Name: Samsung HW-K950 Soundbar with Dolby Atmos
Brand: Samsung
SKU: SSGHWK950
Price: 1497.99 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 2.6 (52 reviews)

Samsung HW-K950 Soundbar with Dolby Atmos

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Samsung HW-K950 Soundbar with Dolby Atmo...

Buy: Samsung HW-K950 Soundbar with Dolby Atmos

after spending +$1,500 on this soundbar when it came out, it coincidently started having issues after the manufacturer's warranty period ended. one of the hdmi ports stopped working, the rear speakers constantly disconnect (and barely have any sound come out when they do with their volume set to the max), no full dts:x support and the speakers haven't received any updates, the arc feature stopped working transmitting dolby atmos, and samsung support to solve any of these issues (even in the warranty period was useless). dont throw away +$1,000 on a soundbar with poor quality. samsung's reliability and product quality has been declining for years.

Cheap Soundbar

subwoofer starts to fall out after 2 years flawless use. now i need to reconnect manually each time i turn the system on. the soundbar is connected to the wi-fi so it 's software is automatically updated. every time i turn the system on it gives me the message "check cubwoofer". i wait for it to connect, to givet it a chance, but it it will not connect, so i have to do a id.set to get the subwoofer up and playing.

Subwoofer starts fall out

i honestly love the sound that comes from this system when watching movies and television. 

my problem with this system is that it seems to reboot or reset itself once in a while for no reason whatsoever. this makes whatever is showing on the tv go completely black until the soundbar appears again. this is incredibly frustrating and can take you out of the moment during an amazing film

it happens on any hdmi port and whether i'm using my apple tv 4k or my xfinity cable box.

hopefully this is just a software issue that can be fixed and i would be able to give this system 5 stars after that.

Good sound but inconsistent reliability

Purchased from a big-box electronics store, I highly suggest getting an extended warranty if you purchase this system. While it worked it fit our needs very well, the wireless solution was perfect for our room layout. My/our only complaint is that it didn't last more than a year and a half. Too high of a price point to be so short lived.

The app is cumbersome compared to others out there. We'll be looking to another brand for the replacement soundbar and wireless rear/sub combo.

Worked well for a time

Hissing sound from back speakers. No updates. Cannot pass ATMOS over ARC. Does NOT work with DTS-HD content(decode). Will not conncect sometime have to reboot the whole system frequently. Overall very quirky for the amount of money it costs. Samsung has already dumped any support for this product. Very dissappointed.

Poor support, No updates!!!

I bought this about 2 years ago, had to replace main board because it stopped activating dolby atmos or any HD audio about a year into owning it but it was repaired under warranty. Now same problem, little over a year later again..... so now 4k movie or any bluray with HD audio has, well, NO AUDIO. Something that cost so much is so unreliable. I look after my stuff so there was no reason for this to happen, AGAIN!

no upgrade support

Cuts out randomly, turns off and on randomly, samsung doesn't provide support to remedy

Cuts out randomly, turns off and on randomly

After one year surrounds will not pair. Yes, I've tried everything.

After one year surrounds will not pair

Unit stopped functioning after about a year and a half.  Now is permanently stuck in D.In mode and cannot update firmware even with USB.  Aside from some occasional brief subwoofer disconnects it was a great sounding unit, but disappointed overall with longevity of this soundbar.  Save your money and buy something else.

Stopped working after about a year and a half!

I've owned and operated this 'soundbar' for almost 2 years now and to say that I feel duped would be accurate.  Buyer BEWARE!  The device while awesome with ATMOS content is a complete bore for other interactions.  The hoops one has to jump through to get sound out of it are not worth the high price-tag.  I thought that going Samsung all the way with my TV and Blu-Ray would make this an awesome threesome.  Disappointed in support for firmware to resolve inadequacies and overall fact that with 500W of speaker power I can't get most movies via DirecTV / Netflix / Streaming to produce significant volume.  I think this item taught me a lesson to never buy again without seeing it perform in person.  This one's going to end up on ebay!

Very Underwelmed

This soundbar won’t stay Connect to the subwoofer I only had it for 2 years

Bad Product

Good product when it works. Constantly have to connect, pair the speakers....it's frustrating...

Big connection problems...

Rear speakers continually cut out and produce static. As does woofer. Lack of options to optimize sound. My Visio that I got for $400 is far superior.

Awful Value - Rarely Works Fully

Bought this sound bar with £3k Q9fn, s9 mobile and a couple of r1. Over £5k in the hope they would work well together.. They are rubbish! Loss sync with rears all the time takes literally hours to resync. I'll go with another company next time wish I hadn't bothered with Samsung!

Doesnt work

Big thanks to Samsung and Harmon kardon for this product. I wanted something wirelessly and bluetooth works great. Better option than receivers/speakers home theater systems.

Sound quality is mind blowing.

