As I understand it, the Q80R is the same soundbar and subwoofer as the Q90R (but no rear surrounds). Does this model do a decent job of simulating an Atmos soundtrack without rear speakers?


In the $1000 range, what alternative soundbar/subwoofer combo would you consider?


Lastly, it has been suggested to me that a Samsung soundbar and Samsung TV would be more compatible, with less HDMI Arc issues, than other non-matching soundbar and TV brands. Is that true?

It's probably true that Samsung soundbars are designed to work best with Samsung TVs. However, I haven't noticed any incompatibility with my LG C8 and Samsung HW-Q70R soundbar. CEC, ARC, Dolby Atmos passthrough all work fine.

Thanks...good to know.


How do you find the Atmos (or simulated surround) performance of this soundbar...without rear effects speakers?

I feel it's still pretty front heavy (obviously, without the rear speakers), but there's some sense of height. I still haven't found a good clip to test Atmos on though, nor have I put much effort into testing it. So take it with a grain of salt.

I have a Q90R with a Q80R soundbar. I get terrible lip syncing issues on Cable TV. There are some threads with a lot of info on the Samsung forums. I'm considering returning both the TV and soundbar and trying to go in a different direction.

I have the same tv and soundbar...and the same terrible lip sync problem with my Optimum cable box (1080i with Dolby Digital). I have a Roku Ultra and the cable box connected to the tv via HDMI, and the tv and sound bar are connected with HDMI ARC.

Both the TV's internal apps and Roku (checked Netflix and Prime Video), set to Dolby Digital, played back perfectly...no lip sync issue. So, it's just the cable box.

What are they saying over at the Samsung forums? Must be bad (unfixable?) for you to be considering returning both. What direction would you go in next?

Looks like this horrible lip sync problem with a cable/fios/sat box and Dolby Digital is very common. Now I need to figure out if it's a Samsung problem. I see some lip sync problems being reported with other brands. I can return the soundbar, but what would I replace it with (and NOT have the lip sync problem)?

Do you really need cable? It is a dying format, there are much better and cheaper alternatives like Hulu TV or Youtube TV.

Quick question for you fine folks. I have the Q90R and was thinking of getting this or the Q90 surround version. Does this connect to the HDMI port with ARC? If so do all other HDMI inputs function through this sound system too or do you have to connect your device directly to the sound system? Stupid questions probably but just want to make sure before I purchase. Thank you!

Believe me, I've been looking. It seems that there is not one single streaming service that provides all the channels/content that I want. I can get pretty close with two streaming providers with "live tv", but they don't have the pro sports teams I follow. If you know of a streaming service that has live sports from FSNY, YES, ESPN, MSG (and the MSG overflow channels), and NBCSN...I'm all ears...and you would be my hero!

The Q90 and Q80 soundbars are identical. They both have two HDMI inputs and an HDMI Arc. I have my Q80 connected to my Q90 LCD with arc, and a cable box and Roku Ultra connected to the TV. Everything works as expected, but there is a bad lip-sync problem with the cable box only (smart tv apps and Roku work perfectly).

The lip-sync workaround is to connect the cable box via optical which changes the sound setting to PCM...not a perfect solution.

Does anyone know where the IR receiver is on this soundbar? I'll be programming a URC remote that works with an RF converter, and I need to stick an IR repeater on the soundbar IR receiver.

Thanks so much I think that’ll work for me. I stream my TV these days so most of what I do is through my PC. I also bought an optical cable too. With that said, would it be better to connect via the HDMI (Arc) port or Optical as far as sound quality and options go?