Samsung - HW-Q930B

Yep.  Paired my C1 with an at the time new Q930b and the combination is waay beyond what we need.  

The Q930 is pretty amazing.  Even rtings has a hard time justifying the 990 because the 930 is nearly as good for a lot less cash.  I'd go for the 930 over the 800. You're going from 5.1.2 to 9.1.4 by upgrading. You'll wish you had the rear surrounds that come with the 930 and not with the 800.  Unless you don't want surrounds.... 

According to rtings the 800 never came with surrounds.  You have to get the 930 or buy the 9500 surrounds at an extra cost. At that point youre better off getting the 930 because the bar has more drivers than the 800

Yeah Q930 owner here, volume goes to 100, we use it at like 8-12 for everyday tv.  14-16 if we're really into a show, and when the wife is gone 20-25. 

After seeing the rtings review saying they couldn't justify the extra $800 for the 990 over the 930, that helped me decide.  No regrets here.  Thing is a monster.  I can't imagine wanting more. 

Bought the Q930b on release, I'd do it all over again.  Connected to an LG C1 through eARC ports, Zboz Series X goes straight i to TV, we see no lag/audio delays or any other issues.  The thing is powerful.  Everyday tv watching it sits between 7-10 on volume, maybe 18 on movies.  At 50 it's extremely loud and clear and it goes to 100.  100 isn't perceptively twice as loud as 50, so it's not a linear curve, but honestly even if the wife and kids are gone and I want to jam or watch Dune or something intense, I don't even set it to above 30. 

I'd go Samsung bar with the LG OLED.  Did LG C1 + Q930b and still impressed to this day.  There's no need to match brands with that tv and bar. 

I've been around a while.  These days I buy things new from reputable companies. I'd rather pay full price to Best Buy and know if I have an issue I have recourse. When the Q930b was released I bought it from best buy. I haven't had a single issue with it since purchase and would do it again. But if I did I wouldn't want to wonder if my $1k was sent down the sink.  Just my 2 cents. 

The SWA 9500 would be the best choice for Atmos, but if you add the price of the Q800d and SWA 9500's you might as well get the Q930, which will come with the surrounds with upfiring Atmos drivers.  You can also set the surrounds up as front speakers in the settings if you can't mount them behind, then if you move you can set them as surrounds. 

I don't know why someone would upgrade a Q930 to a Q990 at all.. they are too similar to start to make that worth it imo

I trust the rtings reviews, where they test and compare based on data.   There's no way I'd ever get $600 additional value from a 990 over the 930 at the prices when I purchased.   I barely use the 930 capabilities as it is. 

The Q990 and Beam Gen2 are in two completely different categories.  I own a Q930 and Beam Gen 2.  The only reason I even have the Beam Gen2 is because it was on sale for $250 and I was trying to maximize value for dollar for a spare bedroom and needed something physically smaller to attach to the underside of a wall mounted tv. 

Honestly just save up for a Q930, it's what that tv deserves.  It's worth the wait.  You can set the satellite speakers as front wides, you don't have to mount them behind you on a wall. 

Are you in the USA?  I'm confused as to why this escapes you.  https://gprivate.com/6evue https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-hw-q930d-za-9-1-4-channel-q-series-soundbar-with-wireless-subwoofer-and-rear-speakers-dolby-atmos-and-q-symphony-black/6570311.p?skuId=6570311 https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/samsung/hw-q930d It's literally everywhere.  I'll return to my original advice.  Wait. Save. Budget for it.  Dont buy a top tier TV and use a budget sound solution. 

I have the q990d and a q930b. The difference in most stuff is barely noticeable. Atmos is slightly noticeable but if your room is small I'd go with the q930d or c if you can find them cheap. My 990d is in a living room that is 16x22 and it's plenty of loud at like 12 haha. The 990d can be had for good discounts, I think the best is on woot atm. If you wait for samsung direct to do a deal again with edu/work discount, I got it for $800 all said and done. At that price it's hard to beat.

Wireless subs have been around a long time now and very common for s/bars to come with them. Remember, you can un plug the sub from the mains and quickly here the difference it makes to "filling out" the soundstage. Any rear surrounds work on the same principle. I have the Q930b and all the wireless speakers work very well without latency issues.

The Q930 won't disappoint, trust me. I have mine in a roughly 12 x 10 man cave with 100" projector setup. It really does put a smile on my face. The only thing I found a disappointing selling point ( in both models) was the "Alexa built in". I have Amazon Alexa speakers in the house and figures this Samsung bar would integrate well ( i.e be able to add it to a group of speakers in the house so I could play music across that group simultaneously). Whilst you can add it to your Alexa app as a device and play music to it that way, ( or Bluetooth of course) the app won't let it integrate to form a group of speakers like it would if I bought another Amazon speaker and added that). A minor irritation in the bigger picture.

