It may be pricey, but it’s absolutely worth it
The $1,999.99 Samsung HW-Q990F is a high-end, four-piece surround system that includes a soundbar, a pair of rear satellite speakers, and a subwoofer. It delivers rich audio with deep immersion that rivals setups with more individual speakers. An update to last year’s HW-Q990D, the HW-Q990F features a staggering 23 drivers, multiple wired and wireless connections, and works seamlessly with other Samsung products in your home. It’s also incredibly expensive—but that’s our only complaint. If you can afford it, the Samsung HW-Q990F delivers the best soundbar audio experience we’ve encountered, surpassing the excellent Sonos Arc Ultra ($1,099), and earning our Editors’ Choice award for soundbar systems.Design: You Can’t Miss It
The Samsung HW-Q990F looks and feels like high-end audio equipment—and it is. All the individual components are large and heavy, especially the soundbar, which is necessary to accommodate its many drivers. It’s bigger than most other soundbars I’ve tested, but the trade-off is worth it for the outsized performance it delivers.
Samsung updated the subwoofer’s design. It has a dark gray exterior with metallic grilles covering the top, front, and sides. Unlike some soundbars, its sides aren’t flat. Instead, the front edges are angled and house some of the side-firing drivers. It’s a bit shorter than its predecessor and measures 2.8 by 48.5 by 5.4 inches (HWD), making it wider than the Sonos Arc Ultra (2.95 by 46.38 by 4.35 inches) and the $1,299 Marshall Heston 120 (3.0 by 43.3 by 5.7 inches). You’ll need a sizeable TV stand to handle the depth, too. If your TV is wall-mounted, consider wall-mounting the soundbar as well (a bracket is included). The Sonos is a plain black bar, while the Marshall has a more appealing design thanks to its gray fabric covering and gold accents.
Unlike the Sonos or Marshall, the system includes a subwoofer and two rear speakers, which are more conventionally sized. The subwoofer measures 9.9 by 9.8 by 9.8 inches and weighs 18.3 pounds. Although the previous model included a ported subwoofer, this one is closed. The surround speakers each measure 7.9 by 5.1 by 5.0 inches and weigh 7.5 pounds. You can mouth the surrounds on the wall if you need to. All three of these speakers connect wirelessly to the soundbar, eliminating the need to run cables everywhere. (Samsung sells a less-expensive 7.1.2 version of the Q990F that drops the rear surround speakers for $1,499.99.) Sonos sells a subwoofer and surrounds separately, while Marshall offers only a subwoofer.
Samsung doesn’t list the specifications of each driver, but together, the drivers deliver a frequency range between 20Hz and 20kHz in an 11.1.4 setup. This means there are more than enough channels to support a comprehensive Dolby Atmos system. The soundbar itself provides the front, front wide, and top front channels, while the soundbar and surround speakers together provide the additional side channels. The surround speakers also render audio for the rear channels and the top rear channels. The Arc Ultra has a 9.1.4-speaker configuration, and the Heston confines it to a 5.1.2 channel setup.
The Q990F supports the new Eclipsa format that Samsung developed in partnership with Google.
