Samsung - HW-Q990B

I moved from Q990B To Q990D just yesterday after the 990B just gave in twice . Had to change the motherboard the first time . Other than HDMI 2.1 in 990D , no difference in sound quality between the two . Love this soundbar

Mind you I have a Q90R and a Q990B, I'll never buy a SB without rears *ever again.* They add SO much!

Not bad, it helps give a nice psuedo-"3d audio" sound if that makes sense. Far better than the TV speakers alone. As a 65QN90B TV owner though, with a Q990B bar attached to it, you'll be missing out IMHO if you put an S60D on it. You can get a Q990C for $660 with a Samsung EPP price right now. It will add *so much.*

You sure it can't work? My Q990B bar is sitting directly in front of my 65QN90B TV. The only way it couldn't work is if your stand isn't wide enough, but for a 65" TV I would hope it would be?

this is exactly what i was wondering myself. I originally had Sonos Arc and then swapped it out for Samsung Q990B. Stuck with this ever since...now wondering whether i upgrade to Q990D or go down the Ultra Arc route. On paper, Samsung can cope with far more sound formats than Sonos can, plus additional hdmi port(s)? Also, being I have Samsung tv, it has additional centre speaker capability which Ultra won't have. Still in two minds, but am hoping more reviews and possibly comparisons will come out over next few days. thnx

As someone who has smaller rooms and one has a q990b and one a q930d...the q930 is great and the q990 is somehow too much.

Tbh, price/quality wise your best bang for your buck would be the Samsung Q990 series. Can you get better sound? → yes sure you can. But thats going to add up quickly in price. With the Q990 sets you get the complete package (complete surround, atmos). Even if you dont think you require the rears, they will enhance your listening experience so much more. Especially in movies that utilize atmos. And if they dont support Atmos, then the system is pretty decent at enhancing the sound to Atmos "like" sound with its sound settings. As for which one to get: if youre on a really tight budget the Q990B will suffice. There isnt that much difference between B, C and D. Try to get the Q990C if its within budget (it should be), as soundwise its pretty much the 990D. Only lacks the 2.1 hdmi ports that the D has.

Tbh, price/quality wise your best bang for your buck would be the Samsung Q990 series. Can you get better sound? → yes sure you can. But thats going to add up quickly in price. With the Q990 sets you get the complete package (complete surround, atmos). Even if you dont think you require the rears, they will enhance your listening experience so much more. Especially in movies that utilize atmos. And if they dont support Atmos, then the system is pretty decent at enhancing the sound to Atmos "like" sound with its sound settings. As for which one to get: if youre on a really tight budget the Q990B will suffice. There isnt that much difference between B, C and D. Try to get the Q990C if its within budget (it should be), as soundwise its pretty much the 990D. Only lacks the 2.1 hdmi ports that the D has.

The Q990D is an amazing set. The Q990 series are pound for pound the best you can get. An all-in system that can be found for 600 euros is unbeatable with its great quality. However, you can definitely get better. It will cost you a significant amount more to get that though. As far as soundwise, the Q990D was to my ears essentially the same as the Q990B. And thats logical, as there has not been any change to the hardware channels since the Q990B. And the B only had minor improvements over the Q950A (only the sub had a little change to performance). But these comparison reviews from Rtings should be taken with a grain of salt. Especially the numbers that are given to the categories they are rating. I just sold my Q990D and gotten a second Sony Ht-A9 (with sw3 sub) to go with my G3 in my bedroom. I already owned a Ht-A9 with SW5 to go along my A95L in my living room. The ratings of Rtings for the Ht-A9 are number wise much lower than the Q990D (or heck even Q990B). E.g. the atmos is similar. But i can assure you that the Samsung sets dont get even close to that Atmos effect and being surrounded by sound. The samsungs do everything great, but arent the best in any category. Its a complete package, yes. But i also believe that the Samsung sets are less refined than other top end models. They require more volume to achieve that effect what other sets can do with less volume. I cant speak for this comparison between Sonos and the Q990D, as i never heard or owned Sonos myself. But again, these comparisons need to be taken with a grain of salt. Everybody has different needs and wants. Same goes for acoustics in your room.

