Samsung HW-Q90R Soundbar Review & Comments

Not far from the way I did it, fronts down to -3, sub to -4 and rears to +6. Working well for me.
 
Just got my new HW-90 and I’m having an issue. I have an Apple TV going into the bar and from there to my LG OLED. I am using the same HDMI cable from the bar to the tv that the ATV used to use, and I took the new cable that came with the Samsung to go to it from the ATV. Now I’m getting messages from the ATV that my connection is not stable and sometimes it refuses to display DolbyVision.

Does the Samsung not pass DolbyVision or do I have something else wrong? I have noticed in general the Samsung seems to not get along with the ATV. Mode switches from HDR to SDR are very slow and glitchy and if I use the match rate function in the ATV I get invalid format errors on the LG when watching certain show on Netflix.

Ideas/thoughts?

thx!
It looks like you'll need to replace the supplied cable with an ultra high speed one. The Apple one you're using sounds good but the system will default to the lowest HDMI cable's speed, which is what's happening for your system.
 
Is there any other way to connect the bar to WiFi, other than use the SmartThings app. The app finds the bar and I can get so far into the app and then it says there's a problem. Can't figure out wot is wrong.
I had the same issue - my Samsung phone did not connect to Smart Things, so I used the cheapest Xiaomi smartfone and it connected - once the soundbar was "registered" in the Samsung account, my own Samsung phone connects as well.
 
ok im stumped. trying to adjust speaker levels with my sound meter, got the test tones file from Dolby. I play it back but when I go into the adjustments on the soundbar there are no settings for front L&R speakers. I see Center, top and Rears only. What am I missing here?
 
ok im stumped. trying to adjust speaker levels with my sound meter, got the test tones file from Dolby. I play it back but when I go into the adjustments on the soundbar there are no settings for front L&R speakers. I see Center, top and Rears only. What am I missing here?
Front LR r fixed so u adjust the rest to match LR level to achieve balance sound level.
 
I think I found a workable solution for the rear speakers being low in volume. First I turned all the front speakers down to -6, and then I turned the rears to +6. Seems to have balanced things out better especially in my case because the rears are further away from our listening position than the fronts by about 6 feet.
Not far from the way I did it, fronts down to -3, sub to -4 and rears to +6. Working well for me.
Front LR r fixed so u adjust the rest to match LR level to achieve balance sound level.
Guys,where did you find Front Level volumes? It's only Center level,Side level and Front Top level.
Very important: You didn't mention in which mode you were. The most equilibrated mode is Standard Mode. The rest of those modes are just emulations. Ok,it all depends by what kind of signal do you serve in.2.0=Adaptive (or Surround),5.1/7.1=Standard Mode.
 
Guys,where did you find Front Level volumes? It's only Center level,Side level and Front Top level.
Very important: You didn't mention in which mode you were. The most equilibrated mode is Standard Mode. The rest of those modes are just emulations. Ok,it all depends by what kind of signal do you serve in.2.0=Adaptive (or Surround),5.1/7.1=Standard Mode.
Not sure I’m doing it correctly but I just set the LR sound level by adjust the volume to 65db afterwhich I adjust the rest of channels as close to it as possible. I use surround mode but probably not an issue as I used a 7.1.4 test tone from Dolby Atmos test disc. Happy to learn if there’s a better way to balance the bar.
 
I've been wanting a 5.1.4 set up. Was looking at 9.2 receiver and something like Jamo 800 or elac debut.

However the price will be just over 2k for the seperate 5.1.4 vs 1k for this soundbar.

For a casual listener is it worth paying over double with either of the the two speaker brands I've quoted above.

I currently have 5.1 keff 2005.3 eggs and 5.1 denon receiver. Will the soundbar better what I already have. If so will the difference be considerable
 
I've been wanting a 5.1.4 set up. Was looking at 9.2 receiver and something like Jamo 800 or elac debut.

However the price will be just over 2k for the seperate 5.1.4 vs 1k for this soundbar.

