Q950A

Overview

The HW-Q950A is the 2021 flagship of Samsung's Q-Series soundbars, with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. The bar is 1232 mm wide, 69.5 mm high and 138 mm deep, comes in black, and can be wall-mounted with the wall mount kit in the box.

It is an 11.1.4 system, and the box holds the full setup: the bar, a wireless subwoofer and two wireless rear speakers (the SWA-9500S, according to Samsung). Samsung lists 22 speakers in total, with a center speaker, side-firing, front-wide and up-firing full-range speakers and a wide range tweeter.

The TV connects over HDMI eARC with the included HDMI cable, or over optical. The bar has two HDMI inputs for sources such as a console or a streaming box, plus Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Over Wi-Fi it supports AirPlay 2 (iOS 11.4 or later, according to Samsung) and Spotify, works with the SmartThings app on iOS and Android, and has Alexa built in.

Samsung lists the sound modes Surround Sound Expansion, Game Pro, Standard and Adaptive, plus Auto AV Sync. With a compatible Samsung TV, Q-Symphony plays the TV speakers together with the soundbar, and the TV remote controls the soundbar (Samsung OneRemote). The bar also has touch buttons and comes with its own remote.

What the specs mean

• 11.1.4 speaker setup: eleven main channels, a subwoofer channel and four height channels. Samsung describes the height channels as up-firing, and the rear speakers in the box are up-firing too.
• HDMI eARC: the enhanced Audio Return Channel sends the TV's sound to the soundbar over HDMI. HDMI.org lists support for Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS:X, and uncompressed 5.1 and 7.1 audio.
• Audio formats: Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, DTS:X, DTS-HD, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS Digital Surround and multichannel PCM.
• HDMI passthrough (4K, HDR10 and HDR10+): two sources connect to the soundbar's HDMI inputs, and the soundbar passes the picture on to the TV through its HDMI output.
• Room correction (SpaceFit Sound+), only with some Samsung TVs: Samsung says SpaceFit Sound+ calibrates the sound to the room automatically, and that it works with 2021 Samsung QLED TVs from the Q70 series up.
• Full setup in the box: subwoofer and rear speakers are already included, so there are no further speakers to add.