(NEW) Samsung HW-Q600C 3.1.2ch Soundbar w/Dolby Audio

After over two decades of owning and using a large, tower speaker-based 5.1 surround sound system as my primary home theater setup, I’ve replaced all that imposing gear with this Samsung Q990F soundbar system. The “old” 5.1 system consisted of Paradigm Studio 100 v.4 tower speakers, a matching Paradigm Studio CC690 center channel (HUGE center channel), Paradigm surrounds, and an SVS 12” sealed subwoofer, a few years newer than the Paradigm system. That system was simply fantastic for movies, concert Blu-rays, and two-channel music. However, a key difference between my Paradigm system and the Q990F lies in two-channel sound staging and imaging. The Paradigm system excelled in this regard when properly set up in the room, projecting a large, deep, and detailed soundstage that the Q990F simply cannot match. This is to be expected, given the different objectives of the respective speaker designs and types, as well as the overall size of the speakers. The two separate towers separated by about 9 feet between them provided enough space to recreate a convincing soundstage. A one-panel speaker of any type simply won’t keep up in that regard due to physics. All that said, the Q990F does sound good with music, but it’s not “great” compared to my Paradigm system, especially in the areas mentioned above. Now, let’s talk about movies in TrueHD and Atmos… WOW! I’m impressed! It’s loud, clear, thumpy but not lumpy, slow or tubby, and in this arena, I didn’t miss my Paradigm system at all. For such a small subwoofer, there’s a very good amount of LFE thunder. While it doesn’t punch as hard and isn’t quite as nimble as the SVS 12” sub it replaced, I’m surprised as to how good it is. For its compact size, the Q990F delivers a punchy and immersive audio experience that truly enhances the theater atmosphere. However, as with any audio system, proper placement in the room is crucial. Since I’ve already optimized the placement of my speakers during the installation of the Paradigm system, I knew the ideal spot for the subwoofer in my theater room. This setup undoubtedly allows the Q990F to deliver its best performance, and it does. Installing the Q990F yesterday was a breeze. The setup and installation process were straightforward and hassle-free. While you’ll need to download the SmartThings app and add the Q990F to it, this step was a breeze, and there were no issues. My experience was truly “plug and play.” I simply placed the components in their designated locations, connected everything, downloaded the SmartThings app, added the Q990F, the speakers, and the subwoofer to the soundbar through the app, and I was up and running in a relatively short amount of time. Thankfully, I didn’t encounter any issues, and everything has been working flawlessly so far. On a side note, I’m growing increasingly tired of constantly signing up for apps and websites to use products I’ve handed my money over for. I’ve bought and paid for these products, and I simply want to use them without being forced to sign up for additional apps or devices that I don’t need or want. I don’t use Google products and don’t have any other SmartThings devices and would rather have a dedicated Samsung/Q990F app to utilize all this speakers functions and features. After setting up the Q990F and making a few minor adjustments to the settings to optimize the sound for my room, I played some test movie clips to enjoy the audio experience. I began by watching a Mission Impossible clip from “Ghost Protocol” in TrueHD (not ATMOS) on Netflix. The desert sandstorm scene was particularly impressive. The sound was great and not far off from what I vaguely remember the experience being like on my much larger Paradigm system. The room filling sound with grains of sand sounds swirled around the room. While it wasn’t a 360 sound bubble since it wasn’t ATMOS, the sound did move around the room well and to the sides of me. I was impressed and probably the biggest compliment I can give the Q990F is that I just wanted to keep watching the movie because it sounded so good. Next, I tried a couple of scenes from ‘Transformers Rise Of the Beasts’ in ATMOS via Netflix. Again, I was impressed with the overall size of the sound, but for some reason, it wasn’t as immersive as I had expected. It wasn’t even as immersive as the TrueHD sound from M.I. Ghost Protocol. Am I expecting too much from ATMOS? I adjusted some of the speaker levels in the SmartThings app, which helped a small degree, but