The Samsung HW-Q90R is a great soundbar that's versatile for a wide variety of uses and it's one of our best performing soundbars so far. It has a great overall audio reproduction, has a fairly wide and very focused soundstage, and it'll perform very well with pretty much all types of content. This 7.1.4 setup provides an immersive listening experience on supported content thanks to Atmos. It also offers plenty of connection options, both wired and wirelessly. The setup is well-built and feels high-end. If you're looking for a premium setup that has great performance and can get loud regardless of the content you're listening to, the Samsung HW-Q90R is a great option.
Our Verdict
Great for mixed usage. The Samsung HW-Q90R soundbar has a very good, neutral, and accurate sound profile. It will 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 7.1.4 setup. This soundbar performs well even at very high volumes, and it offers decent manual sound customization, but lacks a room correction feature.
- 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-Q90R 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.
Great for music. The Samsung HW-Q90R soundbar setup 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 is also focused. This setup can get very loud and doesn't compress, even at higher volumes, which is great. You can easily EQ this setup and set the level of the subwoofer separately, to your liking.
Great for movies. The Samsung HW-Q90R 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 real as a setup with down-firing speakers. 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 Mar 29, 2021: Added information about the sub not connecting to the bar during our testing.
- Updated Mar 29, 2021: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Sep 04, 2020: Sound Enhancement Features has been updated to reflect this soundbar's EQ presets.
Check Price
Popular Soundbar Comparisons
The Samsung HW-Q90R is one of the best performing soundbars we've tested so far. It's very versatile for every type of content you play and performs great overall. It's a high-end model that looks and feels premium and supports Atmos for an immersive experience with movies. See our recommendations for the best soundbars, the best Dolby Atmos soundbars, and the best soundbars for music.
The Samsung HW-Q990B is a bit better than the Samsung HW-Q90R. The Q990B has more sound enhancement features, including a room correction mode to optimize its performance based on your room's acoustics. Its performance with surround sound and Dolby Atmos content is better, too, so sound effects reproduce more accurately. It supports Apple AirPlay 2, too, and there's built-in voice assistant support, unlike the Q90R. The Q90R is still a versatile bar, so you can't go wrong with either pick.
The Samsung HW-Q950A is a better soundbar than the Samsung HW-Q90R. The HW-Q950A comes with more sound enhancement features, including room correction and auto-volume mode. It supports Apple AirPlay 2 connectivity, and it has built-in voice assistant support. It also comes with some sound enhancement features that we don't test for, like SpaceFit Sound and TapSound. However, the HW-Q90R is better built and gets a bit louder than the HW-Q950A.
The Samsung HW-Q90R and the Samsung HW-Q930B are both really great Dolby Atmos soundbars, so depending on your listening habits, you may prefer one over the other. The sound is pretty similar, though the Q930B packs a little more punch in the bass right out-of-the-box. The Q930B also has more sound enhancement features, such as room correction.
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.
Test Results
This is a wide and heavy soundbar, and its sides are covered with metal grilles, aside from the back which is made of solid plastic. The entire bar gives off a premium feel.
The subwoofer is mostly made of wood. The speaker on the side is covered with a round fabric that can get easily damaged or dirty. Like most subwoofers, it has the port on the back.
The satellites have a metal grille to cover the speakers at the front and on top, but the sides are made of plastic. They're slightly large, but nothing too bad. If you're tight on space and would prefer a 7.1 soundbar without satellite speakers, consider the Sony HT-ST5000.
The Samsung HW-Q90R soundbar is very wide and won't fit between the legs of any 55" TV stand. Although it's a little taller than most bars, you shouldn't have issues with it obstructing your view.
The subwoofer resembles a large desktop PC, and you shouldn't have issues finding a place to put it.
The satellites are slightly larger than average, but they contain the power transformer so you don't have to plan where you'll place the power brick, like with the Bose Soundbar 500. All you need is a power outlet.
This bar has only one opening for the input ports. The power cable connects at a different point. You can wall-mount the bar using the universal holes that are on the underside with the included brackets.
The subwoofer's back has the port and a button for pairing. The power cable connects at the bottom and won't stand out much.
The satellites are labeled for left and right, so make sure you place them accordingly. There are a pairing button and a universal hole for wall-mounting each of them.
The Samsung HW-Q90R's build quality is great, very similar to the Samsung HW-Q80R. In fact, it has an even better build quality than some of Samsung's newer models like the Samsung HW-Q900T. It's very robust and the entire setup feels premium thanks to the materials used and its rather heavy weight. Although we don't expect you to have any issues with the build quality, care should be given to the fabric on the subwoofer as it can get dirty or damaged easily.
