What is the very best soundbar of the moment?\u00a0Champion Samsung is again making a bid for that title this year with the HW-Q950T.\u00a0This successor to the HW-Q90R goes one step further – although it only shows its full potential in combination with a high-end Samsung television.<\/p>\n
One of the best high-end sound bars of last year?\u00a0The\u00a0Samsung HW-Q90R<\/strong>.\u00a0One of the better for that?\u00a0The HW-K950.\u00a0It is in that list that the brand new HW-Q950T belongs, because this is the new audio flagship from Samsung.\u00a0The price tag of 1,500 euros may have already revealed it, but we are talking about a very special soundbar from the highest class.\u00a0It is one of the few on the market that can truly offer 9.1.4.\u00a0Or in other words: an overcomplete Dolby Atmos experience, including height channels at the front and rear.\u00a0This is possible because the soundbar is packed with speakers (20 pieces), comes with a wireless subwoofer and comes with two wireless speakers that you place at the back of the room.\u00a0\u201cOkay, we’ve seen that before\u201d, you might think.\u00a0The difference is that these additional devices are double speakers.\u00a0As with its predecessors, the rear speakers contain a speaker for the surround channel and a speaker for a height channel.\u00a0That is quite unique.<\/p>\n A big novelty with the HW-Q950T is especially interesting for people who have invested in a high-end Samsung TV: Q-Symphony.\u00a0As if the twenty speakers of the HW-Q950T were not enough, you can let the TV speakers play along with the soundbar with certain Samsung televisions.<\/p>\n For those who are wondering where the difference is with last year’s HW-Q90R, which is now also attractively priced in the shops: the new Samsung soundbar is really a different model, with a different design and with 9.1.4.\u00a0The previous Samsung topper offered 7.1.4.<\/p>\n In terms of connectivity, you can find the HW-Q950T with few shortcomings. Naturally, it is eARC compatible, which we require in 2020 and which enables the playback of uncompressed surround with height channels. Even if that audio track comes from a source (such as a console) that is connected to the TV itself, provided the TV itself supports eARC.<\/p>\n The 65Q950TS television that Samsung supplied with the HW-Q950T soundbar for this test comes with a separate One Connect box to connect all external devices.\u00a0A thin cable runs out of the box to bring power and the video signal to the TV set.\u00a0Because you no longer have to fumble behind the TV to plug in HDMI cables, such a box is really very handy, especially if you want to keep all cables out of sight and you want a sleek-looking installation.\u00a0The chance is therefore small that you still want to connect HDMI sources to the soundbar, the One Connect box is more convenient.\u00a0But not everyone has such a high-end TV or even a Samsung device.\u00a0In that case, the two extra HDMI inputs on the HW-Q950T are really practical.\u00a0It’s true that rivals like the Sonos Arc are all going for just one HDMI port,\u00a0but we still like to see a few extra inputs on top models.\u00a0If you connect a video source to this, you can count on 4K and HDR support.\u00a0Since this is a Samsung, we are not surprised to see HDR10 + also appear in the list of supported HDR standards.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Speaking of formats, against the prevailing trend, the Q950T supports\u00a0DTS: X<\/strong>\u00a0in addition to Dolby Atmos (and the lower Dolby formats) and its predecessors.\u00a0We see a strong focus on Dolby in both TVs and sound bars, while DTS is left to the left.\u00a0This may have to do with the strong following that Atmos has with publishers of Ultra HD Blu-ray, streaming services and games, but there is still DTS content in the world.\u00a0Even with recent releases, but also a lot of Blu-rays from the past, eg. A pat on the back for Samsung in this one.\u00a0We should note that recent Samsung TVs have dropped DTS support for media that you play over the network or from a USB stick.\u00a0If you connect a Blu-ray player to your TV, there is no problem, but if you want to watch ‘backups’ of films, you will not get any sound with video files with DTS.\u00a0The solution to this niche problem: play your files via an external player.<\/p>\n When it comes to streaming, Samsung continues to follow its course: no Chromecast and no Airplay, but Bluetooth and Spotify Connect.\u00a0There is no longer an app with streaming options, as there was in the past at Samsung.\u00a0The company has opted for a few years now to centralize all operation of almost all products in the SmartThings app.