I am looking to buy a new Soundbar for my Samsung TV. Confused between Sonos Arc and Samsung Q990C.
Read quite a few reviews for both of them and most people say Samsung but given the software updates provided by Sonos as compared to Samsung, I am inclined towards Sonos. However, Samsung one is the latest model, comes in the bundle and works good with Samsung.
Any thoughts, suggestions or experience ?
TIA
I have the samsung q990b and my friend has the samsung q990c because they experienced mine and wanted to improve their own sound experience, I would recommend the samsung soundbar system as its a complete system for about 1k on sale vs spending much more on sonos arc. It really comes down to what you want, I found I wanted bass and the full atmos experience as I watch a lot of movies and tv shows etc. The samsung isnt as good for music but is decent, the sonos would be better for avid music listeners imo, best to go listen to both of them at jb hifi or other stores that might have them to see what sounds better to you.
I can say once you get a good soundbar system, its hard to go back to watching with tv speakers only.
I agonised over the choice between Samsung and Sonos for years and ended up going for the Samsung q990c because of the price point and what you get. Having the sub and the surround speakers is amazing. It connects to Spotify and my samsung tv with ease.
I got my local jb hi fi to price match with appliances online for around 1300 so was a good price imo.
That was quite a good price for the bundle.
I will keep that in mind during BF sale.
I'm on a similar journey. But it's between the 930 and 990. From what I've read it's not that big a difference? I'm wondering whether it's worth the extra few hundred dollars.
My biggest concern regarding Samsung is "software update". Samsung is releasing new soundbar every year and that begs the question if and for how long Samsung will be providing software updates to its models. On the other hand Sonos constantly release software and security updates
990c primarily for the price q symphony and rear speakers which make a massive difference. Also you can pickup 900 for under 1100
I am in the same boat but decided to go with Samsung 990c purely die to better compatibility and features. They are almost same soundwise. Now just waiting for it to go below $1000 mark hopefully during black friday
Based on other posts and an employee commenting, about 1k is the buying price for most retailers, so it probably won't go below 1000 any time soon until 990D is launched.
Last week it was at $1076 by stacking all deals.
Alternately you can keep an eye on the 990b, which was 799 at Samsung EDU store.
I gave up on Sonos due software issues and flaky ability to link with Spotify. Switched to Samsung and it's been trouble free. Audio quality pretty similar for a non audiophile.
Did you experienced any wifi drop outs ? I saw in multiple reviews for the Samsung that sometimes "Woofer" drops out during a movie.
Never.
The big benefit of Sonos is multi-room audio, and music (especially streamed), alongside the usual soundbar benefits.
For instance you can pipe the TV audio into another room if you want, or play music around the house (including on the soundbar).
If you're not planning on using those features of Sonos, it may be better to go with a conventional soundbar.
This is Ozbargain, ditch the Soundbar idea and get some Edifiers off Facebook Marketplace, and then build a custom subwoofer from random car audio equipment and ATX power supplies on Gumtree. Should give you a pretty banging setup for less than 200 bucks
You really did answer OP's question.
Get a q990b,
It's cheaper than the 990c, and probably better. Well, Rtings.com thought so.
I remember picking up mine for about 1k on eBay.
Also, it integrates better with Samsung tv's. The sound bar gets taken to the next level with q Symphony, where the tv speaker are also used.
I agree. "Q symphony" is a deal breaker feature.
I’ve got the full Sonos home theatre setup (arc, sub and era 300s) in a dedicated media room and it’s phenomenal with both music and theatre content… I even went to the point of getting a 4K blu ray player to get uncompressed audio from disk to sound system and can definitely hear the difference over streaming… that said, I’ve heard the arc on its own recently and wasn’t impressed.
I built my setup up over time (years), and if I was starting from scratch I’d do it again and just slowly build out the system over time. But, it is expensive, and so if you just want a sound bar and don’t want to build out the rest, Samsung probably the go. But if you might build it out over time, I’d go Sonos arc, then sub then surrounds.
I just got a surround sound soundbar yesterday and it's just…… A soundbar. It's nothing too deep in the buying process.
You plug it in, it plays sound. That's it.
The only decision you have to make if the features is towards your needs, for example wireless connectivity, Bluetooth pairing, voice commands, phone connectivity, surround sound etc…
Based on the two soundbars you mentioned, I'd go for the Samsung