Samsung HW-N950 Soundbar Review & Comments

purchased from Curry's today for £1079. this is my 3rd sound bar in 3 weeks...all different. LG SK10Y, Sony ST5000 and now the n950.

Can't really go to anything else after this...but so far, so good. Best front seperation yet and obviously the rear speakers. Haven't had much time to calibrate the sound......
 
purchased from Curry's today for £1079. this is my 3rd sound bar in 3 weeks...all different. LG SK10Y, Sony ST5000 and now the n950.

Can't really go to anything else after this...but so far, so good. Best front seperation yet and obviously the rear speakers. Haven't had much time to calibrate the sound......
I’d be interested in results once you’ve calibrated
Is the calibration making a difference?
I’ve not heard the full system, only front bar with the subwoofer. No rear speakers
Since you’ve had the Sony 5000 and can now compare to the N950 , what’s your take on the two?
 
I’d be interested in results once you’ve calibrated
Is the calibration making a difference?
I’ve not heard the full system, only front bar with the subwoofer. No rear speakers
Since you’ve had the Sony 5000 and can now compare to the N950 , what’s your take on the two?

I've done some form of calibration..but i can't find any test tones for a 7.14 setup..all I can find are demo's..which doesn't help me and my SPL..all it does is give me a vague idea that sound is coming out in the right place. My calibration is best efforts, based on what I think sounds nice from those demo's. Give me some test tones and I'll get the SPL meter out.

So..i have a fairly large room where the speakers are, so bear in mind that what I experience may well be different to other people. My rear speakers are set quite a way back from where i sit...and I'm finding them a bit on the quiet side. I've had to pretty much drop the front speakers settings to a min, and jack up the rears to max to get some sort of decent sound. I also find that the inability to alter individual speaker settings is annoying...

In comparision with the Sony ST5K.. I'm finding it better. The Sony had good clear sound but not much in the way of 'surround' or that 'atmos' effect. The N950 definitely gives you that...those rear speakers (even for me) are creating a much better experience.
The seperation on the front channels is definitely better than the ST5K as well.....
Sub..no issues there either.
I do like the more config options that the ST5K provides...but it's not a showstopper.

For me...if Samsung could just boost those rears further...I'd be very happy.

Just for context (in case other people are surprised on the rear and lack of volume).
My room is 32 feet long, by 18 feet wide. 65" tv is against the wall at one end, with the viewing position approx 12 feet away...(just trying to get that cinema viewing experience!!). The closest I can (or am allowed to) get the rear speakers to where I am sitting is about another 14 feet away.

A couple of niggles for me (but not showstoppers):
another HDMI port would be good
disable auto power off.
add an ethernet port
more information display, or (like the Sony) provide a config menu via the TV.

Cheers
 
I've done some form of calibration..but i can't find any test tones for a 7.14 setup..all I can find are demo's..which doesn't help me and my SPL..all it does is give me a vague idea that sound is coming out in the right place. My calibration is best efforts, based on what I think sounds nice from those demo's. Give me some test tones and I'll get the SPL meter out.

So..i have a fairly large room where the speakers are, so bear in mind that what I experience may well be different to other people. My rear speakers are set quite a way back from where i sit...and I'm finding them a bit on the quiet side. I've had to pretty much drop the front speakers settings to a min, and jack up the rears to max to get some sort of decent sound. I also find that the inability to alter individual speaker settings is annoying...

In comparision with the Sony ST5K.. I'm finding it better. The Sony had good clear sound but not much in the way of 'surround' or that 'atmos' effect. The N950 definitely gives you that...those rear speakers (even for me) are creating a much better experience.
The seperation on the front channels is definitely better than the ST5K as well.....
Sub..no issues there either.
I do like the more config options that the ST5K provides...but it's not a showstopper.

For me...if Samsung could just boost those rears further...I'd be very happy.

Just for context (in case other people are surprised on the rear and lack of volume).
My room is 32 feet long, by 18 feet wide. 65" tv is against the wall at one end, with the viewing position approx 12 feet away...(just trying to get that cinema viewing experience!!). The closest I can (or am allowed to) get the rear speakers to where I am sitting is about another 14 feet away.

A couple of niggles for me (but not showstoppers):
another HDMI port would be good
disable auto power off.
add an ethernet port
more information display, or (like the Sony) provide a config menu via the TV.

