HW-S61D

There's good news and bad news! Good news? It sounds great for daytime watching. Fiddled with the settings for an hour or 2 to find settings I was happy with. Bass sounds great at +2-+4 for Atmos movies. Bad news? Bass is still too much at night set to -6. I was able to keep the bass at 0 when I turned the night mode on, but night mode has so much compression or crunch or whatever it's called that the audio sounds "off". I also haven't been able to find a good volume for shows like Bob's Burgers that have a super loud intro, loud musical numbers, and quieter dialogue. I've turned the center channel up, turned on Active Voice Amplification, turned down the bass. Nothing really worked. Looking into the q600f more, it appears to have an "auto volume" feature, which may be better for the Bob's Burgers issue. And apparently I can unplug the wireless sub at night to solve the bass issue I'm having. So while the S60D sounds great, especially for its size, I think I'm going to end up returning it and getting the q600f for the auto volume feature.

😤😵‍💫🫨☹️ Seriously?! Anything from those Arkansas hillbilly hayseeds, such as Onn, should be OFF!!!!! That brand should be on the Black Plastic Crap subreddit!!!! Anything that Walmart buys, 🪦s! Even the cabecilla nadie Ultimea brand would be a better quality deal, according to Google AI!!!!! If you need, want, & gotta get a Soundbar, at least consider the HW-S50B at $180, that can crank 140 watts RMS of clean power! It likely sounds just as good as my HW-S60D, which is EARGASMIC! Particularly when in Night Mode, being able to emphasize speaking & vocals in movie soundtracks and music!!! The only reason I have the former model is that I wanted to come as close as possible to the Soundcore Motion X600 twin tandem in True Wireless Stereo Mode; the TWS link got severed, causing one of the speakers to die when I was attempting to upgrade the firmware after 23 months! I received no assistance from Anker Tech Support! That speaker was a three-way, five-driver with 5 separate amplifiers!

That has been confirmed by my new Samsung HW-S60D soundbar, which is the perfect complement to my 32" Samsung Q60A TV panel. I can hear EVERYTHING that's in the soundtrack, especially in Night mode!

I have the same model bar connected to a 32" Q60A panel linked with the Mopochg 16K, 96Gbps HDMI cable in the e-ARC port. When I was peeping at Stranger Things 5, the sound made me dread bedtime; that's how well it dissected the series soundtrack! It played loud & proud!

Because I lived in a North Carolina apartment building for 4 years that banned soundbars & Home Theater systems due to the thin walls, I had to settle for twin Soundcore Motion X600 speakers in True Wireless Stereo Mode. They sounded as good as a diminutive Home Theater system when connected to my Samsung 32" Q60A TV, being able to discern even the most subtle parts of the audio part of either a TV movie or series. It was even better playing my YouTube Music playlists, bringing the music not just to my 👂s but to my 🦴 marrow! Unfortunately, when I downloaded the latest firmware update for the speakers on December 8th, 2025, the update severed the TWS link, bricking one of the speakers and leaving it inoperable, so I got the S60D soundbar on Monday, December 22nd!

Look at it this way: if you're bass-adverse, as I am, why not buy the S60D? I have had this bar since Monday, 22 December, 2025, and once it's set up & tweaked to your👂drums, the sound from this🐕 is EARGASMIC! That is the perfect complement to a QLED or better telly! It extremely vets the soundtrack and dialogue, bringing out every nuance and subtlety to the point that the more terrifying and suspenseful parts had me dreading sleep!

I have this bar under a 32" TV, which is 28" wide, on a 29" desk in the smallest room in our house & let me make it emphatically clear; It definitely doesn't sound sonically narrow at all! It sounds open and expansive!

There you go! Need I say more?! In fact, your setup is the classic sound bar/ TV configuration of a humongous panel & a relatively diminutive soundbar!

Hey, congratulations! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do

Still_Two_2013: I contend that you should start with the best possible single sound bar you can afford, after watching Google or YouTube videos & music that clearly inculcate in your 👀👂s the difference between the awful, 'black plastic crap' and at least mid-level hardware. Once that's in you, ONLY IF YOU HAVE sufficient space in the room, do you even consider a subwoofer! The best affordable bar will indeed provide credible, respectable bass without breaking the bank via a Chapter 7 bankruptcy afterwards. You'll find that out while doing the necessary research "homework" on sound bars. This is precisely how I learned & trained my 👀s & platinum 👂s over a space of a half-century on the path of being dubbed an Audio Ayatollah by my mates in 1979 when I deployed my Pioneer SX1250 receiver, Sharp RT 3388A Pioneer CT 2 a Panasonic stereo boombox with RCA audio jacks in the back as the tape decks, Dual 1249 turntable with a Audio Technica AT 15Sa cartridge, Infinity Quantum Junior speakers & Koss 4 AAA headphones proudly nicknamed, The Bicentennial 💣, because with 160 to 200 watts per channel with the speakers, indeed it could go as loud as a bomb!

I'm not blessed with a lot of money either, which is why I opted for the Samsung HW-S60D instead of a higher-spec, higher-priced soundbar, particularly when I had a $3,000 audio system during the bicentenary epoch!

I like the Samsung s60d. Not a true 5.0. but it sounds good for the price and size. No subwoofer. Maybe a Sony a5000, but I find it sounds flat without the optional sub. The Sonos arc or arc ultra is the best sounding and looking bar by itself I've heard or seen.

I have an SS S60D; the sound is really good and immersive all around with Dolby Atmos. I connected my PC through an Alienware AW3225QF monitor, then eARC to the soundbar. I don't have any issues with it. It's compact and perfectly fits under the monitor. https://preview.redd.it/ztu7esqbyyyg1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4400cc2eceb8d3ee7b847b30ad00454860d06a2

Klipsh 200 is my choice for a budget all in one, then Samsung SW-60D, then DHT-S218

The Klipsch 200 or Samsung HW-S60D are your best options in your price range. The Klipsch will run you about $350 (on sale) and the Samsung $280. Klipsch is a 3.1.2 system, Samsung is a 5.0 system. If you need one a little less expensive, I'd go with 1. Sonos Ray 2. Samsung HW-S50B 3. Bose TV Speaker 4. Denon DHT-C210 5. Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus. Those five are $250 and below. BONUS!: Yamaha SR-B30A is another very solid option at the same price as the Samsung S60D

Then the Samsung HW-S60D or Sonos Ray are going to be your top options. Unless you splurge for the Klipsch Flexus 200.

You guys are forgetting he wants a standalone bar without a sub and $200 or less. The Samsung S60D is going to be your best option if you can find it on sale. Otherwise, the Amazon Bar Plus or Sonos Ray 2nd Gen are the best options IMO.

Hello. For that price I would go for something like the Samsung S60D. It has 5.0 channels, it is small on the front, it has Tweeters for voices, you have Atmos and it is in your budget.

If you are looking at Samsung, out of those I'd recommend the Q600C. It has a slightly weaker sub than others in its price range, but can be a good thing for an apartment. The C series isn't really worth it imo. B650 and B750 are very popular, but no Dolby Atmos support if that's important to you. S60D is like a very budget Sonos Beam, and it sounds like it too. Very poor Dolby Atmos, and almost need the sub for it to sound decent. Also recently discontinued, so they are on sale. If you plan to get the sub for it, might as well go with a different soundbar. If you really want to go without sub, I'd go Sonos Beam Gen 2 or Bose Smart Soundbar (550/600 are almost the same if you can find them on sale).