No need to upgrade from 990B to a 990D. They sound pretty much the same (i couldnt tell a difference). Only upgrade to the 990D if you require those hdmi 2.1 ports.

My problem was never with the amount of power in the sub, but rather the quality of the bass. I live in a 75m2 appartment, so i generally put the subwoofer and bass on very low. Its really powerful, but the quality is not great imo. Ive had the Q950T, Q950A, Q990B and now the 990D. I also have a Ht-A9 with SWA-5 sub since a week or 2 to go with my A95L. And im so impressed by that thing that im going to change my Q990D for another Ht-A9, but with SWA-3 sub for my bedroom to go with the G3. That system is just so good. But i also found that the SWA-5 sub is just way better quality than that of samsung sets. Ofcourse, that comes with a price (650 euro is newprice for SWA-5). But that sub puts it power where its needed. Its a quality subwoofer. Not as powerful as the samsung sub, but much more refined. Thats what samsungs sub should be → more quality, not necessarily more power. I hope that new sub is the answer.

It's a cliche but the Samsung Q990 series is great. And a good bang for your buck too. And you don't have to get the C or D to get a high quality soundbar. You can get the B and it will be very close to the newer models. I have the B myself and I love it.

Anyone know if they support 1080p 24hz passthrough now? My Q990B stupidly does not. It tells the devices connected to it that it'll only accept 1080p at 60hz. I had to manually program my streaming device to use the edid for my TV rather than the edid of the soundbar, basically tricking it into outputing 1080p 24hz to the soundbar, and it passes through just fine. Really annoying though. Also, about once a week I'll go to watch something and the sound drops out and speakers disconnect, and the only (temporary) fix is to reboot my router. The soundbar also freezes up every now and then and I have to unplug it and plug back in. Also, Samsung recently removed the ability to change the input from the API, which is super annoying because I used it with home assistant automations. Have any of these issues been fixed with the new ones? The only thing I like about the Q990B is the sound. Everything else sucks big time. 😂

For me , the music sounds good in my q990b and movies sould like shit

More is better than less if you can afford it. I changed from a Q800B to a Q990B and the sound is noticeable even without the rears. Would've gotten the Q900C but it was not released where I lived.

If the q900c isn’t available, just pack the rears away or use them as front speakers. I didn’t want rears but bought the q990b a few years back. We started bringing out the rears on movie nights but now just are permanently out

Yep, because for those prices you ain’t beating the value those bring.

Well, the value is where Samsung beats everyone. They’re the most sought after but for some reason the one that gets on sale the most too lol. So yeah, if you can manage to get it then do it. Otherwise you’re gonna have to spend pretty money to match it. That is, if you don’t get a defective unit.

Man, Samsung owns jbl. I could dare to say their bars got better when they acquired Harman-Karson who owns AKG and jbl and other brands I’m sure… The detachable speakers are going to need you to attach them, sure you can connect a usb wire for that but are nowhere near as powerful and channel wise as the 990 series rears… bass performance? JBL wins but that’s about it. I like to think that 990 series is more refined. Now, the 1300x might have more chance to compete tho

And it should, for the fucking price it should. But it actually doesn’t. That’s why the 990 series have always been praised. It’s like the Nissan GTR of soundbars, beating super expensive systems while still below $1k lol! And if a bunch of dudes in a subreddit praising the 990 series isn’t something to consider, you’re just a sucker for Sonos. Because you’re probably neck deep in that shitshow of an ecosystem with the current status of their app.

Arc is designed to also be used without a woofer so its speakers are tuned accordingly. Hell, even a beam gen 2 sounds great lol because samsung is counting on always having the included subwoofer to sound along the other speakers. But the current situation with sonos app is not a good look for the company as of now. The beam and era 100s i had on my room was able to play movies fine but if you ever tried to play music with their (previously) amazing app with included stream services like Apple Music to play Lossless isnt currently working right, era 100s get disconnection errors all the time... So yeah, pricewise 990 series aint getting beaten anytime soon. Sure, Sonos ultra inmersive setup will sound better, for the money it fucking should.

because many of the B unites had that bad reconnecting rears issue... C fixed it and D brought 120hz

Samsung q990 is the best living room / waf setup. Full dedicated HT is a different story.

