The Samsung HW-Q990B is the best Samsung sound bar we’ve tried. It’s a better version of the Samsung HW-Q950A from last year, and its performance makes it a great choice for movies, music, and TV shows alike. Compared to the one that came before it, this one has more bass rumble and more ways to improve the sound.
With immersive audio formats like Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos, you feel like you’re right in the middle of the action, thanks to the deep bass from the subwoofer and the angled rear satellites that make the soundstage bigger. It also has Alexa built in, so you can control it without using your hands.
Compared to other high-end setups like the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 with Speakers + Bass Module or the Sonos Arc with Sub + One SL Speakers, this soundbar has a lot more ways to customise it.
There are more traditional bass and treble controls to change its sound, as well as a full graphic EQ to control its output across the range. Of course, no setup is perfect. The soundstage of the Samsung soundbar isn’t quite as wide as that of the Sonos or Bose. Its price may not be right for everyone, either. But it’s a great choice if you want the best of the best.
With a standard configuration of 3.0 channels, there are no surprises in this one. The HW-S50A doesn’t have a removable fabric grille, but we do get some information about what Samsung used inside. So, for the two main channels, there are two racetrack mid drivers, which are often used in low-profile speakers. Each channel also has one round tweeter, which handles most of the high frequencies. A single round full-range centre driver is used for the centre channel, which makes the soundbar’s dialogue capabilities much better.
When it comes to connecting to other devices, the HW-S50A is as simple as it gets, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise given how simple and cheap this unit is. So, we get an HDMI port, a Digital optical audio input, and a micro-USB port in the central hole at the back. The HDMI supports ARC, but there is no eARC here because the soundbar can’t play Dolby Atmos, so it wasn’t necessary. The micro-USB port is interesting because you can use it to play music from an external storage device.
When it comes to extra features, the HW-S50A doesn’t seem to be all that different from many other Samsung soundbars, at least in the lower end of the price range. The S50A seems to be able to play most audio formats, such as Dolby Audio (which supports Dolby Digital), DTS, and PCM 2ch. To use the full 5.1 channels signal with Dolby Digital and DTS, the signal has to be “downmixed,” since there are no surround speakers.