\u00a0In itself useful that everything happens in one place, but that app does not offer many options per connected device.<\/p>\n In terms of streaming, the offer seems limited, but Samsung may have the tendency (like most TV manufacturers) to think in its own ecosystem.\u00a0If you hang the HW-Q950T on a recent Samsung TV, you can stream music via Airplay – via that TV.\u00a0You will also find various apps from streaming services on the television.\u00a0The same is also true if you connect this soundbar to a recent TV set from another brand;\u00a0Sony and Philips offer Chromecast thanks to Android TV, LG also has Airplay on board.\u00a0If you still want to listen to music without switching on your television (and you don’t want to work via Spotify or Bluetooth), then you will have to connect an external streamer to the optical or auxiliary input.<\/p>\n Despite all the extras, the HW-Q950T remains an easy to set up device.\u00a0The speakers and the subwoofer should automatically connect to each other, which was effectively the case with us.\u00a0The subwoofer is of medium size, an upright rectangle that is best placed in the front of the room.<\/p>\n You are supposed to give the wireless speakers a permanent place.\u00a0This makes the Samsung slightly different from some of its rivals, such as the\u00a0JBL Bar 9.1<\/strong>\u00a0.\u00a0That JBL also comes with speakers for the rear, but they are models with built-in batteries that you can click onto the soundbar if you don’t need them.\u00a0The Samsung speakers each need a power outlet.\u00a0That is also different from some rivals, such as certain LGs that only have one plug and work with a cable that runs from rear speaker to rear speaker.<\/p>\n The soundbar itself looks different from previous Samsungs.\u00a0The long rectangle shape with a low profile but a greater depth is familiar.\u00a0Those extra, upward-facing speakers simply have to be placed somewhere.\u00a0Due to its modest height of just under 7 cm, you can place it in front of most televisions.\u00a0With the QE65Q950TS that we received from Samsung, it was no problem at all.<\/p>\n The HW-Q950T gets a slightly more unusual appearance because the corners are cut off at the front and a speaker grille shows, while the rest of the soundbar is covered with a black fabric.\u00a0Anyone who closely follows the AV world will not be surprised that the textiles are supplied by Kvadrat, the Danish upholstery fabric manufacturer that supplies more and more audio manufacturers.\u00a0\u201cIf only we had taken shares in those guys\u201d, we think.\u00a0Other brands that embrace Kvadrat, such as Bang & Olufsen, Harman Kardon and Dali, tend to choose a more Scandinavian-looking fabric, slightly gray interlaced with threads in a different shade.\u00a0Samsung just goes for a classic black, which makes the soundbar less of a hip design statement.\u00a0But maybe that also makes it more timeless.<\/p>\n Overall, the HW-Q950T is not a garish presence in your room.\u00a0Of course it remains a more robust\u00a0soundbar\u00a0and you have those extra speakers that you have to place somewhere, but it depends on your interior whether this is really a challenge.\u00a0Incidentally, a bracket for wall mounting is included and there is a screw thread on the back of the rear speakers.\u00a0So you might be able to hang them on the wall behind your sofa.\u00a0Please note: in our opinion, the rear speakers work best if you do not place them right next to your sofa, but more obliquely behind it.\u00a0Basically in the same place where you would place surround speakers.<\/p>\n Samsung does manage to undermine a big plus of its high-end soundbars this year with a minus.\u00a0There are more Dolby Atmos soundbars with separate rear speakers, but what Samsung always did fine was a separate volume control per channel.\u00a0For example, you could turn those rears a bit louder if they were a bit further away or screw up the volume of the height channels if your ceiling was higher.\u00a0Every room is different.\u00a0That adjustment is still possible, a good thing.\u00a0Less is that you can only do this via the remote with feedback via the screen of the soundbar.\u00a0Unfortunately, it has been moved from the front to the top of the HW-Q950T, so you have to hang above the soundbar to adjust.\u00a0Not handy, because adjusting the channels is best done from your seat.\u00a0It’s not a huge disaster\u00a0but it would be more practical if you could also adjust it via the SmartThings app.\u00a0We asked Samsung if that will be possible, and will add their feedback.\u00a0We must not forget that we started here with a brand new product.<\/p>\n You won’t find an insane amount of settings with this soundbar.