LG S95QR  Soundbar Review

The LG S95QR soundbar has a similar design to other high-end 2022 LG soundbars like the LG S90QY. It's mostly plastic, with tight fabric around the sides. On top of the bar, three round metal grilles cover the up-firing drivers beneath.

It's the same sub that you find with the LG S90QY. It's wood, and there's fabric covering the speaker on the side. The back of the sub is made of plastic, too.

The LG S95QR has unique 4.0.2 rear speakers with an angular design to accommodate the additional drivers inside. They have the same style as the bar, with plastic builds and fabric covering the front. In total, there are two front-firing speakers in each satellite, as well as one up-firing driver.

The LG S95QR soundbar is wide, and it doesn't fit between the legs of a 55" TV stand. It's not very tall, though, so it doesn't block your TV screen.

The LG S95QR's sub is roughly the same size as a desktop computer. Its wireless design means that you can put it anywhere in your living room, as long as you plug it into a power outlet.

The LG S95QR's satellites are fairly wide compared to others on the market, which makes sense given that there are two front-firing drivers inside. They're about the same height as the satellites with other premium models like the Samsung HW-Q950A.

The LG S95QR has a great build quality. It has a premium design, with solid-feeling plastic builds for both the bar and the satellites. The fabric covering the front of the bar is tight, so it doesn't seem like it rips easily. Also, the metal grilles on top of the bar help protect the drivers inside. While the sub's wooden build is fairly solid, unfortunately, the fabric on the side is quite loose. It seems like it rips easily, so you should be careful when handling the sub.

• Manual with mounting template
• Remote with 2x AA batteries
• Mounting plates with 4x screws
• 4x power cables (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• HDMI cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)

The LG S95QR soundbar has a boomy sound profile out-of-the-box. The peak in the bass range adds extra thump and rumble to the audio, which is especially noticeable when you listen to bass-heavy audio like EDM and hip-hop tracks. The mids are balanced, so vocals are clear in the mix, and the overall sound is pleasant. Though there's a dip in the treble, it's not very noticeable with real-life content. You also have lots of customization tools on hand to adjust its sound to your liking. If you're looking for a more balanced sound out of the box, then you'll want to check out this bar's successor, the LG S95TR.

You can set the LG S95QR's bass to '-5' and the treble to '5' to create a more neutral sound. The difference is most noticeable in the bass range, as you still hear the thump and rumble in bass-heavy instruments, but it isn't muddy or boomy. Vocals and lead instruments are clear and present in the mix, making it suitable for listening to lots of different types of audio content.

The LG S95QR soundbar has a good stereo soundstage. The soundstage is perceived to be a bit wider than the bar itself, though it doesn't have any tricks to make it seem wider than that. Still, it has very good focus, so sound objects like instruments in an orchestra are accurately localized to pinpoint locations in the soundstage that match the action on the screen. Overall, its soundstage gives you the impression that you're wrapped in sound from all angles, so you get an immersive feel—though it doesn't perform as well as the best bars on the market for soundstage performance, like the Sonos Arc or the Bose Smart Soundbar 900.

The LG S95QR gets loud enough to fill larger and more open spaces with sound. Interestingly, there's more compression at 90 dB than at max volume. This difference, particularly in the mid-bass range, is due to the subwoofer struggling differently at these different volumes. Still, since the overall amount of compression is quite low, audio reproduction remains clean and pure at louder volumes.

The LG S95QR comes with two center channels—there's the standard front-firing center and an up-firing center channel on top of the bar. Overall, the performance is great, and dialogue sounds clear and detailed in the mix. However, the additional center channel doesn't have a noticeable impact on the sound—so it performs in line with other bars that come with one discrete front-firing center.

The LG S95QR has a decent surrounds performance. The bar comes with two discrete rear speakers, which each come with two front-firing drivers for a total of four surround channels. Compared to phantom surround setups, like the LG S90QY, the bar does a better job accurately representing surround objects in the soundstage. For example, a car racing past you in a chase scene seems to move from one accurate, pinpoint location to another, matching the action on the screen. The frequency response for these surround channels is a bit dark and muddy due to the lack of bass and the recessed treble.

The LG S95QR has two up-firing height drivers built into the bar itself, as well as an up-firing driver on each of the two satellite speakers. These drivers bounce sound off the ceiling and back down towards you to create the illusion of height. The frequency response is a bit boomy due to the peak in the bass range, so you feel the rumble in action-packed scenes.

