Samsung HW-Q990C Soundbar Review

The Samsung HW-Q990C is the best way to bring room-filling Dolby Atmos sound into a living room without the hassles of a dedicated speaker system. This 11.1.4 soundbar is the latest version of Samsung's top-of-the-line model.

Key upgrades include improved bass performance, a new version of Q-Symphony to pair up with recent Samsung TVs and SpaceFit Sound Pro to calibrate to the room you are using it in. These combine to deliver the best sound possible for your space with minimal setup required.

You can buy the Samsung HW-Q990C at Samsung, Amazon and Best Buy. The retail price is $1,899.99, but we are already seeing deals.

Design

The Samsung HW-Q990C is almost identical to the previous model but a significant upgrade from the "A" series. We love the metal grill and angled corners that help hide dust better than fabric-covered speakers. There is a display on the front so you can see the soundbar input and adjust some settings. We highly recommend connecting to the Samsung Smart Things app for more in-depth controls.

This is a large soundbar, so you'll want to pair this with at least a 55-inch TV. It is the perfect fit for our 85-inch family room TV. The soundbar is thin enough to sit in front of most TVs, and keyholes are in the back to mount to the wall.

Rear speakers wirelessly connect, so all you need is a power source. The cords are long enough to find a power outlet in our room easily, and thanks to the SpaceFit Pro tuning, you don't need to be super specific on the placement in your room. The subwoofer is substantial in size, with an 8-inch driver, but easy to place in a corner.

Samsung's industrial design delivers a modern style that looks nice but doesn't call necessary attention to it. This setup blends into a room much easier than a traditional surround sound system.

Sound Performance

Samsung delivers impressive performance with the HW-Q990C soundbar. There are 11 front-facing speakers, four up-facing speakers and a subwoofer, which combine to provide an immersive sound for TV, sports, movies and gaming. Specific modes allow finer control, or you can rely on the Adaptive Sound feature to bring the most important pieces of sound to life.

Setting up this system in a real-world room, where you cannot always put surround sound speakers in the perfect place, is simple. With SpaceFit Sound Pro enabled, a microphone on the soundbar is able to tune the output to match the setup of your room. You can control this with the SmartThings app.

If you have a recent Samsung TV, you can also enable Q-Symphony 3.0, which combines the speakers in your TV to deliver a more immersive sound. This is one feature we really like and a compelling reason to go with a Samsung TV in addition to the soundbar.

While watching movies with Dolby Atmos, the HW-Q990C fills the room and places sound above and around us, bringing scenes in our favorite action films to life. The John Wick series is one of our favorites for testing, and we could track the sound across the speakers and the screen as Wick drives and fights his way through each film. The system supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

Surround is also excellent while watching the NBA Finals and streaming series on Netflix. The side-firing speakers on the soundbar and the rear speakers help place the sound on the court and the scenes. With the Adaptive sound mode and the ability to turn on Active Voice Amplifier, you'll never strain to hear the voices in your favorite show.

While we usually use a dedicated gaming headset, the Game mode tunes the setup to bring you deeper into games. This is excellent in open-world games like God of War, but I still use a headset for first-person shooter games. With Night Mode, you can still clearly hear dialogue and action without waking others.

Features and Connections

The Samsung HW-Q990C includes one HDMI eARC as well as two HDMI and one optical digital input. You can also use a wireless connection for Dolby Atmos, connect via Bluetooth and use AirPlay 2. You can also use Bixby and Alexa voice control to manage your smart home or start streaming music. The soundbar is also a SmartThings Hub, which you can use to control your devices easily.

The SmartThings app is the easiest way to control the more advanced settings and toggle between sound modes. You can install this on iPhone or Android to tap into these options. The standard remote is well laid out and easy to use, plus most TV remotes will also control this soundbar if you are connecting to your TV with the eARC HDMI port.

You can directly connect your sources to the soundbar, but there is no HDMI 2.1 support, so you cannot take advantage of the latest gaming capabilities like 4K at 120Hz and VRR. The best way to get around this is to connect these sources directly to your TV, and use eARC to connect to the soundbar.

Is the Samsung HW-Q990C Worth Buying?

The Samsung HW-Q990C is the best current-generation soundbar you can buy for a full Dolby Atmos experience. While it is an iterative upgrade from the 990B, this feature-packed system is easy to set up and can deliver a full-fledged Dolby Atmos experience in any room. For some users, the lack of 4K 120Hz pass-through and support for VRR may be a deal breaker, but connecting those devices directly to the TV solves this issue for most people.

You can't beat the HW-Q990C when it comes to performance from a soundbar. If you want to save money, check out the HW-Q990B if you can find it. This sounds great with any TV, but if you spot a deal to pair it with a Samsung TV, the Q-Symphony feature is a nice bonus.

Buy at Samsung.

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