Samsung - 9.1.4-Channel Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer and Dolby Atmos/DTS:X - Black

I researched for several months which surround system to install with my brand-new Samsung Q-LED Q90t 65" TV. I researched every brand of surround system and more and kept coming back to the matching Samsung HW-Q950T ATMOS Surround Soundbar with Sub and rear speakers. I was very concerned with all the complaints I read about!! I have not had ANY complaints with mine whatsoever! But I have learned a lot and may help those who have issues with my review. First, Be Sure to run your DVD player or ROKU directly into the soundbar FIRST using a good HDMI cable then the Soundbar to the TV in the ARC HDMI port. Yes, the TV has smart features but you will not enjoy deep loud bass or good surround sound using the Smart features off the tv. You MUST use a separate ROKU that can connect directly to the Soundbar first. I have a separate 2020 4K ROKU ULTRA stand-alone box and using good brand-new 4K HDMI cables run the ROKU into the Samsung Soundbar and then the Soundbar into the TV. I do this also with my Samsung 4K UHD DVD Blu-ray Player. The Sound is MUCH better with Deep Bass!!!! Again, You MUST run your Source THROUGH the Soundbar. If you use the built-in Apps or watch Free local tv channels you will not have much Surround sound and the Bass will be so poor. BIG Difference when you run the source THRU the Soundbar first and select the input of the device on your soundbar. I am using HDMI-1 on the Soundbar for ROKU and HDMI-2 on the Soundbar for my Blu-ray player. The Difference is AMAZING!!!! If I watch a Netflix movie on the built-in APP on the Smart TV I will NOT have good bass and little surround sound. BUT If I run my separate stand-alone ROKU 4K Ultra box on its Netflix APP the Sound is 4X louder and the Bass will knock the potted plant I have on it off the top by the end of the Movie!!! I had to learn this by trial and error because I had poor surround sound and hardly any bass until I learned this is the way it MUST be connected. NOW the Soundbar will display ATMOS when playing my 4K UHD Blu-ray DVD Player! It's better than being at the Movies!!!! I also found some REALLY NICE speaker stands for the rear speaker. They are made especially for this HW-Q950T rear speakers and fit them perfectly, you can see the attached photos. Look Under Amazon for: "Vebos Floor Stand HW-Q950T Black Set - Compatible with Samsung Q950T, Samsung HW-N950 and Samsung HW-K950" They are VERY WELL made!!!!! Worth the high price tag of $165 plus $75 shipping and arrived in just days from the Netherlands. You can even order longer AC cords up to 10ft for these speaker stands, just standard Samsung cords, or cut and add length to make your own. I am so happy with my Samsung Q950T Surround System. It fits PERFECTLY under my 65" Q90t with a little space left over. It was made to fit the Q90t perfectly in every way! My internet box is only 3 feet away running dual-band 2.1 GHz and 5GHz and I have not had ANY problems at all in the past month since installing everything. When I installed my system I took it out of the box and read all instructions and watched every YouTube video. I updated the software FIRST THING. Because when I first installed it and tried the system it cut out often and sounded bad. I thought I was experiencing all the bad issues I had read. Then I did the update successfully and everything has worked 100% Flawlessly since that day without any issues whatsoever. - Use Good 4K UHD HDMI Cables (one will come with the system) - Run your Source (ROKU, DVD, Cable/Sat Box) directly into your Soundbar using good HDMI cables. - Then Run the Soundbar to the tv's ARC HDMI port - Select the Input on the Soundbar for the device you want to listen to (ROKU, DVD, Cable/Sat Box) Example: My ROKU is HDMI1 and Blu-ray is HDMI2 on the Soundbar's input. - Set your settings like others have suggested using the remote for the Soundbar. - If you have everything connected correctly, You will see ATMOS displayed on the Soundbar when you are playing a 4K UHD Movie on your 4K UHD Blu-ray DVD player and you will HEAR the difference!! - If you are still having issues then unplug your source (ROKU, DVD player) to reset it and then try playing the device to hear a much better sound. The Raw ATMOS Audio needs to go straight into the Soundbar unmodified so the Soundbar can effectively decode it. Adjust your settings accordingly on the Soundbar. I've enclosed some photos of my setup to help. It is a clean set up with my Samsung Q90t 65" TV and Samsung HW-Q950T Soundbar and you can read more about my full set up under my other reviews. I have a Panamax surge suppressor and many other devices hidden inside my BDI Mirage 8227 Media Center which I purchased ALL thru BestBuy. I could not be happier with my system. It looks and sounds great!