For some reason, the spatialisation feature seems to prefer movies over music. Whenever I play _any_ music in the optimised mode of my 930B (software should be very similar on the 800/900 series regardless of generation, Samsung doesn't reinvent the wheel for each product line), even if they're fully lossless 5.1 tracks, the back channels just aren't loud enough to make a difference. You can hear it playing music if you lean in close, but even from a meter away you won't hear it. You can play around with the channel settings, reducing center and wide to -6 and -3, then cranking up the top and rear channels to +6, which helps a lot with music... But that completely screws up movies. I did work this around by some Home Assistant actions (the Samsung Soundbar custom integration has some service calls/actions that can set these levels) that are linked to certain events (e.g. my Apple TV starts a specific application triggers either the music or the movie preset, or the soundbar being directly cast to via Spotify), but it's not exactly optimal.

No, it's the same bar as the q990c set. It's slightly better than the q930 bar.

Literally looked at the list and thought exactly the same thing. 99% the performance for 75% the cost

I've owned plenty of kit and have to disagree. Is it perfect, no. But Samsung 900 series is as good as anything in its price range or 500 quid more. The sub whilst certainly not the best one I've ever heard is as good as any packaged sub I've listened to,I do find myself wishing it did more but does need to be considered in the context of the price of the overall package

Yeah it wasn't the flexus I had, it was the cinema 800. Don't think we can get the shockwafe in the UK, but rtings think the 930b is better than it, they say. The Samsung HW-Q930B is better than the Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 eARC for most uses. These are two very different setups—the Samsung has one sub and two satellites, while the Nakamichi has two subs and four satellites. As a result, the Nakamichi is more geared towards those with large, more open living spaces. Still, it doesn't offer the same immersive listening experience as the Samsung model, especially with Dolby Atmos content. The Samsung is more customizable, too, with a more balanced sound out-of-the-box.

I think it depends on the room and heavily on how it is set up. Many users increase the volume of all speakers and then complain that the sound is not all around them. Depending on the room, ceiling height, distance of the listener from the bar and other speakers, the volumes may have to be adjusted very differently. In my case, for instance, the rear speakers and very near me and therefore set at a very low volume. The rear upper firing speakers are at a higher volume. And the front speakers are much higher than the rears. I listened a zillion times and made small adjustments from time to time. Today I’m happy with the adjustments and can hear sound from all speakers reflecting what is going on in the TV. Probably a proper atmos system with separate speakers will sound better, but I think I have a pretty decent sound. By the way, my bar is the Samsung 930b.

Second the Nakamichi. Got the shockwafe pro 7.1.4 to replace the Samsung 930b. Blows the Sammy away. Insanely powerful. Great surround/atmos. The sub will rattle windows

I use the soundbar (930B) during daytime hours and early evening hours. Then I switch to a decent pair of wireless headphones for later evenings. If you are using an Apple TV, then aim for either the AirPod or Beats variety.

Sound can be all very subjective. I'm very much into audio and a musician. I own a 930b and I paid 1100 for it a few years ago. I'll always switch to vinyl rather than the soundbar for music and my vinyl player only cost 400 with 2 active speakers. Even when I've got the eq dialled in their is too much warmth and middle missing for me to enjoy a lot of music. Just not for me unless it's for a party and I just need something loud. For movies and gaming it sounds amazing. Music not so much... That's my experience.

I have an 930b. Apple Music on Apple TV through the 930b sounds amazing - especially the Atmos tracks.

Samsung HW-Q930 series deserves to be talked about more. It's a great soundbar!

can't go wrong with samsung now - the best main stream brand on the market. go for the Q-series and for whatever fits your budget. i love my Q930 - was approx $650

Not Q990, but Q930; similar design but little bit less channels. 2.5 years and counting. Still going strong.

Did you try placing rears at the front and adjusting sound levels for wider soundstage\\stereo separation? Still not a perfect solution but it di add quite an extre oomph in terms of music, compared to soundbar and sub only

Your reply has significantly impacted my experience with this system. First of all, music indeed sounds noticeably better with rears turned off. I would say that it gives at least an extra 30% to the experience. Turning the side and wide channels all the way down (I perceive the loss of details when those are playing), while upping the center and top made it sound the best for my ears. However, I think that there is a way to give it yet another 20-30% of oomph. After trying soundbar only, I placed rears at the front and turned sound grouping on. Then matched and upped rear channels with front top channels and center with rear top (these two I put at a few db less), and turned all the side\\wide channels all the way down. Sound became more powerful, present and the vocals became even more clear. Also there clearly was a sensation of the increased soundstage. I am not sure what the drawbacks to this approach is except for all the hussle with moving the rears (that's a big one). Channel level matching needs more experimenting, though. I did try smth similar in the past but it gave vary varying results. However this time it produced the best music I've ever heard from this system. I think that Samsung could've made this system much more capable in terms of music with different processing. https://preview.redd.it/qxnyc5j6v9pe1.jpeg?width=591&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d12b2e2364ffc9a5a61b9e7aa9a6a2cb04f1e08e

