Samsung - HW-Q990F (2025)

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.

I've had the F for about a week. It's my first premium soundbar system. The rears are great, the bar is great, the sub is mediocre. It doesn't compare to my receiver and speaker setup, but I wanted something that looked clean and sounded good. This gets the job done. 8.5 out of 10 sounds right to me. Q-symphony is pretty cool, and I received a samsung music frame as a free gift. That's a pretty decent sounding picture frame. Plus, you can add it to the soundbar as an extra speaker. Overall, I'm pretty happy.

This feels like just posting a copy paste of the promo material.  Mods should take this down

**This "REVIEW" is using promo material language,** its so obvious that it is obnoxious. There is no critisicm, no measurements, no comparison with other products or previous products there is really nothing. Either you have no clue about what you purchased and just told gpt to write you something OR you copy pasted the promo material. Check the language of the text that you copy pasted: " adaptive sound feature uses Samsung's proprietary technology to upscale the 5.1 signal and make full use of the 11.1.4 channels" "and impressive future-proofing with features like Eclipsa Audio" (a useless feature with 0 real content that none knows if its gonna become popular and if it even becomes popular your soundbar will have died till then btw) " its size feels justifiable given that just the bar houses 15 speakers." "What truly impressed me right off the bat was how effortless the setup was"  "Even watching basketball feels more immersive, with stadium sounds dynamically coming through the surround channels." **"makes a compelling case for anyone looking to elevate their home entertainment experience "** My favorite one (description of amazon product): "The soundbar delivers exceptional sound quality, a user-friendly setup experience, and impressive future-proofing with features like Eclipsa Audio. Whether watching movies, sports, or enjoying music, this soundbar makes a compelling case for anyone looking to elevate their home entertainment experience.  " **Reality check** Q990F is overpriced at launch and not worth your money untill it drops in the 800 range that it usually does within a short period. The product can not replicate a 11.1.4 even at best conditions its hardly a 7.1.4 system. The subwoofer is boomy as fk as every samsung soundbar subwoofer has been, which stems from pushing too much the sub to mimic how actual subs sound like. Eclipsa audio is marketing gimmick, spacefit sound plus/pro or whatever they name it this year is also a gimmick that at best helps slightly the sub. DSP is overly aggressive and it results in digitally processed sound that sounds off. To conclude, its not a bad product if you really want to go to the soundbar route but it is insanely overpriced at the MSRP price for what it is. It can provide a decent 5.1. 2ish experience in some rooms (if your ceiling isnt flat, or its tall its basically a 5.1) where the front sound stage suffers from what all soundbars suffer, the inability to have distinct L/R/C which results in a VERY center focused sound profile. **I am going to repeat this: I am not saying don't buy it, or that its bad, It is good for what it is, as long as consumers understand what they are buying its great, BUT marketing gimmicks such as 11.1.4 channels, Eclipsa audio etc. are** **ultimately misleading and inflate expectations beyond what the product can realistically deliver.**

All the previous Samsung subs were boomy af, this wont be an exception because of the aggressive DSP samsung uses in their soundbars. Its not about placement, if you compare a normal AVR sub and a Samsung sub on the same spot the difference is dramatic. Its not about size of drivers or how many drivers, its about the sound profile and the DSP that Samsung uses

How is it smaller? You got two 8" subwoofers on the F and only one on the D.....

I doubt the D sub is going to be better in any aspect. This new 300w dual 8" sub has to be much better. The weak sub was always the main problem with these bars.

Should be a lot better, plus they always make sound improvements no matter what, with new board arrangements and software tweaks.

I was thinking now, oh 300W for the F sub should be better than the 200W sub the D has. And then it came to mind my 80W 10" Vizio subwoofer that is miles better than the Samsung, so yeah who knows. But at least Samsung has been making consistent improvements over the years, even with the same speaker hardware.

Yep, this is what happens, every year Samsung improves the product regardless of speakers being the same. At least this year they added a new subwoofer.

Here are some quick thoughts about the new Samsung HW-Q990F after testing it out for a few days. Feel free to ask any questions. My first impressions were overwhelmingly positive. The build quality is excellent, and while the soundbar is larger than my previous one, its size feels justifiable given that just the bar houses 15 speakers. Despite its impressive speaker count, it remains surprisingly compact. What truly impressed me right off the bat was how effortless the setup was. It couldn't have been simpler—unbox the soundbar, surround speakers, and subwoofer, connect the power cables, and everything pairs automatically. I was bracing myself for the usual pairing hassle, where you need to hold down specific buttons or go through an elaborate process for each component. Thankfully, that was not the case at all; the setup was quick and seamless. To make things even more convenient, enabling SpaceFit Sound Pro automatically calibrates the system to your room, eliminating any need to manually adjust speaker placement or fiddle with calibration settings. Having watched a couple of movies and enjoyed some March Madness games, I can confidently say the sound quality has been exceptional. Voices are clear, natural, and easy to understand, even during fast-paced action scenes. The soundstage is immersive. While the surround sound setting delivers a rich experience, I found myself preferring the adaptive sound mode. As I understand it, the adaptive sound feature uses Samsung's proprietary technology to upscale the 5.1 signal and make full use of the 11.1.4 channels, enhancing the surround effects. Even watching basketball feels more immersive, with stadium sounds dynamically coming through the surround channels. The soundbar delivers exceptional sound quality, a user-friendly setup experience, and impressive future-proofing with features like Eclipsa Audio. Whether watching movies, sports, or enjoying music, this soundbar makes a compelling case for anyone looking to elevate their home entertainment experience.   \#SamsungHomeAudioInsiders2025  u/SamsungUS

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.

