So this is the Samsung HW-Q800A soundbar. Now this is a good performing soundbar from Samsung. However, this soundbar is best used with a TV that has Q Symphony support. Now in this video we’re going to be testing this sound bar with a Samsung Q80A 4K LED TV. So this review is going to come from a the perspective of someone who has a matching TV and soundbar. However, depending on your needs or set up… the Q800A’s form factor will might not be for everyone.
Now regarding pricing, the Q800A retails for $900. However, I did manage to get mine on sale for $700. Now the Q800A is up there price wise with the likes of the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 and the Sony HTA5000. However, the thing that really makes the Q800A standout here is that it comes included with an External wireless subwoofer. Where as these other two options don’t.
Now for simplicity sake, we’re going to be focusing on just the Q800A and how it performs when its used with a Q Symphony compatible TV. Now you can go ahead and add additional surround sound speakers… but here we are just going to focus on the Q800A. Nonetheless, if you want to pick this sound bar up it’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the design of this soundbar. The soundbar it self is very small when compared to other Atmos soundbars out there like either the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 or Sony HTA500. And I think this is both good and bad. Its good because since this soundbar is so small it is very easy to place in your theater set up or mount it on the wall. And wall mounting brackets do come included in the box, which is good. Here’s looking at you bose.
And since this soundbar is so low profile, and thanks to its non-reflective wire body… the Q800A fully disappears when you are watching content on your TV when in a dark room. Which is good, because soundbars are supposed to be heard, not seen.
And when it comes to dimensions the Q800A has a length of 38.6 inches, a hight of 2.4 inches and a thickness of 4.5 inches. And here it is compared to Bose’s Atmos soundbar and Sony’s Atmos soundbar. So, like I said, the Q800A is pretty small when compared to other Atmos soundbars. However, some sacrifices were made in order to achieve this small form factor.
Now the most obvious sacrifice that was made here was the external subwoofer. Now some people will actually be excited that this Soundbar comes included with a Subwoofer. And depending on your set up and needs, and external subwoofer will might be great. However, the Q800A is dependent on this external subwoofer. Unlike Sony’s and Bose’s soundbar’s which have built in subwoofers. So they aren’t dependent on an external subwoofer, but you can still add an external subwoofer.
Now obviously Bose’s and Sony’s soundbars don’t have as much wall shaking bass as the Q800A’s external subwoofer… but they have enough to get the job done. But from a form factor or needs standpoint, some people will actually prefer a fully self contained soundbar like either the bose or sony.
Either you’re just looking for a soundbar for your bedroom and just don’t have enough room for an external subwoofer. Or perhaps you just don’t want the type of overwhelming bass a subwoofer provides. Either you don’t want to disturb other people when you’re watching TV, or you don’t want to disturb your neighbors if you live in an apartment with thin walls.
What I am trying to say here is, the external subwoofer on the Q800A will might make this soundbar better suited for living rooms or man caves. Personally for me, I wouldn’t recommend the Q800A if you're planning on using it in your bedroom, unless you’ve got a really big bed room, or I wouldn’t recommend it if you live in an apartment unless you don’t mind being that neighbor.
And also keep in mind, the bass that you get from an external subwoofer is different from the bass that you’ll get from a soundbar that is fully self contained. If you’re trying to kit out your man cave or living room, by all means get the subwoofer. But if you’re looking for a soundbar for your bed room… personally I don’t want all of that over whelming bass in my bedroom. I just want enough to get the message across.
But another less obvious sacrifice that was made here to make this soundbar super small and light weight… is that it has an external power brick. And personally, I don’t really like this. I feel this soundbar should just have a built in power brick cause its going to make this soundbar look sleeker when you instal it. And if you’re planning on wall mounting this soundbar… you’re going to have to figure out how to hang this power brick behind your TV.
However, I do have to point out that the Subwoofer does not have an external power brick. So thats one less power brick that you have to worry about.
