Samsung Q-Series Soundbar

Atmos that actually comes from above you

All three of these are Dolby Atmos systems with upward-firing drivers, so sound bounces off the ceiling and arrives from overhead rather than straight at you from a box under the television. It is the difference between a film sounding loud and a film sounding like it is happening around you.

Which one

What changes between them is how much of the room gets filled, and how many boxes it takes to do it.

The Q600H is 3.1.2: soundbar and wireless subwoofer, with a dedicated centre channel for dialogue and two height channels. The right choice for a normal living room where the sofa faces the television.

The Q800H steps up to 5.1.2, adding genuine side-surround channels out of the same bar, so the sound field is wider without any more boxes to find room for.

The Q990H is the full 11.1.4: soundbar, subwoofer and two wireless rear speakers, with four height channels. This is a real surround install that happens to need no installing, and if you have somewhere to put the rears it is not close.

It works with your television, not against it

Q-Symphony keeps a compatible Samsung television's own speakers playing alongside the bar instead of muting them, so they become extra channels rather than dead weight. SpaceFit Sound Pro listens to the room and calibrates to it, which matters more than people expect somewhere with hard floors or a lot of glass.

Dialogue you can hear

Active Voice Amplifier Pro lifts speech when the room gets noisy, which is the single most common complaint about television sound and the thing a soundbar fixes first.