Samsung HW-Q950T

More of a ‘home cinema in a box’ than a simple soundbar, but that gives it a really big sound From £1,299 samsung.com

s a big, comprehensive Dolby Atmos soundbar, the Samsung HW-Q950T aims to create the effect of an elite 9.1.4 surround setup using four wireless boxes.

The soundbar itself is substantial, and extremely nicely finished. There’s no avoiding its 123cm size, nor its 7kg bulk. Samsung includes a bracket for wall-mounting – just be sure your wall is up to it. That kind of width means this is for 55-inch TVs at the absolute minimum – 58 inches and up is the sweet spot.

The horizontal array is designed to provide absolutely as much width to the sound as possible. On top of the soundbar there are a further couple of drivers, angled upwards in an effort to reflect sound off the ceiling and deliver the front two overhead channels of information. On top there’s an extremely small display, and a few physical controls, but you’ll mostly be controlling this with Alexa or the tidy remote.

At the back of the soundbar there are a couple of HDMI inputs, an eARC-enabled HDMI in/out to connect to the TV, and a digital optical input.

AThere’s also Wi-Fi (you’ll need Samsung’s Smart Things app to get set up) and Bluetooth. There are two rear speakers, tricked out with both forward- and upward-firing drivers. These are where the remaining two channels of the nine are handled, as well as the two rear overhead channels. They link wirelessly to the main soundbar and just need plugging into power, just like the subwoofer, which itself is a pretty big unit with a side-firing driver and a rearventing bass port.

Given the right stuff to work with, it’s capable of serving up an expansive and immersive sound, loading it with plenty of detail and with enough low frequency presence to let the neighbours know you’ve spent money on a home cinema upgrade. No amount of fiddling with EQs is going to take all of the edginess out of its treble response, admittedly, and neither can it prevent the subwoofer being rather monotonal. But the midrange – which is so, so crucial to the home cinema experience – is sweetly communicative and more than capable of making you happy. There’s real width to the soundstage, and it genuinely surrounds.

It may not be quite perfect – the lack of nuance to the lower frequencies is a shame – but the HW-Q950T is an extremely effective home cinema upgrade in the most crucial ways.