Table of Contents
It wasn’t that long ago when soundbars were considered a luxury. Even just hearing the words “soundbar” and “subwoofers” bring to mind home theatres worthy of MTV Cribs, and it still does, for me at least. Nowadays, though, it seems as if everyone and their mother has a soundbar in their home, and it’s becoming a popular, if not necessary, television accessory.
And so here we are, reviewing a unit of Samsung’s Lifestyle HW-S810B Soundbar, along with the 55” The Frame 4K TV. And we must agree, it’s the perfect audio companion to the Samsung TV.
Samsung Lifestyle Soundbar HW-S801B Specifications
- Channel: 3.1.2
- Speakers: 10, Wireless subwoofer with up-firing speaker
- Audio Features: Active Voice Amplifier with Dolby Atmos
- Decoding Format: AAC, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, MP3, OGG, ALAC
- Connectivity: x1 HDMI out, Bluetooth, WiFi, Remote Control
- Compatibility: SmartThings, Q-Symphony, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, AirPlay2, Google Voice, Alexa
- Weight: 1.4kg (main speaker), 6.4kg (subwoofer)
- Dimensions: 1160.0 x 38.0 x 39.9 mm (main speaker), 238.0 x 240.8 x 238.0 mm (subwoofer)
Design & Build
The HW-S801B is comprised of two parts: the main speaker, which is the soundbar itself, and a subwoofer, a hefty cube that provides most of the bass.
The main speaker is a slim and sleek little thing that really completes the whole minimalistic vibe our TV setup was apparently going for. It’s small enough to sit inconspicuously in front of The Frame TV, whose notoriously thin bezels really aren’t meant to accommodate an extra soundbar blocking the bottom part of the screen. The HW-S801B soundbar sits just perfectly and unobstructively at its feet.
The subwoofer was a bit of a problem, though. Compared to its brother, it’s a huge, hefty block of speaker that we honestly had no idea where to put. It’s too big to fit on the TV console, and even if it did, it would just look very out of place. We ended up just leaving it on the ground in front of the console.
That said, it’s still not the biggest thing ever, and apart from some interior design issues in the beginning, both the main speaker and the subwoofer fit right into our studio.
The top of the main speaker is where you’ll find the control buttons. There are only four of them here, covering just the basics, but you can do a lot more with the remote control that it comes with, which will most likely be how you’ll control the soundbar most of the time. After all, who’s going to stand up and head over to the soundbar just to turn up the volume?
Setup & Connectivity
There’s only one single port on the entire soundbar, and that’s the mini-HDMI ARC output port.
Setup is pretty much just plug-and-play, as the Samsung The Frame connects to the HW-S801B almost instantly through the HDMI ARC. Apparently, the soundbar will sync automatically with all compatible Samsung TVs, so if you already have a Samsung TV, this is something you might want to know about.
Apart from a physical connection, the soundbar can also connect via Bluetooth or WiFi. Both are easily done through the remote control and the SmartThings app respectively. With both of these methods, we were able to connect a smartphone and play music through Spotify Connect.
The one thing that sets back the ease of connectivity is the lack of “communication” from the soundbar. It’s hard to know which device it’s connected to without a series of experiments, as the sleek design means that there’s no LED screen to inform you of the soundbar’s status, just some blinking lights that are hard to make sense of.
Sound Quality
Obviously, this is the most important part of any soundbar, the audio quality from the HW-S801B is very much impressive for its size.
Dolby Atmos truly shines in the HW-S801B, providing clear trebles and booming bass. Since the main speaker has two up-firing speakers, it’s capable of sending sound up through the ceiling and back to the audience, achieving a truly immersive surround sound that brings you right into the picture.
That said, this “surround” effect really only works if you’re relatively close to the soundbar (still at a reasonable distance from a 55” TV). It doesn’t feel quite as impressive when we move all the way to the back of the room, though the audio was still nice and clear.
The HW-S801B also has a helpful Adaptive Sound feature, which detects atmospheric noise and enhances the dialogue audio when needed. Plus, since we’re using it with a Samsung TV, we could also play the audio through both the soundbar AND the TV speakers, which resulted in a better audio experience.