Now when it comes to ports, this soundbar has an HDMI in port that supports upto 12 bit 60 hertz frame rates, and it has an HDMI out port that has both ARC and eARC support. And since in this video we’re assuming the that you will be using this soundbar with a Samsung Q80A TV… you’re going to be able to fully enjoy your Dolby Atmos content or any other uncompressed audio formats. And you also get an HDMI cable included in the box.
Now if you’re strictly going to be streaming your content you’re only going to use the HDMI out port that goes to your TV. The HDMI in port is really only if you’ve got an external blue ray player. Now you could plug in your gaming console… but if you have a PS5 or an XBOX series X you’ll might not want to do that because then your frame rate is going to be capped at 60 hertz.
Nonetheless, the Q800A does have an optical port… just in case you have a tv that doesn’t have an HDMI port with ARC or eARC support. But I am just being blunt here, if your TV doesn’t have ARC support, you should upgrade your TV before getting a soundbar. You always want to try to use an HDMI cable with your soundbar.
Now for those wondering, where do I plug in my subwoofer… you actually don’t. This sub woofer is wireless. So that definitely makes life a little easier. However, I do have to point out that this Soundbar does not have any audio jacks, and it also doesn’t have an ethernet.
However this soundbar does have wifi. And wifi on this soundbar does allow you to do a few things. For starters it has Airplay 2 support which is great if you’re an iPhone user and you can also cast to it if you’re an Android user. So as long as you’re connected to the same wifi network you’re going to be able to stream music to this soundbar.
And if you do decide to connect this soundbar to wifi you can always use it as an Alexa smart speaker if you wanted to.
However, it doesn’t look like you can use this soundbar as a Google assistant smart speaker. But if you don’t want to connect this soundbar to wifi for security reasons you don’t have to. But you can still connect to it using trusty old bluetooth and stream music that way… but personally I would recommend that you connect this soundbar to wifi so that you can Airplay or cast to it.
But now lets talk about speaker set ups… the Q800A has a total of 3 frontward firing tweeters. There’s also 2 frontward firing mid range tweeters… and there are also 2 upwards firing mid range tweeters. And these are what allows us to have true Dolby Atmos support. Because these give your content a sense of a verticality. Now keep in mind… this soundbar is only going to be able to produce the mids and highs. All of the bass is handled by the external subwoofer. Now you could technically use this soundbar without the Subwoofer… but then your audio is going to sound very flat.
Now before we jump into the soundtest… I think that it is very important that I point out the max volume performance of this soundbar. If you are going to use this soundbar completely by itself… as in you’re not going to pair it with a Samsung TV that has Q-Symphony support… then the Q800A is only going to be suited for a small or medium sized room. At max volume, the Q800A gets nowhere near as loud as either the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 or Sony HTA5000 by itself. By itself, at max volume… the Q800A performs more similarly to the Bose Smart Soundbar 300.
However, if you were to use the Q800A with a Samsung TV that has Q-Symphony support… which means that the internal speakers on the TV will work in tandem with the soundbar itself… now your set up is going to perform more similarly to either the Bose 900 or Sony HTA5000.
Now in general, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the built in speakers on the Q80A Tv sound. So in this soundtest we’re going to be using the Built in speakers on the Q80A TV playing at max volume… we’re going to the comparing it to the Q800A playing with Q-Symphony turned on… and I am also going to be including the Bose 900 so that you can get a sense of how a fully self contained sound bar performs against the Q800A.
So like I mentioned earlier… the built in speakers on the Q80A perform pretty well for what they are. However, admittedly… if you have a less premium TV… your built in speakers aren’t going to sound as good. Now even though the built in speakers on the Q80A sound pretty good… they aren’t going to get as loud as a sound bar and they aren’t going to have nearly as much bass.
