Samsung HW-Q990F Review

Samsung is the Los Angeles Dodgers of the soundbar world. Every azygous year, the tech elephantine fields a caller flagship soundbar behemoth. And each azygous year, it shines arsenic an outstanding strategy that sits astatine the apical of astir rankings and offers unthinkable value, adjacent astatine a premium cost. The problem, though, lies successful the lofty expectations that travel with that role. Samsung’s caller high-end system, the HW-Q990F, needs to beryllium a league supra past year’s ensemble to fulfill the masses. And arsenic impeccable arsenic the Dolby Atmos-enabled strategy continues to dependable year-in and year-out, it’s getting tougher and tougher to proceed to outdo itself.

Samsung HW-Q990F – Design and Features

Let's beryllium honest, the HW-Q990F is simply a spot of a connection piece. This isn't a soundbar you'll privation to (or adjacent beryllium capable to) fell distant – it's sleek, powerful, and decidedly makes a beingness alongside your TV connected your amusement setup. It's got that premium look and consciousness you'd expect from a flagship model. And portion it does instrumentality up immoderate existent estate, the dependable it delivers surely justifies the footprint. More connected that later.

The system’s subwoofer did get a important facelift this year, some successful presumption of aesthetics and hardware. Gone is the much machine tower-adjacent look of the aged sub, and it is simply a plan much akin to accepted location theatre woofers, a much compact cube implicit with dual 8-inch drivers. Inside, Samsung’s caller optimized subwoofer uses AI-driven controls to minimize distortion erstwhile it’s delivering heavy bass notes.

In summation to the fantabulous Samsung SmartThings app serving arsenic the eventual power sheet for the Q990F, the WiFi-enabled strategy provides plentifulness of different forms of compatibility. Whether you're an Alexa devotee, a Google Home enthusiast, oregon an Apple AirPlay aficionado, the Q990F has you covered.

There’s a fewer different features that Samsung seems excited about, from a Game Mode Pro meant to adhd enhanced audio cues that enactment you close successful the bosom of the action, to Adaptive Sound that allows the soundbar to actively admit the benignant of contented you’re watching and set dependable settings to springiness you the champion acquisition possible. While these are some genuinely neat features, I don’t deliberation they’re going to enactment anyone implicit the apical if they’re considering spending a owe outgo connected a soundbar system.

The aforesaid mostly goes for the Q990F’s postulation of Samsung-specific goodies. The soundbar has a fewer features that are lone accessible erstwhile paired with a corresponding Samsung TV, including a Wireless Dolby Atmos enactment and a Q-Symphony mode that lets the soundbar enactment successful harmony with the speakers connected your Samsung TV to (in theory) make a wider soundstage. I didn’t person a Samsung show to trial these features out, but I person been capable to bash truthful successful the past. They’re cool, but they’re not the crushed you bargain a strategy similar this.

Notably, astatine slightest for gamers, the Q990F does adhd enactment for 4K/120Hz gaming and adaptable refresh rates.

Samsung HW-Q990F – Performance

Where the Q990F genuinely shines is successful its performance, and that should travel arsenic nary surprise. Like its predecessor, Dolby Atmos contented comes live with this soundbar, masterfully utilizing its 4 upfiring drivers to make an immersive soundscape that envelops you successful sound. Overall, the bar’s audio is impeccably balanced, with a steadfast dose of bass that adds value and interaction to movies and TV shows, but without overwhelming the different frequencies.

I usually audition immoderate of my go-to Atmos content, including Apple TV+’s The Greatest Beer Run Ever for however it spatially puts you close successful wartime Vietnam alongside the main character. But with Disney+ present offering Dolby Atmos for a important information of its library, I revisited Black Panther and was impressed by the enhanced audio. There’s a peculiar climactic combat country towards the extremity of the movie wherever the Q990F brought maine on for the thrust arsenic Wakandan craft ripped done the aerial astir me.

I besides enactment the Q990F to the trial with "Daredevil: Born Again,” a bid that navigates chunks of heavy, impactful dialog portion tossing successful immoderate genuinely gnarly enactment sequences. Samsung’s flagship barroom made casual enactment of it, generating clear, elaborate voices, including Vincent D'onofrio's low, gruff grumble arsenic Wilson Fisk. And erstwhile it came clip for the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen to halt immoderate crime, we watched and listened arsenic the Q990F added visceral extent to each devastating stroke helium landed. There’s a specific, gruesome country wherever he…hooks (for deficiency of amended word) a atrocious feline consecutive done the chest, and I honestly couldn’t get that all-too-real dependable retired of my caput for a time oregon two.

Music lovers volition besides admit the Q990F, though it's worthy noting that the Sonos Arc Ultra mightiness person a flimsy borderline successful sheer musicality. However, the Q990F inactive handles a wide scope of genres with aplomb. From the classical stone of Creedence Clearwater Revival to the modern hip-hop of Doechii, the soundbar delivers clear, elaborate audio with plentifulness of punch. It’s hard for maine to accidental if Samsung’s caller subwoofer is simply a monumental betterment implicit the past iteration, but I volition enactment that it delivers an awesome scope of bass notes escaped of distortion of immoderate kind.

If there’s 1 con I have, and it’s squarely successful the realm of nitpicking, it’s that arsenic large arsenic the Q990F performs, it doesn’t rather wow maine successful the aforesaid mode I was wowed erstwhile I archetypal heard the Q990C a fewer years back. Samsung is scraping a ceiling successful presumption of what’s imaginable with soundbar performance, it seems, and arsenic large arsenic it continues to be, it’s conscionable not arsenic groundbreaking arsenic it utilized to be.

Samsung HW-Q990F – The Competition

The Samsung HW-Q990F faces immoderate stiff competition, with the Sonos Arc Ultra serving arsenic an evident contender. Both are flagship soundbars that present unthinkable Dolby Atmos performance. The prime often comes down to your wide ecosystem. If you're already heavy successful the Sonos world, the Arc Ultra makes cleanable sense. But if you're looking for a standalone location theatre solution with exceptional sound, the Q990F holds its own.

And let's not hide different premium-priced counterpart, the Sony Bravia Theatre Quad. This soundbar-less location theatre strategy is inactive 1 of the astir elaborate systems I've heard, with unmatched separation successful the beforehand soundstage. However, the summation of a dedicated subwoofer successful the Samsung setup gives it a important vantage successful presumption of bass interaction and wide punch.

Then there's the Samsung HW-Q990D, the predecessor to the Q990F. Oddly enough, it’s apt the Q990F’s biggest contention to date. The systems are ridiculously akin successful show and features, with lone things similar a refreshed subwoofer and immoderate caller gaming features mounting the caller strategy apart. And present that the Q990F is connected the unfastened market, the Q990D volition spot plentifulness of discounts, driving down the outgo of introduction for a one-year-old flagship soundbar system.

I conjecture it’s not the worst occupation successful the satellite to have. But the Q990D has been ranked arsenic our champion soundbar for a reason, and present that radical tin get it for cheaper, it’s hard to spot a ton of inducement for bypassing it for a much expensive, albeit newer version.