
Samsung
Q990F
Value for movies and easy setup, but music falls flat.

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Can say from personal experience that the 990D is better than the 1300(not mk2). Voices are clearer. Bigger atmos. More precise bass (the JBL subwoofer is ridiculous and there IS NO QUIET MODE on the thing. Also the JBL remote sucks. Having to turn off the enhanced sound mode every time sucks. As does having to remember the “secret combos” to do everything On the remote. The Samsung is a superior product. Supposedly the MK2 improves sound on JBL but the same co trial issues and sub issue remain. Too annoying.
Samsung, the JBL is more bass heavy out of the box. But the overall tone and soundstage the Samsung provides is clearer and more full. Just adjust the settings to your liking and the Samsung takes the cake.
I demoed both jbl and sony. I choose jbl over sony. Sony made my head ache and felt very claustrophobic in sound idk how else to explain, it wasn't the most pleasent sound i have heard in a while even my old DAV hme theatre was more pleasing to me. As for jbl it might lack vocal clarity and surround volume, i am optimistic for the Mark 2 to fix all that and provide an even more movie theatre experience
But With 1200w power? It might be a huge upgrade if you love bass. I will get a home demo done before i make any decisions if i were you. As for clarity i found 1300 enough in my home demo, samsung on the other hands lacks punch and was very shrill
Yeah the surrounds for JBL were a weak spot and so is the vocal clarity at times. And for samsung the bass is very poorly done. Samsung was also very sharp and hurt my ears sometimes. I would pick jbl because i only watch tv for movies while my dad uses it for news and he doesn't care which soundbar we buy. Waiting for MK2 to finally upgrade from a dying DAV
I have the JBL Bar 1300, a great deal, but nowhere near the depth on the sonos sub and arc my dad have. I still think it’s waaay to much to spend for watching movies, where Samsung and JBL is better for cinema for half the price. And sonos is the best for music and only great for cinema experience. And with Mette Frederiksen messing up everyones economy here in Denmark🇩🇰🥲🤣 I would personally go with the smaller Samsung model tbh - unless you have a REALLY big living room and you need the extra watts. Think about how much you actually need to play on max volume…
i have a lg tv 2025 model and it has supposed “dolby atmos” inbuilt speakers and i bought a jbl 1300 and holy fking shit the difference is INSANE i can NOT even listen to 2 minutes on the inbuilt tv speakers im genuinely wondering how it even got a dolby atmos certification (the tv speakers) but besides that it depends on your tv speakers quality too but i recommend getting a soundbar
Have jbl bar1300, hates it every day, surround sound immersion and effects is too bad .owned jbl bar 9.1 was way too good. Samsung q990F think it's better.
Have the original bar1300 hate it everyday worst heights rear speakers are dumb no immersion at all ,the only good is subwoofer but the bar and rears sounds worst
You own jbl bar1300 mk2? ,if yes ,apart from the bass,how is the soundbar and rear surrounds performance as in immersion and height effects with non-atmos movies. Am concerned be'se I own bar1300 mk1 which is under whelming, surround sound performance is way too bad compared to 9.1 which I had before, sorry but I don't want to fall in same hole.
Rear speakers batteries not a problem have used mine for 3 years [jbl 1300]and still going strong works whole day and re-attach them at 70%.still there's an option of connecting them at charger full time.
Had the bar 9.1 to me was better than the bar1300 mk1 I own now,according to surround sound performance. It was good
Just hooked up same jbl bar1300 mk2 with small duo 8"sub,coming from original bar1300 mk1 which didn't appease me But the mk2 it's on the level bass strong and controlled it hits hard ,sorround sound performance are great vocals are great can't recommend this monster enough. Atmos is good. Can't go wrong with it. To get it right for me switched smart mode off ,just togling through movie,music and standard.

Samsung
Q990F
Value for movies and easy setup, but music falls flat.

Sonos
Beam (Gen 2)
Compact value, but virtual Atmos and app issues.

Samsung
HW-Q990D
Powerful, immersive value, but poor music and buggy software.

Sonos
Arc Ultra
Immersive Atmos and bass, but pricey and poor for music.

Samsung
Q930F
Strong value for movies, but music and HDMI 2.0 limit.

Ranked #1
Sonos - Beam (Gen 2)

Ranked #1
Samsung - Q990F

Ranked #1
Sonos - Arc Ultra

Ranked #1
Sonos - Playbar

Ranked #1
Sonos - Arc Ultra