Samsung HW-QS700F soundbar review: Sophisticated design, automatic adjustments

It’s nice to see Samsung offer something new for 2025. For the last few years, the company has been updating existing designs for its annual refreshes, especially its most premium soundbar, the Q990. I was pleasantly surprised to see something entirely new when the company debuted the QS700F ($700) at CES. This model doesn’t have the immersive sound that its more expensive sibling offers, but there are several handy features, including the ability to adapt to whichever way you place it.

For all of its might, the QS700F only beams Dolby Atmos in a 3.1.2-channel speaker configuration. Eight total drivers provide the sound here, significantly less than what blasts the 11.1.4-channel sound on the all-in-one Q990F. But the QS700F costs half as much, and for people who live in smaller spaces or have smaller living rooms, this more affordable, adaptable model will serve you just fine.

Design

With the QS700F, Samsung nixed the extra angles from the Q990F since there are no side-firing drivers here. This gives the soundbar a simplified, brick-like rectangular shape that’s less of a distraction in front of your TV. The QS700F is also shorter when laid horizontally on a table or mantle, which means it doesn’t block your TV.

Around the sides and back, Samsung opted to use a rigid, circularly perforated speaker grille that wraps the entire surface. Up top, there’s a more refined, horizontal cover that gives the soundbar a more sophisticated look. It also means that you’ll be getting the speaker’s best-looking side when you flip and rotate it to mount it on a wall. While the included wireless subwoofer won’t win any design awards, it’s a compact unit at just under 10 inches square.

To keep the look clean, Samsung put its logo on the side rather than on the front. It also kept the onboard controls simple, which is important since they’re prominently displayed if the soundbar is wall mounted. The buttons are basic icons for source, volume and power, colored so they blend in nicely even when they’re in plain sight. Around back, you’ll find the wired connections: an HDMI input (eARC), one HDMI output and an optical port.

Like most soundbars, the QS700F features some LEDs on the front as a visual cue when you’re adjusting volume or making other tweaks. However, when you raise or lower the volume, there’s a mini light show that’s obnoxious. A single blinking LED for each time you press a button would suffice. There’s also an LED that blinks when the soundbar is muted, which I also think is a step too much. You might think you can avoid seeing these if you use the soundbar in its other orientation, but I regret to inform you that there’s another set of LEDs on the top that appear if the QS700F is wall-mounted.

Software and features

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There are a number of features to discuss on the QS700F, but the most important one is called Convertible Fit. The soundbar has an accelerometer inside that detects whether you’ve placed the speaker flat or if you’ve mounted it on a wall. It will then automatically adjust which drivers the front- and up-firing channels are coming from. The positioning of the drivers inside ensures that up-firing units are angled correctly and beaming sound out into the room in both positions. Convertible Fit works really well, and I couldn’t tell a huge difference in audio quality between the two orientations. It sounded like the center channel (vocals and dialog) was slightly louder in the wall-mount position, but it wasn’t too much of a distraction.

Other notable tools include wireless Dolby Atmos with compatible TVs and Wi-Fi connectivity powers AirPlay, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, Roon Service and Tidal Connect. Interestingly, the QS700F doesn’t work with Samsung’s virtual assistant Bixby for voice controls. Instead, you’ll employ Google Assistant through Google Home for that purpose.

Then there are the handy features that require a Samsung TV, which you’ll need to consider since they’re major functions of the soundbar. First up is Samsung’s Q-Symphony tech, which allows you to use TV speakers in unison with the soundbar. The company says this produces “more robust and nuanced sound,” and that it can also enhance clarity with certain models of its AI-equipped TVs. As I don’t have a Samsung TV, I wasn’t able to test this, but I don’t see how more speakers could ever be a bad thing.

You can only use Samsung’s SpaceFit Sound Pro room calibration if you have one of its TVs with a built-in microphone. The QS700F doesn’t have a mic for this purpose, so you’ll have to settle for the stock tuning if you don’t own one of the required displays. You’ll also miss out on Active Voice Amplifier Pro as this model doesn’t support the more robust dialog adjustment. There is a Voice Enhance Mode on the QS700F, but it’s not as powerful. Hoping to use wireless Dolby Atmos? It’ll only work with 2022-2025 Samsung TVs — making it yet another company-exclusive feature.

One more place the QS700F falls behind Samsung’s flagship Q990F soundbar is video passthrough. The latter offers 4K at 120Hz while the QS700F only manages 4K at 60Hz. I realize this won’t matter for a lot of people, but for gamers and movie buffs, this will be disappointing.

