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Samsung's 2020 soundbars go hard on Atmos and gaming features

Samsung's new soundbars offer a plethora of features including a gaming-console sensing mode and the ability to use your TV's speakers as extra channels.

Ty Pendlebury Editor
Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
Expertise Ty has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He majored in Cinema Studies when studying at RMIT. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast. Credentials
  • Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
Ty Pendlebury
2 min read
q800t-subwoofer-1

The Q800T is a soundbar and wireless subwoofer combo which supports Dolby Atmos.

Samsung

Samsung has announced its 2020 range of soundbars which enable some unique features, including using a QLED TV's own speakers as extra channels and allowing simultaneous Bluetooth connections.

Like its competitor Vizio Samsung is streamlining its soundbar naming system for 2020 with three main ranges -- the high-end Q (carrying over from previous years), the mid-level S, and the entry-level T.

Part of Samsung's flagship line, the Q800T Soundbar is a 3.1.2 Dolby Atmos speaker which offers an intriguing new feature. When it's paired with a 2020 Samsung QLED TV "Symphony Sound" enables users to add the the TV's own top speakers as height speakers channels. Similar to the flute-like HW-N650 the speaker uses a series of holes to direct sound upwards, yet they are now mounted at the front of the bar so the sound doesn't hit the TV if the bar's tucked underneath it.

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Meanwhile, Samsung says soundbars are used to listen to music 40 percent of the time, and its new S-Series is aimed at people who want speakers optimized for that. The S60 is a 4.0-channel single soundbar with front firing drivers and side-firing, horn-loaded acoustic beams and it is covered in a premium Kvadrat fabric. The Samsung will be voice operated and include both Amazon Alexa and Bixby (later on). The company will release the accompanying W599 wireless subwoofer with a 6.5-inch driver for people who want more bass.

Lastly, the company will produce the entry-level T-series soundbars which will come with a number of useful features for the price. These include DTS Virtual X for a bigger sound, and a Game mode when connected to a console. The soundbar will also allow multiple Bluetooth connections at once, but it's unknown if two people can control music at the same time.

Pricing and availability of the new range is yet to be announced.