Samsung HW-Q800T Soundbar Review & Comments

Hey Steve,

How does the soundstage of this compare to the YAS-209? Im primarily looking for something wide-ish.
 
Hi Steve, how is this soundbar with its rear speakers SWA-9000s, when compared to JBL Bar 9.1 wrt Atmos and surround sound.
 
Hi Steve, how is this soundbar with its rear speakers SWA-9000s, when compared to JBL Bar 9.1 wrt Atmos and surround sound.
Unfortunately I haven't heard the HW-Q800T with rear speakers, so I don't know. However the JBL will cost less, has rechargeable and completely wireless rear speakers, and rear upward-firing drivers, which the HW-Q800T doesn't, even with the rear speakers added. So bang for buck, the Bar 9.1 is hard to fault.
 
Unfortunately I haven't heard the HW-Q800T with rear speakers, so I don't know. However the JBL will cost less, has rechargeable and completely wireless rear speakers, and rear upward-firing drivers, which the HW-Q800T doesn't, even with the rear speakers added. So bang for buck, the Bar 9.1 is hard to fault.
Thank you for your prompt response. Unfortunately here in my country India, Samsung Q800T retails at half the price of JBL Bar 9.1 otherwise JBL is no-brainer.
 
Thank you for your prompt response. Unfortunately here in my country India, Samsung Q800T retails at half the price of JBL Bar 9.1 otherwise JBL is no-brainer.
Well in that case the HW-Q800T is definitely worth considering, and based on my experiences with other Samsung soundbars that include wireless rears, adding surround speakers for a 5.1.2 system should sound excellent.
 
So is this soundbar better than the Samsung HW-Q80R? Both seem to be the same price at the moment, am I right in thinking the Q80R has side firing speakers but the Q800T does not.

Not sure which one do go for so any advice would be welcome. thanks
 
So is this soundbar better than the Samsung HW-Q80R? Both seem to be the same price at the moment, am I right in thinking the Q80R has side firing speakers but the Q800T does not.

Not sure which one do go for so any advice would be welcome. thanks
AFAIK 2020’s Q800T is equivalent to last years Q70R with the additional Q-Symphony and Alexa features. So, Q80R is a segment higher with more drivers and equivalent to this year’s Q900T.
 
AFAIK 2020’s Q800T is equivalent to last years Q70R with the additional Q-Symphony and Alexa features. So, Q80R is a segment higher with more drivers and equivalent to this year’s Q900T.
Thank you, wasn't sure as the Q800T and Q70R got higher review scores then the Q80R
 
Hi Steve,
Not sure if you are aware, but this soundbar (Q800T) and possibly more 2020 Samsung soundbars all have a PCM audio processing bug.

Specifically, the soundbar seems to take a long time processing PCM audio. This leads to a 0.5s-1s cut off at the start of the PCM audio. If the sound itself is very short (e.g. Nintendo Switch menu sound), the soundbar just does not output any sound at all.

This is reproducible with any Blu-ray that has a PCM audio track and with a Nintendo Switch which only output PCM audio. You can also test this on a PS4 when audio output is set to LPCM where in some games, menu sounds and music are cut off at the start or completely missing.

This seems like a firmware issue and not sure Samsung is aware or plan on fixing this bug.

I have found this on Samsung forum


Re: 2020 soundbars PCM audio processing delay bug (Q70T, Q800T, HW-T450 and maybe more)
a week ago

Today Samsung pushed a firmware update 1016 which has so far resolved this problem for me! Thanks for everyone who brought this to their attention as well as those who implemented a fix
.

link to the forum

As this was resolved, I'm gona buy this one over Q70R

Daniel
 
Hi Steve,
Not sure if you are aware, but this soundbar (Q800T) and possibly more 2020 Samsung soundbars all have a PCM audio processing bug.

Specifically, the soundbar seems to take a long time processing PCM audio. This leads to a 0.5s-1s cut off at the start of the PCM audio. If the sound itself is very short (e.g. Nintendo Switch menu sound), the soundbar just does not output any sound at all.

This is reproducible with any Blu-ray that has a PCM audio track and with a Nintendo Switch which only output PCM audio. You can also test this on a PS4 when audio output is set to LPCM where in some games, menu sounds and music are cut off at the start or completely missing.

This seems like a firmware issue and not sure Samsung is aware or plan on fixing this bug.
I have found this on Samsung forum


Re: 2020 soundbars PCM audio processing delay bug (Q70T, Q800T, HW-T450 and maybe more)
a week ago

Today Samsung pushed a firmware update 1016 which has so far resolved this problem for me! Thanks for everyone who brought this to their attention as well as those who implemented a fix
.

link to the forum

As this was resolved, I'm gona buy this one over Q70R

Daniel
Hopefully this issue has been addressed now, but I'll pass these findings on to Samsung and check.
 
