The Samsung HW-Q80R is a great performing 5.1.2 soundbar. Its audio reproduction is accurate, well-balanced, and clean, even at very high volumes. This soundbar also supports Atmos and its up-firing speakers use the ceiling to give you an immersive impression of height. The soundstage is also quite wide due to the side-firing speakers. The setup is well-built and feels high-end, but lacks rear speakers like the ones the HW-Q90R has.
Our Verdict
Great for mixed usage. The Samsung HW-Q80R soundbar has a very good, neutral and accurate sound profile. It'll perform well with all sorts of content such as dialogue, a wide variety of music genres, and movies. You can also get an immersive listening experience since it supports Atmos on its 5.1.2 setup, but it lacks rear satellites. On the upside, this soundbar performs well even at a very high volume, and it offers decent manual sound customization.
- Great audio reproduction.
- Multiple connection options.
- Great performance at high volume.
- Supports Atmos and height channels for immersive experience.
- Small interface screen.
- Very wide bar.
- No room correction.
Great for dialogue and watching TV shows. The Samsung HW-Q80R soundbar is also great for podcasts and audiobooks. It sounds neutral and the overall reproduction of voices is accurate. It gets very loud and has a feature to make dialogue clearer at low volumes too. You can also easily stream audio content from your phone to the bar via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
Great for music. The Samsung HW-Q80R soundbar system has an accurate and neutral sound profile which is suitable for a wide variety of music genres. It also has a good soundstage size and it's focused. This setup can get very loud and doesn't compress, even at higher volumes, which is great. You can easily EQ and set the level of the subwoofer separately to your liking.
Great for movies. The Samsung HW-Q80R soundbar sounds great and also supports Atmos, which gives you a more immersive experience when compared to some other soundbars. However, it won't sound as realistic as a setup with down-firing speakers and it lacks rear satellites. You'll still be able to play surround sound content with a good sound quality. There are also a few features to customize the sound to your liking, and you can easily set the amount of bass you want from the sub.
Changelog
- Updated Dec 22, 2021: Added third-party voice assistant support.
- Updated Feb 24, 2021: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Jun 08, 2020: We've tested the new eARC support after updating to the latest firmware.
- Updated Sep 27, 2019: Review published.
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Popular Soundbar Comparisons
The Samsung HW-Q80R is one of the better sounding 5.1 soundbars we've tested so far. It has a neutral and accurate audio reproduction, is very well-built, and has a great soundstage and immersive listening experience with its Atmos support. However, it's a high-end setup that lacks dedicated rear speakers like other similar soundbars. See our recommendations for the best soundbars, the best Dolby Atmos soundbars, and the best soundbars 5.1.
The Samsung HW-Q80R is better than the standalone Sonos Arc. The Samsung has a dedicated sub that helps reproduce a more extended low-bass. It also has a graphic EQ for sound customization. However, the Sonos has better soundstage and surround performances. It comes with room correction and built-in voice assistant support. You can also upgrade it to the Sonos Arc with Sub + One SL Speakers for better performance.
The Samsung HW-Q90R is basically the Samsung HW-Q80R, but with rear satellites that have up firing speakers. They both perform quite similarly, but the Q90R has a small edge over the Q80R. The 7.1.4 Q90R has a better overall surrounds performance thanks to the rear speakers, which is the main difference. Both bars are very similar and your choice will come down to personal budget and preference of content.
The Samsung HW-Q80R is a much better soundbar setup than the Samsung HW-Q60R. The Q80R is a 5.1.2 soundbar that using up and side-firing speakers to simulate an Atmos-like experience. The Q80R also has a much better bass response, a wider stereo soundstage, more connectivity options, and has less artifacts when pushed to louder volumes. On the other hand, the Q60R is a smaller soundbar that still has side-firing speakers to simulate surround sound, though it isn't Atmos-enabled.
The Samsung HW-Q80R is a slightly better setup than the Samsung HW-Q70R. It can get louder and its stereo soundstage feels a bit wider too. However, we didn’t test either with satellites. The Q80R soundstage sounds a bit wider, and it has side-firing speakers on the bar to play surround content, which the Q70R can’t do. The Q80R also has a better Atmos performance and gives you a better height impression, which is great for movies.
Test Results
The HW-Q80R's bar looks identical to the HW-Q90R. It's large and heavy and is covered with a metal grille at the front, sides, and the top. The back is made of good quality plastic.
The subwoofer is made of wood. The speaker on the side is covered with a fabric that can collect dirt or get damaged. The port is found on the back.
This is a very large and heavy bar that requires some careful placement planning. It's wider than most 55" TVs, so it's unlikely to fit between the stand legs. It's quite tall - roughly the same height as the Sony HT-ST5000 - but unless your TV has a very short stand or sits flush on the table, this shouldn't be an issue.
The subwoofer looks like a large desktop PC. You can place it wherever you like as it connects to the bar wirelessly.
There's one opening where the input ports are and one guide on the other side for the power cable. The wall-mounting holes are on the underside, and you must use the included brackets to wall-mount it.
The back of the sub contains the port. Its power cable connects to the lower end of the back and won't bother you.
The Samsung HW-Q80R has great build quality. The entire build is very robust and solid. It feels premium and well-built, and the only downfall is the fabric on the sub that can get dirty or rip.
