Unlike preceding Samsung flagship soundbars, the Samsung HW-Q990C doesn’t deliver any design different from its predecessor aside from sporting a slightly different color.
Its few new features make the Samsung HW-Q990C one of the best sound bars. For Odiens, SmartThings Hub functionality has been attached so that you can monitor and monitor other devices in your house.
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There’s also built-in support for Amazon Alexa voice control and Alexa device classification to create successful multi-room setups.
For now, a new generation of Samsung’s Q Symphony adds to the way the speakers in Samsung’s TVs and sound bars work Jointly.
Its lifeless headline features that the Q990C convey over from its predecessor that matter for all that. Namely, the colossal 11.1.4 channel count and massive 656W of power, which make sure that while the Q990C doesn’t sound notably finer than its predecessor with movies.
It certainly sounds just as good – meaning it’s still the best Dolby Atmos actor in town. It turns out that some retuning by Samsung’s sound developer has also delivered a significant improvement in music playback, label the Q990C predecessor’s most notable restriction.
Features of HW-Q990C Samsung Soundbar
- Dimensions: Head sound bar – 1309(w) x 595(h) x 277(d)mm; subwoofer – 220(w) x 413(h) x 277(d)mm. Back part- 129.5(w) x 201.3(h) x 140.4(d)mm.
- Speaker channels: 11.1.4
- Connections: Two HDMI inputs, one HDMI output with eARC support, digital optical audio input, Wi Fi, via Bluetooth
- Dolby Atmos/DTS: X: Yes
- Sub included: Yes
- Rear speakers included: Yes
Special features: Q Symphony, Adaptive Sound mode, SpaceFit sound calibration, Voice Enhance Mode, Active Voice Amplifier, Hi-Res Audio Decoding, LED display, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision pass through; SmartThings Hub control; Built-in The Amazon Alexa and Alexa device grouping for multiroom; Apple Airplay support available.
SAMSUNG HW-Q990C Price and Release Date
The Samsung Soundbar HW-Q990C was released in May 2023. It’s £1,599/$1,599/AUS$1,499 pricing clearly establishes it as a very premium soundbar.
Actually, it’s Samsung’s flagship model for 2023. For view, it’s twice as high-cost as the Sonos Arc or Sony HT-A5000 sound bars.
Samsung does give a lot of bang for your buck, though in the form of a four-component system delivering a class-leading channel count.
It’s worth pointing out, too, that there are a few single-bar or bar-plus-sub solutions out there that cost greatly more.
Samsung offers a step-over model to the Q990C, the £1,149/$1,099/AUS$1,499 HW-Q930C, that uses a smaller, less powerful main soundbar, drops a couple of channels, uses a more ‘standard’ subwoofer design, but still involve rear speakers.
Overview: Samsung Soundbar HW-Q990C
- 16 real channels of Dolby Atmos sound bar
- 2x HDMI inputs, but no 4K 120Hz keep up
- New auto-calibration structure
The Q990C lives up to its billing as Samsung’s flagship sound bar by playing an imposing numbers game. It delivers a class-leading 11.1.4 real (rather than ‘virtual’) channel count, backed up by 656W of power coursing through 22 separate speakers fitted into four separate covered components: In the head sound bar, a hefty subwoofer and two rear speakers.
There’s no ‘front sound only’ or ‘virtual height effect’ deal here when playing the latest and large movie soundtracks.
The Q990C also affects, for the most part, its connections. In particular, it provides a two-input, one-output HDMI loop-through system capable of carrying the premium HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR formats (as well as the basic HDR10 and HLG structure).
It’s a sorrow the HDMIs don’t extend to supporting the 4K 120Hz gaming feeds the latest consoles and PCs can deliver. Especially given that Samsung cares about gaming enough to equip the sound bar with a Game preset that adds to specific placement effects.
So that it’s easier to tell where rivals are shooting/approaching you from. You can fix your 4K 120Hz-capable gaming kit right to any TV that supports HDMI’s eARC technology and pass Dolby Atmos soundtracks to the Q990C that way.
As long as your set-up doesn’t suffer from the audio syncing topic occasionally skilled with ARC technology. The two most notable features are its new Space Fit Sound Pro auto-calibration system and the new tuning of the sound bar’s music showing.
The first of these finally see Samsung auto-calibrating the structure’s subwoofer and other speakers in as one rather than using a separate system to monitor bass.
Activating this feature has an instant hopeful effect on the sound and from then on, the system will continually security system the sound to compensate for potential changes in your room set-up. I’ll talk about the new music tuning in the next part.
The Q990C also adopts a new (third) generation of Q-Symphony technology, where recent Samsung TVs can join audio forces wirelessly with compatible Samsung soundbar to create a larger, more detailed front soundstage.
This new version deploys all the speakers in both the TV and sound bar, rather than leaving some silent, and allows the soundbar to draw on the power of a Samsung TV’s AI-boosted audio processing.
At last, you can use the Q990C with the SmartThings app for your phone to control other devices all over your house, thanks to the new SmartThings Hub functionality.
Samsung HW-Q990C Audio Performance
The HW-Q990C’s monster channel count indicates that this sound bar is exceptionally – almost uniquely – focused on getting the best out of film soundtracks. And like its predecessor, it lives up to that promise in spectacular fashion.
Its single most outstanding feature is its ability to create an exceptionally immersive and full surround sound experience that puts you in the center of the hemisphere/dome of sound needed to create the full Dolby Atmos experience better than any other soundbar I’ve owned.
Shona (bar last year’s Q990B) The two rear speakers and the main sound bar’s side- and up-firing drivers join forces perfectly to ensure there are no distracting, immersion-breaking gaps in the three-dimensional soundstage.
Placement effects are positioned exceptionally precisely within the Q990C’s cocoon of sound (the Space fit Auto-Cal system in particular does its job) and the combination of different driver strengths, sensitivities and projections means the soundstage is always busy, detailed and on display. Believe it or not when it comes to handling transition sounds across or through sound hemispheres.
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