I'm looking for this soundbar and found it at BuySmarte and Appliance Central for $839. It's not the cheapest deal I've seen. The GoodGuys won't match this unfortunately.
Samsung Soundbar HW-Q930C/XY Dolby Atmos $839 + Delivery ($0 to Selected Cities) @ Buy Smarte / Appliance Central
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danielt25 on 26/08/2023 - 16:34 buysmarte.com.au (1604 clicks)
Last edited 27/08/2023 - 09:26 by 1 other user
Last edited 27/08/2023 - 09:26 by 1 other user
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Just cause it's not the cheapest its been doesn't mean it's not a bargain.
Good Guys selling it for $1499 makes it a bargain if you can buy it for $839.
It's $972 at The Good Guys Commercial
I've emailed GG commercial to see if they price match Appliances Online / Buy Smarte
how to buy in good guys commercial, I tried signing up and looks like its for bulk users
Just a heads up, you can get much better sound quality from a set of decent bookshelf speakers for less than half this price. Greater clarity and depth from a set of bookshelf speakers will provide a much better audio experience compared to virtual surround sound from a soundbar, which are quite a gimmick in my opinion
Yeah but do you get the convenience that you can just plug this directly into your tv and also get wireless rear speakers? These also actually sounds great.
Second this. We have the q990b and everyone who has experienced the supposed "gimmick" of Atmos demos has been blown away by it.
Even almost a year into owning it, I still get blown away by a good sound mix when watching movies. Bookshelf speakers may provide better clarity, but you're not getting the upward firing speakers or subwoofer or earc ease of use.
@antik: So… most people?
I can't think of anyone I know under 40 who doesn't use
either Netflix or Spotify@safwanc: My point is both Spotify and Netflix are heavily compressed, and a lot of people haven’t actually experienced high-def content, nor listened to hi-res audio, so a comment such as “people have been blown away by it” doesn’t really say much about a product
@antik: I mostly watch 4k and regular blu-rays via my Panasonic ub820 connected directly to the soundbar then passed through to the TV. The Atmos demo is within the Dolby Xbox app.
Nobody I know has "high end" audio equipment, nor have I ever known, in my near 30 years of life, anyone with a home-theatre or ceiling-mounted Atmos speaker set-up.
Your reddit-level smugness doesn't mean you can devalue other people's life experiences due to your privileges
@antik: Heavily compressed? Netflix has Dolby digital plus. That's a far stretch from heavily compressed.
@trentgibbo: Netflix Dolby digital plus is max 768kbps bitrate, which is barely half the bitrate of 40 year old 1411kbps CD quality. So yeah, it’s heavily compressed. Most are happy with streaming services though, they buy a 4K TV and stream heavily compressed content and think it’s amazing
@antik: You conveniently avoided my comment where I stated I didn't do any of these things with my soundbar set-up.
@antik: Lol c'mon mate. They proved a long time ago that the average person cant tell the difference between mp3 and CD quality. The fact that ddp is 6 times the quality of a standard mp3 would tell you this is more than enough. So no, it's not heavily compressed when compared to what the human ear can actually discern.
Edit: yes I realise there are extra channels to account for but that hardly matters to the point.
@trentgibbo: Sorry mate, I 100% disagree with you on this, If you think any of the streaming channels Dolby Atmos is equivalent to true lossless Audio Dolby Atmos / DTS Master , If you are in sydney, you are welcome to come over and take a look. Unless you mean with TV speakers people cant tell the difference. In my system its immediately noticeable. I go out of my way to check which streaming sites has what and whether i have it myself etc or not. My order is usually Foxtel is the worst for Audio followed by Stan, Netflix / Prime, I think Disney and Apple TV can be marginally better And then any Bluray / lossless Audio version.
@lonewolf: I said the average person. Most people can't even tell the difference between tv speakers and soundbar unless someone points it out.
Ive got the elac unifi full surround setup (which is probably better than 99% of setups) and can tell you that no one has ever been able to tell if I'm running ddp or pcm unless I switch during playback. If your receiver is half decent it should be making a good sound stage regardless of the codec.