\u00a0Via the remote – a typical well-thought-out curved Samsung box – you can quickly and effectively control things such as the volume and the woofer level.\u00a0There is also a button ‘Sound Mode’.\u00a0Press to switch between four modes: Standard, Surround, Gamer and Adaptive.\u00a0It is important to know that Standard is the most realistic.\u00a0If you receive 5.1, the soundbar will play 5.1.\u00a0If stereo is supplied, you will hear stereo (the rear speakers will not work, for example).\u00a0In the other three modes, all audio is brought to 9.1.4 (and therefore all speakers), with the exception of original Dolby Atmos and DTS: X soundtracks.\u00a0They remain unchanged.\u00a0You will then see ‘NOT’ appear on the display of the soundbar.<\/p>\n We find that you have the choice to bring stereo or 5.1 to a full 9.1.4 experience.\u00a0The Sonos Arc, for example, cannot do this, making the experience with the Sonos considerably less impressive with video without an Atmos trace.\u00a0It is true that the Surround mode and sometimes the Adaptive mode of the Samsung can sound a bit artificial, especially with music.\u00a0When we listened to the live video of Gorecki’s Third Symphony, performed by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki but especially with the lament of Portishead icon Beth Gibbons, in Standard mode we were quite impressed.\u00a0In Surround mode it did indeed become more enveloping, but the strings that echoed along the rear speakers almost turned into synthesizers.\u00a0Of course it depends on what you are listening to, but in general we find the HW-Q950T as a music reproducer just the strongest in stereo.\u00a0In Adaptive mode we also experienced sudden volume jumps, for example when the opening credits of ‘Big Bang Theory’ started playing after a first scene.<\/p>\n The HW-Q950T is an expensive soundbar.\u00a0This high price is partly explained by the presence of the extra speakers that you place at the back.\u00a0But they are also really worth their money.\u00a0Thanks to the additional speakers, the Samsung soundbar can create an enveloping soundscape that an ordinary device (without rear speakers) cannot match.\u00a0But also compared to other sound bars that are equipped with rear speakers, the HW-Q950T stands out above ground level.\u00a0We are not surprised, because the previous Samsung soundbars already performed at the highest level.\u00a0By the way, unless stated otherwise, we have tested without Q-Symphony below.\u00a0After all, this feature is limited to a few newer Samsung TVs, and we think the target audience of this product is somewhat larger than that.<\/p>\n The added value of the Samsung soundbar with its extra speakers was evident in the grim and impressive ‘Joker’ (Dolby Atmos via the Apple TV app on the Samsung TV).\u00a0The ominous atmosphere in this film, supported by a gloomy soundtrack, is immediately conveyed well.\u00a0At times it is really impressive, and not necessarily with the big action scenes.\u00a0If at some point in a nightclub Joaquin Phoenix takes a chance as a stand-up comedian, for example, and walks down the hallways towards the stage after his preparation, we hear the sound of the audience and the previous act moving across the room in function of how the Joker-to-be walks.\u00a0There is not suddenly a big change in sound when a sound effect moves to the rear speakers.\u00a0This homogeneous sound field is what we expect from a discrete surround setup, but not immediately from a soundbar.\u00a0With the JBL Bar 9.1, the rear speakers were a bit less powerful than the speakers in the soundbar, for example.\u00a0The clapping also really sounds like it takes place in a large room, an effect that is even more amplified when you can use Q-Symphony.<\/p>\n The ability to properly fill the room – provided you place the rear speakers properly – is also evident when going through the official Atmos demos from Dolby.\u00a0At ‘Santeria’ the jungle sounds are all around us, creating a thick, convincing atmosphere.\u00a0The ‘Amaze’ demo also transmits the Samsung brilliantly: the clattering rain is realistic, the thunders … er, thundered through the room, and the beating of the birds’ wings sound convincing.\u00a0‘Audiosphere’ is an excellent demonstration of the separate channels, with a ball dancing around in a circle and high-pitched triangle-like sounds.\u00a0The moving sound effects are well positioned, the height channels in the front also come off the soundbar well.\u00a0At the moment, those front channels are a bit predominant.\u00a0It can be solved with the separate volume control, but again: it would be nice if you could do that easily from your chair.