I literally upgraded to one today and it's fantastic.

Both are high premium soundbars.i have both and loved movies.

I thought the same as you then I preformed a manual label adjustment of each of the channels and now the system sounds so much better

Do yourself a favour https://www.reddit.com/r/Soundbars/s/GoQ2xVaTWc Ps if you are passing the audio through your TV first, the TV maybe converting the format to multi-channel pcm 🤮. Use the info button on your soundbar remote to ensure the Correct Audio format is being passed through. My 2024 Samsung Frame won’t pass DTS formats

Q990C/D/F will all work perfectly for your use case. Q990D would be the sweet spot of price and future-proofed support, and will likely leave some room on the budget for rear speaker stands or shelves to make placement seamless.

The sound is ridiculous right up to full volume, im a bit of a tech snob. Everything in my house electronic is samsung and their flagship models except from the kitchen appliances they don't make. I used to have bose audio equipment in the past, and 10k for a b and 0 system would be a waste for me. 990 is the best quality sound I've ever heard. If you are coming from anything other than a sound studio, you hear notes in music you have never heard before, and movies are game changers. I paid £860 for it, and quite frankly, I'd pay that a year, never mind the 10 it will last. It has upwards and sidewards facing speakers, so do the rears. I can not praise it enough. Having a samsung tv also gives you a symphony with ads, the tv speakers in also, and audio tracking. You hear bullets ping off the walls, and things bounce from the floor to the ceiling. I promise you won't be disappointed. I saw a deal the other day for a 65 95d tv and a q990d for £2400 that's a bargain. An awesome feature it has among many is the ability to have the music on it play on other rooms I have a q30d in my bedroom and my son has a samsung soundbar maybe a q6 in his room and there is a 801d in the kitchen and it plays on these aswell. They can't play music in the 990s, so I think it's only the 9 series option I don't have particular high ceilings or large rooms, so if you have really large rooms, the upwards and bass may be an issue, but with how loud it goes, i wouldn't think so. Dialogue and bass are perfect and have mine set to 0, so I can't imagine you would have an issue. There are a bunch of settings you can tinker with, but I leave it on adaptive and perfectly happy. I would suggest if you can wait to grab the 990f, which is just coming out, because it has a new sub, which I'm jealous of. lol, I'm already thinking of excuses as to why I need one. The only thing is the 990 is quite large, so check between your tv legs if it has 2. I also have a 930d, which is the model below, and if I'm honest, I can't see much difference. Even my sons q6 is amazing it didn't come with rear speakers, but I got him 9200s ones for it they don't have the upwards or side ways speakers thou. I couldn't speak more highly of the 801d ( no rears either) in the kitchen either ( I'm not some smug or rich asshole I used to have it in the bedroom so stuck it in there for when I'm cooking as I upgraded over time i moved the older stuff around the house is also didn't pay full price for any, all from deals or refurbished). The samsung Smart Things app is a thing of beauty. I'm a samsung fan boi so I'm kinda biased when it comes to samsung, but if someone tells you the 990d is bad, they liars. Sure they drop the ball with the update and the buds 2 pro I had were garbage and the fridge freezer I paid 2 grand for when one half the size and a quarter of price broke after a week and the day after I had the new floor put down with the cable and water pipe under it. I still wouldn't buy anything else. Edit: I've seen you mentioned tvs. I have 4 samsung in my home, a 8070, an 80d an 85d, and a 95d being an uhd a qled and 2 oled. I can't comment much on the 8070 as it's my sons but the others are fantastic the oled do much better black and the bloom than qled but if you hadn't seen the others couldn't tell. the oled also do the adaptive sound a little better but again if you weren't used to it then you can't tell. The 4k upscaling is fucking amazing it turns a hd picture to 4k beautifully this is a feature i could not do without. That was a bit of a book. Sorry, hope that answers if questions you. If you have the resources, get a 95d and a 990d, and if you can wait, wait for the 990f. I'm not sure if they are doing anything new with tvs. Saying that if you can grab an 80d and a 930, don't hesitate. I doubt in the end the difference is anything much. If anyone else is reading this and you are young or not have a huge budget consider a 8070 and q6 or 801d ( it's white and slim beautiful to look at even more so than the 9 series) my so. Has these and he is more than happy with them. The pair can be had for under £800 and would make anyone a great combo. 2nd edit: I seen your budget was in dollars not pounds sorry I'm from the uk.

Q990F, you can probably pick up the D model for half of your budget. It will complement that TV! (I have both products).

Sony theater quad or Samsung q990d/f. It might not look impressive but i promise that it sounds impressive. Sony quad is slightly better from what I've heard, albeit much more expensive.

Samsung Q990D/F. The new Nakamichi 11.2.6. The new Sony Bravia theater quad.

Lol. Most people don't want that. Especially at a cost of $5k+. I had a Nakamichi 9.2.4 and sold it for the Q990D. I'm much happier. I prefer crystal clear dialogue and surround effects over Bass my neighbors can hear.

I'm using a Q990D in a 19 x 16 room and it's awesome. I prefer the Bass over the Nakamichi 9.2.4. I have the sub right behind my couch. It works great. There's more to cinema then just Bass.

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

Well high ceilings is bad for any soundbar, But the best soundbar hands down mainly with value is the q990 series (c/d/f). Next I would assume is the Sonos arc ultra(but the full set gets expensive) Then I guess the Bravia theatre quads(although not really a soundbar, and very expensive)(also works better with a sony tv, and u would need to buy a sub) That's just my thoughts, idk much abt other soundbars, other can say.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.