"The Q800T offers great sound, smart home connectivity and loads of convenience."
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Easy setup
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Built-in Amazon Alexa
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Impressive low end
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Support Dolby Atmos and DTS: X
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No rear speakers
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Several Samsung TV exclusive features
The race for the soundbar's sweet spot is on. Vizio may have had a head start over the past few years in making sound bars that offer great audio and functionality at a manageable price. But LG, Samsung, and others are hot on the heels of Vizio.
Samsung's new HW-Q800T soundbar, a 3.1.2 system with built-in Amazon Alexa, appears to be a competitor at $ 750. The proof, however, lies in the performance. So let's see what the latest version of Samsung is made of.
design
The Q800T has similar dimensions to several other soundbars I've tested in this price range. The length of 38.6 inches and the height of 2.4 inches is very close to the LG SN7Y and the Sony HT-G700. For some reason this seems to be the agreed size for midrange drivers.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
Actually, there's a reason for these long bars – and a good one at that. With Dolby Atmos firmly entrenched as the buzzword for home audio, these companies need to add more drivers to the compact body that is their standard soundbar. The Q800T has drivers that represent each channel of the typical sound stage from left to right and right, as well as drivers that provide the height channels of its 3.1.2 setup. So yes, bars of this size are warranted.
The included wireless subwoofer is pretty hefty at 21.6 pounds, slightly dwarfing the smaller woofers from LG (17 pounds) and Sony (16 pounds). Four or five pounds of difference might not sound like much, but it matters for reasons that I'll explain later in this review.
This package does not include rear speakers. However, you can buy a $ 130 pair from Samsung to complete your surround sound setup. As much as I want to be able to run this slide, the traditional theater snob in me has to point out that ideally, $ 750 worth of equipment should arrive with rocking rear speakers. Granted, you can technically spend more and still get less – the $ 799 you'd spend on a Sonos Arc will only blow you away (no subwoofer or wireless surround speakers), though that may not be the fairest comparison with all coming features is with a Sonos product. At the same time, Vizio's incredibly powerful 5.1.4 soundbar system lets you spend $ 700 less and score more from a component standpoint.
This Samsung device is anything but a thorn in the side and should blend in well with most rooms.
Aesthetically, I don't have much to say about the Q800T, and that's certainly not a bad thing. If you're an avid reader, you know that my colleagues and I generally work with soundbars under a "Low Profile is a Good Profile" motto. The Q800T is the epitome of this, a black bar with a corresponding black subwoofer, which is only distinguished by its size in a room. I might prefer the sleeker finish on this year's LG bars, but that's a matter of personal preference. This Samsung device is anything but a thorn in the side and should blend in well with most rooms.
configuration
By now, most sound bar manufacturers have cut the fat out of the set up process and reduced it to a fairly straightforward plug and play process where literally all you have to do to get up and running is your bar and To power your sub. Then add the connection from your display to your soundbar. In that regard, the Q800T is no different from a similar product I tested this year.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
All in all, I had the Q800T crank out the disgustingly loud theme song from The Office within 10 minutes of opening the box, and it only took that long because I had to be careful unpacking the review unit. I assume the average person, who may not have to worry about maintaining the structural integrity of the packaging, can get their Q800T back in half that time.
If you want, you can wrap the setup right there. However, since this is a network soundbar, it's worth downloading the Samsung SmartThings app on your mobile device and taking the time to connect your bar to Wi-Fi and link your Amazon and Spotify accounts. Trust me, even if you don't see the point of this soundbar on your network yet, it's worth the extra step.
I will notice a small hiccup I had during the setup process, although this was mainly due to user error. I turned on the subwoofer in front of the soundbar and left the subwoofer's automatic pairing function aimlessly looking for a soundbar that was virtually nonexistent. After powering the bar, I had to go back and follow Samsung's directions to manually pair the sub. The moral of the story here is to get your soundbar up and running before turning on the sub. Hopefully I'm making these simple mistakes so you don't have to.
links
Before I discuss the Q800T's connections, I want to confirm that I am about to sound like a broken record but will move on anyway. Like so many bars before and probably so many, the Q800T doesn't have a sufficient number of HDMI ports. It's not something I can officially hold against soundbars right now as it has been proven common practice in the industry, but you should get multiple capable connections when spending that kind of money.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
Now that I've got that mini-rant out of the way, the Q800T has an HDMI input and a corresponding HDMI output with the bonus of eARC. There's also a single optical input which, while useful in some cases, should put the HDMI option in the background if possible. Visually, it limits the audio format you can experience, while HDMI supports all of the 3D sound your ears can handle.
The Q800T has built-in Bluetooth that allows you to easily pair your mobile device and stream music. However, depending on your situation, it is usually better to stream audio into the bar over WiFi to eliminate the failure and quality issues that can affect a Bluetooth connection. The Q800T goes one step further thanks to its built-in Amazon Alexa integration. Asking the soundbar to play music was as rational as possible, and the voice assistant seemed decently responsive to my commands, even when music was playing from the bar.
