- Samsung reveals two new elite Dolby Atmos sound bars ahead of CES 2026
- The Samsung HW-Q990H replaces the current Samsung HW-Q990F
- The Samsung HW-QS90H is a 7.1.2 channel all-in-one sound bar
Samsung clearly couldn’t wait for CES 2026 to reveal its new sound bars coming out next year – it just announced two new models, although sorry if you want to see what they look like, because the company didn’t bother to offer any images of them.
However, we have other details and I’ll be at CES where I’m sure I’ll hear them in action and be able to see them, so watch this space.
In the meantime, here’s what you need to know: Two new high-end sound bars are coming, called Samsung HW-Q990H and Samsung HW-QS90H.
The first is not surprising at all; It’s the successor to the five-star Samsung HW-Q990F, which we rated as the best soundbar for overall Dolby Atmos surround power.
The new model sounds very similar to the old one, which isn’t a big surprise since these models don’t tend to change much from year to year. It is a sound bar system that consists of four units: the main sound bar, the two wireless rear speakers, and the wireless subwoofer.
The total system is an 11.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos setup, with the front soundbar offering seven channels across it, as well as two up-height channels. Each of the rear speakers has two angled surround speakers, plus a riser speaker.
The subwoofer will once again be a compact unit, like the current one, with dual eight-inch drivers.
Samsung has revealed little in the way of specifications, but has said that this model features two new audio processing technologies: Sound Elevation and Auto Volume. The first “raises dialogue toward the center of the screen for more natural-sounding audio,” Samsung says, which is something soundbars generally try to do anyway (and LG even includes a fifth upstream channel in soundbars like the LG S95AR to help with this), but I’m all for Samsung doing it better than ever.
But the characteristic that In fact as the sound is Auto Volume, which “maintains a constant volume across all channels and content for a smoother and more balanced listening experience,” according to Samsung. No more suddenly super loud ads or eerily quiet old movies streaming? A constant level without me using the volume buttons? I love it.
There’s no price or release date, but Samsung usually releases them in spring, with the previous model launching at $1,999 / £1,699 / AU$2,099, although the price has started to drop quickly.
The other soundbar is also a flagship, but of a different type. The Samsung HW-QS90F is specifically an all-in-one soundbar, meaning it’s designed not to be used with rear speakers or a subwoofer (although knowing Samsung, it will probably be possible to add these; although it hasn’t announced this as an option currently).
It’s a 7.12-channel Dolby Atmos soundbar, with 13 drivers in total, including four bass drivers (which Samsung calls the Quad Bass Woofer system) to create compelling bass without a dedicated subwoofer.
A nice touch is that it can be used in two configurations: lying flat on a surface like most soundbars, or swiveling upright to mount it on the wall. This is not new for Samsung – the concept was used in the Samsung HW-QS700F in 2025 and we found it very effective in our tests.
This is basically a direct competitor to the Sonos Arc Ultra as an all-in-one soundbar option with deep bass built in, although the speaker setup is closer to the original Sonos Arc in some ways, which also used four bass drivers to create its low end, while the Arc Ultra uses Sonos’ new Sound Motion driver to create powerful bass in a smaller space, dedicating more speaker space to Dolby Atmos positional sound.
It’ll be interesting to see how the two compare, especially since Samsung will likely avoid some of the issues I had with the Arc Ultra when I reviewed it, including the lack of HDMI pass-through and DTS support… although, again, Samsung hasn’t announced this for the new soundbar. stillbecause the information is still scarce.
It’s unclear if this model will support Sound Elevation or Auto Volume features; Samsung only mentioned them for the Q990H model, but it seems like they would be equally useful here.
The best sound bars for all budgets
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