Thank you for your prompt response. Unfortunately here in my country India, Samsung Q800T retails at half the price of JBL Bar 9.1 otherwise JBL is no-brainer.

hello i am also looking at your two mentioned options of soundbars . can you please tell which one out of the two (samsung q800t and jbl 9.1) will match better with samsung w95t tv ?
 
hello i am also looking at your two mentioned options of soundbars . can you please tell which one out of the two (samsung q800t and jbl 9.1) will match better with samsung w95t tv ?
If your budget permits go for JBL 9.1. However, for me the price of JBL 9.1, which is double of Q800T in India, was not justifiable, hence I purchased Q800T. I am very happy with it and have ordered the rear speakers to make it 5.1.2 system.
 
If your budget permits go for JBL 9.1. However, for me the price of JBL 9.1, which is double of Q800T in India, was not justifiable, hence I purchased Q800T. I am very happy with it and have ordered the rear speakers to make it 5.1.2 system.

thankyou for your reply.. what is ur tv make and model to which u have attached Q800T if i may ask?
 
Last year’s Q70.

thanks once again for replying.. if i may ask you does spending on q95t makes sense as there is no dolby vision so q80t or any other samsung UHD 4K tv should be also fine (NU7470,RU7470,TU8570).. asking you as you have purchased last year so must have done research on this ..
 
thanks once again for replying.. if i may ask you does spending on q95t makes sense as there is no dolby vision so q80t or any other samsung UHD 4K tv should be also fine (NU7470,RU7470,TU8570).. asking you as you have purchased last year so must have done research on this ..
If you want DV then go for LG/Sony. You can compare all your shortlisted TVs on rtings.com for all pros and cons.
 
If you want DV then go for LG/Sony. You can compare all your shortlisted TVs on rtings.com for all pros and cons.

thank you for replying..yes DV is what is making me think on Sony...but they are priceir..will have to go for their mid range 4k LED series..LG i am not looking at as
dont want to go in for OLED ... Sony is giving DV and DA in LED so that looks a better propostion..
 
Hi, samsung swa 9000s rear speaker compatible with this soundbar is not available in India (like wise in many countries). Amazon USA has it on their website.
My question is, does the rear speaker support free voltage (100-240v) or 110v? In short will I need only power adapter or step up converter?
Thanks.
 
Anyone else have this?

I just picked it up and am having issues getting arc working with my tv.

The TV is a Samsung Q7 from 2017. I’ve tried a couple of different hdmi cables but no change. The HDMI input just shows as “unknown” on the tv. So at the moment I’m stuck using itwith optical.

It is worth noting that connecting anything to the hdmi port always shows as unknown (Xbox/nvidia shield) so not sure if it’s just the connect box that’s the issue.
 
Hi!
I just got a 65”Samsung Q95T TV and thinking about paring it with Q800T sound bar cause I moved to a bigger house-living room and I need the extra sound and Dolby Atmos feeling. Does anyone have already used Q-symphony? Is it worth the extra money against last years Q70R?

Thank you in advance.
 
Thank you for your prompt response. Unfortunately here in my country India, Samsung Q800T retails at half the price of JBL Bar 9.1 otherwise JBL is no-brainer.

Any idea if this will work well with my LG C9 OLED? I am in the same boat due to price here in India. I auditioned the JBL Bar 9.1 but the bass is too boomy for my liking. Dialogues are not audible due to this. I shortlisted the Q800T mainly for the price and features but i am not sure if this will work well with my OLED. Mainly concerned over Dolby Vision content passthrough. I also plan to buy a PS5 later when it releases so i want this to be future proof.
 
Any idea if this will work well with my LG C9 OLED? I am in the same boat due to price here in India. I auditioned the JBL Bar 9.1 but the bass is too boomy for my liking. Dialogues are not audible due to this. I shortlisted the Q800T mainly for the price and features but i am not sure if this will work well with my OLED. Mainly concerned over Dolby Vision content passthrough. I also plan to buy a PS5 later when it releases so i want this to be future proof.
Any TV having HDMI ARC/eARC will work without any issues with this soundbar (expect for the Q-Symphony feature). As Steve has confirmed in his earlier posts, it does pass through Dolby Vision. It is a very good soundbar at this price point, got well balanced sound and dialogues are very clear.
 

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