@trentgibbo: That’s the point I’m trying my make, these types of products are marketed towards the average person that doesn’t have much audio experience. It has 14 channels and supports Atmos so it must sound amazing.. More isn’t always better when it comes to audio.
I’d have a lot more confidence in your Elac surround setup sounding good as Elac produce quality drivers and cabinets. A Samsung soundbar on the other hand - When have Samsung ever been known the make quality audio equipment? With a shit tonne of tiny drivers firing in random directions paired with some very simple processing, sure it can sound better than inbuilt TV speakers - which is what the average person is upgrading from. However, I still firmly stand by my original comment of getting a much more enjoyable listening experience from a pair of decent bookshelves for half the price.
@antik: Have you even listened to the 990b/c? Its not about 14 channels or atmos. For the price, they sound darn good in a movie setting which is what most people are after.
Very few are after the audophile experience. Besides if we are claiming bookshelves are better in a movie setting without running a centre speaker (phantom centre), unless you are seated in front of the speakers, the dialogue is not anchored. In a seperates system, esp for movies, the centre channel and a good sub are lot more important. A good sub easily costs the whole cost of this system. A quality centre is at the very least $500+.
The frustration that comes with increasing volume for dialogue, then decreasing volume on loud explosions, then mucking around with the individual channel settings, then compensating for the room running Audessey etc etc etc gets old real quick, I should know, I have tried it all. Tried the Sonos soundbar and was immedately blown away, I could just focus on the movie. These flagship soundbars from Samsung are a close second and sound very good.
Having had seperates for many many years, I'm now slowing moving away from it. I just wish someone could produce a cost effective soundbar with a sub-out so I can use my own sub and I'll instantly move to it. My pet peeve with these soundbars is they are all or nothing solutions. The weakest link in these soundbars are the sub. Whilst they sound real good for the average joe, they pale in comparison to a good sub that goes down.
I must admit I resisted trying out soundbards for the longest time until I did. Dont know them until you've tried it, critically listenend to it. Its especially hard when you have sunk costs on seperates but that doesnt change what these systems are capable of at the price on offer.
@trentgibbo: I have lots of average people come over to my place from soundbars and tv speakers with streaming sites to my lossless Blurays..they can tell the difference immediately and make it a point to watch certain movies only at my place for that reason. I have sometimes played the lossy codec accidentally instead of the lossless and I had people asking me if there was something wrong with the audio as it doesn't sound as dynamic. And these are guys who have tv speakers at home with streaming sites only. Now perhaps over time their ears have adjusted too lossless audio. As usually it can take a few weeks after a new better setup before you ears get used to a certain level of audio but once you get to that point then you go back to another lesser system you have and it's night and day
I don't know anyone who can't tell the difference from a good soundbar and tv speakers these days (since tv speakers have generally become really crap). It would have to be those super cheap $100 soundbars if the produce similar sounds to TV speakers..unless we are comparing cheap sound bars to good plasma TVs that had great speakers like the pioneer Kuro TVs.
Like I said anyone in Sydney is welcome to come try my set up out.
@antik: FFS if you're going to try play the audiophile card, I think that arguments about bitrate are about the least relevant ones to come up with.
I happen to agree that high quality dual channel is better than soundbar, but you come across as some kind of Reddit/ASR armchair theorist.
Third this :)
Q600B dolby atmos is amazing
@closed: We got the 600B for the in-laws about 6 months ago
I'm curious what your set-up is (as in if it's just the bar or you got the additional rears) and what stuff you've played through it? We've yet to try any Atmos stuff on theirs, though we have a 4k player and discs on the way for them
Most bookshelf speakers come with digital optical in, so plug n play. They sound good until you hear a decent set of bookshelf speakers. Dialogue in films is severely lacking on 2” soundbar drivers
What bookshelf speakers do you recommend?
Sound is subjective. It’s a pointless argument. Let people like what they like.
Having heard these kinds of sound bars before I would agree. They sound way better than TV speakers and to most people they'd sound good enough, but you can get a decent set of bookshelf speakers for this (doubly so on the used market) that have larger drivers, a fuller sound, and discrete speaker + receiver systems can be upgraded peacemeal over time, unlike these sound bars that are essentially "fixed" as they are.
