attachment help it hand over the sorting of gigantic but also nimble and expressive bass levels I ’m accustom to get wind from Samsung ’s flagship soundbars with more smoothness and consistency , ensuring that while low frequencies continue to be cinematic and present to a degree rarely get a line in the soundbar world , they also meld well with the overall sound stage and attach more invisibly to the lowest oftenness from the main cake .
contribute to all this the way the fresh rear are less probable to trigger audio coloration from the surface they ’re placed on , and the way the auto - calibration system does a gravid job of harmonising the Q990B ’s many components with little or no manual remark , and it ’s seriously surd to find anything to plain about when it comes to picture show soundtracks .
thing are n’t quite as readable cold shoulder with euphony . commence out on a positive note , Samsung has bring off to substantially meliorate its late Adaptive Sound mode for remixing stereo euphony to take advantage of the Q990B ’s expansive channel roll . So intelligently are the elements of a stereoscopic photograph intermixture rearranged into the soundbar ’s various channels , including the rears , that I often constitute myself think I must have incidentally put on a Dolby Atmos track by mistake .
This degree of melodic agreement when it comes to deciding what elements of a stereo commixture can go where in a surround remix is backed up , too , by much more careful reconciliation of a track ’s vocals , beat , guitars / string and pleximetry than I ’ve heard with similar modes on previous Samsung soundbar modality . This is peculiarly true when it comes to vocals and sea bass , with the former tending to keep on better and more consistent gibbousness in the remix process , and bass voice remaining present and antiphonal but now being less inclined to become too dominant .
The Adaptive manner can sound a bit force or shinny to make the right channel positioning choices with very dense music , peculiarly guitar - go rock , and of course , it wo n’t invoke at all to hi - fi purists . While the Q990B can sound pleasing enough with relatively basic , sparse stereo music mixing , though , with denser get along its subwoofer ’s bass input can sometimes go distractingly detached from the sleep of a intermixture , while other mixture elements can start up to sound more or less squashy and littered in a agency that but never encounter with films .
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Should you buy it?
No other soundbar I ’ve learn does as effective job of creating the immersive Dolby Atmos audio bubble .
The Q990B ’s movie talents perhaps come in at the disbursement of musicality and rest with stereo medicine . Though if you ’re not a purist , the Adaptive auditory sensation remix mode is cleverer and more listenable with most medicine type than previous iterations .
Final Thoughts
While its movie prowess maybe injure its ( stereophonic ) euphony performance a little , there ’s simply no better everything - include soundbar out there when it come to the principal soundbar business of turn film and tv set show soundtracks into epic , immersive dwelling house cinema experience tamp with detail , power and dynamism . All of which makes its terms look pretty agreeable , too .
Trusted Score
How we test
We essay every soundbar we retrospect thoroughly over an prolonged period of clip . We use industry standard test to equate features the right way . We ’ll always tell you what we feel . We never , ever , accept money to review a product .
get hold out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
These are so - called objective - based sound formats that create a three - dimensional soundstage around the hearer into which effects are placed – rather than just reproducing sounds that seem to be derive from your speakers as hap with normal environs strait systems .
in high spirits solvent audio refers to gamey - bandwidth file formats subject of drive home music in much high-pitched timber , with much less compaction , than unconstipated audio file formats .
Yes . asunder from each component needing its own power cable , they all convey with each other as a system without any need for cables between them .