Now like I mentioned earlier, the Q800A is only able to keep up with the likes of the Bose 900 or Sony HTA5000 when used with a Q Symphony compatible TV. If you were to use it by itself, without a Q-Symphony compatible TV, the Q800A isn’t going to get anywhere near as loud as these other two soundbars. And so that you can hear for yourself, the Q800A is playing at max volume, where as these other two soundbars are playing at 60% volume.
So like you may have just heard… even though the Q800A still has a ton of bass… it doesn’t get nearly as loud as these other two soundbars when there isn’t a Q-Symphony compatible TV. So performance wise, when only used by itself… the Q800A is only going to be able to fill a small or medium sized room with sound. It going to have a ton of bass… but everything else is going to sound quiet. However… if you were to use this soundbar with a Q-Symphony Compatible TV… then thats when this soundbar is going to be able to fill a larger room with sound.
Now from a sound quality standpoint… the Q800A does lean more towards a brighter sound signature… however, distortion isn’t a problem, cause the highs stay crisp even at max volume. And then there’s the matter of this sub woofer. Yes it is going to shake the walls in your house… but the bass on the subwoofer is a little loose. Its not as hard hitting as some other subwoofers out there.
Now from the Smartthings app, you can go in and customize the EQ of this soundbar and you can also raise or lower the bass on the subwoofer… However, I noticed that you can only customize the EQ on this soundbar if you are using it with its standard EQ. But if you are using it with Q-Symphony turned on… than it is automatically going to switch over to Adaptive Sound Plus. So you aren’t going to be able to customize your EQ to your liking.
Now while we are on the Smartthings app… this App works wells for the most part… however I do have to point out there that have been some connectivity issues to the point where I have had to reinstall this app multiple times. However, if you were to use this sound bar with a Samsung TV there is a lot of integration going on here. So you might not even have to use the app that often cause you can do almost everything from the TV itself.
Or even if you don’t use a Samsung TV with this soundbar… you can still do almost everything you can do on the app through the included remote. What I am trying to say here is… I actively try to avoid to use the Smartthings app if I don’t have to.
But one last critique that I have about this soundbar is going to be its vertical channel. Now the point of the vertical channel is so that this soundbar can shoot sound upwards and bounce it off of the ceiling. Giving you Dolby Atmos Support.
Now what Dolby Atmos is, is that its an audio format that allows creators to give their audio a sense of hight to it. Basically lets say that there’s a helicopter on the screen… if the creator wanted to… they can make it sound like it is above you. Where as with other soundbars that helicopter is going to sound like it is on the same level as you.
Now all content doesn’t automatically have dolby atmos support… admittedly it is a more premium feature. However… I feel that the vertical channel on this sound bar is a little weak. Even if I go in and raise the vertical channel on this soundbar… it is not as dramatic as some other Atmos soundbars out there. So I think this is something that you defneitly want to take into consideration if you plan on placing this soundbar in a room with very high ceilings.
But with all of that being said, the Samsung Q800A soundbar is good… but under specific circumstances. This soundbar is definitely made to be used with a Samsung Q-Symphony TV. Because without a Q-Symphony TV… this soundbar is only going to be suited for a small or medium sized room. And it does struggle to keep up with similarly priced soundbars.
Then there’s also the form factor to take into consideration… the soundbar itself is tiny… but you gotta take that external subwoofer into consideration. And thats why I personally only recommend this sound bar for living rooms or man caves. And you also gotta keep in mind that the external sub woofer is going to give you different type of bass than the bass that you’ll get from a fully self-contained soundbar.
This subwoofer is going to have no problem shaking the walls in your house. And you’re going to be able to feel every small bit of bass… however, this type of bass could be overwhelming when used in a bed room. But thats my personally opinion. But this is another reason why I recommend this soundbar for living rooms or man caves… cause you want the more intense bass in those scenarios.
But overall, if you’ve got a Samsung Q-Symphony compatible TV… then the Q800A is a good pick up. However, depending on your needs or where you plan on placing this soundbar… I’ll might want to go with something else. And if you’ve got a Non Q-Symphony compatible TV… I would personally go with something else as well.