Like other recent Samsung soundbars, the QS700F can be controlled via the SmartThings app. It contains all kinds of presets, settings and other options, including the ability to adjust channel output, fine-tune audio sync and switch inputs. Since most of what you’ll do here pertains to audio performance, I’ll discuss the app more later.

Sound quality

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The QS700F offers 3.1.2-channel audio with support for Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual:X. Thanks to the up-firing drivers, this is true Atmos sound, unlike on some soundbars that only offer a virtualized version of the immersive audio. Across eight speakers in the soundbar, the QS700F has three main channels and two up-firing channels. And, of course, the “1” in the middle is the wireless subwoofer.

Overall, sound from the QS700F is crisp and clear, providing ample detail for movies and music alike. Despite the smaller package, the compact sub still produces plenty of booming bass, so there’s lots of thunder for action scenes in Top Gun: Maverick. The soundbar also capably handled all of the directional audio in Formula 1: Drive to Survive. I did notice that the overall sense of immersion wasn’t as high as the Sonos Arc Ultra I just moved out to install the QS700F. That’s not really surprising, but it did highlight the limits of 3.1.2-channel soundbars. They’re good enough for smaller spaces with four right angles, but taller ceilings and irregular rooms really need more channels and rear speakers.

In music, vocals are prominent through the center channels, and for some listeners, they may be overly so. You can adjust this in the app, but I didn’t mind it. Highs, mids and lows are all appropriately present, with the subwoofer bumping along when a song calls for it. If you’re hoping the QS700F can serve as your music setup in addition to boosting TV audio, you’ll be well served by the soundbar. And as I already mentioned, it supports a variety of methods for beaming tunes from your phone without having to get off the couch.

There are a number of sound modes to help you find the right tuning for your content. Those include Surround, Game Pro, Adaptive, DTS Virtual:X and Standard. I found Adaptive to be best suited for all-around use since it automatically adjusts the audio based on the content being played. And unless you really want to mess around with the settings on a regular basis, Adaptive allows you to “set it and forget it” while still letting the QS700F’s sonic prowess shine.

In the “Advanced Sound Settings,” there are options for voice and bass enhancement as well as the handy Night Mode that makes low frequencies less boomy when someone in your home is sleeping. There are also settings for Moderate Bass, which delivers “deep, rich bass sound,” and Virtual that simulates a wider soundstage in the absence of rear speakers. You can clearly hear that the presets and modes all change the audio to some degree when enabled, so their utility will likely depend on when and where you’re using the QS700F.

The competition

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

Samsung and Sony both have new 3.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos soundbars for 2025. Of course, Sony’s Theater Bar 6 doesn’t do the neat orientation trick that the QS700F does, but there is still a number of direct similarities between the two. They both come with a subwoofer in the box and offer various sound modes. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio on the Bar 6 is greatly aided by up-firing speakers and Sony’s virtual surround sound tech. And like Samsung, there are certain features that require one of the company’s TVs — like the AI-powered Voice Zoom 3 dialog boost. At $650, Sony’s soundbar won’t save you much over the QS700F at full price.

Let’s not forget about Sonos. The second-gen Beam is the closest thing to the QS700F in the company’s lineup, but there are some caveats. The Beam doesn’t have up-firing speakers, so the Atmos sound is entirely virtualized, and you can tell the difference. You do get the benefit of TV Audio Swap with the Ace headphones, but you have to contend with the ongoing battle that is Sonos’ app overhaul. The newer Beam is cheaper at $499, but adding a subwoofer that you’ll most certainly want costs another $429 (Sub Mini) or $700 (Sub 4). That add-on makes this option much pricier than the QS700F.

Wrap-up

The QS700F is a breath of fresh air in Samsung’s home theater lineup, offering something new when it’s flagship Q990 model only got a modest refresh. Sure, some of the handiest features require one of the company’s TVs, but that’s how Samsung and some of the competition have operated for years now. The biggest item you’ll miss out on there is room calibration, especially if you plan to use the QS700F in a space with high ceilings or lots of angles.

Caveats aside, the best thing about the soundbar is its automatic orientation adjustment. This gives you a second option for installation down the road if your TV and/or its location change before you’re ready to upgrade your audio setup. The QS700F is easy on the eyes too, which isn’t always the case with these devices. So, in the end, the combination of features, design and audio performance make this soundbar a worthy contender at the top end of the midrange, if you’re willing to live with the limitations of Dolby Atmos in 3.1.2.

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