Seems like it outputs a mono signal in that particular mode(according to the samsung manual). Which still sounded very good(compared to other options), but I do understand now why I was not 100% confident about that sound profile. It did have a great impact but smth felt slightly off Will do some more testing and will create a separate post once the research for best settings is completed =) But yeah, a few extra modes in the app would've saved a lot of the headache P.S. rtings thinks that this particular mode provides stereo instead of mono. Needs testing https://preview.redd.it/0qqzva3umfpe1.png?width=879&format=png&auto=webp&s=6d194ab780e02a5a4032b875df36b6b45051583a

when did you buy the soundbar? I have Q990D and I had the same expression when i powered it on. It all changed after a week. not sure if space fit is adjusting it or it need some burn in time. Mine is much much better now. Definetely the sub is not satisfying for deep bass. if you play a proper dolby atmos contennt, you will see the difference. Not sure if it can compete with a proper 5.1 system. Never used one so can't comment on that. If you need to go above 20 for proper sound while watching movie, then wait. It should adjust in few days. Play with the settings in the smart things app. Play the openheimer intro seen, if it do not rumble the house, something is wrong with the setup. Again my comments are based on Q990D but i don't think Q930 very much different. Edit- just saw your 5.1 setup. that was 900W RMS and Q930 is 540W.

It's a great "all-around" option: movies, music, whatever. Of course people will tell you that a dedicated music system is better, but unless you are an incredibly demanding and particular audiophile, music should sound prefectly good to you on it. It does for me, at least.

The samsung q930 maybe too good for your parents, it is one of the best bars currently, if q990 is too expensive. The 4 atmos speakers are a must for most streaming movies/shows and you wont get anything close to an atmos sound without upfiring speakers.

Samsung q800 or better. The 930/990 models have rear speakers (need power). Comes with a sub. Sounds awesome.

Apart from the massive floor rumble (play independence day part 1 opening scene) on jbl, one will always struggle on dialogue clarity and absence of speaker levels on jbl. Smsung 990 is a true winner. Even better - take samsung 930b/c/d and save even more cash to enjoy an extremely good soundbar that samsung provides!

Always worth it but please please dont spend too much on them as your return over higher spend wont ever truly justify. Find a good one from samsung and just tune the right speaker levels.. 930 series is well worth it if you arent a audiophile!!

If you want high end, a Q930 (a B instead of D is likely cheaper) is good enough for you IMHO. It'll come with the rear surround speakers that also fire from the top. I have a C3 in a small living room and picked up a Q990 and it is definitely overkill. It's great but it's a lot for a small area. Don't get me wrong, it sounds great to me. It beats my older Q70T that I had paired SWA8500 read surround speakers. However, if I managed to find a Q930 at an even better price than what I got the Q990, it would have more than did the job. The Q910 would essentially be I think the same soundbar as the Q930, but the rear surround speakers are not wireless and only fire from the side. The best Samsung model that is only soundbar with subwoofer would be the Q900D. It's the same soundbar that comes with the Q990D (bigger than the Q930's bar). It's huge though. If you want to add the wireless rear surround speakers to the Q900 later, it'll be the SWA9500s. They are NOT the same wireless speakers as the ones that come with the Q990 but work similarly. They are wireless with front, side, and top firing. The most budget Samsung option that can do Atmos is the Q600C. I don't think they released a "D" model for this year so that might be cheaper. I believe the cheapest Atmos capable model this year from Samsung Q700D. However, the Q600 models are NOT compatible with the SWA9500s wireless surround speakers. The Q600 from what I am aware of are only compatible with the SWA9200s surround speakers. The SWA9200s I believe are only side firing. The cheapest bar that will work with the SWA9500 I believe will be the Q700C. It'll also work with the Q800 as well. The Q800D would likely be the "go nicer but not top of the line flagship" expensive.

Imo the Samsung Q930 is probably the best value

Q930 Q900 Maybe

Bigger subwoofer so better bass range, same bar you get on the q930 and the added speakers at the front and sides for a wider soundstage doesnt seem worth then i dont know what is mate. its a 5.1 bar, the q600 its a 3.1

Well, this one is the same bar and woofer included in the 990 series minus the rears. If you can snag a deal for less than $120 for the SWA-9500S you could improve your surround experience later… as they only need a power outlet to work instead of an amp. But it’s up to you since you can always return them. I would have gone with a Q930 series tho…

q930 is also amazing and more budget friendly than the q990. One thing to keep in mind with surrround speaker set up is that it kinda changes how you perceive sound. It's very different to have a main bar and surround rear speakers facing directly at you, it feels louder than it actually is a few meters away from you. The q930 which is similar to q990 to actually have spatial sound you need at least around 15 + on the volume

I’m sure plenty of men will argue an extra inch is a huge difference, but from a speaker point of view it’s pretty insignificant 😂 You get two extra speakers, one extra in each of the left/right stereo configuration. Center channel configuration is identical. And the sound difference between the units is marginal. So much so that I prefer the 930 because you get 95% of the sound in a sleeker package. However, the subwoofer on the 930 is fugly and the 990 sub definitely looks better.