I tested Samsung's flagship soundbar — it's good but falls down in these two key areas

Samsung Q990F — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The best soundbars are, at their core, a compromise. You want better sound than your TV speakers, but you don't want to take up the same space as traditional HiFi or home theater speakers.

Of course, the higher up the soundbar ladder you get, the closer you get to the sound quality that traditional home theater speakers provide. You'll never quite get there from a soundbar alone — I've haven't yet tested a soundbar that's entirely sonically flawless, thanks to how much manufacturers have to pack into relatively small boxes — but each year we're getting closer and closer.

Case in point — Samsung's Q990F. It's a big soundbar that sounds huge and offers a fairly hefty bang-to-buck ratio. Look a little closer, however, and the compromises start to show. It turns out, we're still not there yet.

Samsung Q990F: The Good

If you like movies, you're in for a treat. The Q990F, for most people, sounds massive. The subwoofer adds that helpful hit of low end for explosions and car chases, and movie soundtracks sound great.

The Dolby Atmos (and other spatial formats) are well judged, sending elements to pretty much where you want them — at least, as well as a bar relying on room acoustics can.

The physical surround speakers add that extra dimension (mostly), and make sure that movies feel immersive.

The physical surround speakers add that extra dimension (mostly), and make sure that movies feel immersive and involving. It's not quite up there with the likes of the Sonos Arc Ultra and the Sonos Era 300, but it's still decent.

"Star Wars Episode III's" opening scene was suitably monstrous, as the space battle raged around me. Movie sound-wise, we're pretty much there.

The smart features are genuinely useful as well: You can stream music to the soundbar using your music service of choice, and manipulate settings using the Samsung Smart Things app. Given how dreadful these things are usually are, it's nice that Samsung's Bar just kind of... works.

I won't get too into the weeds, but the Q990F is a good soundbar. But when the competition at this same price from Sonos and Sennheiser are excellent, good just doesn't quite cut it.

Samsung Q990F: The Bad

The main issue with the sound is the dialogue. Contrary to popular belief, the most important part of your movie sound is not the music or even the ability to shake a room with explosions. Those are literal set dressing. The meat and potatoes of most movie watching is speech. Spoken word dialogue. You know, so that you can hear what your characters are talking about.

While everything going on around the dialogue sounds great, the speech sounds like it's coming out of something that costs a quarter of the price.

The Q990F handles dialogue like an annoying extra. "Fine, you want to hear the story. Here are some words. Happy?" No, Q990F, I'm not happy. Because while everything going on around the dialogue sounds great, the speech sounds like it's coming out of something that costs a quarter of the price.

Characters come across as muffled for the most part, and sometimes completely inaudible. This could be fixed with a competent dialogue booster mode as you'd find in the Sonos Arc Ultra, but alas, no luck. The built-in sound modes just aren't good.

Samsung Q990F: The Ugly

I'm not expecting the satellites that come in the box with the Q990F to sound like the Sonos Era 300s I've got for rear sound with my Arc Ultra. That would be unfair. I would, however, like them to sound good — and, despite the packages relatively high asking price, they just don't.

For most surround sound, they're fine. They don't do very much. But when more work is asked of them, they just kind of falter and fall down. Intense action scenes make them sound cheap and cheerful, and god forbid you want to listen to any spatially mixed music.

Soundbars usually don't sound great for music, but the Q990F sounds particularly bad.

It sounds awful. And soundbars usually don't sound great for music, but the Q990F sounds particularly bad. I searched everywhere for a setting that made music sound good, and I just couldn't find one. It wasn't there. Part of that is down to the closeness of the drivers in the bar, but the cheap-sounding surrounds certainly weren't helping the situation.

Should you buy one?

If you want everything all in one box, then the Q990F is a good option. The surround sound is mostly impressive, and most of your visitors aren't going to notice that the satellites are sub-par. If you've only listened to music on a cheap Bluetooth speaker and AirPods until now, then the music performance is going to be very impressive.

But if you expect something that feels like $1,700 worth of sound, then you'll want to look elsewhere. Spend the same on some stereo speakers and a decent amplifier, with space to upgrade with other speakers later if you've got the space. Or, buy the Arc Ultra and a Sub 4, and then buy a pair of Era 300s later.

Like I said. The Q990F is a good soundbar. But for $1,700, you want something excellent — and the Q990F is not that.

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Tammy and her generous collection of headphones have found a new home — Tom's Guide! After a two-and-a-half-year stint as iMore's resident audiophile, Tammy's reviews and buying guide expertise have more focus than ever on Tom's Guide, helping buyers find the audio gear that works best for them. Tammy has worked with some of the most desirable audio brands on the planet in her time writing about headphones, speakers, and more, bringing a consumer focussed approach to critique and buying advice. Away from her desk, you'll probably find her in the countryside writing (extremely bad) poetry, or putting her screenwriting Masters to good use creating screenplays that'll never see the light of day.

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