- Manuals
- HDMI cable
- Remote & batteries
- Bar power cable
- Subwoofer power cable
- Wall-mount guide
- Bracket wall mount (x2)
- Screws
- Holder screw
- Rubber foot
The Samsung HW-Q80R soundbar has a great and very similar stereo frequency response to the Samsung HW-Q90R. The bass is well extended, which will accurately reproduce the deep thump and rumble of music, movies, and games. The overall sound quality of this soundbar is great for stereo content due to its neutral profile, and it'll be suitable for a wide variety of music genres, as well as dialogue. There's also a good amount of customization you can apply to this bar, including an available EQ.
When listening to the Samsung HW-Q80R, the soundstage is good. The bar is pretty wide and the soundstage feels about the same width. Sound isn't diffused, resulting in a focused soundstage, which is good because objects seem to be coming from a more accurate pinpoint location rather than from a general area. Although the bar is wide, it didn't sound as large as the Sonos Beam or the Bose Smart Soundbar 700.
The Samsung HW-Q80R soundbar can get very loud and will be suitable to use in crowded or very large rooms. Also, it performs quite well at max volume, and you shouldn’t get too many compression artifacts, which is great.
The Samsung HW-Q80R's THD performance is great. The amount of THD at a normal listening volume is very low, which results in a clean and pure sound. On the other hand, there’s a jump in THD in high-bass and low-treble at max volume, but this shouldn’t be a concern for most with real-life content.
The Samsung HW-Q80R's 5.1.2 configuration has excellent performance in the center channel since it has a dedicated center speaker. This results in a very neutral sound profile, which makes dialogue in movies clear and accurate.
The Samsung HW-Q80R's surround performance is sub-par. The bar has side-firing speakers, which reflect sound off the walls to give you the impression of a wide surround sound. However, this also means this setup won't provide the most accurate and clear representation of surround objects in the soundstage, and it won't feel as real as a discrete surround like with home theatre speakers. This setup also lacks rear speakers like the ones that the Samsung HW-Q90R has. If you prefer dedicated surround speakers, check out the Vizio SB36512-F6 or the SB46514-F6.
The Samsung HW-Q80R supports Atmos for a more immersive experience, especially when watching movies. While this setup sounds fairly big and wide thanks to the up-firing speakers on the bar, the localization of objects is diffused. It doesn't sound as real as a discrete localization provided by down-firing speakers since the sound is simply bouncing off the ceiling to give you an impression of height.
The high-end Samsung HW-Q80R lacks some of the most important sound enhancement features such as a night mode and Room Correction. Without room correction, this soundbar may sound a bit differently depending on your room. On the upside, it does offer a lot of control and customization options to manually make it sound the way you like. If you have a Samsung TV and want a soundbar that's compatible with Samsung's Q Symphony feature, check out the Samsung HW-Q900T.
This soundbar has a nice set of physical inputs so you can use it as a hub between your devices and your TV. Unfortunately, due to the lack of Analog Audio In, you can't directly connect to older devices through their Audio Out. Unlike the LG SN9YG, there's no USB port so you can't play files from a stick. You can also only connect to your network through Wi-Fi as there's no ethernet port.
Update 06/08/2020: This soundbar now supports eARC and high-end signals.
The Samsung HW-Q80R soundbar has eARC which allows for amazing audio format support. This extended version of ARC allows it to support not only surround sound format, but also the most advanced object-based surround signals, and high-quality lossless formats.
The Samsung HW-Q80R soundbar has the same excellent support for surround sound and object-based sound as the Samsung HW-Q90R through its Full HDMI In ports. You'll have an immersive sound experience when playing a game on your console with content that supports it.
The Optical Audio In can passthrough surround sound in Dolby Digital or DTS formats, usually found on streaming platforms like Netflix or Blu-ray discs.
You can play your content wirelessly if you connect to the soundbar via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. On the downside, you won't be able to cast using Chromecast built-in or Apple AirPlay.
When connected between your PC and the TV the Samsung HW-Q80R can passthrough the highest bandwidth signals, which means that text will look clear on your TV.
The subwoofer only needs access to a power outlet. Otherwise, it connects wirelessly to the bar.
There's a small screen behind the front grille that serves as the interface. It can display the volume level and the input source and it's easy to read. Due to its small size, sometimes it has to scroll to display the entire message.
Just like the Samsung HW-Q90R, the buttons on the HW-Q80R's bar are found on the top side, near the rear edge. You can power the system on or off, control the volume, or choose the input source.
The remote has a similar style to high-end Samsung TV remotes. It's an average size and allows you to control all of the soundbar's functions. Unfortunately, it can't act as a universal remote to control other devices.
Update 12/22/2021: Added additional information about third-party voice assistant support.
The Samsung HW-Q80R doesn't have built-in voice assistant capabilities. However, if you have a third-party Amazon Echo device, you can use it with the bar. You just need to set it up in the Amazon Alexa app to use it.
The Samsung SmartThings app is the same app that pairs with the latest Samsung TVs and other Samsung home appliances. It's not a complete remote replacement, as it can't do a few things like changing the sound profiles, but you can cast audio files.
The Samsung HW-Q80R soundbar has an auto turn-off function after just 5 minutes of inactivity, which is one of the smallest time intervals we've tested so far, but is in sync with the rest of Samsung's Q series soundbar lineup. You can use your TV remote to control the bar's basic functionality, thanks to its HDMI CEC support.