Samsung has been pretty quiet about its 2023 lineup of Dolby Atmos soundbars since it announced the new collection back at CES 2023, but we finally have all of the models, prices, and features. As we already knew, the latest flagship is the HW-Q990C, a monster 22-driver, 11.1.4-channel system that carries forward the legacy of the HW-Q990B from 2022 — a soundbar that deeply impressed our reviewer. However, it’s now joined by the HW-Q900C — a more affordable version for folks who don’t need the 990C’s surround speakers, but who nonetheless may want to add them at a later date.
Also new to the collection are two C-Series models that bring the price of better TV sound down to $200 or less. Here’s the full lineup.
In addition to Dolby Atmos compatibility, Samsung’s Q-Series soundbars feature Q-Symphony, a feature that lets a compatible Samsung TV enhance the soundbar’s own performance through the use of the TV’s built-in speakers. Version 3.0 of Q-Symphony also uses the TV’s sound algorithms to analyze each scene to match the TV and soundbar outputs.
Some models also come with wireless Dolby Atmos, which negates the need for HDMI cables when connected to a compatible Samsung TV, and Samsung’s SpaceFit Sound, which automatically analyzes your room and fine-tunes the soundbar’s acoustics to match.
The HW-Q990C is the Dolby Atmos soundbar to beat for 2023, especially after our own Editor-at-large, Caleb Denison claimed the 2022 HW-Q990B was the best Dolby Atmos bar you could get. Taking an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it approach for 2023, the Q990 returns with all of the features that made the B-variant a hit, plus a few nice updates like
Unchanged from 2022, these two ultra-slim soundbars are identical except for color: the HW-S801B is white, while the S800B comes in black.
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