Some of the high end sound bars are really good nowadays. Depends on your setup. In my home it’s: Living room : Samsung q990b Basement HT: 7.2.4

Also still have the N950, also now have it in my bedroom. Yes, it was Samsung’s first high end atmos bar. It was their first bar produced with Harman Kardan following their acquisition of HK. The 990F will blow you away coming from the N950. My main system is a 990B and it’s substantially better than the N950. Both are reliable.

What are the settings on that Samsung in smarthings (the Samsung app)? If it sounds terrible there’s a chance they have one or more of the “advanced settings” enabled. I had the first Samsung bar they did with Harman Kardon. It cost as much as my Denon 5.1.2 system and it sounded much worse in every respect. No room correction, crap surround, inaudible voice, weak sub. Hated it. Then got the newer 990 and as long as it’s done it’s room correction and I don’t enable anything in  the advanced settings menu (voice enhancement, bass enhancement or night mode), it sounds fantastic. It’s not better than an AVR for stereo 2.1 music, but in every other way it’s better than more expensive setups I’ve heard or owned. Someone else mentioned Andrew Robertson, I’d second a recommendation for his reviews. He covers high end AVR gear and the top end soundbars. He’s pretty thorough with his analysis.

To be clear, imaging/separation is only a stereo music problem. The front soundstage of any soundbar will not match two floor standing speakers in even the most perfectly symmetrical room. But, and this is a major but, imaging overall I find to be better in most respects. As you can guess by my username, I play a lot of games. A good Atmos game is using live positional data to place sounds above, behind and beside you.  This is where an 11.1.4 setup like the 990b/c/d shines. I have mine in an asymmetrical space and it’s still “trick your pets” good. Same goes for atmos/dts:x movies, especially ultra hd blu-rays. Even regular 5.1 movies will benefit from  the well balanced center channel on newer Sonos and Samsung models, in my experience. My mid-range Sonos Beam gen2 has better voice performance than the best TV speakers. My 990b (or Sonos arc ultra) is a further step up.

The issue is also that what music sounds like is totally dependent on how people have set their system up. You'll find people on here who have their rears set at +6 and then wonder why music sounds strange when it's set to adaptive. I will always maintain that the system sounds better when you allow it to tune itself, as Samsung designed it to do. I listen to a lot of music on my q930c and q990b. The q990 is definitely more nuanced, especially for music. The clarity is just slightly better, but unless you're an audiophile, I suspect you'll be pretty happy with either. As someone else mentioned, it's worth noting that a lot of music is now moving to Dolby Atmos, and that potentially has the capability to sound better than good stereo speakers on these systems - not all Dolby Atmos mixes are great, but when you find a good one, the effect is impressive. Finally, there is a lot of adjustment you can make. In adaptive, game and surround modes you can tweak the Bass and Treble, and in standard mode you can alter the whole EQ.

I have a q930c and a q990b...for £200 extra get the q990d. You don't need a large room to tell the difference. Both are great, but the larger drivers and better subwoofer with the q990 are definitely better, as is having a second Passthrough hdmi port should I ever want it. The q990 just sounds clearer. Having said that, if they heard the q930c in isolation, the majority of people would be pretty happy.

It's a valid point...I had to get a new TV cabinet in order to get the q990b, but it was worth it because it was then able to easily handle the 65 inch LG G2 TV that I then upgraded to - the stand I got is an AVF one that floats the TV above it, but it's 1.25m long which is perfect for the bar. It is kinda brick like, but I think it looks stunning! I don't know if it's a year thing, but my q990b is black, whereas the q930c is a bit more dark grey. The black does look better. I have no idea what colour the d models are or whether the q990c was dark grey? Bear in mind, that the vertical thickness of the bar is also slightly greater, so you might need to set the TV slightly higher with the q990. I have a 55" LG CS with the q930c which sits really low, so even with that I had to buy a 'lack' shelf from IKEA to raise the TV up ...it works pretty well though. The main thing I would say, if price and size are no issue, is that sound is the movement of air. The q990 has larger speakers all around that ultimately can move bigger volumes of air. The q990 is just crisper - somehow, piano sounds more like piano, guitar sounds more like guitar etc when you really listen, and the sub is just that little bit more refined - I don't know if it's because of the acoustic lens...BUT... I don't in any way feel particularly biased to only watching the q990 downstairs. The q930c is incredible for it's more compact size and I'm more than happy to chill on the bed and watch movies/listen to music on that instead. Btw, my brother has the q930c and he absolutely loves it.

