There are soundbars and then, frankly, there are soundbars. And unfortunately, for the most part the most reliable way to tell the true home cinema soundbar heroes from the rest is their price. Cue the Samsung HW-Q80R.
The HW-Q80R belongs very much in the premium soundbar category. Meaning that while, as we’ll see, it sounds seriously good, it doesn’t come cheap: $1048 in the US, and £799 in the UK. So what, exactly, does so much money get you?
At first glance you might think it hasn’t got you all that much. The Q80R system, after all, only consists of two parts: the main soundbar, and a wireless subwoofer. Even $1048 doesn’t get you physically separate rear, side or height speakers.
Look closer, though, and there’s a lot going on inside those soundbar and subwoofer units. The soundbar is heavy, big enough to hold some seriously large speaker enclosures by soundbar standards (but slim enough to fit under most TV screens), and bristling with drivers and power. The main left, right and centre channels, for instance, each benefit from three drivers: two woofers and a high-quality, wide-range tweeter. Peer down onto the top edge, and you’ll clearly see two large upfiring speakers provided to deliver the height effects associated with the Dolby Atmos and DTS:X ‘object based’ sound formats.
Similarly, check out the left and right sides of the Q80R soundbar and you’ll see that each end carries an angled speaker designed to deliver side channel audio effects.
It’s great to find the Q80R’s main soundbar carrying actual physical up- and side-firing speakers rather than depending solely on processing to create ‘virtual’ height and side effects like most soundbars do.