I test a lot of soundbars, so sometimes they all blur into one. But I recently reviewed the Samsung Q600F, and it’s a soundbar I won’t be forgetting any time soon.
Samsung’s ‘Q’ series of soundbars is its most premium: you want to look for a soundbar beginning with ‘Q’ if you’re serious about sound. The Q600F, though, is a little different. It’s the most budget-friendly option on Samsung’s premium range, which makes it the best mid-range soundbar I’ve tested thus far.
While it has no smart home functions, if you want a serious movie-watching soundbar that’ll shake your floors and rattle your windows, then this is it. I’ve found my new favorite affordable soundbar, and this is why.
Bass for days
Just take a look at that subwoofer. Look at it, then look at it again. It’s gorgeous.
While, yes, it does actually just look like every other subwoofer, I kind of love how subwoofers look. Or, maybe I just like what they do, and then then, in turn, that makes me like how they look. Hmm.
Even so, this is a powerful, spunky subwoofer. There’s only one woofer (and Samsung has started installing side woofers on newer models, despite the Q600F being a 2025 model), but oh boy, does this woofer growl.
When I was watching ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, the fighter jets sounded loud enough to be in the next room, and the bass notes in the ‘Danger Zone’ track in the opening scene shook the floorboards.
You can adjust the subwoofer volume independently of the soundbar volume, so of course I upped it to the max. When I was watching ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, the fighter jets sounded loud enough to be in the next room, and the bass notes in the ‘Danger Zone’ track in the opening scene shook the floorboards.
But — and I’ll talk about this more later — don’t think that this loud bass overpowered other elements of the mix. That’s not the case at all. I also watched ‘The Batman’, and even though a lot of dialogue is very moodily grumbled and broodily fumbled (because Bruce Wayne is very important and very special, of course), I could hear every single syllable.
The bass wasn’t just awesome for movies, either. When I was listening to music on the Q600F (committing a cardinal sin of being an audiophile), the drum-and-bass songs I played sounded particularly impressive, and the subwoofer didn’t crinkle or cut out due to volume. I was really obsessed with the bass on this subwoofer.
Crisp, clear dialogue
As I mentioned briefly in the section above, the Samsung Q600F performs excellently with dialogue. There’s no ‘dialogue’ or ‘speech’ mode on this soundbar like you might be familiar with on alternatives. Why? Well, it just doesn’t need it.
Going back to ‘The Batman’ — if you haven’t seen that movie, it’s basically a three-hour movie full of mumbled dialogue and moody performances. As a result, I assumed it would be really difficult to hear.
But I was so, so wrong. Even RPattz’s most inaudible lines were intelligible to me. I was able to understand everything he said. This is mostly due to a high-quality center speaker and an adept subwoofer. If the subwoofer is focusing mostly on the low low-end, then the soundbar doesn’t need to juggle two degrees of bass. As a result, you get clearer, more intelligible dialogue.
The Q600F was great for TV, too. When I was watching ‘Wednesday’ on basic Netflix, I could hear every actor’s lines perfectly, even when listening in ‘Surround’ mode. I thought that the soundbar might struggle with ‘Surround’ mode on Netflix, as my tier of the streaming service doesn’t have Atmos.
However, anecdotally, the show was immersive. The bass notes in the soundtrack felt as if they were coming from beside the TV, and the eerie, atmospheric sound effects in certain monster-heavy scenes (no spoilers) made me jump out of my skin. Wednesday Addams herself would’ve laughed at my pathetic reaction.
No smart home, no problem
I’ll tell you something: when I first plugged in the Q600F and got it all set up with my Samsung S95F TV, I was so prepared for a Smart Things integration that I’d already opened the app on my phone.
So, color me surprised when, not only could my phone not find the soundbar, I also could not locate the Smart Things QR code on the device.
Thankfully, after a very speedy Google search, I realized something: the Q600F doesn’t have any smart home integration. No Wi-Fi, AirPlay, or Chromecast, nada. Personally, I’m not too fussed about this, as my personal TV doesn’t have AirPlay and setting up soundbars on mobile apps can be as frustrating as trying to teach ABCs to a blind dog.
For some, though, smart home is a bit of a necessity, so if you want a soundbar that can connect to your home Wi-Fi, you’ll need to spend a little more to get a Q Series soundbar further up the lineup. I’d recommend the Q990F, which is one of the best soundbars money can buy, period. The 990F comes with rear speakers as well, for even mightier surround sound.
I can’t quite get over how awesome the Q600F is, and it’s currently on seemingly perma-sale for just $477 right now at Amazon. I would run run run to grab this before the stock sells out, because surely it would. The Q600F is just too good.
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