Something weird is going on. I have a q930c and a q990b. At the volume 10, I can barely hear it. YouTube through the firestick needs turning down to about 13, pretty much everything else I watch is at 16 - 18. Music needs to be played at around 20 to 25. Make sure you don't have any volume normalization switched on, has this will clip the dynamic range. Next, try resetting speaker volumes. Turn off the soundbar with the remote, then press and hold the left hand 'source' button on the soundbar until it says ON - about 6 seconds. Failing that, factory reset the system. Check your TV is set to eARC in the Advanced Audio settings (I think you said it is) and to Passthrough. Also, I once felt the need to factory reset the soundbar while I was developing the dcx tuning method, because the system sounded really quiet. Annoyingly at the time, it turned out that the problem was actually with the TV. Pulling the plug on the TV while it's switched on and waiting for three minutes fixed the issue. I'd definitely try that.

Just to add to this - it's not just number of speakers in the soundbar but also channels in general - 9.1.4 vs 11.1.4 The size difference is significant. Q930C top, Q990B bottom. https://preview.redd.it/3iyoaogsqxme1.jpeg?width=3125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bf640737b58540999227d986c914abd5c51bf8f

The point is that people think that because the shape is so similar, the soundbars of the q990 and q930 are the same size, when clearly they aren't. The difference in size is significant! Significant to how they sound versus each other, significant to whether they will fit on someone's AV unit. Nobody is comparing anything to a regular size speaker - that would be ridiculous!

I never seen a sub like that with two drivers on the opposite direction, but they existed before Samsung. Sub is sealed, so way smaller. I also never heard a sealed sub, just read opinions. I will order the soundbar, but I returned the B and the D due to the poor subwoofer performance.

100% agree I had Samsung Q950A Samsung Q990B Samsung Q990D and now quads and it’s not even close when we talk about that proper real cinema feeling quads absolute destroy Samsung q990d and Samsung is just way too too loud for my likings

Q990B, Q990C, Q990D and Q990F. All the same except 4K/120hz support in the last two. If you have any of these, you're good. Additionally, the reviewer should correct the review and mention that the Q990D already supported 4K/120. The way it is written, it sounds like it is a very important new feature, when it is not even something new.

Can't fit any home theater into my room/home at all. So I bought the best I could afford. The Samsung 11.1.4 Q990B serves me well and it's attached to a Samsung Neo QLED QN95B 55" TV. Together I still get immersive enjoyable sound and a great picture. I enjoy this Sub because I love to keep up with what's new and I appreciate the OP acknowledging that not everyone can go HT and some of us need HTB. Peace, out.

I have a Samsung 990B system 11.1.4 with Q-Symphony(need a Samsung TV) and 4 up firing speakers; 2 front and 2 rear plus side firing speakers from and rear. My listening space is a bit smaller, 15 x 16 but when I have an Atmos movie running, the sound is intensely immersive and very dynamic. It's spoiled me rotten when I play a movie with a 5.1 mix but even that can be great if it's been properly engineered. A few comments here are negative towards the concept of Atmos in a soundbar but Samsung does it right. The Samsung 990 series can be found everywhere right now- a few are new and some are renewed but I can say straight up, it's my first choice for a soundbar.

I have to put my q990b sub at -6 and rarely ever listen to anything above 16. Can feel a punch every movie. People who moan must be setting it up wrong or doing something. 

