If you wish to carry wealthy, detailed, and immersive sound into your lounge with a minimal of elements and fuss, Samsung’s HW-Q70R soundbar needs to be close to the highest of your buying record. At $700, the HW-Q70R is as dear as some higher-end soundbars we’ve reviewed, however provided that Samsung’s top-of-the-line soundbar sells for twice as a lot, $700 seems to be the brand new mid-range.
Worth tags apart, the HW-Q70R soundbar and its wi-fi subwoofer make for a simple strategy to get dazzling Dolby Atmos and DTS:X {surround} sound, whereas a convincing pseudo-surround mode provides stunning depth to different content material. If you’d like true {surround} sound, nevertheless, you’ll have to drop a further $100 for Samsung’s SWA-8500S wi-fi rear speaker package (out there on Amazon). Samsung didn’t ship the package for assessment.
Configuration
Boasting Harman Kardon-designed audio (Samsung acquired Harman Worldwide in 2017), the HW-Q70R is a 3.1.2 soundbar, which suggests it has devoted left, proper, and middle drivers (with the middle channel being significantly essential for delivering clear dialog); up-firing left and proper drivers for immersive, object-based Dolby Atmos and DTS:X with audio peak cues achieved by bouncing hold forth your ceiling; and a wi-fi subwoofer for deep bass response and low-frequency results in film soundtracks.
Measuring 43.Three x 2.Three x 3.9 inches, the primary soundbar unit can sit instantly in entrance of your TV, or you possibly can mount it on the wall with the included bracket, whereas the 15.9 x 15.9 x 8.1-inch subwoofer can sit close by on the ground.
Inputs and outputs
On the underside of the soundbar, you’ll discover a pair of cavities the place the varied ports and buttons sit. A button on the left-hand aspect lets the soundbar hook up with your Wi-Fi community (with a bit assist from the Samsung SmartThings cell app), together with a microSD service port and a 19V DC energy port. The cavity on the right-hand aspect hosts one HDMI enter, one HDMI-ARC (so your TV can ship audio from its onboard tuner and video-streaming apps again to the soundbar), and a TosLink (optical) digital audio enter.
Setup and set up
Organising the HW-Q70R was a reasonably easy course of. As soon as I’d positioned the soundbar in entrance of my TV, I related the ability adapter after which plugged the included HDMI cable into the soundbar’s HDMI output (which helps 4K 60Hz video and HDR passthrough) and related the opposite finish to one in all my TV’s HDMI inputs. I then related my Apple TV 4K (which is able to Dolby Atmos audio output) to the soundbar’s HDMI enter.
The Samsung HW-Q70R contains a single HDMI enter, an HDMI-ARC output, and a Toslink enter.
For the reason that HW-Q70R solely has a single HDMI enter, you’ll have to manually swap out the cable if you wish to change to a different video supply (comparable to a sport console or a Blu-ray participant).That is important if you would like Dolby Atmos output by way of the lossless Dolby TrueHD format (a Toslink connection can’t present sufficient bandwidth)..
In the event you don’t wish to be switching cables on a regular basis, you can even join all of your video sources to your TV, after which ship audio again to the soundbar utilizing HDMI-ARC. The disadvantage to counting on ARC for audio is that you simply’ll should accept lossy Dolby Atmos by way of Dolby Digital Plus. If the speaker supported Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC, which gives extra bandwidth), this wouldn’t be a difficulty.
Final however not least, you’ll have to hook up the wi-fi subwoofer, which may be the best step within the course of. For the reason that soundbar and the subwoofer are paired out of the field, the soundbar ought to routinely join with the subwoofer as soon as they’re each powered on, and that’s precisely what occurred for me. A gentle blue mild on the again of the subwoofer signifies you have got a great wi-fi connection. A blinking blue or strong crimson mild means the subwoofer can’t join routinely to the soundbar, by which case you’ll have to manually pair the items by urgent the “ID Set” button on the again of the subwoofer, after which press and maintain the “up” button on the distant.
SmartThings and Alexa integration
After getting the soundbar related to your TV and the subwoofer, you can even join it to your Wi-Fi community utilizing the Samsung SmartThings app. Simply set up the app in your iOS or Android machine, signal into or create a SmartThings account, press the Community button on the soundbar, after which uncover it utilizing the app.
