Samsung HW-Q850T  Soundbar Review

The Samsung HW-Q850T is a sleek soundbar with an all-black design that looks similar to the Samsung HW-Q70T and the Samsung HW-Q800T. The bar is made of hard plastic, with a metal grille covering the top and the front of the bar.

The sub is made of wood. There's thin fabric covering one side, and it seems like it could rip or get dirty easily.

The satellites have plastic on the top and bottom, with a metal grille covering the sides. They connect to a wireless receiver module through a wired connection.

The Samsung HW-Q850T likely won't fit between the legs of a 55 inch TV. However, it isn't very tall, so it shouldn't block your TV screen unless your TV sits flush on the table.

The sub is the same size as the Samsung HW-Q800T's sub. It connects to the bar wirelessly, which gives you more flexibility when placing it in your room.

The satellites aren't very big. They connect to the bar wirelessly, which is handy. However, you have to wire them to the receiver module to get them to work.

On the back of the bar, there are two openings for the inputs and the power cable. There are also universal holes on the underside so you can wall-mount it.

On the back of the sub, there's the port. There's also a power cable input and a pairing button.

The satellites have a fairly plain back, with inputs to wire them to the receiver module. There are also universal holes so you can wall-mount them.

The Samsung HW-Q850T has an impressive build quality. The bar itself is mostly made of plastic, with a metal grille on the top and the front that helps to protect the drivers. The satellites have a similar build, with plastic tops and bottoms and metal grilles covering the front and sides. The sub is made of wood. However, the thin fabric on one side seems like it could rip or get dirty easily.

• AC/DC adapter
• 2x power cables
• Power cord for wireless receiver module
• HDMI cable
• 2x speaker wires for satellites
• Wall mount guide
• 2x wall-mount brackets
• 2x holder screws
• 2x screws
• Rubber foot
• Remote with batteries (2x AA)
• Toroidal Ferrite Core
• Manual

The Samsung HW-Q850T has an excellent stereo frequency response out-of-the-box. Overall, it has a pretty neutral, balanced sound profile that's suitable for listening to lots of different audio genres. It reproduces an extended low-bass, so you really feel the deep thumps and rumbles in action-packed scenes. There's also a graphic EQ and presets as well as bass and treble adjustments to help you customize its sound.

Note: We noticed some occasional pops and screeching while testing this soundbar. We suspect that these sounds are unique to our testing unit.

We tested this soundbar in several different configurations after adjusting the bass and treble to try and get a slope closer to 0. However, we weren't able to find a configuration that performed better than its default settings.

The Samsung HW-Q850T has a decent stereo soundstage performance. The soundstage is perceived to be a touch wider than the bar, but it doesn't have any tricks to make it sound wider than that. It has good focus, though, so objects in the soundstage seem to come from a pinpoint location rather than a general area.

The Samsung HW-Q850T soundbar has very good stereo dynamics. It gets pretty loud, and there isn't a lot of compression when you play it at max volume, so it's a suitable choice for listening to loud music at crowded parties or in large rooms.

The THD performance of the Samsung HW-Q850T is okay. At a normal listening volume, there's some distortion present, and there's a slight jump in THD when you push it to max volume. However, this may not be noticeable with real-life content.

The Samsung HW-Q850T is a 5.1.2 setup that offers a discrete center channel, which results in clearer and more accurate reproduction of dialogue. The frequency response is also quite balanced, especially in the mid-range, so vocals are clear and present.

The Samsung HW-Q850T has a satisfactory surrounds performance. It has dedicated surround speakers, so surround objects like voices and footsteps are clearly and accurately localized in the soundstage. However, its frequency response is quite bass-heavy, which may be overwhelming for some listeners.

The Samsung HW-Q850T has a poor Atmos performance. It uses up-firing speakers on the bar itself to bounce sound off the ceiling and back down to the listener to give the illusion of height. However, this doesn't sound quite as real as discrete localization created by down-firing speakers. Also, the bar sounds quite bright, and it lacks some low-bass, which can be disappointing if you like to feel the deep thump and rumble in action-packed scenes.

The Samsung HW-Q850T comes with a graphic EQ as well as several EQ presets: 'Standard', 'Surround', 'Game Pro', and 'Adaptive Sound'. These features help you customize the bar's sound to your liking, and the Adaptive Sound mode can automatically optimize the sound based on the content you're listening to, though we don't currently test for this. Unfortunately, it lacks some more premium sound enhancement features, such as room correction, so it may sound a bit different depending on the room you're listening in.

The Samsung HW-Q850T has the same selection of inputs as the Samsung HW-Q800T. There's a Full HDMI In port, so you can use the bar as a hub between your different devices. However, it lacks a 3.5mm AUX port, so you can't wire older devices like smartphones to the bar.

Update 10/06/2021: We retested this soundbar after updating the firmware and found that it now supports 5.1 PCM content.

The Samsung HW-Q850T supports many common audio formats over ARC. It can playback Dolby Digital and DTS content, which is great for movie fans as these formats are commonly found on streaming platforms and Blu-ray discs.

Update 10/06/2021: We retested this soundbar after updating the firmware and found that it now supports 5.1 PCM content.

The Samsung HW-Q850T has incredible audio format support via Full HDMI In. It can play audio from most sources, including DTS and Dolby Digital content commonly found on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms.

The Samsung HW-Q850T also supports Dolby Digital and DTS content via Optical. These formats are commonly found on streaming platforms and Blu-ray discs.

The Samsung HW-Q850T has a great latency performance. Its latency falls within good limits via ARC, Optical, and Full HDMI In, which is great if you like watching videos. However, some apps and some TVs compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience may vary.

You can play audio content wirelessly from your mobile devices using a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection.

The Samsung HW-Q850T Soundbar can passthrough the highest bandwidth signals. When you use your soundbar as a hub between your TV and your PC, the text on the screen is clear and crisp.

The subwoofer connects wirelessly to the bar. There's only an input for the power cord.

The satellites connect to the receiver module over a wired connection. The receiver needs to be plugged into a power outlet in order to work, but on the upside, it connects to the bar wirelessly.

There's a small display on the right side of the bar that shows the volume number and the current input. It has a four-character display, and it scrolls for longer words. Also, there's a red light that turns on when the microphone is muted.

On the top of the soundbar, there are some touch-sensitive buttons. You can adjust the volume, mute the microphone, or use the Multifunction button to change inputs and enable Alexa voice assistant.

The remote is simple, and it lets you control most of the bar's functions. However, the app gives you access to a few more EQ presets.

The Samsung HW-Q850T soundbar has Amazon Alexa built-in, and you can also mute the microphone if you don't want it to listen to you.

The Samsung SmartThings app lets you control many of the soundbar's functions, though you can't use it to sync, adjust the center level or the front top level, or turn the virtual surround on and off. It also comes with a few additional EQ presets, including Pop, Jazz, and Classical.

The Samsung HW-Q850T has an auto-off function that turns off the bar after 18 minutes without an audio signal. It also supports HDMI CEC, so you can control some of the bar's basic functions using your TV remote.