Which Ambeo did you use? Also did you try their subs? Being in New Zealand soundbar options are less as we don’t have access to nakamichi without taking a gamble on ebay. I am rolling with a Samsung Q990B and really enjoy the movie watching although the sub holds the entire thing back and it doesn’t help that the soundbar and rears are a bit tinny and lack the lower mid end IMO. Not that this has been too much of an issue until now. We are moving in to a larger house where we can finally enjoy movie watching with a larger and more dedicated entertainment area. I have had the Sonos arc setup with surrounds and sub and found it under delivered for the price I payed and went back to my Samsung soundbar. Although I am curious if the Sonos Arc Ultra with Era 300s and 2 subs would make it worth it. Any experience with these sorts of setups? In NZ we do have Sennheiser’s Ambeo an option but the lack of rears really makes me question if I should go with them. Based of what I have read, the Ambeo Max sounds like it would sound the best although I am curious how you found the comparison with the dragon. My options are: A. Nakamichi Dragon off of eBay. B. Sennheiser Ambeo Max with 2 subs and waiting for some rears. C. Sonos Arc Ultra with Era 300s and 2 subs. D. Mod my current soundbar by adding a 12” sub to it. (This option is really just to buy me time till I see something worthwhile drop that isn’t Sonos) Edit: I found that I actually can import the dragon through B&H. Sadly it would cost $4,500 USD for the 8” sub variant and $6k USD for the 12” sub variant. If it was 4.5k for the dual 12” I would have just bought it but the 6k has given me pause.

Have Q990B right now, sound wise its identical to the D, so no point. I want the F because of its active dual sub

Are you sure? I have a Q990B right now and I’m told the Q990D sounds practically identical. When i go to stores and listen, the Arc alone sounds better than the whole Samsung system

we bought the Q990A when it came out. Then we bought the Q990B for the cottage. Love them both.

I have Q990B. Maybe I’ll want for Q990G. Doesn’t seem to different besides the sub

Yea I never got this. I have the 990B, I just have both my PS5 and soundbar go directly to the tv and it’s fine. Modern TVs usually have multiple 2.1 HDMI ports. Is there an advantage in passing through the soundbar?

Q990b, at least some older units had issues with dropping rears/sub I think. If money is not issue I would get the q990d - it is newer, have 120hz 4k HDMI inputs. If you are tight on budget the. Q990c is just as good but only have 4k 60hz inputs. Most people connect their devices to the TV directly so they do not care what i puts Soundbar provide, (except earc). I would buy q990c unless you want 120hz 4k inputs in q990d. I do have q990d and I have my devices - console and PC - connected to the Soundbar, so DTS:x works and I had some weird audio issues when PC was connected to the TV directly (tv is s90D). So for me the 4k 120hz support on Soundbar is worth it. May save your some potential hassle.

Same with neverenoughtech. He is a Samsung 990b fan for price to performance ratio, but the new Sonos set ratio’ed out the Samsung on his scale now.

Have had the B since 2021 and no complaints. Haven’t experienced C/D and the ignorance keeps me and my wallet happy.

I use it in my apartment. I don’t have it loud except once when the entire apartment came over for a party and boy was it loud. Other days, it gave me just as much joy in its low volume Because the quality was so much better. Q990B btw.

I personally use a samsung q990 b for movies and television with my lg oled. I have a small room and with atmos soundtracks it’s very noticeable

I agree with this sentiment and I think it may also be partly my age. My initial home theater setup was a modest 5.1 surround setup. I had a decent Avr hidden in a closet, and all the wonderful menus, setup, wires etc that came with it. It sounded great but there was always *something. Like oh hey I need to grab a special remote or hey, my wife doesn't quite know how to use it. When we moved, I couldn't bring myself to do the whole setup thing again. It was 2020s, and I'm like screaming in my head... everything is wireless now, why do I need to run and hide all these cables and equipment. Boom, I picked up the 990b soundbar. A great price, fantastic sound, and a simple user setup and operating experience. Sure, would a dedicated atmos AVR and speakers beat it, yes. BUT nothing beats the simple and clean user setup and user experience. Especially as I get older and there are just more general life complications... dealing with an AVR just isn't on my list

I second this, I've had the 990/995B in the living room for two years now (and the first 990/995 in my old house before that, it's currently in a guest bedroom), for movies it's very good for the price. I say this coming from a Meridian pre/pro and power amp with Aerial Acoustics speakers, the downstairs home theatre/mediaroom will have a 7.2.4 setup with Arendal 1723Ss and a Denon A10H reciver (was supposed to be available here a month or so ago, current status is around next weekend).

