CES 2016

Samsung’s Atmos Soundbar Hits the Heights

Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 7, 2016

I speculated a few months back that what the world needs is an Atmos soundbar. The industry must have been listening, because we now have at least two such products, one from Samsung and the other from Yamaha. I haven’t heard the Yamaha, but the Samsung HW-K950 was being demonstrated at this year’s CES.

It consists of front LCR speakers firing from the front of the bar, L&R upward firing drivers also inside the bar, wireless surrounds with both front and upward firing drivers (front for the conventional surrounds, upward for the Atmos effects), and a wireless subwoofer.

The Samsung was in modest fettle in a small, semi-closed off both on the CES show floor. If it wasn’t entirely convincing in either immersion or timbre, an entire sidewall of glass, and no obvious acoustic room treatment, certainly didn’t help.

COMMENTS
fredmant's picture
Submitted by fredmant on January 8, 2016 - 3:36am

Tom, I have an iMax screen in my house too. Only it's smaller.
Fred

jcsmith999's picture
Submitted by jcsmith999 on January 8, 2016 - 6:43am

Does this mean that Samsung plans on doing a better job of passing more than 2.0 audio?

TheJoBoo's picture
Submitted by TheJoBoo on January 8, 2016 - 9:11am

a solution for people who don't care about sound quality, have an 8x10 room and want Dolby Atmos. Before now they had to choose among five hundred different crappy soundbars. Ah, greed.

Ultimately it is good to get Atmos into as many homes as possible and create excitement, though. This will certainly help everyone.

Traveler's picture
Submitted by Traveler on January 8, 2016 - 2:30pm

That environment sounds like the kind most people have. It certainly sounds like mine.

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