So this is the Samsung HW-S60A sound bar which is brand new for 2021. Now if you already
have a Samsung TV or are planning on getting a Samsung TV then getting a Samsung sound
bar will might make life a little easier cause your TV and sound bar will be able to talk
to one another a little better. But regardless I do feel the S60A is going to be better suited
for someone who is looking for a more vocals and dialog focused sound bar.
Regarding pricing, the S60A has a retail price of $330… not bad for a sound bar of this
size and capability. Now in this review we will be evaluating this sound bar by itself…
but you can always build out this sound bar with an optional wireless sub woofer which
you’ll might need that retails for $300. And you can also add on a pair of rear speakers
that retail for $150. Nonetheless the sound bar itself is perfectly fine for a bedroom
or small to medium sized living room… but if you are looking for bass then you’ll
might want to pick up that sub woofer.
Now first lets go over the design of this sound bar. Now this sound bar has a fabric
mesh covered body with metal grill end caps on either side and up top there are physical
control buttons and there are a few hidden LED’s that animate themselves when you raise
or lower the volume on this sound bar for the most part. Overall this sound bar has
a minimal design to it and thanks to it fabric body you’re not going to get any reflections
bouncing off the top if you’re watching something… which can be a little annoying
for some people.
However I do gotta point out that this sound bar is a little on the larger side when compared
to its direct competitors like lets say the JBL 5.0 Bar or Bose Smart Sound bar 300. Samsung’s
sound bar has a length of 30.1 inches, a width of 4.9 inches and a hight of 2.7 inches. Overall
this sound bar does have a pretty large foot print… but oddly enough this sound bar is
very light weight…
Which leads us to the power brick… unfortunately this sound bar has an external power brick
which means you’re going to have to hide it when you throw it into your set up. Now
I point this out cause a lot of newer sound bars don’t have external power bricks which
just make life a little easier. So yeah find it very ironic that even though the S60A has
the largest foot print here… its the only sound bar with an external power brick cause
both the smaller Bose and JBL sound bars don’t an external power brick.
But now lets talk about the ports on this sound bar… overall its pretty bare bones
back here. We’ve got a DC port for power and there’s an HDMI port so that you can
hook it up to your TV and if you need to there’s an optical port if you have an older TV…
and there’s a micro USB port that will mostly go unused. But I do want to point out that
this sound bar does come included with an HDMI cable which is nice.
Now regarding this HDMI port, its got eARC support which means if you’ve got a newer
TV with an HDMI 2.1 port you most likely have eARC support which basically means your audio
won’t be as processed as if if you were using a TV that has an older HDMI ARC port.
But don’t worry, if your TV doesn’t have an eARC port, then an HDMI ARC port is going
to work just fine. And when it comes to supported audio formats,
this sound bar is good for Dolby 5.1 and DTS 5.1.
And
unfortunately this sound bar doesn’t have an ethernet port so you can’t get a wired
connection going if you wanted to. But thankfully this sound bar does have Bluetooth so whether
this sound bar is in an area of the house with spotty wifi or if you just want to easily
share your sound bar with a friend so that they can be DJ you can just connect with it
using trusty old bluetooth.
But this now lets talk about the media controls on this sound bar. Up top theres a volume
up and volume down button which personally I am a fan of cause this way you’re not
solely reliant on your phone or remote control if you’re playing music with this sound
bar… but this sound also comes included with a remote control that gives you full
control over your media as well. You can play or pause your music, skip through your music
and you can even choose from a few different sound modes as well.
And finally this sound bar has Alexa Support as well if you want it
But it doesn’t seem like it has Hey Google Support. But over all personally I don’t
use voice assistants on my sound bars to avoid accidental activations when im watching something.
But now lets talk about sound… first off I do have to point out that this sound bar
is not a part of Samsung’s new Q Symphony line up of sound bars that will use your Samsung
TV’s built in speakers along side the speakers found in the sound bar itself. If you wanna
get Q Symphony going you’re going to need a Q Symphony compatible sound bar with a Q
Symphony Compatible TV which means you’re going to have to go up Samsung’s product
line up. But regarding speaker set ups, this sound bar has three frontward firing mid range
tweeters, there’s a pair of frontward firing woofers on either side, and finally there’s
a pair of transducers that shoot out the sides that mainly focuses on the mids and highs.
Now before we jump into the sound test just know that right out of the box the bass on
this sound bar is pretty flat and the mids and highs are pretty bright. So in this sound
test we’re going to be using my EQ settings which you can adjust either through the Smart
Things app or if you’ve got a Samsung TV you can adjust these settings through your
TV’s menu UI. I raised the bass and lowered the mids on this sound bar.
So obviously like you may have just heard anything is going to sound better than you’re
TV’s built in speakers. Your TV mostly like just has a pair of downward firing transducers
that bounce sound off of the table. But the biggest issue for your TV’s built in
speakers is going to be just the bass. If you’re watching a big action set piece or
if you’re just gaming… if that bass gets going then your TV’s speakers is just going
to be a rattling mess. Which just sounds awful but it can also take you out of the viewing
experience.
Where as bass rattling isn’t an issue with this sound bar… however the bass on this
sound bar doesn’t have all that much physicality to it. So if you are planning on getting a
sound system for your TV and you want to physically feel what’s going on on the screen then
you’ll definitely want to pick up the optional wireless sub woofer or you’ll might want
to go with a different sound bar.
Now like I mentioned at the top of this video, this sound bar is better suited for someone
who’s looking to mostly focus on the dialog cause this sound bar is very mids and highs
focused. But unfortunately I can’t help but feel that this sound bar is a little too
focused on the mids and highs cause this sound bar does sound pretty narrow when compared
to other similarly priced and sized sound bars specifically the Bose Smart Sound Bar
300 and JBL Bar 5.0.
Now like I mentioned earlier you can go in and adjust the EQ on this sound bar either
through the smart things app or directly from the TV itself… but still even if you were
to raise the bass on this speaker a lot you’re not going to get too much physicality out
of it, and if you lower the mids and highs too much it does start to sound shallow. Overall
this sound bar gets the job done but its not may favorite sounding sound sound bar.
So with all that being said, the Samsung HW-S60A sound bar is okay and it gets the job done.
But personally for me this isn’t high on my list if I were going to recommend a sound
bar. From a sound quality stand point this sound bar does sound a little narrow and the
bass on the this sound bar is pretty flat. So you’re not really going to feel what’s
going on on the screen unless you spring for the optional sub woofer. But sound aside this
sound bar’s rather large foot print and external power brick are minor quirks that
also turn me off from this sound bar. If you get a sick deal on this sound bar or if it
comes bundled with your TV then yeah this sound bar is fine. But if you’re actively
shopping around id look at something else.