SAMSUNG HW-B550/ZA 2.1ch Soundbar w/Dolby Audio, DTS Virtual:X, Bass Boosted, Subwoofer Included

Bought for a friend's new OLED TV. Easy mount on the wall, mounts included (not screws/anchors). Set it up hardwired for the sound bar, but Bluetooth for the woofer. Remote allows tinkering with treble and bass levels, and also five presets...one of which allows the system to use the correct preset of what it thinks your watching. That function is hit or miss, but we give it a shot and adjust if necessary. The simulated Surround setting is kind of nice, but don't expect miracles! Overall, on a cost / benefit basis, I highly recommend.

The first pro is that I got it for almost 50% off from Amazon! The other pros are: The ease of set-up (it literally took ten minutes to sett up, The bass is incredible but I have to keep it down because I live in an apartment, The voices can be heard clearly even with the bass, I put Amazon Music on and the quality is amazing. Cons: It's difficult to choose which mode I like best (virtual, surround, bass boost, auto level).

This is my second same model sound bar. First one was great with sound and lips right on. But it just quit working and the Samsung support could not get it to come back up and told me to return as defective. So I did and now I have the second bar. Sound is great. Product is well made. Product looks good. But I can't get the lips and audio synchronized. It is driving me nuts. There is a method to sync the lips and audio via settings. Problem is no matter where you set the numbers there is still the disparity between the lips and the sound. I got on chat with Samsung support. Got a guy with a strong accent. Hard time understanding him. He asked me for the TV (new set 09/23, Samung) and a new 10/23 Samsung sound bar, this one). serial number and model of TV and then serial number and model of the soundbar. I gave it to him. Bad information. I gave the info again. Matched this time. Then he asked me to describe the problem which I already had. Then he asked me for the serial and model numbers again. This was on a chat. I think he was chatting with more than one of us suckers. Anyway after all this back and forth he got to the settings on the TV. Using the TV speakers the lips and sound are perfect. After he went through the settings on the TV which I had tried before I did the chat thing I could not get them synced. So when he directed me, guess what, I could not get them synced. So he tells me I am doing something wrong. Well the POd me. Some more going back and forth and I broke off the chat. So I am sitting here with a sound bar that isn't communicating properly with the TV or vice versa. Little things like this irritate me. I would say recommended IF you get a good one, return if not. I wish Samsung would hire people that speak real English and are not arrogant. I tank you fo dat. Update: after three times with support and not correcting the problem I had my Grandaughter come help me. I don’t know what all she did, even though she explained it twice, the audio and lips are now in sync. What she did was not what support walked me thru. So now I am happy. Wonder why is it that she was able to sync the two when the Samsung support people could not tell me how. If you have problems with yours just let me know and I will send my Grandaughter over and fix it for you. lol

I needed a soundboard for the man cave. I have a nice TV but the speakers just aren't what they used to be. Found this in my search and like many other soundboard, it had about a 4.5 star rating. I'll tell you, not all 4.5 products are created equal! I bought a bestisan a couple of years ago and honestly I don't like it. Had about a 4.5 rating as well but it just doesn't have that real clear crystal detailed sound that you want. There were some pretty good reviews for this one so, instead of going back and forth trying to save 10-20 bucks, I just listened to the positive reviews on this (knowing full well that Samsung is far superior to bestisan). There was one reviews in particular where the person explained their knowledge and experience with sound due to hobbies and creating videos. Boy oh boy, I am soooo glad I did. Set up took less time than it did to unbox and disposed of the trash/recycling. The sound, at this price, completely worth it. The sound is amazing. It has all the settings you need to fit the scenario, whether for movies, gaming, or connecting your phone with blue tooth and playing your fav Playlist. Don't hesitate. Seriously, by this. I expect to have this soundboard for several years, so from that perspective.. its very worth it. Excellent. Love it.

For the price, I suppose it isn’t bad for a sound bar. Sound quality for TV/movies is a 6/10. Music is about a 5. My real issue with this system is that the bass is very bad. Unless you max the volume, you won’t be feeling or even hearing bass. And before you go on telling me to read the manual, I did; bass is at max setting and there are no knobs or anything else on the bass unit itself. I would say this could be a great budget set up, especially if you got 2 more speakers for surround sound. I would definitely buy a separate bass, however. Even with the remote and all the settings, it does NOT sync to your TV at all. I fiddled with the settings for a very long time and I couldn’t get it to match the TV. It works ONLY sometimes with the TV volume. In the end, I just decided to mute the TV and play from the sound bar only. Then again, I can’t really blame the product for This since I don’t even have a proper receiver for all of the audio components. It’s simply just plugged into the TV. It’s enough for my living room and I am happy with it. My only tip is; DONT expect amazing sound. It’s certainly a budget system from a good brand. Again, for the price, 8/10.

Overall it is very functional as a small room soundbar, but I wouldn't accept this for a home theater style. Was going to use in our living room, but even crank way up the bass was so underwhelming I ended up tossing it in a bedroom instead. the actual soundbar is great, clean quality, and perfect sound even at low levels. The only complaint is the woofer, which for it's size should be WAY better. I previously had a 10 year old PC soundbar/woofer set up in this room, and just moved that to the living room instead. That old POS system has 10 times the bass and was still clean compared to the barely audible hum this one puts out.