For the price of this thing it should work flawlessly! But it doesn't. Out if the box setting everything up was easy. Followed the directions and everything synced up fine. The sound is good. Front center speakers sound a little flat when listening to dialogue. Yes you can hear speaking parts clearly over the rest of the movie. Music sounds awesome! Depending on your house size it’ll fill your whole house with clear uncrackly music at volume 20. But you won’t wanna be in the same room as the sound bar cause it’ll be LOUD! Atmos movies sound good. Depending on the movie you do get that feeling of something above and around you. Bass is great. For movies and music. ISSUES: while listening to music through Alexa ever once in awhile (every other song) music just drops for a split second? Movies, at first the sound wouldn’t play and when it did it would drop completely to the point I really wanted to return the unit. I have it ran with HDMI using the eARC to my Q90 TV. After messing with setting and modes I’d have to physically unplug the power to the sound bar in order to get the sound to work. Very annoying. It seems to be working better now. Maybe there was an update? Remote is basic but that’s all you really need. The display on top is very dumb! To have to get up and see what’s going on the stupid! While yes this eliminates any glow while watching movies in the dark, it just sucks. And the app works good for some settings but not all setting can be adjusted through the app. CONCLUSION: when it works it sounds great! Do Not pay full retail for this! Not worth it. Even at the sale price of $1399 is high for it not performing flawlessly. Hopefully Samsung continues fixing and updating the issues plagued with this unit.

Set up is a pain in the butt. But hang in there. It is amazing. The first movie I could “crank the sound” for was fast and the furious. It sounded like I was in the car with them. The boom boom is true. It’s not screechy. I have this hooked up to an 85in Q80 and it’s like I’m at the theater. I would 10 out of 10 recommend. Even on a low setting I’m sure the neighbors can hear this.

The Q90 R had many problems with it. The rear speakers of the Q90R were always losing connections with the sound bar and the sub was always crackling or distorted. The Q950 has resolved all of those previous issues. The Dolby atmos feature that’s built into the Q950 is amazing!!!