As soon as the SmartThings app has the soundbar on its radar, you possibly can join it to your Wi-Fi community, add it to a “room” in your sensible residence, after which management it like every of your different SmartThings units. You can too management your Wi-Fi-connected soundbar with Amazon Alexa voice instructions, or stream music to it by way of Spotify and different appropriate music-streaming providers. Final however not least, the SmartThings app allows you to fiddle with the soundbar’s EQ settings.
Distant and Samsung TV integration
The AA battery-powered distant that comes with the HW-Q70R is just about equivalent to those who come bundled with different Samsung soundbars. Some TechHive contributors have praised this distant; however as a newcomer to Samsung’s ecosystem, I discovered it a bit complicated, significantly when digging into the HW-Q70R’s varied settings.
Urgent the Settings button cycles by means of quite a lot of choices, comparable to twiddling with the relative ranges of the drivers, tweaking treble and bass, and toggling the Digital setting on and off (extra on the Digital setting in a second). However I couldn’t work out change the settings themselves. Seems you’re purported to press “Up” on the round four-way directional management, which is unmarked.
Ben Patterson/IDGThe HW-Q70R’s distant takes getting used to, however not less than it isn’t full of buttons.
As soon as I figured that out, the remainder of the distant was pretty simple to grasp, with a pair of skinny quantity rockers for the primary speaker and the subwoofers, a mute button, a Sound Mode button that cycles by means of a quartet of sound profiles (we’ll get to them in a second), an enter button, and a Bluetooth pairing button (which paired the soundbar with my iPhone in a snap). Certainly, one good factor I’ll say in regards to the distant is that it isn’t full of a complicated array of buttons.
When you have a 2013 or newer Samsung Sensible TV, you can even tinker with the soundbar’s settings utilizing the on-screen Samsung TV menu. Since I’ve a Sony TV, I wasn’t in a position to take a look at this characteristic—and certainly, limiting on-screen setup for the soundbar to a specific model of TV appears needlessly restrictive.
Operation and efficiency
When you flip in your TV, the three-character (four-character, within the case of HDMI) show on the suitable entrance aspect of the soundbar lights up, telling you which of them enter it’s utilizing. This show goes darkish after a number of seconds, and fortunately there are not any different distracting lights or indicators to pollute your darkened residence theater. As you’re watching TV or listening to music, you possibly can check out the soundbar’s varied sound modes by repeatedly urgent the Sound Mode button on the distant.
For starters, Commonplace places the soundstage squarely entrance and middle, with little in the way in which of {surround} results. The Commonplace setting is a good selection for listening to music unadulterated with distracting sonic results, and I wasn’t upset as I teed up Carlos Kleiber’s thrilling interpretation of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony on the Orfeo label, full with its wealthy, swelling strings and pulse-quickening timpani. I additionally tried the title observe from Bruce Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad and soaked in The Boss’s quiet efficiency with acoustic guitar and harmonica within the spare opening part, finally accompanied by punchy percussion and a heat synthesizer.
As strong because the Samsung’s Commonplace mode sounds, the Encompass mode manages to dramatically broaden the soundstage with out sounding gimmicky. With assist from Samsung’s Acoustic Beam expertise (which channels soundwaves by means of an array of holes), sound results convincingly slip to the perimeters of the soundstage, as if there have been left and proper audio system positioned considerably ahead of the display screen.
Digital rear results aren’t fairly as vivid as on competing soundbars with extra aggressive digital {surround} modes, however that’s really a great factor. As an alternative of overreaching, the HW-Q70R’s {surround} mode delivers a satisfying rear presence with out getting slowed down in distracting, synthetic-sounding {surround} results. As a listener who’s accustomed to a standard 5.1-speaker setup, I might actually reside with Samsung’s digital {surround} mode if I had to surrender bodily rear audio system.
There’s additionally a Sport mode that takes the soundbar’s {surround} mode up a number of notches, which can be effective for gaming however begins heading into distracting territory for motion pictures and TV reveals.
