Samsung HW-Q930B review: Two minute review
The Samsung HW-Q930B is a big departure for the company's approach to Dolby Atmos soundbars. Historically, only Samsung's flagship soundbars have given you more than just the main soundbar and a subwoofer in the box. In some cases, you could add rear speakers to mid-range models as an option, but they weren't included as standard. The HW-Q930B, however, changes that.
Although it costs about half the price of Samsung's flagship soundbar from 2022 (the HW-Q990B), the Samsung HW-Q930B consists of four components: the main soundbar, a subwoofer, and two rear speakers. In fact, it offers an eye-popping 9.1.4 audio channel count that's just two channels lower than the Q11.1.4B's maximum 990 setting, making it the best Dolby Atmos soundbar for the price.
It also ticks off most of the features we're looking for in the best sound bars these days, including HDMI pass-through, support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ HDR formats, and playback of Dolby Atmos and DTS audio formats: X they currently represent. what the worlds of film and music have to offer.
The Q930B's sound is in a different class than its two-part Samsung predecessors. Not least because the inclusion of good quality rears means your sound is now truly immersive, rather than just being blocked out at the front of your room. In fact, no similarly priced soundbar rival we've heard of to date so successfully combines such a full surround sound experience with so much raw power – to beat it, you'll have to pay more money for something like the Samsung HW-Q990B. .
- Samsung HW-Q930B at Best Buy for €1,249.99 (opens in a new tab)
Samsung HW-Q930B review: Price and release date
- Released June 2022
- Official Price €849 / €1,199 / AU$1,499
Despite only launching a few months ago, Samsung's second-tier soundbar (a rung below the flagship HW-Q990B soundbar) has already seen a price drop. In fact, in the UK, its price has been reduced by more than 25 per cent, while the €1,599 price of Samsung's flagship Q990B has remained unchanged. That put $750 worth of clear water between the top and bottom tiers of Samsung's soundbar.
It's not quite as spectacular in the US, but at the time of writing we're looking at it for around €1100, which is around €600 less than the Q990B, so it's still a huge saving.
In fact, Samsung slashed the price of the Q930B so quickly and drastically that you almost wonder if there's a problem. But there isn't.
Samsung HW-Q930B Review: Features
- Four separate elements included
- 9.1.4 total number of channels
- Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support
Samsung's soundbar lineup in recent years has generally given us a sing-and-dance home theater flagship model with an external subwoofer and rear speakers, with a step-down model allowing the front soundstage and driver of basses do not change in general, but it loses the included rears, offering only less powerful rears as an option.
The step-down HW-Q930B blends that established order well by keeping the rear speakers included. Leaving Samsung's flagship soundbar no longer means having to lose track of all the sound that's coming up behind you.
The Q930B's included rears are less of the top-down you get with the Q990B than we'd expect, thanks to their provision of two riders each: one pull-up and one forward.
The rears of the Q930B miss out on the side-firing third driver hidden within the rears of the Q990B, but finding two drivers on each rear is truly impressive for a system that would have had no rear at all in the past. And even the two drivers mean you get a fuller Dolby Atmos setup than is possible with a Sonos Arc and, say, the Sonos One rear speaker setup, which can't offer upward-firing rear channels.
The Q930B's two-channel rears play their part in creating 9.1.4-channel sound from the four physical components of the system. That's a lot of channels for any soundbar, let alone one at this price.
Looking for other reasons why the Q930B might be so much cheaper than the Q990B, the step-down model doesn't have an Acoustic Lens subwoofer. It still features a very promising 8-inch driver, but there's no raised reflector unit positioned above the driver to help disperse your sound more widely and smoothly.
The main element of the soundbar is also significantly smaller than that of the Q990B system, despite compressing the same number of channels. This clearly indicates less powerful front end sound than what you get with the larger system, yet at the same time opens up the possibility of a more balanced and cohesive full surround soundstage than you would have had the Q930B been more or less paired with the same front. sound bar element found in the Q990B package with the new less powerful rears.