I’m still not getting satisfying height effects like I thought I would. I’ll make further adjustments to see if I can boost the top firing speakers to assist in getting better height effects from ATMOS soundtracks. Even so, the movie did sound good, especially Optimus Prime and other bassy-voiced Transformers voices. They never became unintelligible and were always clear and easy to hear. I listened between the 30-55 volume settings, and 55 was good and loud in my room. Loud in a good way, like in a theater. Enjoyable. I also noticed that the contrast between the loud and quiet sections of the movies was very well handled. The quiet scenes were appropriately hushed but still had atmosphere and clarity, while the loud scenes contained appropriately sized and clear bombast. The remote control is clean and user-friendly. I use a Logitech Harmony Elite Universal Remote to control my devices, which helps me reduce the number of clickers I need to watch movies, YouTube videos, or other content. Once I set up the Harmony remote to control the Q990F, it functions perfectly. Although Harmony doesn’t currently have the Q990F in its database, it did have the previous model, Q990D, so I used that profile during set up, and it works. I haven’t encountered any compatibility issues either. I only have a TV (a 65-inch Panasonic Plasma via ARC, not eARC), an Apple TV 4K gen 4, and an Oppo BDP-95 Blu-ray player connected. Everything works as expected without any hiccups so far. It’s only been one day. I followed up the above-mentioned movie clips with some James Bond Blu-ray action, particularly the helicopter scene near the end of Skyfall. HOLY WOW! Yes! Prepare for IMPACT! I’m surprised my house is still standing. Bullets whizzing around my theater room, helicopter blades whooping about, CRASH! BANG! BOOM! with clarity, no less! The sound didn’t become a jumbled mess of noise, which can happen with smaller, less capable soundbars. What a ride! Well done, Samsung. I understand that there might be soundbars that offer slightly better performance in specific areas compared to this bar. However, it would require listening to them side by side to notice any significant differences. Even if there were a superior overall soundbar, it might be more expensive or excel in only a few areas, while the Q990F may excel in others. I acquired this soundbar at a great discount because the outer box had been damaged during handling. Fortunately, there was no damage to the internal hardware or the inner protective foam. Considering the price I paid, I can’t imagine any other soundbar at that cost coming close. Perhaps at twice the cost or more. Perhaps. I also considered the Sennheiser Ambeo Max and Plus, but I was hesitant due to the lack of rear surrounds and, to a certain extent, the price, even though they were on sale at the time. I visited Best Buy and listened to the Sonos Arc Ultra, but I wasn’t impressed. It sounded ordinary. Perhaps it was the setup or the way it was placed, but I wasn’t satisfied. I know that the Sonos Arc Ultra bar receives great reviews, especially when combined with Sonos Era 300s as surrounds and the Sonos Sub. However, this setup would significantly increase the overall price, potentially reaching or exceeding $2000.00. Considering the price I paid for the Q990F, I would have only gotten the Arc Ultra and would have had to spend extra for the surrounds and the sub. I’m confident that properly set up, the Arc Ultra is a great system, but I’ll never know for sure. For now, I’m quite satisfied with the Q990F. Considering its overall performance in my room so far, I believe it’s a good value for the money. I do wish Samsung would allow the addition of a second, or even up to four total subs to be connected to enhance the overall amount and linearity of the bass, however. Maybe down the line with a firmware update. I’m sure getting both subs to place nice together wirelessly wouldn’t be easy. Or maybe it would. Who knows? Speaking of firmware updates, of course there was one available for the Q990F once I got the SmartThings app up and running. I clicked “download and install” or whatever it actually said, the update process began and there were no problems during, nor after the update completed. I know there was a disastrous update issue in the past with a previous Q990 iteration that bricked some sound bars out there but I had no issues at all. So, I think the Q990F is definitely worth the current $1499 or so price and if you can get it even cheaper, all the better.