[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by 4WheelPilot

Have gone through various Youtube reviews of soundbars and have also visited the Bose Bangalore store and experienced the 700 series. Even without the Atmos, the Bose experience is a different one and sounded the best. Bose management isn't too keen at India it seems - few months back, their website took you to boseapac, very few offers here whereas the same Bose products have offers throughout the year in USA.

Do check the reviews on AVForums here: Link

If you have taken a demo and felt you are convinced and OK with the lack of features called out you should go ahead I think. The Bose was not considered in our list based on the budget considerations. The Sub Woofer is not included and would increase the cost. I guess the peer in that price range would be Sonos Arc.

[somspaple]

@vsrivatsa Absolutely great deal on the sound bar. You should definitely try it with Atmos content.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

It’s completely OT, but sound output is just a number, I hardly cross 0,3 W on this pair of Mono-blocks I currently have. Usually, it’s less than 0,03 W. And, no am not referring to the headphones, each of these amplifier weighs around 45 Kg and the speaker it drives are even heavier

..
Enjoy

That teaser pic is intriguing. I know this is OT for the thread but can you post more details and pics of your set up.

[trance_nut]

I am getting a q900a for 59k after discounts. Is it worth the price, will be paired with Mi 75 inch qled

[Sebring]

Bose closed their service centres in Bangalore last year giving me great grief. Now I take it to Dubai for repairs/accessories/batteries.

Originally Posted by 4WheelPilot

Bose management isn't too keen at India it seems - few months back, their website took you to boseapac, very few offers here whereas the same Bose products have offers throughout the year in USA.

[condor]

Originally Posted by trance_nut

I am getting a q900a for 59k after discounts. Is it worth the price, will be paired with Mi 75 inch qled

59k looks a very good price - even Samsung is not giving that, and it is not available on Corporate route either.

These soundbars should connect to LED TV's - why the doubts ?

[Sebring]

I agree with you. This unit misses out on the surround speakers (Two units), can be added later

Originally Posted by condor

59k looks a very good price - even Samsung is not giving that, and it is not available on Corporate route either. These soundbars should connect to LED TV's - why the doubts ?

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

We did not consider Sonos due to budget reasons and secondly there is absolutely no support for Sonos in India. On top, Sub Woofer and satellites are all extra. Further based on reviews Alexa does not work for India region and the Sonos Arc comes with a single HDMI port.

Agree, probably we would need to wait for them to launch their updated model. Definitely the Sonos Arc is miles ahead compared to Samsung. The only downside is the cost.

Agree with you on the Sub-Woofer part. Definitely 11 channel sound is a hype I agree - but the separation of the center from the fronts and improvement in dialogue/voice in comparison with TV speakers is definitely an uplift.

Yes, Any sound bar is an improvement over the TV speakers.

As for Dolby Atmos - I will comment after doing some more research and playing correct content. Unless the content is right, Atmos wont show up. Would have been good if Samsung included a Demo Disc of some sort.

There are lot of free Dolby Atmos samples/demo clips available for download on the internet. You can download them, play and check out the effectiveness of ATMOS soundbars.

Ideally for the ATMOS to work, the speakers should be positioned above where you are seated and this cannot be reproduced like how they are intended to work by sound bars.

I did play a few samples and checked it on Samsung Q800A. In reality the sound bar does not give the same effect of true separate channels reserved for ATMOS.

Wow that must be earth shattering sound - having two sub-woofers! Are both the Sub-Woofers from Jamo?

There is a down firing sub ( from Jamo) which can be placed anywhere coupled with a front firing one for immersive experience.

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by trance_nut

I am getting a q900a for 59k after discounts. Is it worth the price, will be paired with Mi 75 inch qled

Originally Posted by Sebring

I agree with you. This unit misses out on the surround speakers (Two units), can be added later

Looks like a good deal - I think you can go ahead.

Do note that Samsung does not sell the Rear Surrounds in India separately. So, if you are eyeing the surrounds - plan to import it from outside India. Other than that I think its a good buy.

All the 2021 model starting from Q800A support e-ARC and have Internet Connectivity along with the support for SmartThings App.

[darthvader001]

For people who have space constraints and not keen on putting effort into a full fledged home theatre setup, the Soundbar is a great option. It provides an excellent middle path between using just the TV speakers and a high end full fledged home theatre powered by a dedicated AV Receiver. For the instant and effortless setup - with the need for just a HDMI cable - this definitely is a seamless solution!

Good choice. Definitely worth for the budget that you have. Enjoy the sound.