It also means the Q930B is just the right size to work with the best 48-, 49- and 50-inch TVs, while the Q990B should be paired with the best 55-inch-plus TVs.
The Q930B retains the Space Fit Auto Calibration feature introduced with the Q990B and Samsung HW-S800B, but loses the Q990B's additional Auto EQ feature to continuously analyze and regulate the subwoofer's bass contribution.
The Q930B also allows you to increase the presence of voice channels in movie mixes through a voice amplifier option if you're having trouble hearing what people are saying in a particular mix, or if you have ambient noise to counteract, while the intelligent functions of the soundbar are expanded.
There's built-in support for Alexa voice control, for example, as well as Tap Connect, where modern Samsung phones can connect to the soundbar simply by holding them against the body of the soundbar; AirPlay 2 compatibility; Support for Dolby Atmos music from Amazon, Tidal, or Apple Music; and support for all major high resolution file formats.
While we're on the subject of Atmos, the Q930B is also capable of receiving Dolby Atmos signals wirelessly from compatible Samsung TVs. Although it only works in 'lossy' DD+ format, not lossless True HD. If you're just streaming, it won't make any difference, but it does mean you'll lose out on the best possible quality of 4K Blu-ray players.
The Q930B's connections, lastly, get the job done well enough with an HDMI pass-through port (although you only get one HDMI input compared to two on the Q990B) and an impressive pass-through of the premium HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR formats. The only disappointment, though it still plagues most soundbars, is the lack of HDMI pass-through support for 4K 120Hz or variable refresh rate gaming. It's very rare, so we're not beating the soundbar for it, but it's something to be aware of.
Samsung HW-Q930B review: Sound quality
- Stunning fully developed Dolby Atmos soundstage
- Powerful and responsive bass
- Excellent film mixing details and staging
The Samsung HW-Q930B's main trick is its ability to fill your room with a remarkably full Dolby Atmos or DTS:X soundstage.
Up-firing speakers built into both the main soundbar and rear speakers do a great job of not only creating a sense of height in front of and behind your seating position, but also gathering above you to create the Dolby Atmos voice. occasional. of the effect of God.
The included new rear front firing drivers also expertly blend with the main soundbar, matching the front soundstage and balancing it in volume.
I missed the added sense of spaciousness created by the side drivers on the back of the Q990B, which leave sonic transitions from one side to the other, with the Q930B sometimes sounding a bit channeled, relatively speaking. However, the good the rears bring to the party compared to any previous Samsung mid-range soundbar far exceeds its limits.
After all, convincing Dolby Atmos requires creating a three-dimensional dome of sound around your sitting position into which effects can be placed, and you simply can't convincingly experience such a dome if there are no speakers behind it. you. Or if those rear speakers don't effectively match the front soundstage.
Speaking of which, deploying the main soundbar from front left, front right, front center, left side, right side, front left, front right, and two upward-firing drivers manage to deliver a wide, forward-driven, room-filling sound. that too is packed with incredibly sharp, clean, well-placed detail.
Dialogue in movie mixes remains clear but also well contextualized despite the Q930B's main soundbar being significantly smaller than the Q990B system's, and as with the rear soundstage, there's a palpable sense of height in sound from the main bar through the speakers that palpably and convincingly amplifies the Dolby Atmos experience.
The Q930B has the power to depict sonic transitions through, through, or above the 360-degree sound space it creates with great conviction, and the soundstage is large enough to fill at least a room with talla media.
The surprisingly wide and detailed sound created by the Q930B's front and rear components is backed by deep bass from the subwoofer. The rumble reaches extremely low levels by soundbar standards, and is capable of maintaining its depth for long periods of time without losing sync or succumbing to distortion or out-of-sync issues.
The subwoofer proves to be surprisingly nimble when it comes to bass depths and volumes that it can inject into film mixes as well, and I was relieved to learn that despite the lack of an acoustic lens element and smaller bass bar size main sound, the subwoofer, the bass still sounds like a convincing extension/accessory to the bass...