Samsung HW-MS750
Much like the homo sapiens referenced in David Bowie’s classic Oh! You Pretty Things, premium soundbars have outgrown their original use. No longer confined to simply boosting your flatscreen TV'S sound, some of them now qualify as complete streaming systems in their own right.
When it comes to connectivity, the Samsung HW MS750 has it all. Alongside the typical soundbar connections – 4K and HDR pass-through, HDMI sockets and optical and 3.5mm inputs – the MS750 also comes with built-in Bluetooth and wi-fi, the latter of which opens this soundbar up to a world of online music streaming.
Magic wand
Using the free Samsung Wireless Audiomultiroom app, you can play from music services including Tidal, Spotify, Tunein, Deezer and Qobuz, and NAS drives – although the app had some problems delving into all our folders.
The HW MS750’S versatility doesn’t stop there. Owners of compatible Samsung TVS can connect them wirelessly to the soundbar. A Samsung TV remote can also operate the soundbar, although the supplied wand is just as nice to use, with its thin, roughly hand-length size and positively acting buttons.
An optional mount kit can also fix the soundbar to a TV, allowing one cable to power both.
There’s also the option for HW MS750 owners to expand and upgrade, whether that’s by adding the SWA W700 subwoofer (£600, or £400 when purchased with the soundbar) or the matching wireless rear speakers (£180 per pair).
Wide sonic canvas
The Samsung’s size might not suit everyone’s tastes though. It’s almost the width of the Samsung 65in TV we place it in front of, making it wider than the Award-winning Dali Kubik One, which is big enough as it is. But at 8cm tall, it is half the height and, unlike the Dali, almost guarantees zero screen blockage.
The wide Samsung may not be for everyone’s TV rack, but its sound will surely have more universal appeal. We play La La Land, and the HW MS750’S 11 front- and up-firing speakers do a fine job of spreading the jazzy, camp number in the opening highway dance sequence around our test room.
That breadth and space it offers captures the ambience and chatter inside the cavernous restaurant where Ryan Gosling is performing, providing a sonic canvas as wide as the Los Angeles cityscape he and Emma Stone look out over in the movie's famous scene. Suddenly, the Dali’s presentation feels quite closed-in.
“The HW-MS750 is the best soundbar we’ve seen from Samsung. It’s a serious soundbar too, especially when it comes to filling a large room”
Elsewhere, the Samsung's talents transform the soundtrack to the movie, especially when compared with the sound when played through the TV speakers – as you’d expect from a soundbar costing £800. There’s weight to piano keys – no longer do they sound like twinkling bells, but instead have harmonics and dynamic variation.
In fact, the compulsive jazzy soundtrack has definition throughout, from cymbals to cellos and everything in between – pianos, trumpets and drums. Woodwinds playing behind quieter scenes have due presence, and dialogue-driven scenes reveal the Samsung’s aptitude for midrange expression. Its buoyant character delivers the cast’s version of A-ha’s Take On Me with pleasing energy, too.
Solid bass layer
We’d recommend adding the subwoofer at the discounted price. It integrates well with the bar, adding a solid base (and bass) layer to the Samsung’s presentation, making it feel like the final piece of the sonic jigsaw puzzle.
During Netflix’s remake of Death Note, the HW MS750 gives a low, menacing grumble to revving police cars and adds weight to the creaking machinery of the London Eye, as well as an effectively atmospheric echo in underwater scenes. What the Samsung HW MS750 can’t match is the Dali’s class-leading levels of clarity, transparency and timing, however. This is particularly noticeable when we stream Kendrick Lamar’s LOYALTY from Tidal. The drubbing bassline doesn’t weave around Lamar’s lyrics quite as convincingly, the Dali better seizing the rhythmic relationship between the musical layers making up the track.
The HW MS750 isn’t Samsung’s first soundbar, but it is the best we’ve seen from the company. It’s a serious soundbar, especially when it comes to music streaming options and filling a large room. With a touch more transparency and better timing, we’d be looking at a five-star review.