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

Running these analyses costs money. Buy through my links to help keep lights on! I may get a small commission.
The sale ended on the q600f unfortunately. I ended up picking up a Sony HT-S2000 and think it sounds heads and tails better than the Samsung S60D. Definitely keeping this one as I'm finally happy with my purchase. I found out I'm pickier than I thought when it comes to soundbars.
First sound bar was a Sony hts2000. Decent vocals, on its own the bass was weak, but only came alive with sub and satellites, but sub is very boomy. However Sony's bravia app is decent, and you can control levels well. Cheap entry to sound bars, and expandable down the track if this appeals. Went to a Bose smart ultra, has enough bass standard, excellent vocals if you like to watch dialogue heavy TV series at night. Bass is fair, but not outrageous, Just doesn't like being on very low volumes. Finally found a good Samsung q990d used locally for very cheap, nearly as good as the Bose for vocals, the satellites only mode can go down to a whisper, however it takes some serious volume to wake the sub up. May be up your alley. If I had a crazy budget, I'd look at Sonos. No experience with them. Ultimately if you aren't tied to a soundbar, look at floor standing speakers, with at least a class D mini amp with 50w> power per channel, preferably with treble and bass knobs. Neighbour gave me some basic Welling towers, 2 x 6" woofer, tweeter and 8" sub, paired with a cheap Fosi amp from Amazon. Instant step up on volume and quality, albeit without the surround sound. Found some Dali concept floor speakers for dirt cheap online, blew the old pair out the water, I reckon the Neighbours hate me at this point. Great quality. Have a center and rears now, if I can find a good AV receiver I'll be in heaven with good surround. However the amp with bass and treble is key; I can cut bass out almost entirely, but bring it up above and beyond with the turn of a knob, no sub needed. If you're dead set on a soundbar? Bose is a cheap flagship, Samsung q990x combo could be the last you need. Or step to the top with Sonos.
It's decent if you don't want rears or sub, just for late night TV series watching. But I switched to a cheaper Sony hts2000 with rears and subs, much better for movies.
Sony HT-S2000 was on sale in my country by Sony Malaysia for just under $220 (RM846 after stacking with voucher, official store thru online shopping platform) recently and I got one for my parents’ 2017 Sony Bravia K series TV, sound is good and not harsh, plenty of bass yet vocal clarity is good, thanks to its center channel speaker. Overall I am pretty happy with it. I wanted to get it since two years ago but price back then was still too high for me (RM1500+), so I got a Yamaha SR-C20a as a temporay solution (bought at RM838) and waited until recently which I got the Sony, not a big upgrade but the deal was too good to resist. If you can get HT-S2000 for under $300 it is a no-brainer choice, or else budget option like Yamaha SR-C20A or even B20A is very appealing at discounted price, they are wrapped in fabric and will need more frequent dust cleaning though, so you may consider something else if that bothers you.
Got my the other day too (£540). I haven't tested much yet but I tested s2 ep 1 of andor (Atmos) at the beginning part. The floor was shaking. It sounded really cool and I could hear noises properly coming from the sides. I came from a Sony HT s2000 which wasn't bad but you can tell the q900f is on another level. Really massive though. Really it's overkill for my living room and these days a buy the best because I hate buying stuff and then being disappointed i didn't get the better one.
Definitely the Flexus Core 200 and it's not even close. Yes the S2000 has "dual subs" as well, but they're like half the size and really don't do much. And honestly the S2000 is just a very bad sounding soundbar, unless you do some phone equalizing, but even then it's just a poor soundbar. Sure if you found one for $50-100 bucks then I'd say grab it. But nothing more than that. Now the Flexus Core 200 on the other hand is a fantastic system. The bass will fill the room plenty, honestly it's comparable to a soundbar with a separate subwoofer like a Samsung HW-Q600F. And the overall sound of the bar is very nice & clean sounding. I highly recommend it! (I've had both of those soundbars)
I'm in a very goldilocks position of no soundbar I've tried sounding just right to me. I'm trying to upgrade from a 2020 Hisense 55H6590F tv to an LG B4. The B4 sounds bad so I need a sound bar. I'm not interested in a subwoofer or surround system. I am just wanting good sound for overall use. My Hisense tv speakers have always sounded great. Good clarity, nice dialouge, and enough audible bass. Soundbars all seem to be trying to create a "home theater" type of sound. But to me they all seem to sound too mid-y, and seperated. Like the mid and high frequencies are coming out of speakers and all bass "sound" is non existent and replaced with loud rumbling coming from my tv stand. I'm just wanting something that sounds more like my old Hisense tv. Good quality sound coming from the tv. Not so much a movie theater type of surround and bass that you feel rumbling in your chest. At this point I have tried a Sonos Beam, Bose TV Speaker, Smart Soundbar, Yamaha SR-B30A, Vizio SV210d-0806, Klipsch Core 100, Sony S100f, S2000, and I'm tired of buying and returning all these soundbars because i feel like an obnoxious jackass getting recognized by store employees as the guy who keeps buying and returning soundbars. Also price is a factor. I didn't really want to spend $400+ on just the soundbar, but I've let that go thinking more expensive would mean better. But aside from obviously having clearer sound than cheaper soundbars like the Bose TV speaker bar, or sony 100f, they just have more speakers than decent 2.1 bars for $250+ and the same type of sound I can't make myself like. So I guess my question is, should I try something like a Samsung S50/60B without a built in "subwoofer" (obviously a built in subwoofer isn't the same as a real subwoofer box)? Or should I just accept the way soundbars sound compared to my old tv and force myself to get used to it?

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