They're not bad, and if you like them, more power to you, but they're a compromise for the sake of convenience and once speakers are setup, the convenience factor becomes irrelevant. To each their own though.
"these kinds of soundbars before" is very non-specific
Decent Samsung Atmos soubdbars with wireless surrounds, to be more specific. A bunch of mates own them.
As I said, they're not bad, but small drivers have always sounded like small drivers and the stereo separation is often lacking due to the physical speaker drivers being too close together. I know they use wall reflection and software trickery to attempt to overcome that problem to a certain extent, but to me, you can't beat proper speaker positioning and height to create a great sweet spot.
Samsung Q series are the only type of soundbars I'd recommend over a set of bookshelf speakers.
They really are impressive if you haven't heard them. Much better than the cheaper soundbars most people have heard before.I upgraded to a Q series from the Edifier s350db and it was a night and day difference. Dialogue is an issue with 2.0ch and 2.1ch systems
I disagree a little with this. I've got the Edifier S2000 active speakers which are pretty good. I was using them before i got this soundbar and there's no way i'd go back to the Edifier's for anything other than music. Yes they do sound a fair bit better for that but this soundbar trashes it in terms of surround sound capabilities and dialog in my opinion. For around this price and if you don't have a massive room to put it in i think this soundbar is amazing. Just my 2c. :)
This is wrong. All you will get will be 2 channel sound. It may be better for music, but for most movies and shows a Soundbar like this will blow 2 channels out of the water for more than 2 channels. If you wanna start with $5000 speakers and clarity, go for it but that claim against the target of this product is wrong. This system is aimed as an alternative to surround sound setup, not 2 channel music listening.
Then there is convenience, form factor, lack of need for receivers/amps and speaker cable.
Cracking sound system and well worth the coin.
Any opinion on using this in front facing mode? I don't have space to place speakers at rear.
we’ve been using it without the rears for a few months now and it sounds pretty good.
Why would you drop the rear speakers?
we haven’t been bothered enough (yet) to install the wall mounts we bought for them, and we don’t have enough space for floor stand
@theg00s3: I believe you can use the rears as extra front speakers rather than letting them gather dust.
Why not get stereo speakers then?
I’ve got the 930b, and bought it when we were in a rental that the rears worked nicely. Our new place has a very odd couch layout and so I’ve got the rears in front facing mode. I miss the rear surround sound aspects in movies for sure, but having the stereo separation with the satellites wide of the TV at the front works well for more content I feel.
But as others said, I’d probably research different kit if I was to buy fresh for this house if I could never have rears.
Just be aware that you're slightly older blurays that dont have Atmos, these speakers cant do DTS-HD so you'll be losing out on spatial audio and having it default to a lower quality. Most people wouldnt even notice. But this is for those who do.
Isn't DTS:X backwards compatible with DTS-HD?
Well this is frustrating.. I thought it was HD. I recall reading up a zillion reviews when I was trying to choose sound bars a little while ago and sony had a sound profile that samsung didnt have and thought it was DTS. Now I'm not sure what I read. It was something to do with spatial audio. Maybe I've slipped into a mirror universe again.
I'm pretty sure it does.
This could be off the mark, but you're not running this through an LG C2 are you? And trying to pass through DTS-HD signals via eARC? If that's the case, it's the TV, not the soundbar, that doesn't support it.
I'm confused in what I read a while ago. Seems I might be off. Was there something the soundbar couldnt do wired but could wirelessly?
Our local jb hifi price matched this + shipping no worries, so try them and see if you can also get lucky as well
Really good to know because when I phoned up the 1300 Good Guys number for a price match they said they couldn't!
Also have you been able to stream Dolby Atmos on Amazon prime? Had issues only with Amazon Prime and Atmos and my JBL bar 800
can't say I've tested it, but I might be able to give it a go if it'd help your purchasing decision :)
Thanks, I'd like to know if you have any issues with Amazon Prime streaming Dolby Atmos, as my JBL Bar 800 streams Dolby Atmos on Disney+, Amazon Music, AppleTV+ but just not Amazon Prime or Paramount (tested on a FireStick and a Chromecast 4k)
If it helps, my q990b is able to decode and play Atmos signals from prime. So far it has worked with Daisy Jones and Air from memory, though I admittedly haven't tried much else.