\u00a0When we replayed Audiosphere with Q-Symphony turned on, the height channels were even better defined and higher in the room.\u00a0That was really a remarkable difference.<\/p>\n When going through the demos and watching a number of films, we do get the impression that the HW-Q950T performs best in a larger room.\u00a0Due to the gigantic 8K TV that Samsung included that had to be placed in front of our wall-mounted LG, the soundbar is a little closer to us than usual during tests.\u00a0The rear speakers are also more likely to be next to the sofa than a little behind it.\u00a0Both of these things mean that the HW-Q950T does not necessarily perform poorly, but we are convinced that in a slightly larger room with a greater distance between sofa and soundbar and with the rears half a meter behind the seat, the result would be even better.<\/p>\n Both when it comes to spectacle films such as ‘Old Guard’ (Dolby Atmos, via Netflix) and ‘Hobbs and Shaw’ (Dolby Atmos, Ultra HD Blu-ray) as well as more subtle works, the HW-Q950T delivers a very convincing experience.\u00a0It is worth adjusting the volume levels of the channels according to your situation.\u00a0In Hobs and Shaw, for example, the music in the soundtrack came in quite violently through the rear speakers.\u00a0We had to lower that a bit to bring it all back into balance.<\/p>\n In short, we think that with the HW-Q950T, Samsung now comes very close to a surround setup with discrete speakers.\u00a0But not quite yet, and that simply has to do with the limitations of a soundbar and the accompanying sub.\u00a0The big helicopter scene in ‘Kong: Skull Island’ to the tones of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabath is excellently presented in many ways.\u00a0It is compelling and in soundbar terms it is only inferior to the Ambeo Bar (2,500 euros).\u00a0The Samsung subwoofer really performs at a very high level, but as an experienced expert of discrete surround setups, we do miss the definition and tightness that a high-end sub can deliver.\u00a0Well, nobody is waiting for it, but with a top soundbar like this we often think: \u201cIt’s a pity that you don’t have the option to add your own subwoofer.\u00a0\u201cWe bet that if we replaced the supplied sub with, say, the Monitor Audio Silver W12 that we have in the test room, the overall experience would be spectacular.\u00a0We can of course make this consideration – we have to be honest – with any soundbar.<\/p>\n [thescore]<\/p>\n Let’s immediately talk about the HW-Q950T’s biggest flaw: its price.\u00a0The price tag of 1,500 euros is significant.\u00a0Surprisingly, it still does not make the Samsung soundbar the most expensive on the market, because you have Bang & Olufsen and Sennheiser for that.\u00a0For that amount, however, you do get a complete package that comes very close to a discrete surround setup with an AV receiver that costs the same or slightly more.<\/p>\n The HW-Q950T is not a revolutionary product, but that is because its predecessors already performed at a very high level.\u00a0The big change from last year’s HW-Q90R is the Q-Symphony collaboration with the speakers on certain high-end Samsung TVs.<\/p>\n Without a doubt, the HW-Q950T is a true flagship offering one of the best surround sound experiences you can get from a soundbar.\u00a0The wide support for Dolby Atmos and DTS: X, the two extra HDMI inputs and – especially – the rear speakers that also display height channels make this soundbar an absolute winner in the segment.\u00a0There are a few small things here and there that could be better, but nothing that is a deal breaker or stands in the way of a high score.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is the very best soundbar of the moment?\u00a0Champion Samsung is again making a bid for that title this year with the HW-Q950T.\u00a0This successor to the HW-Q90R goes one step further – although it only shows its full potential in combination with a high-end Samsung television. Samsung HW-Q950T One of the best high-end sound bars […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10402,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[641],"tags":[778],"class_list":{"0":"post-113716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tv","7":"tag-reviews"},"acf":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10402"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113716"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465700,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113716\/revisions\/465700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Strong in standards<\/h2>\n
Own streaming approach<\/h2>\n
Simple appearance<\/h2>\n
Four sound modes<\/h2>\n
Close to a surround set<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n