Cheers

Test Patterns on Netflix generates tones to aid surround sound audio calibration. I was playing around with it and managed to find out I’d got my rear speakers the wrong way round. I haven’t used it to calibrate my ‘bar yet and I don’t know for sure that it has tones for the upfiring speakers but it might be worth checking out if you haven’t already.
 
Test Patterns on Netflix generates tones to aid surround sound audio calibration. I was playing around with it and managed to find out I’d got my rear speakers the wrong way round. I haven’t used it to calibrate my ‘bar yet and I don’t know for sure that it has tones for the upfiring speakers but it might be worth checking out if you haven’t already.

I’m not there yet. Very difficult to see and hear the n950 here. I even went to the island and they don’t have a unit or even a setup. I’m very appreciative of the info you gents have been providing.
Frenzy, you mentioned the units you’ve had at home with the resulted purchase of the N950.
Does Vizo not also have a similar setup as the 950? Including rear speakers with Atmos. There’s a demo of it on YouTube, however, perhaps it’s just marketing thing that I received.
I wonder if Steve has knowledge of the system?
 
Just set up my new N950, got a good deal on Boxing day from Currys - £300 off then another 10% reduction so paid £1079.

So far so good, TV sound is great. Only hooked up Virgin V6 up so far though, and can't hear a lot of surround. Do I need to use a blu-ray player to get some effects through the rears?
 
Just set up my new N950, got a good deal on Boxing day from Currys - £300 off then another 10% reduction so paid £1079.

So far so good, TV sound is great. Only hooked up Virgin V6 up so far though, and can't hear a lot of surround. Do I need to use a blu-ray player to get some effects through the rears?

There’s a decent amount of Atmos content on Sky (via Q) and Netflix that’ll give the ‘bar a workout. Having said that, I just watched Transformers:Age of Extinction via Netflix (it’s a terrible film that is ridiculously long) which has an accompanying 5.1 audio track and the rears were acting as surround channels. Somebody cleverer than me will be able to explain that. In any event it means you’ll get good value out of the rears even if you don’t watch much stuff pumping out Atmos.

If you happen to have an LG TV then you can download an app from Dolby that includes Atmos demo content.
 
i expect a bit of magic going on..but those rear speakers are dual function..no?? front facing part is surround and top facing is for atmos type stuff?

am making assumptions here as I don't know for sure...

I'm still finding them quiet though. +6 at rear
-6 at front with 0 on centre. I can 'just' hear them....they really do need a bit more juice in them
 
i expect a bit of magic going on..but those rear speakers are dual function..no?? front facing part is surround and top facing is for atmos type stuff?

am making assumptions here as I don't know for sure...

I'm still finding them quiet though. +6 at rear
-6 at front with 0 on centre. I can 'just' hear them....they really do need a bit more juice in them

I guess it partly depends how far they are from you and you did mention having a big room upthread. Mine are about 2m away, set to +3 with the front channels 4m away and set to 0. Watching the aforementioned Transformers abomination, the rears had me jumping out of my seat and considering turning them down. The quality was significantly superior to my previous (admittedly relatively budget) dedicated 5.1 speaker and amp combo.

How much you get from them does seem to be content dependent too.
 
true...i know if i sit a few feet further back (therefore closer to the rear speaker) then it's much better.. I think that is proving that there is definitely surround (and atmos'y) audio coming out, and it sounds great, but just not loud enough.

The annoying thing is, that after reading reviews of the N850 and N950 a few verdicts stated that if you have a bigger room, or a bigger budget...go for the N950!!!
 
Happy new year everyone!
I need your opinion and a bit of help before deciding to buy it.
To play movies with atmos sound from my laptop on my Sony kd55s8505c do I need a avr in the middle?
 
My understanding from the sister forum for the Sony XF90/9005. Is the sound bar won’t pass Dolby Vision? You need to have it connected to a Samsung tv for this feature.
 
Ive put this on my shortlist but have read quite a few reviewers saying that they get sound drop outs and that the wireless speakers often require re- paring. Is this something which those of you have got this sound bar are also experiencing? or has this problem been resoled by Samsung through a firmware update?
 
Ive put this on my shortlist but have read quite a few reviewers saying that they get sound drop outs and that the wireless speakers often require re- paring. Is this something which those of you have got this sound bar are also experiencing? or has this problem been resoled by Samsung through a firmware update?

