Samsung's Award-winning Dolby Atmos soundbar system in a box is half-price for Black Friday

Deals
By published

The HW-Q990F is a complete-but-neat Dolby Atmos home cinema

Samsung HW-Q990F soundbar package
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

I'm old enough to remember when home cinema in a box systems were a big deal. In fact, I tested loads of them in my early days at What Hi-Fi?, almost two decades ago.

These were systems that usually included five speakers and a fairly sleek-looking amplifier – sometimes even with a DVD player built in.

Now, though, brands are combining the best of soundbars with the best of those home cinema in a box systems.

These Dolby Atmos soundbar systems typically combine a soundbar with wireless surrounds and a wireless subwoofer, and the best deliver a genuine room-filling Atmos experience.

The best of the best is currently the Samsung HW-Q990F, and it isn't even close.

This is a Dolby Atmos soundbar system that achieved a five-star rating and What Hi-Fi? Award at its original price of £1699 – and now you can buy it for just £819 at Amazon in the Black Friday sales.

Yes, that means it's better than half price. Absolutely unbeatable value for a complete Dolby Atmos home cinema.

Samsung HW-Q990F
What Hi-Fi Award Winner
Save 52% (£880)
Samsung HW-Q990F: was £1,699 now £819 at Amazon

The Award-winning Samsung HW-Q990F is a soundbar system that does it all. Immersive, detailed and engaging cinematic sound is paired with superb wireless convenience and a well-stocked selection of features, including HDMI 2.1 passthrough and wireless music streaming options.

View Deal

Samsung’s HW-Q990F is a serious all-in package, delivering 11.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos sound that makes you feel like you’ve got a proper cinema setup without running cables everywhere.

The sound is really clean an immersive, too – dialogue is clear, and the system feels dynamic and detailed.

One of the biggest upgrades comes from the subwoofer: Samsung has swapped out the bulky boxy version for a much more compact cube packing dual force-cancelling 8-inch drivers, and at 300W, it delivers richer, more varied bass with less distortion.

All the speakers – the bar, the rear surrounds, the sub – feel tonally matched, creating a real 'bubble of sound' that’s genuinely enveloping.

Feature-wise, the Q990F is packed to the gills. It supports HDMI 2.1 passthrough (up to 4K/120Hz), so gamers will love it, and it’s got HDMI eARC, optical, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

It also supports Spotify Connect, AirPlay 2, Google Cast, and even Roon – and Alexa and Google Assistant are built in.

On top of that, Samsung’s SpaceFit Sound Pro tunes the audio to your room automatically, so there's no need to take manual measurements.

In use, the surround and height effects are very convincing. The system nails the cinematic feel – explosions, rain, overhead effects: it’s all there, and the seamless transitions feel natural, not processed.

Nothing is perfect, and the design of the bar and rear speakers feels a little dated. The dot-matrix display on the front is a little hard to read at times, too.

But these are minor niggles next to the performance on offer, particularly at this absolutely bargainous price.

More of today's best early Black Friday deals

Tom Parsons
Tom Parsons

Tom Parsons has been writing about TV, AV and hi-fi products (not to mention plenty of other 'gadgets' and even cars) for over 15 years. He began his career as What Hi-Fi?'s Staff Writer and is now the TV and AV Editor. In between, he worked as Reviews Editor and then Deputy Editor at Stuff, and over the years has had his work featured in publications such as T3, The Telegraph and Louder. He's also appeared on BBC News, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4 and Sky Swipe. In his spare time Tom is a runner and gamer.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.