SAMSUNG HW-S60B 3.1ch Soundbar w/Dolby Atmos, DTX Virtual:X Q Symphony, Adaptive Sound, Game Mode, Bluetooth Connection, 2022

This soundbar is a replacement for the Samsung S60A, which has been great, but the S60B offered some new features that made me interested enough to try it.

This soundbar is in a decent sized bedroom (the bar is over 12′ away from the listening position) and centered on a wall that is approximately 11′ wide.

Movies: While this bar is advertised as featuring Dolby Atmos, it has no upward firing speakers to reflect off the ceiling, so it relies on an electronic algorithm to trick your ears into thinking that sound is coming from above. In some respects, it works, at least from the perspective that the soundstage is larger from above than the S60A it replaced and there is some content that makes it seem like the sound is overhead. That said, I’d give it a 3 out of 10 for this aspect – if you’re looking for overhead, get a bar with upward firing speakers. Otherwise, the soundstage is slightly larger than that of the S60A and, due to the side firing speakers, does ‘trick’ your ears into thinking that there is some sound coming from the sides, and at times, even behind. I’d give this 7 out of 10. Voicing through the center channel is as good or better than the S60A, and as good as the Q910B in my living room. Overall, the S60B is a solid upgrade from the S60A and is great for a smaller living room or bedroom, providing you aren’t looking for earth shaking bass. Guardians of the Galaxy 3, The Super Mario Bros Movie and other Atmos encoded movies sounded great, as did Dolby Digital and DTS HD films.

Music: I’d say that the S60B is just slightly better in comparison to the S60A. The biggest difference being slightly better bass response from the S60B. Again, there is very little bass content to be found below about 100Hz as this is a small soundbar relying on small speakers, so if bass heavy is your thing, plan on adding a subwoofer or look at a soundbar that includes one. The Alexa feature worked flawlessly.

Add ons: After connecting a spare wireless subwoofer from a Q80R that I was no longer using, and using a set of SWA 9100s I already had for the S60A, this soundbar became a full fledged surround sound system. Bass extends down to around 40Hz, while the surround speakers fill in the areas that were devoid of sound before.

Notes: All observations, both with and without subwoofer and surround speakers and for movies and music, were done using the Adaptive Sound mode, with SpaceFit turned on and all other features such as voice enhancement turned off.

Love this bad boy right there. Sound fills the room up and my whole appt. 25000 sqft.

**UPDATE**
I have since disabled Alexa on this soundbar. I researched and did not find evidence that Amazon was working on this problem. The “Alexa enabled” chip that is installed into many brands devices is a very basic chip and from a hardware standpoint probably will never support enhancements or improvements. That being said, I do not want to turn folks away from this otherwise outstanding soundbar.

The sound from my S60B is superb. Great things can come in a small package. It’s well built, and the bass is rumbling. Seriously, it makes my couch vibrate 5 feet from the TV. I can’t see most people needing to add a woofer. I am so glad I made this purchase. I never needed Alexa on this soundbar anyway, but it would have been nice if Amazon thought more about how the integration would work.

**ORIGINAL REVIEW**
I had to deduct a star for overall rating and for sound quality rating because Alexa integrated assistant voice is WAY WAY WAY TOO LOUD. Researching at Samsung this appears to be a known issue spanning multiple models with Alexa integrated.

Here’s my setup:
HW-S60B Soundbar
Samsung 7 series 75″ TV
Connected via HDMI eARC
Used the SmartThings app to setup and activate Alexa
Used Alexa app to further configure Alexa enabled device (does not show up as Echoo device, and cannot be set up to be used with multiple speakers in your home)

ADAPTIVE VOLUME IS DISABLED (never used that feature in Alexa app anyway). This is the feature that tells Alexa to speak louder if a lot of ambient noise is detected.

There is no setting in the Alexa app to control just her speaking voice for this device.

There is no setting in the SmartThings app to control Alexa voice.

Soundbar volume set at 30 (out of 100) which is good audio for most things I watch. So 30% loud.

Ask Alexa a question such as “what time is it?”

The voice comes out so loud that I have to cover my ears. It’s horrible.

There is no answer on Samsung. And from reading other people’s remarks if you call Samsung about it they have a hard time understanding what the issue you are reporting even is.

This may be something that needs to be fixed with Amazon.

If I can’t find a solution I will deactivate Alexa on this soundbar.

Other than that, the sound quality is great. I’m super happy with it. I just won’t be able to use it as a smart device which was a perk, not a requirement for me.

Amazon – please add an option for adjusting Alexa speaking voice on the integrated chip on this soundbar.

Thanks.