I’ve had this for three weeks. I’ve had to re-pair once in that time, though maybe not the fault of the bar as I’ve had to do a lot of fiddling and powering on/off trying to get a Sky Q HDMI handshake issue sorted. I’ve not experienced any sound dropouts at all, the wireless speakers work perfectly and effectively.
 
I’ve had this for three weeks. I’ve had to re-pair once in that time, though maybe not the fault of the bar as I’ve had to do a lot of fiddling and powering on/off trying to get a Sky Q HDMI handshake issue sorted. I’ve not experienced any sound dropouts at all, the wireless speakers work perfectly and effectively.
thanks for the feedback it was the one thing which has been putting me off this. I dont have a Sky Q just a V6 box and an nvidea shield so hopefully I wont get the handshake issue which a few of you have mentioned in thus thread.
 
Got mine on backorder with Richersounds.. Looking forward to having a play with it.
 
Hi,

Considering seriously getting this soundbar to replace an old Denon 5.1 system that has given up the ghost.

I just want to dot my i’s and cross my t’s before committing to purchase...

I have an older Samsung TV - about 10 years old; LCD, 1080p. It’s a great TV and I’ve never seen reason to upgrade - at least not until I get a new fast internet connection, and can consider streaming 4K. Only then would I consider upgrading my AppleTV4 to a 4K, etc. For the meantime, 1080p is good enough. Sound is always more important IMHO.

Anyway, my devices are -

10 year old Samsung TV. Has HDMI-CEC, but doesn’t have HDMI ARC. Has an optical out.
AppleTV4
XBOX ONE S.

That’s it. The majority of the time I use the AppleTV, for Netflix etc. The XBOX gets used for gaming, and for watching Blue-Ray and DVD (I had a blue-ray player and ditched it when I got the XBOX.)

My assumed set up would be: Connect Apple TV to Soundbar HDMI-IN 1. Connect XBOX to Soundbar HDMI-IN 2. Connect Soundbar to TV from HDMI-OUT to TV HDMI-IN 1. Maaaybe connect TV to Soundbar via TV Optical Out - Soundbar Optical In??

Does that seem reasonable and correct? Should that all work? Am I going to have some unforeseen problem? Maybe I should get new HDMI cables? (My cables are about 10 years old too.)

One of the reasons I am looking at something new is also that with my previous set-up (the old Denon AVR) and Apple TV, I was having terrible trouble with Audio/Video syncing. It just never seemed to line up sound and image. I could never pinpoint the problem, and I’m hoping that getting this new system will simply solve whatever the problem was by virtue of being modern and “out-of-the-box” set-up.

Looking forward to it though, having real rear speakers is important to me (and wireless even better), and hopefully the Atmos effect is mighty impressive.

Thanks for any advice anyone has, if they can foresee a pitfall I haven’t noticed...
 
Well, to report back, I went ahead and bought the HW-N950, because I simply could not turn down the price I found: just over £750 with free next day delivery, AND Qantas Frequent Flyer points...

Have set it up, and although I haven’t had time for a good play-around and configure, out-of-the-box it sounds brilliant, I am really really impressed.

My previous set-up was a Denon AVR(590?) 5.1 system. Nothing fancy, but did the job.

I’ve thrown a couple of Atmos things from Netflix on the Apple TV, and they sounded amazing. The TV through Optical works without problems too.

However.... Have I lost Atmos. Am I right in thinking the LED display should flash “Atmos” when Atmos content comes through? It worked fine when I first set it up, and I feel like I remember it flashing “Atmos” - maybe my imagination?

Both the Apple TV and the XBOX appear to be set up for Atmos. Browsing Netflix on both the Apple TV and the XBOX lists titles with “ATMOS” - I believe that if Netflix detects your equipment can’t play Atmos then it doesn’t display it next to the film title??

I play the film and it seems pretty cool. It just doesn’t flash “Atmos” which makes me wonder if it is actually working or not...

Any advice??
 
@tonypjhunt Optical will not work for lossless, display should certainly give an indication of Atmos/DTS:X when it's detected.

Where did you find the bar for £750?
 
@tonypjhunt Optical will not work for lossless, display should certainly give an indication of Atmos/DTS:X when it's detected.

