It's a good time to be a JBL fan. The American audio giant dominated the wireless speaker category at What Hi–Fi? Awards with three wins, and their most compact portable speaker yet, the JBL Grip, has just been released.
To top it all off, its flagship Dolby Atmos soundbar package, the JBL Bar 1300, is now on sale for £800 at Peter Tyson, saving you a whopping £450.
It's a great price for a soundbar that offers an interesting solution for surround sound, thanks to its detachable speakers. In our four-star JBL Bar 1300 review, we praised the system for its versatility and bold, lively sound.
The bad news? That puts the JBL Bar 1300 at a price similar to the What Hi–Fi? Award-winning Samsung HW-Q990D, which is currently a smidge cheaper. The Dolby Atmos soundbar system is currently available at The IT Bay for £795, a saving of £905!
While the Samsung HW-Q990D doesn't offer the versatility of the JBL Bar 1300's detachable end speakers, it ticks plenty of other boxes. The Samsung package includes a soundbar, wireless subwoofer and two wireless surround speakers, resulting in 11.1.4 channels of sound.
In our five-star Samsung HW-Q990D review, we were suitably impressed by its large, immersive and three-dimensional sound performance, which delivers excellent Dolby Atmos audio across the room and not just upwards.
The two HDMI 2.1 inputs will be a game-changer for, well, gamers in particular, allowing for advanced features such as 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM.
Streaming support comes in the form of Spotify Connect, Amazon Music and Deezer, with voice control provided by Amazon's long-running Alexa system.
Those interested in wall mounting will be satisfied too - Samsung has thoughtfully included brackets, threaded holes in the speakers and extra-long power cables.
For those who enjoy versatility, the similarly priced JBL Bar 1300 is a great choice. For most people at this price point, though, the Samsung HW-Q990D is hard to beat.
It's a superior-sounding bar, hence our five-star review, and its place in the 2024 What Hi-Fi? Awards – we still recommend it as the best-value soundbar package for most people.
Its successor, the Samsung HW-Q990F, boasts some improvements, but you'll struggle to get one for under £1200 right now.
With great three-dimensional sound, two HDMI 2.1 sockets and solid features, the HW-Q990D delivers a superior Dolby Atmos experience, especially at the discounted price of £795 at the IT Bay.
MORE:
Read our full JBL Bar 1300 review
As well as our Sonos Arc Ultra review
And see the best Dolby Atmos soundbars we've tested
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