ISSU 3 9|CO U S O R|S 20 9 39
SAMSUNGHW-Q70R
★★★★★
£799•From http://www.johnlewis.com
SOUNDBAR AND SUBWOOFER
DRIVERS (^8) • RMSPOWEROUTPUT330W•DOCK
CONNECTORNone•NETWORKINGBluetooth•
DIMENSIONS59x1,100x100mm(soundbar),
403x205x403mm(subwoofer)•WEIGHT3.6kg(soundbar),
9.8kg(subwoofer)•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•
DETAILSwww.samsung.com/uk•PARTCODEHW-Q70R
SPECIFICATIONS
SAMSUNG’SSOUNDBARCATALOGUEis
rammedwith great models,and now the South
Korean firm is back with an entire new range.
The QSeries is aimed at simplifyingthe
buying processforSamsungdevotees,
providing amirrored namingschemethat
makes it easier to match the right bar to your
shiny new television. Youcan pair it with
whatever TV you want, but the HW-Q70R we
have here is designedas the perfect match for
Samsung’s49in Q70R QLED TV.
At £799,itseems expensiveeven fora
soundbarthat comes with adedicated
subwoofer. However,the HW-Q70R supports
DolbyAtmos and DTS:X, and is in fact
Samsung’scheapestsoundbarto do so.
These technologiesadd an extra layer of
immersion,mostly in the form of adding a
sense of height to the emitted sound.
TOPDOWN
The HW-Q70Risn’t like traditional systems
that use ceiling-mounted speakers to deliver
sound from above.Instead, it bouncessound
waves off your ceiling using apair of upward-
firing drivers.
Alongsidethose,the HW-Q70R has another
five drivers at the front. There are,however,no
sideways-firingdrivers as on the HW-N850
(Shopper374), nor any rear-facing drivers like
those on last year’s flagship,the HW-N950.
To re-createthat feeling of width, the drivers
on topofthe bar are angled diagonally
outwards,rather than pointingstraightup.
As with its older models,Samsung
includesawireless subwooferwith the
HW-Q70R. This year,however,the source for
low-end frequencieshas had afacelift: it looks
differentand soundsit, too.
Design-wise,the soundbarpart of the set is
identicalto the HW-N650 (Shopper 368). It has
an all-metalspeakergrille aroundthe main bar,
which measures59x1,100x100mm.The four
physicalbuttons on the right are exactlythe
h h d l
that sits
behind the grille
and shows volumelevels,
which mode you’re in and so on.
Samsunghas includedfour separate
sound profiles: Standard,Surround,Game and
Adaptive Sound. The latter is new and
dynamicallyadjuststhe EQ profile to match
the content you’re watching, in asimilar
fashion to the Smart Sound tech Samsung
used in its 2018 soundbars.The differenceis
that it also tweaksthe EQ based on acoustic
room measurements,which are made via the
microphonein the soundbar’s remotecontrol.
Connectivity-wise,the HW-Q70R has HDMI
and optical inputs, plus an ARC-enabledHDMI
output,which supportsHDR and 4K video
passthrough.It has 5GHz and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi
support,too, which allows initial setup through
the SamsungSmartThingsapp.Italso has
Bluetooth, but this is limited to the lower SBC
codec. We’re still waitingto see aptX, aptX HD
and LDAC supporton aSamsungsoundbar.
With the lack of aptX, we’d recommend
connectingto the soundbarvia Wi-Fi instead
of Bluetooth or throughawired connection
forthe best possiblequality.
BLASTER CLASS
To start off testing, we tuned intosome
terrestrialTV to see if the soundbarwould
correctlyupmix regularstereo content. In
Adaptive and Surroundmodes,it does a
decent job.It’s not as effective as the
HW-N850 at creatingan effective surround
effect, as it doesn’t have sideways-firing
speakers,but it’s farbetter than most
s db The centre channelkeeps
d l guefront and centre,too.
Sw itching to 4K Blu-rays, we were
i mediately impressedby the Dolby
A os effect. Gunfightscame to life,
a d sound effects were clearly
p tionedin 3D space.Itdoesn’t quite
m ch up to the exhilaratingfeeling of
b g wrappedwith sound that comes
w h the HW-N850, but it’s still pretty
f dable.With DolbyAtmos in full
e it’s acompletely different
propositionto the
cheaperHW-N650.
Musicalityis anotherkeyfactor
forsoundbars;after all, many people
don’t want two speakersystems in the living
room. Here,the HW-Q70R deliverssimilar
performanceto the HW-N650, with awarm
overall presentationwhere the mids are
recessedand the highs are more prominent.
The only elementthat has been changed
over the HW-N650 is the subwooferand here,
Samsung’sback-to-the-drawing-board
approachhas paid off.The new subwoofer
extends as fardown as 35Hz, which is lower
than its sibling’s42Hz bottom end, and this
allows the subwoofertodeliver adeeper,more
pronouncedrumblein the sub-bassregion.
The mid-basscontrolis also excellent.
BROTHERLY LOVE
The Samsung HW-Q70Risagreatsoundbar
overall, but it’s stuck in adifficult position.On
the one hand, it’s more capablethan the
HW-N650, offers DolbyAtmos and DTS:X
supportand has amore competent subwoofer.
On the other,it’s only £100 cheaperthan the
HW-N850, which deliversfarsuperioraudio
reproductionacross the board.
When it comes down to it, the HW-N850
is still the soundbarwe’d recommendfor
those seekingatop-qualityAtmos soundbar
forless than £1,000.The HW-Q70R is good,
but the HW-N850 is even better.
ChristopherMinasians
VERDICT
TheHW-Q70RtakestheHW-N650,improves
thesubwooferandaddssupportforDolby
AtmosandDTS:X
The HW-Q70R supportsDolbyAtmosandDTS:X, andis
Samsung’scheapestsoundbarto do so
ISSUE 379|COMPUTERSHOPPER|SEPTEMBER 2019
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