I've been scrolling through these comments trying to figure out why Good Guys told you that they couldn't price-match it… Couldn't find an answer. The item isn't marked as clearance, so technically they should price-match it. I've always been able to price match with Appliance Central at JB. What exactly did they say? The Good Guys and JB are both owned by the same company and usually operate quite similarly.
The guy on the 1300 Good Guys number just said they couldn't match it. I figured if they selling it at $1494 (the 930C isn't discounted unlike their other Samsung Q series Soundbars) and even their commercial price is $962 - then an $839 price-match is doubtful!
@danielt25: I got my 930b from GG @ i think it was $699 so they certainly have room to move on the price…
This or Q990 ?
990 If you can afford it
Noob…trying to setup media room in newly constructed house. Budget for my music system is $1000 max, is this the best option I can get? Or alternatives?
I'd recommend the 990c for $278 more at ggc. You'd be very happy.
What is ggc?
The Good Guys Commercial
Thanks @sk280
For basic decent setup this deal is good enough or should really upgrade to 990c? What’s the difference in two models?The 930c will be very good, but for just a little bit more you can get the flagship and be done with it. I've listened to the 990b and it is very very good.
@zxcvb: great, thanks for your inputs.
Any idea where can i see and listen to the sound of 930c and 990c/b ?
Is there any store which allows to play these? I am in Sydney BTW. Thanks.@bluespider: I've listened at my mates. However I'm guessing any of the Samsung stores will have this.
990c also has multiple inputs and has resolved the rear speaker wireless dropouts many experienced with the earlier models of 990b.
When I heard the 990b I instantly knew it was incredible value for money over separates. I'm a 3.1 guy, so I was pleasantly surprised at the quality in comparison to separates.
Get the flagship Q990C, bought mine a month ago for about $1,150. Have a listen at JB Hi-Fi, not the best environment for a listen but you can also trust the online reviews on this one. For me the app works well and the subwoofer and rear speakers connect wirelessly to the soundbar with no issues. If your TV has eARC then it's a simply setup. I don't have eARC or ARC just HDMI so I'm using a HDFury box to get Atmos sound.
Thanks @BellaWii @sk280 I am trying to also find 85-100inch TV for media room as well with Q990C.
Could you suggest me some decent options under $4k? Might wait for Boxing day sale too for any bargains so having some TV models numbers handy from now till EOY will be good. Will keep eye on their deals.
FYI: Appliance Central also have it for the same price: https://www.appliancecentral.com.au/hw-q930cxy-samsung-q-ser…
I would recommend trying to price match from appliance central instead if your area qualifies for free shipping, saves you the $70 or so shipping from buysmarte that they add on when JB match the price. (I made this mistake without realising at JB)
JB priced matched for me with appliance central
What else can perform and deliver performance similar to this, with a lower price point? Happy with front channels only.
Next model down is the 800c without the rear speakers.. it will only be 5.1.2ch not 9.1.4Ch obviously without the rears
Must hold out for the 990c! Just waiting for the golden ATL number!
JB matched with no issues, must have heaps of margin on these
I have the 990B for the family room and the 930C (purchased from Appliance Central last month for $849) for the bedroom. Both systems are amazing; the sound field is so wide and enveloping. Watching streaming movies and shows is pure joy.
Just got it price matched with appliance central in store @ Harvey Norman.
Anyone with this and Google Chromecast can tell me if the Chromecast remote works on this please?
I bought the Q950T in 2020 and considered upgrading to the Q990C. However, when I saw the Nakamichi Dragon (released this month), it currently seems to be the best soundbar in the market. It is very expensive though.
https://dragon.nakamichi-usa.com/
I am hoping Samsung will have a better version next year to compete with the Dragon.
What are everyone using as a speaker stand of the rear speakers?
Links pls
ThanksThese have good reviews online and from fellow ozbargainers. I have these, quality is good.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/792413
So it's not a bargain?