The Samsung tv will help with center channel with the Q symphony I believe. Prob will not notice much if at all. Samsung as others had said is def a far better bang for your buck. I don’t consider myself an audio expect but I had what I thought was a nice lg 5.1.2 soundbar and the Samsung blows it away. Voice clarity is what shocked me the most. All ranges of sounds are more defined and crisp even when only steaming. 4k Blu-ray Discs up the level another few notches. There are a bunch of posts on this subreddit explaining how to save a bunch of money ordering some Samsung directly if you choose to go with that soundbar

Another Samsung Q990x - for me it’s the best for my needs. Always ensure you’ve got auto-update disabled - I’ve got a Q990C and update it manually (did have a period where mine auto updated to 1010 but have since disabled auto-update) after I’ve scanned for issues on here and a few websites.

Any Samsung Q990 will be the best bang for the buck. Proven time and time again. I'm still using my Q990-A with a QN90A and I've never been disappointed. My Dragon knocks it's socks off, but nobody is going to recommend a dragon to you with what you're looking for. I would also highly suggest the Sony HTA9 or the Quad if you want to truly experience insane Atmos.

I've had the playbar for 7 years. I also have the Sonos sub and ones. It definitely is behind on almost everything the new soundbars can do. However, last year I bought a Samsung 990 with sub and surrounds and was very excited to hear how much better it is than my playbar. Well after 2 weeks I returned the Samsung and am still using the playbar. To me it sounds fuller and the vocals especially mens voices sound way richer. It may be my room dimensions and high ceiling I don't know, but my advice would be to get the Samsung and keep the playbar until your sure you like the new setup better.

For Samsung 990x: You can put the rear speakers to the front and widen the sound stage.There's a setting in the app to define weahther they are placed in the rear or front

Super happy with q990. Get it for under $1000 and you'd have to pay double for something that comes close.

I have the Samsung 990 and i can tell you that paired with a Samsung TV, it’s really worth every single penny. Not a single moment have i regretted this purchase! Home cinema feeling is sooooo nice

Amen. I have gone from full top of the line $3k Denon THX receiver with mid-range priced quality speakers years ago to an atmos soundbar with rear up firing speakers and a nice sub and it sounds great. As good as my old previous setup? Probably not but it’s far more user friendly and everyone in the house can use it without worrying about which input etc. I don’t ever see myself going back to receiver and separates.

Samsung HW-Q990. I love it.

I think reviewers are reviewing for the category, just like how you don’t review a Toyota Corolla by comparing it to what a pickup truck can do. As you have seen yourself, the other top contenders in the world of sound bars cost more and don’t even sound better overall than the Q990 series. They also don’t offer 4 different sound modes and per channel adjustments so you can really dial in the sound for your room. But yeah, music will never have the richness on a sound bar as a traditional HT system with large left and right channels. But what it lacks in that department it easily makes up for in TV and movie content, especially convincing surround effects regardless of type of content.

There’s reviews and tests all over the webs. You’ll get crap sound with crap setups…regardless of whether it’s a traditional AVR with sub and sats or with soundbar w sub and sats. But, you can get great sound w great setups. Sennheiser Ambeo Max, Samsung Q990 line, Sonos Arc Ultra…etc. I just heard an Arc Ultra paired w sub4 and Era 300s that surpasses every mid level AVR setup I’ve owned or heard. (By mid level, I say under $8k)

I hadn't heard anything from the Q990 lineup until this fall and was really surprised by what I heard. Before hearing it, I thought it must sound great for the money, but it sounds way better than that.

Obviously this is just a another repackage with minor differences Samsung's been doing this since the q990b the biggest difference has been when they added HDMI 2.1 support that's the only real upgrade they've had since that everything else has been really really tiny.

The B to F is basically the same sound wise (the sound difference isn't even worth $100 tbh). The only major difference is HDMI 2.1. but it already supports earc so you should be okay if you have an LG or Samsung TV.

Its boring, but there really is just one flagship competing in that price range. The Q990 series is just the best as of now. I hope to see some proper competition eventually.

The Q990 has the ability, through the Samsung Smart Things app to set up the surrounds as extra "fronts".  So you can enjoy the Q990 by placing those speakers in front to widen the sound stage.  They don't have to be used as rear surrounds.  I'd get the Q990 and set it up that way, then if your living situation changes you have the ability to use them as rear surrounds.  Have your cake and eat it too. 

