Samsung HW-B450  Soundbar Review

The Samsung B450 is a simple soundbar with a unique design. It's mostly plastic with a tight fabric covering the front and the sides. There's an angled design on the sides of the bar, which makes it stand out compared to the Samsung HW-A450.

The sub is mostly made of wood-like material, and there's fabric on the front. It's all-black, and the port is on the back.

You can add on a Wireless Rear Speaker Kit if you want to improve its surround performance, but you have to buy it from the manufacturer separately.

The bar isn't very wide, so it fits between the legs of a 55" TV stand. It isn't very tall, so it doesn't obscure your TV screen.

The sub is about the size of an average desktop computer. It's a little taller and deeper than the sub that comes with the Samsung HW-A450, but it has the same width.

The Samsung B450 has a decent build quality. The bar is mostly made of plastic, and the fabric on the front and the sides of the bar feels tighter and more solid compared to the fabric on the Samsung HW-A450. The sub is mostly made of a wood-like material. The fabric on the front is thinner than the fabric on the bar, and it seems like it could collect dust easily.

• Manual
• Mounting brackets with screws and template
• Remote with batteries (2x AA)
• 2x power cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• Optical cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)

The Samsung B450 has a very good frequency response out-of-the-box. Its sound profile is neutral, especially in the mid-range where most vocals and lead instruments reproduce, so these elements are clear in music and TV shows. There's a touch of extra boom in the high-bass, too. However, it can't reproduce a very extended low-bass, so you don't feel the deep rumble in certain music genres like EDM or action-packed scenes in your favorite TV shows.

With its bass set to '-1' and its treble set to '1', the Samsung B450 has a more neutral and balanced sound. Voices and lead instruments are clear and detailed in the mix, and bass-centric instruments are present and accurate. That said, bass adjustment features can't make up for the lack of low-bass, so you still can't feel the rumble in bass-heavy music genres or intense TV scenes.

The Samsung B450 has a decent stereo soundstage. The soundstage is perceived to be able as wide as the bar itself, but it doesn't have any features to make it seem wider than that. It has good focus compared to other 2.1 bars, though. Sound objects like instruments in an orchestra seem to come from a certain region, but it doesn't replicate the same accuracy as more premium models.

The Samsung B450 gets decently loud. It's more than suitable for small living rooms, but if you have a very large or open space, it doesn't fill up the whole space with sound. There's also some compression when you push it to max volume, which affects the clarity of audio reproduction.

The Samsung B450 has a decent stereo THD performance. At normal listening volumes, distortion falls within good limits, so audio reproduction is clean and pure. There's a big jump in distortion when you push the bar to max volume. Still, distortion is hard to hear, so casual listeners aren't as likely to notice it as serious audiophiles.

The Samsung B450 has a fair center channel performance. It's a 2.1 setup, so it uses its left and right stereo speakers to simulate a phantom center channel. As a result, voices don't seem like they're anchored to a pinpoint location in the soundstage. Still, with its balanced frequency response, dialogue is clear and accurate in the mix.

The Samsung B450 has a poor surrounds performance. Since it's a 2.1 setup, it has to downmix surround sound into stereo in order to play it. As a result, sound objects like voices and footsteps don't seem as clear or real in the soundstage. For example, a car seems like it's coming from a speaker placed in front of you, rather than racing from one side of the room to the other.

For a soundbar with Dolby Atmos support, check out the Samsung HW-Q60B.

The Samsung B450 has a typical selection of sound enhancement features compared to other bars in its price range. You won't find more premium features like room correction, but you can still customize its sound with its bass and treble adjustments and its EQ presets: 'Standard', 'Surround Sound', 'Bass Boost', 'Game', and 'Adaptive Sound Lite'. The settings button on the remote gives you access to other tools like Night Mode, Voice Enhance, and the Audio Sync feature to reduce latency. Unlike the Samsung HW-B550, there's no graphic EQ, though. If you choose to add on a Wireless Rear Speaker Kit, you can adjust its levels.

The Samsung B450 doesn't come with a lot of inputs. There's no HDMI connection, so you have to plug it into your TV using an Optical connection. There's an Optical cable included with the bar, which is handy. You can also check out the Sony HT-S400 if you want a similar bar with HDMI.

The Samsung B450 supports both Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound formats, though it has to downmix it into stereo to play it. These formats are often found on streaming platforms and Blu-rays.

The Samsung B450 has a great latency performance. You don't notice a delay between the audio you hear and the video you see. Some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience can vary. If you have any issues, there's an Audio Sync feature that you can access using the settings button on the remote.

The Samsung B450 supports Bluetooth connectivity. You can stream audio from your phone or tablet to the bar wirelessly over this connection.

On the front of the bar, there's a small six-character display screen. It shows the settings you adjust, like the volume and the sound mode. Otherwise, the screen isn't visible.

On top of the bar, buttons let you power the bar on/off, adjust the volume, and change the source. You'll need to use the remote to access the rest of the bar's features, though.

The remote is simple and lets you access the bar's features, including the volume, the sound modes, and the EQ presets.