- Manuals
- HDMI Cable
- Remote & Batteries
- Bar power cable
- Subwoofer power cable
- Satellite power cables (x2)
- Screws
- Wall mounting adapters
The Samsung HW-Q90R soundbar has a great frequency response that results in a neutral sound profile. It also has a very extended bass, which will accurately reproduce the deep thump and rumble in music, movies, and games. The overall sound of this soundbar is great for stereo content and will 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.
Update 03/29/2021: While performing the test bench update for this soundbar, we noticed that the sub didn't stay connected to the bar. As a result, we weren't able to perform the calibration test, so these results represent the default settings of the bar. However, thanks to the graphic EQ and presets as well as the bass and treble adjustments, you can still tweak this bar to your liking.
When listening to the Samsung HW-Q90R, 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 Soundbar 700.
The Samsung HW-Q90R soundbar can get very loud and is great to use in large rooms or a crowded environment. It performs quite well at maximum volume as well, as you don't get much compression, which is excellent.
The THD performance is excellent at normal volume (80dB SPL), and you'll get a clean sound and great fidelity of audio reproduction. However, when pushing the bar to its maximum capacities, there's a small jump in THD in high-bass and low-mid. You might not hear this on real-life content.
This is a 7.1.4 setup that has excellent performance in the center channel. Due to its configuration, the Samsung HW-Q90R has a dedicated center speaker, which results in a more clear and accurate audio reproduction of the dialogue in movies.
The Samsung HW-Q90R has an impressive surround performance. It comes with two discrete surround speakers that help to more accurately localized surround objects like voices in the sound image. Audio seems like it's coming from all around you rather than just from speakers placed in front of you. Its surround channels can get quite loud, though their bass-heavy frequency response may be a bit boomy for some listeners.
The Samsung HW-Q90R 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 and satellites, the localization of objects is diffused. It doesn't sound as real as a discrete localization provided by down-firing speakers.
Update 09/04/2020: We originally reported that this soundbar only had access to a graphic EQ. However, it also has preset EQs so we've updated our review to better reflect these changes.
The high-end Samsung HW-Q90R has unremarkable sound enhancement features. Unlike the Samsung HW-Q950A, it lacks some of the most important 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. In addition to a graphic EQ, there's also four EQ presets: 'Standard', 'Surround', 'Game Pro', or 'Adaptive Sound'. If you're looking for a 7.1 setup with more sound enhancement features, check out the LG SN11RG.
The Samsung HW-Q90R soundbar can serve as a hub between your TV and your other devices thanks to its nice set of inputs. Unfortunately, there's no Analog Audio In to directly connect to older devices through their Audio Out. You can't play files from a USB and you can only connect to your network wirelessly.
Update 06/08/2020: This soundbar now supports eARC and high-end signals.
The Samsung Q90R soundbar supports most high-end signals thanks to the new firmware update that added eARC 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.
This soundbar has excellent support for surround sound and object-based sound formats, which results in an immersive experience when watching movies, like from Netflix and Blu-rays, or for gaming.
Using the Optical Audio In, you can enjoy Dolby Digital and DTS content usually found on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms like Netflix.
You can connect to the soundbar via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to play your content. However, unlike the JBL Bar 9.1, you won't be able to cast using Chromecast built-in or Apple AirPlay.
When used as a hub, the Samsung HW-Q90R soundbar has no issues passing through the highest quality signals. If you connect it between your PC and your TV, the text on the screen will be clear.
The subwoofer connects wirelessly to the soundbar and the only wire you’ll need is the power cord.
The small screen in the front serves as the interface and can display the volume level and the input source. It's simple and easy to read, but it's rather small and sometimes it has to scroll to display its message.
The buttons on the bar are found on the rear edge of the top side. They can power on or off the system and control the volume, or choose the input source.
The remote has the same style as the remotes of the latest high-end Samsung TVs. It sits well in your palm and allows you to control all of the functions of the soundbar, but 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-Q90R doesn’t natively support built-in voice assistants. If you want to use Google Assistant, you can do it through your phone's Bluetooth connection to the soundbar, and the sound will come out of the speakers. You can also use it with a third-party Amazon Echo device after setting it up in the Amazon Alexa app.
The app that pairs with the Samsung HW-Q90R soundbar is the same that pairs also with the latest Samsung TVs and many other Samsung house appliances. There are a few things the app can't do, like changing the sound profile, so it can't really replace the remote.