Excellent JBL far exceeded my expectations better than Bose

On paper, the Samsung Soundbar Q950T is a really nice piece of kit. In reality, it has two main shortcomings. There is a distinct, and concerning lack of bass from the subwoofer. The system sounds decent when cranked up, when you get the speakers working, you hear the bass kick in, but even then it isn’t anywhere near as defined and sonorous as I expected it to be, especially in this price range. The display is in totally the wrong place. It makes absolutely no sense at all to be on top of the soundbar. When sat enjoying your soundbar, you cannot see the display at all. Even the viewing angle is sharp, so you have to be pretty much on top of it to view it. A self-dimming, larger front display would have been a much better option on device. Out of the box, you get the main sound bar, the subwoofer, two rear wireless speakers, an HDMI cable and 4 power cables. (The rear speakers have power cables to them, but the audio signal is wireless). Set up was simple, all speakers paired up straight away with the soundbar and I was able to connect via Bluetooth to my phone very easily. I chose to purchase additional wall mount brackets for the rear speakers and attached them to the wall, near power outlets in my son’s playroom. They are relatively unobtrusive as far as rear surround speakers go. They have front firing and Atmos top firing speakers built into them. Being an immersive Dolby Atmos 9.1.4 system, it definitely throws the sound around the room and is one of the better soundbars I’ve tested at moving the sound around the room. The .4 in the name is for the 4 Dolby Atmos speakers, 2 of which are on top of the rear speakers and 2 are on the top of the sound bar. The soundbar throws the sound far and wide very well. The first show I watched was Lost in Space on Netflix. With a 4K passthrough and Dolby Atmos signal, it really looked and sounded great in the room. But as I mentioned above, the bass response is next to nothing at lower volumes, and fairly mild at higher volumes. I even disconnected the sub from the soundbar and re-paired them together and it didn’t make any difference. I power cycled it as well, still with no improvement. The soundbar has 3D Audio Codec Support, offering up an immersive 3D soundscape, using either a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X signal. The sound really does surround you, far better than other soundbars I’ve used. The soundbar is also optimized for the Samsung QLED Q-Symphony TVs which expands the soundscape further. The wireless speakers have performed flawlessly, remained connected consistently, and offer a warm, and present sound, helping engulf you in your audio experience. The soundbar also has ‘Alexa Built-In’, and I thought it was neat to know that when you power down the soundbar, you can say ‘Alexa’ and the soundbar will wake up and respond. It was quick to respond and accurate with the information. Pairing the soundbar to the Samsung Smart Things App was easy, but didn’t really add a lot of benefit. You can adjust the subwoofer input, but moving the slider really didn’t make a lot of difference to me at all. You can adjust the equalizer as well, but again, didn’t make a huge amount of difference at all either. You can check your wifi connectivity/and perform software updates (there are none at this time). I found that you get the full impact of the bass at 100% volume, but at that volume, the center channel and additional sound becomes tinny and overbearing, with the want to keep that bass sound, but tone down the rest of the sound, but you simply can’t do it. In contrast, I have another soundbar at a similar price point in my study and even in it’s lowest volume settings, the bass is present and thumping. So I was really disappointed to find the Samsung really lacking in the bass department. In summary, the Dolby Atmos sound really is impressive from this soundbar, but listening to that amazing sound without a strong and competent bass not to accompany it, you are missing half the experience. Explosions don’t sound like explosions, they sound like an inconvenience. And the display being on top of the soundbar is a complete oversight by the designers. I was really excited to get the soundbar set up, and came away disappointed.

This sound bar does provide some great quality sound but for this price you could almost assemble an entire Dolby Atmos 9.1 speaker setup with an actual amplifier. If you are looking for a simple solution in a tight space then this sound bar is a nice option but is definitely on the higher side at this price. The sound is excellent with voices and sounds coming through crisp and clear with some good throaty bass from the wireless sub. I haven't noticed any sort of delays from TV, Movies, or Games that I have been enjoying. I have it connected to my TCL 4K tv via a 4K HDMI on the ARC input. No issues with setup, I actually got this so that I could mount underneath my TV in my home office/mancave which is tight on space. It came with a mounting template and all the necessary hardware which made mounting it very easy and something that I was impressed with. The rear wireless Bluetooth speakers are a nice addition over some of the other sound bars and were able to be mounted on my existing speaker stands without any issues. Synching them with the sound bar was seamless and very easy. The subwoofer also connected easily and after about a month of use I haven't experienced any issues with connectivity or the sub or rear speakers disconnecting. Overall I am happy with the sound quality from this system but at this price point it is tough to pick one up at full price. If you can catch it on sale and have a tight space but want Dolby Atmos sound this sound bar should definitely be a contender for you.