Significantly better is the Adaptive mode, which adjusts the soundbar’s {surround} results relying on what’s on the display screen. After some preliminary tinkering, I parked the Samsung’s sound mode within the Adaptive setting and was fairly proud of it, with the {surround} results (as soon as once more) sounding interesting with out calling undue consideration to themselves.
Past the primary sound modes, there’s additionally a “Digital” setting that upmixes a peak channel for reveals, motion pictures, and video games with 5.1 or 7.1 soundtracks. Don’t anticipate dramatic results swirling round your head with the Digital setting on; as a substitute, it’s much more refined, merely filling out the higher area of the soundstage, much like how the Encompass sound mode fills out the rear.
Dolby Atmos efficiency
The HW-Q70R is one in all many soundbars vying to carry the immersive sound of Dolby Atmos into your lounge. A sound format that goals to exactly place “audio objects” (as much as 128 at a time) in a 3D area, versus the 2D sounds you’ll hear in commonplace 5.1 or 7.1 {surround} methods that lack a peak channel, Dolby Atmos (and its competitor, DTS:X) extra usually is dependent upon audio system put in within the ceiling to ship the sense of sound results coming from above.
Ben Patterson/IDGEach time the soundbar detects Dolby Atmos content material, it’ll flash “Dolby Atmos” (no, not simply “ATM”) on its scrolling show.
For these of use who don’t have the time, cash, or inclination to chop holes within the ceilings, audio system or soundbars with up-firing drivers can simulate a bodily peak speaker by bouncing hold forth the ceiling at a few 20-degree angle. For the impact to work correctly, you’re purported to have a flat ceiling between seven and 14 toes excessive; no peaked or dropped ceilings will do.
Throughout my exams, I used an Apple TV 4K plugged instantly into the soundbar’s HDMI enter. When the soundbar detected a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, the phrases “Dolby Atmos” flashed briefly on the soundbar’s show.
First, I queued up one in all our favourite Dolby Atmos demos: the scene in X-Males: Apocalypse the place a youthful Cyclops (a.ok.a. Scott Summers) blows a gap in a toilet ceiling with the power beams taking pictures out of his eyes, which sends particles crashing to the ground (it’s at in regards to the 10:08 mark when you’re ).
With a great audio system, this scene could make you’re feeling like plaster is falling throughout you, and the HW-Q70R does a pleasant job of placing you within the motion, with the clattering particles particles sounding distinct however not too harsh, with a deep bass layered beneath. You actually get the sensation of sound results from above, though and not using a set of rear {surround} audio system, the sounds behind you’re a lot much less distinct—once more, suppose extra of a presence moderately than clear, particular audio objects.
Subsequent, I dialed up the well-known opening credit from the Dolby Atmos-remastered Superman from 1978, and as Marlon Brando’s credit score swoops up and over the display screen, I might hear the “whoosh” over my head—and sure, I received chills. (I noticed Superman throughout its authentic run after I was 9, so there’s a nostalgia issue at work.) And when the Superman emblem seems, there’s an appropriately deep thump of bass, together with John Williams’s crisp, clear, and triumphant rating. Fairly cool.
For one thing a bit extra detailed, I streamed an official Dolby Atmos trailer by way of AirPlay to my Apple TV, which transmitted the Dolby Atmos soundtrack intact. In Dolby’s “Leaf” trailer, the digicam snakes by means of a maze of twigs and branches, lastly specializing in a leaf that detaches with a crisp snap and flutters slowly to the bottom, swirling aspect to aspect and above and under the body, and you’ll hear the leaf’s whispers all the way in which down, though as earlier than, rear particulars are far much less pronounced than they’re from the entrance and above. Once more, fairly spectacular.
Backside line
Sure, it’s dear, however the Samsung HW-Q70R soundbar allows you to add wealthy, detailed, and immersive sound, full with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X help, to your TV in a matter of minutes. The HW-Q70R’s distant takes getting used to, and it’s annoying that you simply want a appropriate Samsung TV for on-screen setup. Nonetheless, the soundbar delivers convincing {surround} sound even with out Samsung’s non-obligatory rear {surround} audio system, and you’ll at all times dash for an non-obligatory, moderately priced wi-fi {surround} package so as to add extra rear soundstage element.
