CES 2020

While the majority of hubbub at Samsung’s booth was centered around new televisions with thinner bezels, more pixels, larger and brighter screens (along with all things Galaxy and a bevy of smart appliances), there was an interesting demonstration going on in a back corner of the booth called Q-Symphony. Fortunately, I took the time to sit through the demo and learn about how certain upcoming Q-Series Samsung displays will utilize this unique feature to greatly expand the audio soundstage delivering a far more cinematic experience.

The description outside the door read, “Surround yourself with sound from TV and soundbar orchestrated in harmony. Q-Symphony uniquely allows TV and soundbar speakers to operate simultaneously for better surround effect without muting TV speakers.” OK…

Typically, when you have a sound bar – or any separate audio system – you want to make sure the TV speakers are completely silent, otherwise you often get an echoey sound that makes dialogue very difficult to understand. But when certain upcoming Q-series TVs are mated with Q-series soundbars, Q-Symphony will utilize the top and side mounted speakers in the television to expand to width and height of the audio presentation.

The presentation utilized the upcoming HQ-Q800T soundbar and a Q-80 series TV with clips played with both Q-Symphony on and off. Scenes like planes flying overhead and atmospheric rain had more greater immersion with the Q-Symphony engaged, and definitely shows that Samsung is paying attention to the audio portion of its TVs.

Unfortunately, details were scarce on the pricing and availability of the new Q-Symphony capable soundbars, just that they are expected to launch with the new 2020 displays.