I was in the similar phase in late 2019. Needed an external speaker badly because my wall mounted Samsung TV has its inbuilt speaker output on the back. The audio was not so clear for us and we had frustration after purchasing a nice TV. I have friends in US and was searching for deals on Harman Kardon and JBL Soundbars because the same in India were expensive. However enter Covid in 2020 and no travels from US, I had to retort to the Indian available ones.
Kept searching for Samsung and Samung's Harman Kardon Soundbars (both models are different as you might know) and zeroed on HW-Q60R 2020 model. But kept the purchase on hold due to the lockdowns and fear of sanitizing items received from outside (that was the time when we're still learning about Covid situation and protocols). Same like you, it was 30k on Samsung and Amazon portals but in Jun 2020 I saw a lightning deal on Flipkart for 25k. I couldn't believe but immediately made the purchase. It was delivered in a week.

Excited and installed it in a jiffy and it lifted our mood during the continuing pandemic. Suddenly we were having home theatre and started enjoying the shows and movies in Dolby sound.

Initially I could place the Soundbar on the woodwork and it was not a clean installation as I don't the drilling tools. As pandemic still going on, we didnt want anyone from outside to do the work inside home yet. So couldn't wall mount the Soundbar for better looks. But when things got better I called my known electrician to help with drilling and wall mounting it, below is the pic.

[vsrivatsa]

Quick Question to people who have used content with Dolby Atmos. What is the best way to get the uncompressed version of Dolby Atmos? I am trying to test the Soundbar with some Atmos content. YouTube supports only 2 channel stereo and Disney Hotstar supports only Dolby Digital 5.1 I wonder why so many people have uploaded content on YouTube and tagged it as Dolby Atmos when all that Youtube supports is Stereo - it is very misleading.

Do the Steaming Platforms like Netflix provide True Dolby Atmos (which is part of Dolby True HD) or is it the Compressed one (Dolby Digital + variant) ?

I had a chat with Amazon Prime Video Support and they said Atmos is not working properly and that they are working on a fix.

Again Blu-Ray is an option but the unless the Blu-Ray player is the latest model with HDMI 2.1 I doubt if we can get uncompressed Atmos. Does HDMI 2.0 support True Dolby Atmos when set to pass through?

I also did some quick reading on a few Home Theatre forums and people are doing a lot of circus to get Atmos to work...

[Sebring]

You can download from torrent sites. But that's about 46 GB of data

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

Quick Question to people who have used content with Dolby Atmos.

[deathwalkr]

Wouldn't you also be needing eARC as well for Atmos content? Otherwise you will get compressed Dolby Digital Plus right?

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by Sebring

You can download from torrent sites. But that's about 46 GB of data

Let's take the legal route. I have extracted the .M2TS file from my own Blu-Ray and have it on a Hard Drive.

Wanted to test Q-Symphony and tried playing on a Samsung TV with Tizen, the native player down converts it - and shows that it is playing 2.1 ch. While we get Q-Symphony with a Samsung TV, the lack of Kodi on Tizen is a big drawback.

Option 1:
I do have a Minix Android Media Player with HDMI 2.0 - when I install Kodi on it and play the .M2TS file - will that be True Dolby Atmos? I am a bit doubtful as they say HDMI 2.1 has a bandwidth of 48 gbps and HDMI 2.0 has only 18 Gbps.

Option 2:
Install Plex on Windows and make it a Streaming Server and Play the content on Samsung TV via Wi-Fi streaming. Wifi, in fact has a lower bandwidth as compared to the 18 Gbps of HDMI 2.0 I believe as Wifi 6 itself tops out at 9.6 Gbps. Will this give True Dolby Atmos?

I guess the ideal option would be to install Kodi on an Android TV and then play the file via Kodi on TV - will try to get hold of and Android TV to try this option.

This whole Atmos thing is quite a circus

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Wouldn't you also be needing eARC as well for Atmos content? Otherwise you will get compressed Dolby Digital Plus right?

Yes eARC or HDMI 2.1 I think...

[Sebring]

Checked with a friend and he replies - "After Bluray, the only reliable source is Netflix. eARC capable TV with eARC receiver/Soundbar"

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

Do the Steaming Platforms like Netflix provide True Dolby Atmos (which is part of Dolby True HD) or is it the Compressed one (Dolby Digital + variant) ?

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

This whole Atmos thing is quite a circus

Yes. Absolutely

My TV supports Atmos but it does not have eARC and neither does my old Sony HT system. So for watching movies with Atmos, i connected an optical cable between TV and Sony, turned off HDMI from home theater, turned off all speakers from TV, changed audio bypass mode and whew finally TV plays back Atmos content albeit in compressed form.