This is the best response. It's exactly what I did

I found that Q-Symphony adds a nice touch of fill-in to the front soundstage. Not life changing, but definitely worth it.

If the Q990 doesn't fit, don't force it. I will say that the 9500s rears that you can purchase are decent, but NOT the same speakers that you get with the Q990. I would 100% buy a Q990 for future proofing just for the improved rears, even if I didn't use them for awhile. Alternatively, but the Q800 now (I love mine), and then upgrade to the Q990 when the time comes. it's not going to kill you - you can always repurpose the Q800 to another room or sell it to get a bit of $$ back.

You're not specifically wrong, but I will say that my HT-A7000 with RS5 rear speakers did a great job with phantom sound and made my basement media room sound a lot bigger than it was. The rear (and phantom side) separation was great. The front stage was somewhat narrow compared to an actual surround system but it made up for it with the reflective sounds off the side walls that placed side speakers where there were none. And there was definitely no issue with centering the vocals, haha. My son's Q990 does a great job in his living room, as well. Not a full system in terms of overall dynamics and separation, but very very acceptable, to say the least. I moved back to a full 7.1 (soon to be 7.1.4) setup and it's amazing, of course. But I do notice a difference with less reflective "side" effects when compared to the A7000. Not good or bad, but just noticeable. If Sony would ever take the quads concept and implement a 5th center channel speaker and allow for dual subs, they would blow away the market for those that want near-AVR performance with more simplicity.

Can you move the sofa forward about 10"? Here's how I set up my son's living room with his Q990 setup. https://preview.redd.it/tt808n9a9bie1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dde7751fccac9a3f9f6f130fbf896e3e9b3648d3 The atmos rears do a great job of dispersing sound toward the listener, to the sides, and upwards. I had really good luck with my Sony RS5 rears, as well (the 360 spatial sound mapping is amazing). My personal ranking would be the top Sony system (A7000 or newer Bravia 9), then Samsung Q990, and then the Arc system. I tried all 3 in Dec '23 and the Sonos sounded nice but sounded like a soundbar big time. The Sony and Samsung, gave me a better. cinematic feel, for sure. I would have a ton of ideas for your 5.1 system if you're still considering that, as well.

Well, the Samsung Q990 comes with the rears and sub. They really can't function without all three pieces integrated, so your point is valid, but sort of also proves my point. You have to have the combination of solid top level sound bar, great rears, and a good sub. That's the only way you're going to get a sound bar that functions anywhere close to a full system. My Sony system was my favorite, followed by the Samsung Q990. The Samsung also out performed the Sonos system, which was three times as expensive hands-down, no question. I spent close to $3000 on the Sonos system at the time. Bought the Q 990 to compare it to at a third of the cost. And the Samsung killed it. Then I went back and spent a little over $2000 on a Sony system and it topped everything. The Sonos arc system sounded really good, but it just didn't give me that same full cinematic experience in terms of depth and fullness. The main thing that Sonos has going for it is that you can use dual subs. But then again, so did last year's Sony system. Of course the new ones do not.

Yes it passes through DV to other televisions. Atleast my 990 does. However I ended up opting for going straight to the TV through EARC instead as I was having signal loss issues going from Bluray player/console to soundbar directly then out to TV

The newer samsung soundbars like the Q990 are definitely better than a 2.0 system

So the way you get “5.1” without what’s called discrete speakers, the ones in the back and 3 upfront, is something called “psycho acoustics”. Which is a process of directing sound to bounce of walls to simulate sound coming from that direction. It’s been around for a while however there is a lot and I mean a lot of snake oil peddling in the $100-$300 price range especially without discrete speakers. I’m probably a month into my research of soundbars. It’s a lot to sift through. Samsung makes the best overall soundbar in the Q990 but unless you’re getting the EPP discount they are north of $1000. The budget version in their line would be the QS730D at $300-$450 on Amazon. Does a pretty good job with 3 speakers simulating surround with 2 height speakers to provide Atmos effects. Sonos Beam and Bose 600 are the midrange no subwoofer options around $500. Great clarity and do a good job of simulating surround. Height effects aren’t that great on either model. Budgeting lower than these is Vizio M512-H6 and JBL Bar 5.1/500. Both I think are good units that won’t leave you feeling you’ve been duped.

