Samsung HW-B750D Soundbar Review

The Samsung B73CD soundbar is made of high-quality black plastic with a perforated metal grill on the front and sides. It uses different textured finishes for visual interest, though the semi-gloss plastic is a bit prone to fingerprints. It resembles the previous Samsung HW-B650 in form with the same four controls on the top of the bar.

The sub included with the Samsung B750D soundbar isn't exactly cutting-edge in style, but if you prefer that your home theater take a visual backseat, this simple rectangular shape fits in with most rooms. Its port is located at the back, while the front driver is covered in a loose fabric.

The Samsung HW-B750DC doesn't come with satellites, but you can add the Samsung SWA-9200S as a separate purchase.

The Samsung HW-B73CD is a bit too wide to fit between the legs of most 65-inch TV stands. That said, its low profile is unlikely to block your TV screen.

The sub is about the same size as an ATX PC tower. Besides needing power, it's wireless, so you have some leeway concerning its placement in your room.

The Samsung B73CD includes two brackets and hardware for mounting it on your wall.

The set has good build quality overall. The bar is made of high-quality plastic with a metal grill, and looks virtually the same as the Samsung HW-B650, though the drivers are different. The underside of the soundbar has sturdy rubber feet to protect it from scratches if you move it. On the other hand, the subwoofer is made from cheaper-feeling particle board. Its fabric grill is thin and loosely hung over the driver, suggesting protection more than meaningfully providing any. This fabric grill seems easy to accidentally rip.

• Simple User Guide
• Controls Guide
• Remote with batteries (2x AA)
• Power adapter (4.9 ft/1.5 m)
• 2x power cables (4.9 ft/1.5 m)
• Optical cable (4.9 ft/1.5 m)
• Mounting hardware + guide

The soundbar has a very good stereo frequency response out of the box. It sounds rather neutral, with a good amount of boom in the bass and a mid-range that plays back voices and melodies clearly. Compared to the previous Samsung HW-B650, it sounds less harsh and piercing in the treble range, though some might also find this a touch veiled, depending on your hearing sensitivity and preferences. However, the Samsung HW-B750D doesn't have a very deep low-end extension, so sub-bass frequencies in dubstep and doom metal can feel a bit light on the thump and rumble.

While the soundbar includes a graphic EQ, this was tested with the default 'Standard' preset settings, and there isn't a room calibration tool.

While you can use the Samsung HW-B73CD-ZA's EQ to alter the frequency response, leaving it in the default configuration most closely approximates our target curve.

The Samsung HW-B750 has two side-firing drivers, and these help extend the stereo soundstage a bit beyond the bar's actual width. Unlike the previous Samsung HW-B650, this soundbar's side-firing drivers add definition and focus at the farthest edges of the soundstage. The center channel also offers good focus, so center-panned elements like dialogue are clear. Moderately panned audio can sound somewhat diffused and less defined in the stereo field, though.

The Samsung HW-B73CD has very good stereo dynamics. At max volume, it doesn't exhibit much compression beyond a touch in the bass range, but it shouldn't noticeably affect your listening experience. That said, it doesn't get quite as loud as the last generation, Samsung HW-B650, even if it gets loud enough to fill most rooms.

The soundbar's discrete center channel sounds great. It's flat for most of the mid-range, ensuring dialogue sounds true to life. Slight boosts in the lower frequencies add fullness to voices, while the high-mids are also slightly boosted, so voices cut through the mix. The highs are a touch uneven but still sound articulate and not lispy, which is great for catching every word of what you listen to.

The soundbar's surround performance is not bad. It's a 5.1 configuration, but its lack of rear speakers limits how enveloping the surround sound can be. Due to the absence of satellites, the sound mainly comes from the bar ahead of you, though the side-firing drivers help to extend the width of the soundstage. However, you can purchase the Samsung SW-9200S if you want to place additional speakers behind you.

The soundbar doesn't support Dolby Atmos and has to downmix the audio format, so you don't get the vertical dimension that Atmos support offers.

The Samsung HW-B750 has a decent selection of sound enhancement features. These are all accessible via the remote control because there isn't a companion app. Accessing the seven-band EQ can be done by pressing the 'gear' button for a little over five seconds. Then, you can navigate the EQ's frequency selection via the left/right buttons and raise or lower its gain with the up/down buttons up to 6 dB above or below the default '0.' If you like to keep it simple, you can stick to the bass and treble adjustments.

In addition, there are several listening mode presets: 'Standard' (which is the setting we tested), 'Surround Sound,' 'Bass Boost,' 'Game,' 'DTS Virtual:X,' and 'Adaptive.' 'DTS Virtual:X' is a digital signal processor (DSP)—not to be confused with the DTS:X audio format—that's meant to simulate a '3D' sound, though it's not a substitute for up-firing speakers. Plus, there's a 'Night' mode, which applies compression to even out the quiet and loud parts of your media, and 'Voice Enhance' helps you hear poorly mixed audio better. You can also adjust the volume level of the subwoofer to compensate for where it's placed in your space.

The soundbar has a single HDMI ARC port, one HDMI In, and an Optical port, which is handy for older TVs. There's also a USB port for service and file access.

The soundbar's ARC port supports Dolby Digital and DTS formats. These common formats cover most physical media, such as Blu-rays and many TV shows, but the selection is relatively limited and lacks object-based audio formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

The HDMI In port is also compatible with Dolby Digital and DTS formats. These are fine for older physical media and most music, but if you're into the latest blockbusters, you'll miss out on object-based audio formats like Dolby Atmos.

The Optical port supports Dolby Digital, DTS, and PCM audio, which are common formats on older devices.

The Samsung HW-B750D has outstanding performance via ARC. Your visuals will stay synchronized with the audio, so you don't experience a distracting lip-sync mismatch. That said, if your TV or devices exhibit noticeably out-of-sync audio and video, you can use the remote's AV Sync to manually make adjustments.

The soundbar's HDMI In port's latency performance is also fantastic, ensuring your audio tightly follows the visuals. If you experience latency (because results can vary with different TVs and devices), the remote has an AV Sync function to adjust as needed.

The latency over Optical is good, but depending on what you're watching, you might detect a slight delay with Dolby Digital content. However, it's still good for Optical connections. You can use the AV Sync control on the remote to finesse the settings if you notice a lip-sync mismatch.

The soundbar has a passable passthrough performance. It can passthrough standard 1080p HD video at up to 120Hz, but it's more limited with higher resolution content to 8-bit 4k video at 30Hz. To be clear, the manufacturer states it doesn't support 4k video passthrough, so your experience may vary depending on what you've connected to the HDMI In port. The downside of this performance is most notable if you're an ardent gamer seeking a tear-free experience at 4k.

The Samsung HW-B750 only supports Bluetooth for wireless audio playback.

The right side of the bar has a small, four-character dot matrix display placed behind the metal grill. It scrolls horizontally for words that are longer than four characters; because there's no app, it's your sole source for feedback on settings. For example, if you want to adjust the graphic EQ, it looks like this demonstration.

The soundbar's top has four raised buttons for controlling basic functions: power, increasing and decreasing volume, and cycling through input sources.

The included remote covers all the features. Since there's no app, the remote is essential for controlling the soundbar. Some buttons need to be cycled through, such as 'Sound Mode' if you want to enter 'Night' mode. Press and hold the 'gear' icon for about five seconds to access the graphic EQ, and the up/down and left/right buttons let you make adjustments. If you have a compatible Samsung TV, you can also use its remote to access the same features.