My soundbar quit connecting to the wireless speakers and subwoofer a few months after purchase. I spent days trying everything suggested by the people on the samsung support site and online forums to no avail. Now the product is out of warranty and they will not help me. It was a few days out of warranty when they informed me finally. I'm very dissappointed.  I own thousands of dollars in Samsung products. I will not be purchasing another in the future.

Product died, now Samsung will not help

This is advertised as Dolby Atmos soundbar.  However, the ONLY way it will playback Dolby Atmos is if you patch the sound and video through the sound bar. This means that the soundbar has to sit in the middle of the signal path of your video source and your TV.  Well, most of us have smart TVs that have 4K apps ON THE TV and that is where we get our 4K/Dolby Atmos programming from (the 4K Netflix app, Vudu App).  So, the problem is that this soundbar will not decode any Dolby Atmos sound that comes from your TV via ARC.  Google this problem and you will see many. many people have this issue.  Samsung has REFUSED to issue any statement on why this is not working and has REFUSED to offer any software updates to the soundbar.  For a product at this price, this is unacceptable.  I even tried to get an answer from Samsung at the CES convention in Las Vegas in January 2019 and they did not have anyone there to talk to me about the soundbar product line.

Basically no Dolby Atmos

On paper, this device is great! But in reality, it's very buggy. Wireless speakers and subwoofers have serious issues... Difficult to pair and never works for me. What's worse is that Samsung support never got back to me after submitting my support request, even after several emails, chat and of course, you are never able to get them on phone... I'm so disappointed as a customer who buys a lot of Samsung products, that I have decided to reconsider my patronage to Samsung products.

Mess Up  Soundbar

If there was a lower star than 1 I would have given that... I bought my K950 soundbar just over a year ago (moving from a Bose, which already has a strong pedigree in sound; in hindsight a big error).  The unit bought had issues with pairing and turned out to have had defective side speakers... I return that and due to the listed features and claims by Samsung of how good the soundbar, I went ahead to buy  another K950. Sound was rock solid as was advertised. Soon after, I had to move location, and the pair of small satellite speakers and subwoofers have since failed to link to the soundbar... Every troubleshooting in the book has been done. After several weeks of pulling out my hair, I filed an online SR [2199769004] for which I never got any response or support... A few weeks afterward I followed up with support, I have still not heard from them. This going on to 3 months... Horrible SLAs, support and customer service. And a horrible device that has so many issues..

Bad Pairing Mechanism and Horrible Support

OK  , I gave a 4 star rating since I am more pleased with the system then not .  Had this for about 1 year now and what my overall thoughts about this is this,,, Good system at a high cost for what you get . Mine worked right out of the box with no issue. I originally used a Fiber optic cable to connect to an older TV .  Once I got this to it's permanent  home , HDMI was used .
4K UHD Bluray's are fantastic for both Sound (with Dolby Atmos) and Image( I have a 65" QLED 8C) .... along with the Samsung 9500 Bluray player ... 
Set up was a breeze using all Samsung components .  
1 thing I've noticed when viewing Bluray's with Atmos is this bar only scrolls the Dolby Atmos indication 1 time ...If you miss that , you've missed it . Even the Bluray player doesn't state in "plain terms" which is what , only , Example , 7.1 , 5.1 and others for different languages . My understanding is with Atmos(in this system)  X.X. 4 is the number of speakers for Atmos in the system . No indication with This was listed in this system ......
Did the firmware update and do not see anything different . Call CS and was told it fixed "bugs". Did nothing that I could hear and since No issues were present , fixed nothing .
When looking into why this system doesn't have EVERY type of major Sound format , of if updates would happen , I've discovered a major flaw ... Nothing is happening for us owners of these Soundbars .. Newer Soundbars are available and it appears to be the same mind set ... What you got is all what you will get ....

So , Even though a find sounding system , it does lack in areas where non-Dolby Atmos is used ....
That's to bad for the current owners , but doing do diligence by READING  might be helpful to those who feel getting as much as they can when buying things in these price ranges Should be helpful ...
The biggest (in all my readings) is the lack of the rear speakers volume and lack of control of their volume . IN TV watching mostly they are not of much use or effect . 4K Bluray's can be much better ,depending on what you're watching ...

Good system for the $$$ ?

It's really sad that you spend all this money on this soundbar (K950) and Samsung refuses to give it a DTS X update or even a DTS HD MA update. This was not a cheap soundbar at all but Samsung has already abandoned the product in hopes that we would give in and get the new N950, but that won't be the case I'm going to Sony cause unlike Samsung they still support and update their older products which is why their ST-5000 Dolby Atmos soundbar got an DTS X update even though it's a older product that shows that they actually care about there customers which I can appreciate

Samsung Refuses To Update This Soundbar

After years of listening to TV and movies with a modest 5.1 system, I decided to try something new. Not having a huge budget, I was looking for something that would 1 sound good, 2) look nice and 3) not break the bank. 

So off I went to do some research. The store I went to, had various systems setup and I was able to see and hear what they would sound like. I tested a few 5.1 and 7.1 systems and they were nice … but out of my budget. Then I moved to sound bars, but nothing struck me, that is, until I heard this Samsung system. I was blown away by the sound. Voices were clear, music was beautiful and action clips were off the charts. 