I love Samsung Soundbars. I've got a Q90R in my gaming room and I love it. When I seen this Q950T soundbar, I knew I had to get it. I wanted to replace the Q90R with this one and move the Q90R into the front room for movies and such. However, that didn't happen and this was due to one specific reason, which I will cover below. First of all, let me say that the packaging for this Q950T soundbar is HUGE! Everything is very well packaged and despite some pretty bad damage to the box by UPS...it was packaged well enough so that nothing inside was damaged or scratched/scuffed, etc. Unboxing was really easy. Included, you get the Soundbar itself, which is humongous, the sub and two rear speakers, along with accessories (remote, batteries, HDMI cable...the usual stuff). The remote has not changed in a while and is exactly the same as my Q90R. While I was awaiting delivery of this Q950T soundbar, I was so excited, I had to go ahead and start looking a details online. Overall, impressions seemed to be good, but there was one glaring issue that others were experiencing and in the end - would put a huge damper on this soundbar...if you're a gamer... This is the lack of LPCM support. This breaks my heart and immediately make me regret getting this soundbar. I was disappointed, before I even got it. I mean, the Q90R, which was the previous years flagship supports LPCM. Why would 2020's not?? Anyway, I decided I still wanted to go into it open-minded because, you know, sometimes the internet tends to blow things out of proportion and make a big deal out of something that isn't too big of a deal. But, I decided to hook it up in the front room instead of my game room where my Q90R is...just to test it and see how the issue was. After I received it, I unboxed it and hooked it up. It was stupid easy to hook up and also has eARC support. So, the soundbar goes to the ARC port of the TV. Normally, other devices can then go into the HDMI ports of the TV and use ARC to send the sound to the soundbar...but since I don't have any HDMI 2.1 devices in that room yet and the TV in there does not support eARC, I just hooked them into the soundbar itself for the best compatibility. I already had the SmartThings app on my phone that I used with my Q90R. So, I went into the app after powering on the new Q950T soundbar to begin setup. I was amazed with how easy the setup was and it automatically updated the firmware. There has not yet been a firmware update since the current one that updated when I setup the soundbar. I tested the soundbar for a solid 4-5 days in order to make my decision. Will I just keep it in this room...or will I move it into my gaming room and put the Q90R in here? After a call to Samsung, it was decided. They confirmed with me via phone that this Q950T soundbar does NOT support LPCM. Now, I did try gaming on the PS4 in the front room and tried several different games on it. Without LPCM support, I did have to keep it on the Surround sound mode to get the best sound out of it and even then, it was kind of spotty, depending on the game being played. Given this, I made the decision to just keep it in the front room, as it was FANTASTIC for movies and music...and just "meh" for gaming. One other thing I wanted to point out about this soundbar. The fabric covering over it does FEEL and LOOK fantastic...but it is a fur and dust magnet. If you have more than one animal, you may want to look for a different soundbar. We have one dog who sheds a metric-TON and a cat. All this fur draws to the soundbar like a magnet and after 3-5 days, it can get pretty unsightly. Luckily, it's easy to clean. Just get a lint roller and go over the top and sides of the soundbar. Good as new. The final thing I want to mention...which is a HUGE design flaw of the soundbar. Some genius at Samsung decided that they would put the display on TOP of the soundbar. Yep...right where you can't see it. Every time I need to adjust the volume, I either have to do so via the SmartThings app or get up, waddle over to the soundbar and change the volume to see the number. This is absolutely horrible! I mean, I get with the type of fabric covering, it would make the display hard to see...but surely there could have been a better solution? In the end, I'm going to give the Samsung Q950T a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Since the review system here will not allow me to give it half stars, it'll get a 3.0 there. This thing is HUGE...so make sure you have the room for it. The actual sound itself from the soundbar is spectacular when watching movies and music, but not for gaming. I never experienced any drop-outs or crackling of the rear speakers. However, the (dumb) lack of LPCM support kills this soundbar for gamers and those that use Apple TV. The fabric makes the soundbar look great, but that's about it - it's attracts so much dust and pet hair, you're forced to lint-roll it 1-2x per week. I purposefully did not dust/lint roll prior to taking pics for this review, just so you can see what it will look like in a real environment. Oh and the fact that the display is on TOP of the soundbar instead of the front is also another major issue I have. If you watch movies or listen to music, this is one of the best soundbars you can get at this time...if you can deal with the fabric and the location of the display. If you're a gamer...skip this completely. Instead, see if you can find the Q90R soundbar, as it sounds miles better for gaming than the Q950T does (and is probably much cheaper now). OR check out their just-announced (from CES 2021) Q950A soundbar. It looks like a beast. It's 11.1.4 channels, has AVA "Active Voice Amplification", along with "spacefit" room calibration - a first for Samsung brand soundbars. I'll be keeping my eye on this one. In the meantime, I'm walking away from the Q950T feeling kinda "meh" about it, while drooling for the future. I mean, yeah, they may add LPCM support in a future firmware update...but don't buy this soundbar with that hope.