I think this is enough to for me to upgrade from a q930c but I dont really see a reason why someone would upgrade from a q990

Bigger drivers, better surround, dual sub, better software 

It's not about if it's a big upgrade, it's about if that upgrade matters to you and you are willing to spend the extra money. You will see most owners of both soundbars so they can directly compare reporting that there is a substantial difference, now if we also add the new sub that probably will outperform the previous q990 th software updates and the eclipse audio and new features etc etc then for me at least it's worth to sell my q930 and spend another 300-400 to upgrade. But as I said that's worth me, that doesn't mean that's worth for everyone 

Without a hesitation the Sonos beam gen 2. Or if you can find a good deal online one of the Samsung Q990 deals. I own 3 different soundbar setups and I'd say Samsung or Sonos have been the most impressive. Sonos for sound and Samsung for value.

Why are you saying dual 8" ? It's a single 8" woofer in the 990 and 930d sub. Personally see it as a downgrade deliberately trying to add daylight between the 930 and 990.

Should have got the Q990, can you return it?

The functionally totally integrated satellite on the Q990 speakers make a huge difference to just plain soundbars. If you care about SQ, skip the white and go with the Q990

I’ve had both, including the Sonos One as surrounds and the Sonos subwoofer too. I was a huge fan of the Playbar with the full spec - back then (2017-2020) you had to manually switch between stereo and 5.1 for surround sound. The Q990 is definitely a step up, can switch automatically based on the input codec (stereo, 5.1 or Atmos), is great value for money if you can nab one on sale, and is terrific Atmos wise. Ive never tried the newer Sonos system in all its glory as the Samsung was too tempting as a full system vs the Sonos Arc only price tag wise. Atmos support is growing apps wise and will only continue to keep growing. Music wise I’m not a huge fan of Atmos but fingers crossed that continues to improve too.

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!

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.

I just got the Q990 for my house and the sound quality is better than I expected even though I was super high expectations going into it. The surround sound is incredible and the subwoofer allows you to feel everything!!! Largely recommend the Q series.

Samsung 990 is the best bang for your buck.

I just bought the Q800D from Amazon this morning. For me it was a best of both worlds system with the feature allowing me to add rear speakers at any time if I feel the need to have a true surround sound system. The 990 is the best you can get currently but to me the investment was too much to justify the cost

That’s the way I understand it as well. The speakers Samsung offers as add ons are Atmos Speakers too. It won’t be as strong as the high end model but imo you reach a point where you can’t really tell the difference without spending insane amounts of money.

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

That's entirely up to you haha. If you want to get some future proof long go for the best (or even go for 990 if it's in budget). If you move onto better quality videos and movies etc. you'll want the best possible (990). If it's just going to be always for sport and Disney and Netflix etc, go for middle of the pack. And as others have mentioned (I didn't because it's not the 4ktv sub), a tv upgrade one day would also benefit you lots - but that's for the distant future. Sound is now!

It sonos arc ultra work well with lg. I use it with my LG B4. Samsung make good sound soundbars. But they drop the ball on their firmware update with bricking some soundbars with the last update on their 990. If you are looking at a more busget friendly. The lg bars work well. They like the lower cost samsung does not do atmos like samsung top of the line. The lg s80qr is a pretty good soundbar that is not super expensive.

Samsung had a bad firmware release last month or two. And some 990 stop working aftet the update

Idk, pretty happy with my 11.1.4 Samsung sound bar that pairs with my TV speakers. Way better than a 2.1 system. Still better than a 5.1. For music I have a Frankensetup in a smaller, different room where it can shine with half the power output I don’t need atmos for music. I don’t need the tightest bass, or hifi clarity for a movie track or tv. I don’t need a system that cost $5000 to meet what my $1500 split over my 2 systems does. I also don’t want 20 fucking giant ass speakers hanging all over my living room

I’ve had the sennheiser ambeo, Bose smart ultra, and the Samsung q800, in that order. First two were returned for connectivity issues with my newish Samsung tv. The q800 has been great (the ambeo probably had the best surround but only if it connected). Q symphony is amazing. With the first two bars, you could clearly tell the sound was coming from below the TV… q symphony fixes that completely. And the subwoofer is amazing.