Alright - Q950T vs JBL 9,1 FIGHT! - no! Shake hands.
I want to preface this that I am coming at these from a consumer standpoint. I know audio, mostly from a music background of running analogue studios but I got really sick of dealing with it. I've owned these two, the LGSN11RG and the Vizio SB46514-f6 for reference. I will not be touching on detailed audio or other specs that have been discussed and questioned in the thread already. This is a straight up listeners comparison so here we go!
Q950T is set up in my living room, 2 walls - front and right - behind is an open stairwell with a wall approx. 15' ft from the bar, to the left is open concept area to dining room and kitchen approx 12 ' to the wall, 9' flat ceiling, open concept area on my left hand side
JBL 9.1 is set up in my basement, 3 walls - front, right, behind, equal, approx 9' x 12' area. Left is open to the rest of the room, approx 12 ft. from the bars' listening space.
Settings:
Besides the way the rears work and the aesthetic, this is the absolute biggest difference between the two. While the Q950T has numerous settings, including different volumes for sets of speakers, sub, EQ freq. adjustments and sound modes the JBL is streamlined (albeit really slick about it) with Atmos, Bass and Rear levels on the remote having the user set them to only Low-Med-High. Edit: forgot to mention that the sub has a level of 1-5 with 3 being the default. That's it...and it's a noticeable difference for each settings and glorious that you can hear that difference and don't have to think much about which you like better. Choose 1 of the 3 that sounds best and move on. Awesome.
Atmos:
Comparable and great!!
Both units handle the upfiring Atmos beautifully. The clarity, height level and effect are both on par with each other. I watched Ready Player One chase scene, Midway opening battle and Blair Witch (2016) and barely noticed a difference. Both produced strong overhead and bubble Atmos. Maybe a slight edge to the JBL for tightness, but Q950 for wideness. Ugh, it's even.
5.1 vs 7.1 vs 9.1:
Again, comparable but the Q gets the nod for a more widespread effect, which makes sense, the bar is "wider". Still, in watching "The Outpost" (2019) (which sound design I love) I noticed very little difference between bars, maybe a SLIGHT edge to the Q but again, cause it's a larger bar and wides and sides levels have been turned up. Can't go wrong either way.
Quality:
Both fine. These reviewers talking about the "cloth" finish of the Q950T or whatever are bored and have nothing to talk about. Both are great looking and not even something that needs to be discussed...not only from me but from any reviewer because taste is subjective so who cares?
Ease of use/remore/settings:
They are both easy to use. Both have "hidden button menus" which is so dumb. Why do these companies make them "hidden"?! WTF?! Like, your hidden menu button is EXACTLY what I needed to fix my system but, no, you had to hide it and say it was hidden in the friggen manual which is also "hidden" on your website. Ugh. And....Samsung - get your Smart Things App right for Android 11 cause I can't access the Q950T. Still, Samsung wins in the non-hidden manual dept (JBL's is so ridiculous, I won't even go into it) BUT JBL wins in ease of use HANDS DOWN and the reason why is:
LIMITED OPTIONS. When I used to mix and produce music I never wanted too much. The easiest way to make something sound great or create with was to have a limited amount of options. I LOVE that JBL sounds amazing right out of the box and when you go to calibrate it's about 3 minutes and then you look at the options for speaker settings and it's like "Here's what you got, deal with it."
set-up:
Very similar, took the same time for both. Nothing really to say here except for the JBL - make sure to charge the speakers immediately before completely setting up. Maybe wait about 3 hours. I experienced zero issues with setting these both up.
So, this brings me to the biggest difference in the two (and for any others for that matter) the JBL wireless rears which connect to the bar to charge. I'm happy to say that so far I haven't even ended up below 50% battery life on the rears and that's even from last week watching football from 1 PM EST - 9:45 PM EST. What's cool is you can place them wherever in your room and not have to worry about mounting or stands. They can also be charged via micro USB if you wish. I personally LOVE this aspect of this bar.
Sub - Both pack a huge punch. The Q950T at 15 vol rumbles and at 25 or 30 shakes the hell out the room! That is with bass set to 2 and sub set to 2! Man, it cranks. JBL is super tight sounding as well! I don't even know if I can compare bass levels....hmmmm...nah, both sound great. One odd thing I've noticed- if the volume on the JBL bar is below 4, the sub completely cuts out 100%. It's very weird but it legit just cuts off. Which is fine but vol 3 still isn't as low as I would want to fall asleep too with a little low end and it's non existent at that level.
I think I can say the bass feels tighter on the JBL but maybe a little more powerful on the Q950T
So, to conclude - Surprisingly (to me even!) , I slightly prefer the JBL due to it's simplicity, no hassle ease of use, price point and comparable sound. It's perfect for a smaller space, has an easy remote, limited options for tweaking sound and you can place the rears wherever you want. If you have a very large room and listening area I would recommend the Q950T instead mainly due to the size of the bar and the added ability to adjust and tweak the sound if need be
Note: I want to swap the locations of my JBL and Q950T to see if there is any difference. I quite like my set-up at the moment though so not sure if I'll do it anytime soon.
Cheers all!