While it's not reflected in the test results, the bar's soundstage with Atmos content is impressive. You get an immersive feel with movies and video games, and the speakers replicate a sense of height and width with the sound. Sound effects take place all around you—from the sides, above you, and behind you—all matching the action on your screen. There's lots of thump in the bass range that helps you feel the excitement in tension-filled scenes. The additional channels on the satellites improve its performance compared to the LG S80QR and the LG S90QY with SPQ8-S Speaker Kit.

The LG S95QR has a fantastic selection of sound enhancement features. Like most premium bars, it comes with a room correction feature that optimizes audio reproduction based on your room's acoustics—it's called AI Room Calibration, and you can set it up in the LG Sound Bar app. You can customize the bar's sound, too, using its bass and treble adjustments as well as its EQ presets: 'AI Sound Pro', 'Standard', 'Music', 'Cinema', 'Clear Voice', 'Sports', 'Game', and 'BassBlast'. The 'Cinema' preset acts as a virtual surround mode, replicating a more three-dimensional sound. There's a night time mode in the app to balance the volume level when you watch shows at night.

Many soundbar manufacturers offer tools that let you pair your bar with compatible TVs to enhance audio quality—and LG is no different. Their feature is called TV Sound Mode Share. To use it, make sure your TV's Sound Menu is set to 'Enjoy Soundbar Sound Mode' instead of 'Enjoy TV Sound Mode'—otherwise, it might downmix higher-quality formats like Dolby Atmos into PCM content. Like most of these features on the market, Sound Mode Share doesn't do much to alter the bar's frequency response or its soundstage. You won't notice a real difference if it's off or if you just use the bar with another manufacturer's TV.

You can connect the LG S95QR using an Optical or an HDMI connection. It's also compatible with LG's WOWCAST feature, which lets you connect the bar to your TV with a wireless connection, so you don't have as many wires behind your TV. It's only available in certain countries at the time of publication, though. You can still just plug the bar in with a traditional cable, so it's not necessary to add on.

The LG S95QR has fantastic audio format support. It supports common surround sound formats like Dolby Digital, as well as lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. You're likely to come across these formats on streaming platforms and Blu-ray discs.

The LG S95QR also has incredible audio format support via Full HDMI In. It can playback lots of different audio formats, from surround sound to lossless and object-based formats.

Over Optical, the LG S95QR supports both Dolby Digital and DTS content. Dolby Digital is the most commonly-used surround sound format, and you find it on a lot of streaming platforms.

Audio latency is excellent over an ARC connection. Commonly-found audio formats like Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos play back without a noticeable lag, so you don't have lip-synching errors. Some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, but if you have any issues, you can always use the AV Sync feature to manually adjust the delay.

Also, audio latency is excellent over HDMI In. The audio you hear is in sync with the video you see on screen with many different audio formats that you'll likely come across on streaming platforms and Blu-rays. Some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, but the bar's AV Sync feature gives you the ability to manually adjust for this if necessary.

Audio latency is acceptable over an Optical connection. Especially with Dolby Digital content, you'll likely notice a delay between the audio you hear and the visuals on screen. If you run into any issues, you can either switch to an HDMI connection or use the AV Sync feature in the app to manually adjust the delay.

The LG S95QR can passthrough some of the highest-quality bandwidth signals, allowing you to use the bar as a hub between devices like your TV and your PC, with clear and crisp text on your screen. There's Dolby Vision Passthrough support, but you can't passthrough 4k @ 120Hz.

The LG S95QR has fantastic wireless playback support. You have lots of options if you want to wirelessly stream audio from your phone or tablet to the bar, and there's also Spotify Connect support.

There's a small display on the front of the bar. When you change the settings with the app or the remote, you see it on the display—for example, if you change the volume, switch to another input, or use a different sound mode.

There are some touch-sensitive buttons on top of the bar, which let you control some of the bar's basic features. You can power it on/off, change the input, adjust the volume, play/pause your audio, and activate Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi pairing. However, you'll need to use the LG Sound Bar app or the remote to access additional settings.

The remote lets you access the bar's basic features from the comfort of your couch. There's a similar selection of settings compared to the bar's physical controls, like volume control and a play/pause button. However, you still need the app to access a few other features, like room calibration and AV Sync.

The LG S95QR doesn't have built-in voice assistant support. It supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant through third-party devices, like an Amazon Echo or a Google Home speaker. You can set up voice assistant support in the app.