Samsung HW-Q900C Soundbar Review

The Samsung HW-Q900C comes with the same bar as the Samsung HW-Q990C. It's mostly made of metal and good-quality plastic, with angled sides for a hexagonal look. There's a display screen in front and some controls on top.

The sub also matches the model that comes with the Samsung HW-Q990C. It has a rectangular shape, and there's a plastic plate covering the woofer in the front. The manufacturer advertises that there's an acoustic lens inside that helps it reproduce smoother bass, too. You find the port in the rear.

You can buy compatible satellites from the manufacturer separately.

This wide soundbar isn't meant to fit between the legs of a 55-inch TV stand. Still, since it isn't very tall, you don't have to worry about it blocking out your TV screen.

The sub is a similar size to an average desktop computer. Since it connects to the bar wirelessly, you have a lot of flexibility when placing it in your living room.

You can mount the bar to your wall using the included brackets. Screws come included, too, so you don't have to buy any components separately.

The Samsung HW-Q900C has excellent build quality. This premium setup is made of strong, sturdy materials that withstand traditional wear and tear. Metal grilles on the bar help protect the drivers inside, which is a nice touch. You won't find any fabric on the bar or the sub, either, so you don't have to worry about hair or dust clinging to the bar.

• User Manual
• Remote with batteries (2x AAA)
• 4x rubber feet
• Wall mount guide
• 2x wall-mount bracket for soundbar
• Holder screw (x2) and screw (x2)
• HDMI cable (1.5m / 4.9 ft)
• 2x power cable (1.5m / 4.9 ft)

The Samsung HW-Q900C offers a great stereo frequency response. As with Samsung's other premium models, it comes with a room correction tool designed to optimize audio reproduction based on the unique acoustic characteristics of your living room. You get a nice, neutral sound with stereo content, especially in the mids, where most voices and lead instruments are reproduced. The dedicated sub brings the thump and rumble in the low-bass as well. Overall, this soundbar is suitable for listening to many different music genres, even if it struggles with the low-bass frequencies found in tracks like 'Stay' from the Interstellar soundtrack.

If you prefer a more neutral sound with stereo content, leave the bar at its default settings. There are many customization tools on hand if you want a different sound, which is nice.

The bar's stereo soundstage is good. It's perceived to be a tiny bit wider than the bar itself, though it doesn't have any tricks to make it seem wider than that. Still, it has good focus, so it's easy to follow specific instruments and sound effects to a pinpoint location in the soundstage.

This bar gets loud and is a great choice for listening to audio in larger and more open spaces. There isn't a lot of compression when you push it to max volume, either, so you enjoy a clean and clear reproduction of your audio.

Distortion falls within good limits at an average listening volume, which ensures a clean and clear audio reproduction. As with most soundbars, there's a slight jump in distortion when you push the bar to max volume, especially in the bass range. It's hard to hear with real-life content, though, unless you listen for it.

The Samsung HW-Q900C has a discrete center channel designed to improve vocal reproduction in the mix. The channel's frequency response is quite even and balanced, ensuring that dialogue is clear and easy to follow in your favorite movies and TV shows.

Unlike the Samsung HW-Q990C, this soundbar lacks discrete satellite speakers. Instead, it uses side-firing channels built into the bar to simulate a phantom surround. These channels offer a balanced frequency response that ensures sound effects are clear and accurate in the mix. However, the overall feel of surround sound isn't as clear or as real as what you get with models with discrete surround speakers. Audio seems to come from a speaker placed in front of you rather than from around your room.

The Samsung HW-Q900C has two up-firing drivers that ricochet sound off your ceiling to create the illusion of height with content like Dolby Atmos. Again, these channels have a pretty even frequency response, so sound effects are clear and detailed. Without satellites, you don't have any up-firing drivers placed behind your couch, though, which does take away from the overall immersive feel a bit, especially compared to models like the Samsung HW-Q990C.

Additionally, we subjectively evaluate the bar's soundstage performance with height content. It offers a very good sound overall, especially for a setup without discrete satellites. The front hemisphere is immersive and life-like, with a good sense of height. You notice a clean and clear reproduction of sound effects to your left and right, too. Of course, you don't notice as much detail in the space behind you, but if you don't have room for discrete satellites, this setup is a really good option.

As with most soundbars from the manufacturer, the Samsung HW-Q900C has many sound customization tools. The SpaceFit Sound Pro room correction tool is designed to automatically optimize the bar's sound, but you can adjust it manually, too. The 7-band graphic EQ is available in Standard mode, and you get access to more traditional bass and treble adjustments when in Surround, Adaptive Sound, or Game modes. The 'CH Level' button on the remote lets you adjust the center, side, wide, and front top levels, and you can also adjust the rear levels if you add on satellites. The Samsung SmartThings companion app is a handy way to adjust these features from your smartphone, too. Plus, if you own a compatible Samsung TV, you can link it up with the bar to integrate the TV and soundbar's speakers.

You can connect the bar to your TV using Optical or HDMI. Two Full HDMI In ports are on hand, too, which is great for video passthrough with your TV and another device like a PC. There's a USB port underneath the bar, too, but it's only designed for service updates, and you can't use it for audio playback.

This soundbar supports many different audio formats commonly found on both streaming platforms and Blu-rays, including 5.1 surround sound like Dolby Digital and lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos.

Similarly, the bar supports lots of audio formats over HDMI In. It can playback common 5.1 surround sound formats like Dolby Digital and lossless and object-based formats.

Over Optical, the Samsung HW-Q900C supports the most common surround sound format in Dolby Digital. DTS is less commonly found on its own, but it's often used as the fallback for the higher-quality DTS HD-MA format on certain Blu-rays.

The bar's latency performance is decent. You don't notice a delay between the audio you hear and the video you see on screen, which is great. Plus, Samsung's Audio Sync feature is on hand in the SmartThings app, so you can manually adjust the delay to your liking. It's especially handy, given that some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently.

The Samsung HW-Q900C supports many common resolutions and refresh rates when used as a hub between devices for video passthrough to your TV. It doesn't support HDMI 2.1, so it can't passthrough 4k @ 120Hz @ 10-Bit, and your screen isn't quite as natural-looking with 4k content. Still, you can passthrough some variable refresh rate technologies, which is especially handy if you want a tear-free gaming experience.

You can wirelessly stream audio from your mobile devices to the bar over many different connections.

A small display on the right side of the bar shows certain settings as you adjust them, like the volume level and the input. The 'i' button on the remote also prompts the bar to show the audio format you're playing. It's a four-character display, so it has to scroll through longer words.

A few physical buttons on top of the bar give you control over some basic functions: the input, the volume level, and the microphone for the voice assistants.

A basic remote lets you control most of the bar's features. Also, you can download the Samsung SmartThings app to access additional settings like Audio Sync. You can see a video of the app here.

Amazon Alexa support is built right into the bar, so you can easily control it using your voice. However, without a mic mute button, you can't turn this feature off for privacy.