Being in an environment with other connected smart devices can also improve your viewing experience. I routinely asked my soundbar to turn on the TV, selected a YouTube video to broadcast to the TV, and adjusted the volume accordingly with another voice command. No remote controls were required.
Asking the soundbar to play music was as rational as possible, and the voice assistant seemed decently responsive to my commands, even when music was playing from the bar.
There are some connection options that are unique to Samsung TVs and mobile devices. You can technically connect the Q800T to a Samsung TV via WiFi, although I must imagine a wired connection is more reliable. Samsung mobile devices have an option called "Tap Sound" that allows you to tap the top of the soundbar with your device to play the content. That sounds like a decent, if somewhat unnecessary, benefit, and I didn't have a Samsung device on hand to test this out.
Sound quality
I'm not going to dance around here: the Q800T sounds very good. This may seem like an easy judgment, but don't be fooled – there's a lot that went into this five-word conclusion.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
First, it's important to consider all of the audio features built into this bar. The Q800T features Samsung's Acoustic Beam technology, which the company says mixes the sound to create the impression that it is "right where the action is on the screen." This works well in conjunction with the bar's Dolby Atmos and DTS: X support, not to mention the Q800T's various sound modes (Surround Sound Expansion, Game Pro, Standard, and Adaptive). Incidentally, of these sound modes, I opted for Adaptive, which, according to Samsung, should optimize the sound for each scene. There have been a few movies where I had to turn up the volume for quiet moments with little dialogue and then quickly climb down when louder action was introduced. But for the most part, Adaptive seemed to be the most useful of the modes.
When all of these functions are tied together, the resulting sound is truly outstanding when you watch movies and TV. The bar provided a wider soundstage than I thought possible and helped create an experience that was just below real surround sound but still had a reasonably inclusive effect. The subwoofer almost stole the show and produced some of the best low-end songs I've heard from a soundbar woofer this year. In films like The Lighthouse, where sound plays such an important role in dictating the tone of the story, it really added depth to the audio and rocked scenes like one from Capone when a deteriorating mob boss was played insane by Tom Hardy rattles rounds from his golden machine gun.
After the tragic news of Chadwick Boseman's death, I queued some standout Marvel products such as Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame to allay my grief and test the Q800T's 3D sound capabilities. I found the audio to be on par with the Atmos sound on the LG SN7Y. The advantage of the Q800T lay with the Q800T as the rest of the drivers in the ensemble (especially the subwoofer) helped create a bigger, more cinematic sound than the bar, with uploaded speakers nicely added. I don't think Samsung or LG can compete with properly placed speakers in a traditional speaker setup, but I'm sufficiently convinced of the capabilities of these well-executed Atmos bars. And I think most consumers will be too.
I am confident that this soundbar will provide an exceptional listening experience for most ears.
Music playback was solid too, thanks in part to the soundbar's support for a variety of formats including FLAC, WAV, and ALAC. I think watching movies with this bar is the more remarkable experience, but I'd be lying if I said the way Harry Styles' Watermelon Sugar or Chris Stapleton's Starting Over sounded on this system didn't sound to me liked. I feel like I am criticizing soundbars for not being able to create the stereo separation that is critical to the music. While it's well documented that I still prefer the classic theater setup, the Q800T sells its stereo sound very well.
I am confident that with all the settings available, from setting the mid and high channel levels to adjusting the equalizer in the SmartThings app, this soundbar will provide an exceptional listening experience for most ears. For me, the missing piece of this puzzle is the lack of rear speakers, which would have completed a compelling movie theater experience. Sure, you can spend the extra $ 130 on the wireless environment, and some that might be worth it. But for this price, it wouldn't have been inconceivable for Samsung to add rear speakers to elevate the already great sound to the level of excellence. The fact that Vizio did it for $ 50 less only makes this point worse.
Just like the Samsung-specific connections, the Q800T also has an audio function that harmonizes with Samsung QLED televisions. According to Samsung, the Q-Symphony technology is supposed to synchronize the speakers in the QLED TV with the soundbar speakers in order to achieve a “fuller, more haunting” sound. Unfortunately, I have a Sony TV, which means I was unable to test this particular feature.
Our opinion
At $ 750, the Q800T isn't cheap, especially when you factor in the lack of surround speakers. Even without them, Samsung's new Dolby Atmos soundbar offers great sound and a wealth of convenience, especially for those who have already invested in the brand.
Are there any better alternatives?
For $ 500, you can get a similar 3.1.2 experience on the LG SN7Y, even though it lacks the Wi-Fi capabilities. The Vizio SB36514-G6 is a great option that offers 5.1.4 sound for $ 700. However, the setup is more complicated and not quite comparable in the lower area.
How long it will take?
From a technical point of view, the Q800T is relatively future-proof with HDMI eARC, 4K and HDR 10+ passthrough as well as Dolby Atmos / DTS: X support. A one-year guarantee doesn't hurt either.
Should you buy it?
Yes. The HW-Q800T has proven to be a great sounding system that is easy to set up and use thanks to features like Wi-Fi and Amazon Alexa integration. It's expensive, but it won't disappoint.
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