Samsung’s 2025 soundbars include a clever convertible

Samsung's Q Series soundbars have topped our best soundbars table for some time now, but the Korean manufacturer isn't sitting on its laurels. There are two new Q Series models for 2025.

One is an interesting upgrade to Samsung's flagship, the other an all-new design.

The new models are the HW-Q990F and the HW-QS700F. The former is an upgrade to the flagship HW-Q990D, which we gave the full five stars to in our Samsung HW-Q990D review. The latter is brand new for 2025, with some clever thinking in its design.

Both soundbars add support for the new Eclipsa Audio standard, the open source alternative to Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

Samsung HW-Q990F and HW-QS700F: key features

Let's start with the flagship. The HW-Q990F looks very much like its predecessor but has newly engineered dual active subwoofers and a new cube design that makes them half the size of the current subs. This should make them a bit less visually dominant in your front room.

The new subwoofer also has "AI-driven sound optimisation" with Dynamic Bass Control to keep the overall bass levels balanced, Samsung's impressive Q-Symphony surround optimisation, active voice analysis and amplification and better integration with Samsung's TVs. In Q-Symphony mode, the soundbar uses the TV's Neural Processing Unit to analyse and enhance dialogue.

The minimalist HW-QS700F is a compact standalone soundbar that's designed to be mounted in two ways – either on a flat surface or on a wall. And that's where the clever thinking comes in, the soundbar contains a gyroscopic sensor that can tell whether it's positioned horizontally or vertically, so tunes its audio output accordingly.

Neither pricing nor availability have been announced yet, but we'd expect the HW-Q990F to be priced similarly to the model it's succeeding. That has an RRP of £1,699 ($1,999, AU$1,995 ) but is now widely available for much less.