Where did you find the bar for £750?

It was $1388 AUD at appliancesonline.com.au, in their post Christmas sale. Legit site, and the system is legit with a genuine serial number etc; so I’m not worried about that!

I am certainly not expecting Atmos over Optical from the tv, I’m aware of that.

It’s from the Apple TV, connected to HDMI1, that I am expecting Atmos content (via the Netflix app.) If I play an Atmos Netflix title, there seems to be no indication from the Soundbar that it is Atmos. I mean, it does display much information at the best of times; but it does make me concerned that perhaps it’s not working properly for some reason.

It sounds.... good. I feel like when I first tried it out of the box I heard more of the impressive overhead effects etc. But... maybe it is an illusion, and because I’m worried about an “Atmos” light coming on, I’m thinking that I can’t hear it...

But if it is the case that, every time you click “play” on something Atmos on Netflix, you should get a little display on the Soundbar saying “Atmos” then..... I think maybe it isn’t working as intended...
 
The Apple TV stream is lossy atmos, not sure it's displayed on the bar in the same way, somebody else could clarify hopefully.

My best guess is that it should display either version of Atmos, the issue is the handshake issues between this bar and the 4K Apple TV (There's a multi page forum thread on the Samsung forums).

Did you purchase the bar to be shipped to the UK? What about customs?
 
No I’m not in the UK, I’m in Australia!

It’s not a 4K AppleTV, a mere normal appleTV 4. But I think it’s capable of Atmos. I think?? I assumed.... [goes and googles...]

Oh wow.... I am so dumb. On Apple’s website it says Atmos is only on the 4K. I don’t know why I assume it was available on the 4.

Now I feel like rather wasted my money!

Still, it sounds cool!

I will have to try the XBOX next, see if I can get that to Atmos...

Wow, I feel genuinely silly!
 
To update on my silly situation.

I went and got an AppleTV4K. I now get Atmos on Netflix and iTunes etc on Apple TV.

So far, I have had no problems. The issues I had with lip-sync that were present with my old Denon seem to have disappeared (both with match frame-rate on and off.) The HDMI-CEC works pretty much flawlessly, and the remotes work as intended, meaning 99% of the time I’m just using my tv remote or my Apple TV remote. The TV sound coming through the optical port also works brilliantly.

I am extremely happy with it. I would never consider myself an audiophile, although I appreciate good sound. I am quite sure I could spend double the money, and even more, and get something better (a true wired Atmos system.)

But it really sounds amazing.

I appreciate the clarity and variety of the sound. The soundstage is clear, when people are talking in different parts of the screen it really feels anchored to where the sound is coming from.

The rear speakers are great; there is often lots of colour and effect coming from them, without it feeling “obvious.”

The upward firing thing seems to work decently. Watching “Bird Box” on Netflix there were a few moments when sound clearly seemed to be coming from above, from gentle bird noises to loud thumps. I have no doubt all this could be tweaked further to be better and more accurate, and maybe I’ll play with it over time, but it is damn impressive for just unpacking it, plonking it in front of the telly and turning it on.

The other thing I appreciate is dialogue. It is clear, always clear, no matter how softly whispered, or how much dramatic music and sound is going on; but it doesn’t feel tiring on my ears (I’ve experienced that in some badly set up cinemas where you feel assaulted by the centre channel.)

Best of all is it’s low volume performance. I have never used a system before where you can turn the volume so low, and yet still have clarity on every word spoken. It really is brilliant.

I have no idea what people seem to complain about that the subwoofer doesn’t work - it is certainly working, in Atmos content of course, but also impressive in 5.1 content, and in normal TV sound coming over Optical, everything is nicely fleshed out by the woofer. Music too is really great to listen to (via Apple Music on aTV, haven’t tried Bluetooth), vivid and colourful, and fleshed outs with the rears.

Aside from my idiocy with the Apple TV and getting true Atmos working, the rest of it has been set-and-forget. I haven’t even dared try the “surround/smart/standard” buttons in case it ruins what is happening automatically!!

For £750 I think I have gotten a damn good piece of machinery at a very good price.
 
Loving the N-950 i thought the HKW950 was a cracking bit of kit but this is a totally different beast! One question i do have though.Is the VIRTUAL mode for Dts surround sound? like a upmixer? I know the surround function is an upmixer.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom