Samsung Dolby Atmos Soundbar Now Under $1,000
Flagship soundbars rarely come cheap, but Woot is currently taking a big chunk out of Samsung’s newest model. The Samsung HW-Q990F , a premium 11.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos soundbar, is on sale for $968.05 in open-box condition. That’s nearly half the price of Samsung’s brand-new units , and the lowest price to date, according to price trackers . This deal runs for the next four days (or while supplies last). It’s also worth noting that “open box” in this case means the package has been previously opened (perhaps for a demo or testing), but the unit itself is new and covered by the company’s standard 12-month limited warranty . Shipping is free for Prime members (otherwise, shipping is $6), but is limited to the lower 48 states.
The HW-Q990F is essentially an evolution of last year’s HW-Q990D , keeping the same overall size but adding some subtle design tweaks and a redesigned subwoofer. Samsung has swapped the old grille look for a dual-driver subwoofer that leaves its eight-inch woofers visible, giving it a more modern look. Under the hood, you get support for pretty much every format – Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Dolby TrueHD, and even Samsung’s co-developed Eclipsa Audio, which isn’t widely available yet but could become more common in the future. In practice, this means movies sound like they’re in a theater, voices come through clearly, and games get an extra boost from the directional effects. With four upward-firing drivers, the system also makes ceiling-bouncing tricks surprisingly convincing if your room is set up for it.
This soundbar’s 11.1.4 configuration gives you a wide, enveloping soundstage, and a set of rear speakers is included. The sound is clear and punchy, with the ability to fine-tune it with an EQ , voice level, and height channel adjustment to suit your setup. That said, the subwoofer reportedly gets a little compressed at max volume, so the deep bass loses a bit of boom if you really crank it up, but at normal levels it should retain its clarity. You won’t be short of ways to connect this thing, either. It handles everything from HDMI 2.1 and eARC pass-through to optical, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. If you’re in the Apple camp, AirPlay 2 is built in, and Samsung TV owners get the bonus of wireless Dolby Atmos without an HDMI cable if you have newer models.
At just under a grand, it’s not exactly a budget device, but compared to buying a traditional AV receiver and speaker package, it’s much easier to set up and currently costs a lot less than it used to.