Watch out Sonos, Samsung just dropped a half-dozen new soundbars
From budget ‘bars to top-of-the-line Dolby Atmos audio systems
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Samsungis full of announcements today – after dropping the news that it’s releasing a weather-resistantQLED TVcalledThe Terrace, Samsung announced that its 2020 soundbar lineup is now available as well.
This year’s lineup includes seven models from the flagship Q-, lifestyle S- and budget T-Series that range in price from just two hundred dollars all the way up to around two grand, plus Samsung will continue to sell the seven R-Series from last year bringing us to a grand total of 14 purchasable models.
So what has Samsung improved on this year? Well, the flagship models of this year’s lineup will feature Samsung’s Q Symphony feature we saw atCESthat syncs a Samsung QLED TV’s top speakers to the soundbar to create a wall of sound, as well as support forDolby Atmosand DTS:X spatial audio.
On the more affordable models, you won’t get a lot of these features but Samsung says two of its most affordable models – the T550 and T650 – will be HDMI-enabled and feature DTS Virtual:X to give the illusion of a wider soundstage.
Here’s the complete 2020 Samsung lineup with the US pricing:
These new Samsung sound bars vs the Sonos Arc?
If you’ve been following any sort of soundbar coverage recently, you’ve no doubt heard of theSonos Arc– a new 5.0.2 Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar fromSonos.
From the specs we’ve seen so far, most of Samsung’s new bars fall far flat of the Sonos Arc… with the exception of the Q70T and Q800T that come in at $699 (around £570, AU$1,070) and $899 (around £730, AU$1,370), respectively.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
Like the Arc, both those Samsung ’bars are Atmos-capable and feature eARC, but they have one massive advantage in that they also ship with a subwoofer – giving them a huge advantage when it comes to deep bass response. Sure, you can always tack on aSonos Subto your Sonos Arc, but doing so would cost well over $1,000.
We’ll reserve judgment on which setup sounds better until we can test each of the soundbars in our own home later this month but, until then, it’s worth keeping both solutions in mind when shopping around for a replacement to your TV’s speakers.
Nick Pino is Managing Editor, TV and AV for TechRadar’s sister site, Tom’s Guide. Previously, he was the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar, covering TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He’s also written for GamesRadar+, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he’s not using if anyone wants it.
Vizio’s new Dolby Atmos soundbar is also a karaoke machine, because why not
Some people got Sonos Arc Ultra early – here’s what they think of the next-gen soundbar
Arcane season 2 confirms the hit series isn’t just one of the best Netflix shows ever made – it’s an animated legend that’ll stand the test of time
