Samsung HW-Q600B Soundbar Review

The Samsung HW-Q600B is a simple soundbar with a similar design to the Samsung HW-Q67CB. It's mostly made of plastic, and there's a metal grille covering the top and the front. The sides of the bar are angled, too.

The sub has a simple design as well. There's fabric in the front, and the audio port is located in the rear.

While the bar doesn't have rear satellites included, you can buy a compatible Wireless Rear Speaker Kit from the manufacturer.

The bar is rather wide, so it likely won't fit between the legs of a 55" TV stand. That said, since it isn't very tall, it shouldn't obscure your TV screen.

The sub is roughly the same size as a typical desktop PC. Since it's wireless, you can place it anywhere in your room as long as you plug it into a power outlet.

The Samsung HW-Q600B has good build quality. Overall, its materials feel solid and sturdy. The plastic bar has metal grilles on the top and the front to help protect the drivers inside, which is a nice touch. That said, the fabric covering the front of the sub is loose and thin, so you should be careful when moving the sub to avoid ripping the fabric.

• User Manual
• Remote with batteries (2x AAA)
• Soundbar power adapter with built-in cable of 4.9 ft / 1.5m
• 2x power cables (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• HDMI cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• Mounting template guide
• Wall-mount guide
• 2x wall-mount brackets
• 2x holder screw and 2x screws

The Samsung HW-Q600B has a very good stereo frequency response. Out of the box, its sound profile is rather balanced, especially in the mids, where most voices and lead instruments are reproduced. As a result, it's suitable for listening to most music genres. If you prefer bass-centric music like EDM and hip-hop, you'll notice that the bar doesn't reproduce as much low-bass as others we've tested, like the Samsung HW-Q800B.

During our tests, we ran into several issues that may impact the bar's sound. First, we tried to update the bar to the latest firmware version 1014.0 with multiple USB flash drives, but the bar wouldn't read the file. Secondly, in our stereo tests, the bar exhibited some strange behavior. The localization files usually play on either the left or right stereo channels, but with this bar, sound was audible from both the left and right stereo channels at the same time. The behavior is hard to hear with real-life content, but it could impact the localization of objects in the soundstage. For all of these issues, we aren't certain whether they're unique to our unit or whether you're likely to run into them as well. Please let us know in the discussions if you have similar issues.

If you prefer a more balanced sound with stereo content, we recommend using the bar with its default settings.

The Samsung HW-Q600B's soundstage is decent. It's perceived to be about as wide as the bar itself, but it doesn't have any tricks to make it seem larger than that. Still, it has good focus, so sound effects like instruments seem to come from accurate, pinpoint locations in the soundstage.

The Samsung Q600B gets loud enough to fill larger and more open spaces with sound. At max volume, there are some compression and pumping artifacts present, which affect the overall clarity of audio reproduction.

The Samsung HW-Q600B's stereo THD performance is decent. At a normal listening volume, distortion falls within good limits, so audio reproduction is clean and pure. As with most bars, there's a jump in THD when the bar's pushed to max volume. However, distortion is hard to hear with most real-life content, so it's not a huge issue unless you're a very astute audiophile.

This 3.1 soundbar comes with a discrete center channel to improve vocal reproduction. It offers great performance, with a balanced frequency response that ensures voices are clearly and accurately reproduced in the mix.

In comparison with other soundbars like the Samsung HW-Q600A, this bar's surround performance is unusual. When we send surround localization tones to the bar, audio only comes from the subwoofer, while the right and left channels are silent. This is exemplified by the unique shape of the frequency response graph since the only sound comes from the lower frequencies played by the subwoofer itself.

When the bar is plugged into a TV via eARC to play real-life content, however, sound plays from the right and left channels in addition to the subwoofer. The TV may be downmixing the surround content, rather than the bar itself. Let us know in the discussions if you experience similar issues with this soundbar.

The Samsung Q600B is advertised as a 3.1.2 setup with two up-firing channels built into the top of the bar. Unlike the Samsung HW-Q600A, however, the bar's up-firing channels don't play any sound with Atmos content. Instead, audio comes from the two front-firing channels.

Subjectively, the bar's Atmos performance is noticeably better than listening to content with only TV speakers. Thanks to the dedicated subwoofer, there's a good amount of rumble in action-packed scenes. Details are clearly reproduced, as exemplified by the balanced frequency response. That said, you don't get an immersive feel, as the bar struggles to make it seem like audio is coming from above you or around you.

The Samsung HW-Q600B supports lots of different sound enhancement features. While it doesn't have a room correction feature like more premium models on the market, you can still adjust its audio reproduction based on your room's acoustics using its graphic EQ and presets. Modes like Surround Sound, Standard, Game Pro, and Adaptive Sound let you adjust the bar's sound to your liking. If you add on rear speakers, you can adjust the rear levels.

As with many soundbar and TV manufacturers, Samsung advertises a feature that's designed to improve audio reproduction when the bar is paired with a compatible Samsung TV. It's called Q-Symphony, and it syncs the bar's speakers with your TV speakers. In practice, we found that this feature increases the volume, but otherwise, it doesn't make much of a difference in the sound quality. As with most of these features, it's not necessary to enjoy content with your soundbar.

You can connect this bar to your TV using HDMI or Optical connections. There's a Full HDMI In port, which lets you use the bar as a hub between different devices, like when you want to passthrough high-quality video.

The Samsung HW-Q600B supports many different audio formats that are commonly found on both streaming platforms and Blu-rays discs. In our tests, we use a Murideo HDMI testing device to confirm audio support, and it appears that the bar can playback these formats. However, in practice, when we try to play the left and right surround localization tones, no sound plays from the left or the right channels. The behavior is unusual, and at this time, we can't confirm whether it's unique to our testing unit or not. Please let us know in the discussions if you experience any similar issues.

The bar's surround channels exhibit the same strange behavior via HDMI In. While it appears to support many different audio formats, when we send surround localization tones to the bar, we only hear audio through the sub, while the left or right surround channels are quiet. Again, let us know if you have similar issues in the discussions.

We also tried to send surround localization tones to the bar via Optical, and it exhibited the same unusual behavior as it did over eARC and HDMI In. The left and right surround channels are quiet, and sound is audible only from the subwoofer.

The bar has relatively low latency, so it's a good choice for watching videos and movies. Since audio appears in sync with the video you see, you don't notice any lip-synching issues. Of course, some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience can vary. If you have any issues, the bar's Audio Sync feature lets you control the delay manually, which is handy.

This soundbar can passthrough the highest quality bandwidth signals, including Dolby Vision Passthrough. If you connect the bar between two devices, like a TV and a PC, text on the screen appears clear and crisp. However, it can't passthrough 4k @ 120Hz.

You can wirelessly stream audio to the bar from your mobile devices via Bluetooth. Plus, the bar supports Tap Sound, so you can simply "tap" certain compatible Samsung phones against the bar to mirror audio to the bar.

There's a small display on the right side of the bar, located beneath the metal grille. It's a four-character display, so it has to scroll for longer words. Still, it's a handy way to see settings like the volume number and current input as you adjust them.

On top of the bar, there are a few physical buttons. You can use them to power it on/off, adjust the volume, or change the input.

The remote is simple and lets you control the bar's functions. Since there's no app compatibility, it's the only way to adjust the bar's settings.