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SOUNDBARS
Whether standalone or working with satellites and a sub, these miracle workers can turn your living room into a mini multiplex
A new sub has lifted this system from excellence to greatness
Samsung HW-Q990F
£1699
This new wireless surround-sound Dolby Atmos set-up is the successor to last year’s Product of the Year, the Samsung HW-Q990D, and introduces an adorable new subwoofer. Don’t be fooled by its cute cuboid chassis though, as it packs an almighty punch that takes this already superb soundbar system into a whole new league. The official price of the HW-Q990F is £1699 – but there are a number of great deals doing the rounds these days.
The bar itself is an angular hexagonal shape measuring 7 x 123 x 14cm (hwd). You will find a selection of buttons on top to change source, mute the onboard microphones and adjust the volume, with a simplistic dot-matrix display on the front displaying corresponding information.
The surround speakers are the same angular design as on the HW-Q990D, but with the sub Samsung has swapped from a tall, narrow shape to a much more compact, rounded affair.
We can’t really find fault with the HW-Q990F’s feature set. It’s an 11.1.4 system with 23 drivers across the bar, surrounds and sub. That’s 15 drivers in the main soundbar, three drivers in each of the surround-sound units, and dual 20cm force-cancelling drivers in the subwoofer, which features a claimed 300W power output. The soundbar and surrounds feature upward-firing drivers for Dolby Atmos height effects. DTS:X is supported.
We deem Samsung’s Smart Things app to be a solid and, in many cases, the preferred method of interacting with the bar, although the included remote has plenty of useful buttons. Alongside the music services, the HW-Q990F is also compatible with a duo of voice assistants, with Amazon Alexa built in and Works with Google Assistant certification.