S50B

Overview

HW-S50B is a 2022 Samsung S-series all-in-one soundbar: there is no subwoofer in the box. It is 670 mm wide, 62.3 mm high and 105 mm deep and can be wall-mounted; the wall-mount brackets are included.

Samsung lists 5 speakers, including a built-in centre speaker for dialogue, and 140 W of total power. The sound modes are Game, Adaptive Lite, DTS Virtual:X, Standard and Music.

The TV connects over HDMI ARC. There is also an optical input, a USB port and Bluetooth. The bar has no Wi-Fi, so there is no app control, AirPlay or built-in voice assistant. Samsung lists Q-Symphony, which plays sound through the TV speakers and the soundbar together on select 2021 and 2022 Samsung TVs connected over HDMI.

You can control it with the buttons on the bar, the included remote or the TV remote.

What the specs mean

• 3.0 speaker setup: three main channels (left, centre, right), no built-in subwoofer and no height channels.
• Adding a subwoofer and rear speakers: Samsung lists the SWA-W510 wireless subwoofer and the SWA-9200S and SWA-9100S rear speaker kits as compatible. They connect wirelessly to the bar.
• HDMI ARC, not eARC: the Audio Return Channel sends the TV's sound to the soundbar over the HDMI cable. The newer eARC adds high-bitrate formats such as Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos and uncompressed multichannel audio; neither Dolby TrueHD nor Dolby Atmos is in this bar's format list.
• No HDMI passthrough: the bar has no HDMI input, so a console or streaming box connects to the TV, and the TV sends the sound on to the bar.
• Audio formats: Dolby Digital, DTS, DTS Virtual:X and 2-channel LPCM.