For a casual listener is it worth paying over double with either of the the two speaker brands I've quoted above.

I currently have 5.1 keff 2005.3 eggs and 5.1 denon receiver. Will the soundbar better what I already have. If so will the difference be considerable
In general separates are going to sound better. Soundbars are limited in driver size due to size of the soundbar. At least in the US, Samsung has put the price of the q90r back up to $1700 too. The q90r is a great soundbar, I have it and love it. It sounds amazing and the minimal amount of wires is a big plus. I don’t have any experience with your setup, so it could sound better. If you have room for separates though, and wiring isn’t a big deal, you’ll probably be happier with separates in the long run.
 
Wow just bought mine for $980 at bestbuy. Glad I caught the price reduction. $1700 would have put me on the sideline.
 
In general separates are going to sound better. Soundbars are limited in driver size due to size of the soundbar. At least in the US, Samsung has put the price of the q90r back up to $1700 too. The q90r is a great soundbar, I have it and love it. It sounds amazing and the minimal amount of wires is a big plus. I don’t have any experience with your setup, so it could sound better. If you have room for separates though, and wiring isn’t a big deal, you’ll probably be happier with separates in the long run.
I agree - I would also prefer separate speakers, but the compact solution of soundbar and wireless rears won. My older 5.1. Pioneer setup (DTS) had better sound positioning. With this soundbar you sit in a "bubble" - the room is full of sounds, but the localization is not so precise. Just a note: I do not have a wall close to the left rear speakers so the sounds can not bounce from the wall, so the LEFT channel is not so strong.
 
I just upgraded from a Q80R with rears to a Q90R. All i can say is ..... WOW what a difference. So much more sound most from above but everywhere else too.

What i find strange that even 2.1 on standard, wich comes solely from the bar and sub, wich should be the same as the Q80R, sounds better. Hard to pinpoint , more clear i quess. Settings are the same.

But anyone doubting with the space for rear speakers, go Q90R !
 
At £999 I’m close to pulling the trigger on the Q90r. The only thing holding me back is no earc on the ocb of my Q900r & I’ve read the soundbar has lipsync issues with Sky Q, Xbox One X & Apple TV.
Does anyone have a similar setup & managed to solved the problems?
 
I'm running my Sky Q box with HDMI audio output set to "Normal" at the moment, get no lip sync issues and with the bar on "Surround" or "Adaptive" dependent on material I'm watching I get decent quality sound. While this is okay for now, roll on the EARC update so I can get the audio I paid for :)
 
Thanks for the reply. I heard rumours the OCB was getting an Earc update sometime later this year but wasn’t sure if they were true or not.
I’m so tempted at £999 & hope for the best that the TV does get the update
 
Rumoured to be happening within the next month or so...
 
Temptation was too much. Arriving tomorrow 🙂
 
Does anyone know of a way to get 2 subs onto this system? Just curious if it's even possible. Open to any and all hacks/out of the box ideas. I realize it's not "supposed to" be that way :)
 
Does anyone know of a way to get 2 subs onto this system? Just curious if it's even possible. Open to any and all hacks/out of the box ideas. I realize it's not "supposed to" be that way :)
A better subwoofer would be nice.
 
How does the subwoofer of the SN11RG compare to that of the Q90R? I don't think there are as many complaints about the Q90R's?
 
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Hopefully better... I have the Samsung HW-N950 at the moment which is very similar to the Q90.
Selling the N950 and moving to the LG SN11 RG :eek:
Don't worry, I actually thought I was in the SN11RG thread! So I thought Dalibor Koplik's comment was about the SN11RG, but they are about the Q90R. In other words, I think I understood everything the other way around :laugh:
 
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Don't worry, I actually thought I was in the SN11RG thread! So I thought Dalibor Koplik's comment was about the SN11RG, but they are about the Q90R. In other words, I think I understood everything upside-down :laugh:
Ah sorry, I confused matters... lol.
To be honest, I don't find the N950 lacking at all in the bass department, even if the Q90 / SN11 was the same, I am happy.
 

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