The price was still more than I wanted to spend, but I figured "okay, I'll tighten my belt for a few months .. this is worth it" 

When the system arrived, it took about 30 minutes to setup the sound bar, subwoofer and rear speakers. The beauty of this system is, once you turn it on … everything connects automatically! So now the real test, how would it sound in my home .. answer GREAT, I absolutely love this system. Well done Samsung!

Much better than expected!

This soundbar is great for DOLBY ATMOS and Bluetooth sound. It's the clearest and loudest soundbar I ever herd. The cons are it dosent decode DTS HD and DTSX.

DOLBY ATMOS and Bluetooth is great..

- no dolby atmos support via HDMI-ARC, so basically even if your TV supports atmos, you won't be able to use it. Of course, you can use blue-ray players or Xbox One (Netflix app, but it's not the thing you expect when you buy a flagship product
- no dts:x support
- surround speakers disconnect from time to time (for around one second)
- in general, you can save around $500 and get a similar soundbar without atmos

No atmos via HDMI-ARC, no dts:x support

Wow this sound bar is the best .... the atoms sound is amazing

Great

I struggled to understand why I wasn't hearing dolby atmos on my HW-K950 soundbar which was connecting to my Samsung UBD-KM85C ultra HD Blu-Ray and my Samsung UN55HU 7200 UHD TV. I was watching a DVD that was clearly labeled Dolby Atmos. I followed precisely the HW-K950 setup guide as follows: Dolby Atmos sound can only be decoded via HDMI at the TV side. Use HDMI with ARC to connect. Blu-Ray player needs to be connected to the soundbar and the settings should be changed via the following steps: Blu-Ray Player Settings> Menu > Sound > Digital Output > Bitstream (unprocessed). But still no Dolby Atmos. The soundbar acknowledges Dolby Atmos by displaying a blue led bar on the front top right side and by scrolling the words "Dolby Atmos" across the LED display. The solution was to purchase HDMI cables that are HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 quality. The movie was distinctly different and much better sounding as was the sound in general when playing music from YouTube or streaming Netflix. The cables that came with my samsung devices were not capable of delivering Dolby Atmos.

Dolby Atmos is phenominal (once you get it to function)!

I've had this soundbar for around six months now and overall have been very happy with it. The Atmos is excellent with sounds coming from all over the room and thunderous bass from the sub. I like the design and the wireless speakers feature. I really like to crank up my movies and this item has no problem handling my desire to go deaf. As well, I like the Samsung Multiroom app tha allows you to update the system and make adjustments with the equalizer. 

That said, there are drawbacks which are impossible to ignore for a consumer, but don't seem to be important to Samsung. 

1. DTS:X. Everyone mentions it, everyone wants it, yet we still don't have it. I'm not sure why Samsung can't provide a firmware update to rectify this glaring omission, but as another reviewer stated: doing so would dramatically increase the satisfaction amongst users. Dolby Atmos is becoming more prevalent on discs and in streaming, but we really miss out on having the best audio option available for films like the Harry Potter series, Serenity, and Apollo 13. 

2. Connectivity with the rear speakers. Another common theme in reviews and on message boards for this soundbar is the fact that the rear speakers can be troublesome at times. It's always been an easy fix for me, personally: I just turn the system off and back on and that usually gets things back in working order. For the first time, I experienced an issue with the sound going out altogether three times while watching Blade Runner 2049 in Atmos last night. I haven't seen anyone else mention this, so I assume it is the soundbar. Again, this is the first time it's happened, so I'm hoping it's not a recurring problem.

While I love the look and sound from this product, it would be hard for me to recommend it for anyone who takes movie-watching seriously. But anyone who would be in the market for this soundbar would do just that. 

I'm begging you, Samsung. Give us DTS:X... please! You did great by implementing DTS with the last firmware update, so please reward those of us who have invested in your product with the whole enchilada. Then, I can give the K950 the score it deserves.

Great soundbar with some caveats

seem like Samsung never spent enough time on researching for a well working product! 
they so rushed to introduce a new product when it isn’t ready yet
Samsung better just be focusing on Tv products not in sound industry . Period

Without ARC atmos support is worthless

The rear channel speakers will not stay synched at all. Horrible design that make it a waste of money.

will not stay synced

This unit is pretty impressive when it works correctly. That is the problem...It does not always work as designed. The rear speakers are silent most of the time until ATMOS kicks in or really good Dolby 5.1. This makes it hard to hear normal TV. I had an issue with the unit "self" adjusting the volume from its original 50 being MAX volume, going to 100 as the MAX volume. I also ran a 4K Atmos disk in my 4k Player, and ATMOS never kicked on...I currently have the sound bar in to be looked at by the Samsung Repair Desk, also, I am connected, per Samsung recommendations, a Fiber Optic cable from my TV to the Soundbar, and the Cable box and 4K blue ray connected via HDMI to the TV....Hope this helps folks...Rich