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It’s rare to see our resident audio expert Andy White get excited over a Prime Day deal, but this discount on the new Samsung HW-Q990F certainly seemed to do the trick. He went as far as to get in touch while on annual leave to throw his recommendation behind it, which is definitely a good sign!
You can get this high-end soundbar and speaker combo for £1,154 right now at Amazon, down from a list price of £1,699 – this is the first discount on the soundbar (which only launched a couple of months ago), although the price has been steadily dropping since the end of June. It was marginally cheaper on 8 July (£1,119) but this remains a very good discount.
And the best part? You don’t need to be a Prime member to take advantage of it.
Why buy the Samsung HW-Q990F this Prime Day?
- Impressive sound (including surround sound)
- Plenty of connectivity options
- New, refreshed design
In our full Samsung HW-Q990F review, our veteran soundbar expert John Archer praised the sound system for its potent and impactful sound; its immersive surround sound; and its wealth of connectivity options. He gave it five stars and a Best Buy award – the highest rating we can give a product – which is why it’s the subject of our recommendation today.
This is an 11.1.4 sound system delivering audio via four separate speakers – the soundbar itself, plus two rear speakers and a subwoofer. The subwoofer in particular has received several key improvements to its design and performance; the idea is to “disperse bass tones more widely and smoothly, and distort less.” The result, according to our testing, is a supremely impressive noise that took every film soundtrack we tried in its stride.
Connectivity is similarly flawless. Unusually, the HW-Q990F offers a two-in, one-out HDMI passthrough that supports 4K/120Hz output to your TV or projector, something that most rivals cannot provide. this passthrough also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ formats, meaning you’ll find no visual bottlenecks here.
There’s plenty more by way of connectivity options besides: if you’re the Samsung phone owner, for example, you can share audio simply by tapping the phone against the side of the soundbar.
Are there any drawbacks?
- Expensive!
- More channels = more hassle to set up
The key issues with the Samsung HW-Q990F, as we see it, are twofold. Firstly, there’s the price – even at £1,154, this is an expensive piece of audio equipment. Then there’s the fact that you’ll need to carefully arrange the various speakers to get the most from the system. Both of these things contribute to the sense that the HW-Q990F is not for newcomers – but if you’re interested, it’s unlikely you’re a newcomer anyway.
Ultimately, though, this soundbar – and the discount applied right now – comes with a strong recommendation from the one person on our team who really knows his stuff – and that, I reckon, is what really matters.
