Following the release of the HW-S800B Ultra Slim Soundbar for Samsung’s QLED TV lineup, which was unveiled earlier this year at CES, Samsung Global Newsroom spoke to Ema Souza Blanes at Audio Lab of Samsung Research America. She is the person behind the process for product validation and research that includes countless listening tests, all of which are conducted to deliver the incredible immersive viewing experiences with the finest sound from Samsung.

Ema Souza Blanes at Audio Lab of Samsung Research America

1. Briefly tell us about yourself and your role in the Samsung Audio Lab.

I am a French audio engineer, and after graduating from the engineering school Arts et Métiers ParisTech (ENSAM) and the Paris-Saclay University, I joined the Samsung Research America’s Audio Lab in Valencia, California. My role with the Audio Lab is to run listening tests for product validation and overall research purposes.

2. What is a new or recent trend happening in the soundbar industry?

Immersion is a topical subject in soundbar development, with the inclusion of more advanced audio technologies such as Dolby Atmos in home audio. Soundbars have also naturally followed the TV design trend with the intent of blending into the home décor with a sleek and discreet build. Though, despite these new slim designs, sound quality and immersion yet remain at the heart of soundbar development.

3. Samsung has recently released the ultra-slim soundbar HW-S800B. What were some of the primary objectives for this model?

The design process of the HW-S800B was dedicated to combining all aspects of these recent trends into one product. We aimed to develop a soundbar that blends seamlessly with discreet screens such as The Frame, which challenged us when it came to customization and optimization due to its slim design.

HW-S800B

4. The soundbar’s depth and height are 1.6” x 1.5”, which is a difficult size in which to include all amplifiers and multi-channel speakers. Can you describe some of the challenges you faced during the development process?

Certain soundbars in the market that are designed to be slim or small typically have a weaker integration of the subwoofer to the soundbar. The result is a coloured sound, especially when it comes to voices. The challenge was to avoid this effect and to ensure that voices are maintained in the centre of the sound field. This required custom soundbar transducers and a design capable of low crossover frequency to the subwoofer.

5. We noticed that the subwoofer appears different from past models. Can you elaborate on this difference?

Most subwoofers feature a port to enhance the bass response. Since the HW-S800B’s subwoofer has a smaller enclosure which limits the port size, we recognized that this would cause turbulent air motion, resulting in distortion and less bass. This constraint was addressed by designing a custom passive radiator in place of a port and a long-excursion 6.5” woofer that is able to displace as much air as a larger woofer.

6. Similar to other premium Samsung soundbars, this model features a wireless connection between the soundbar and TV along with Dolby Atmos sound technology. Why should consumers want these capabilities?

Samsung’s 2022 soundbars come with Wireless Dolby Atmos connectivity, a wireless Smart TV-to-soundbar connection in which both the screen and soundbar speakers deliver an incredible audio experience with no distracting cables. It allows for smooth on-wall mounting setups by reducing the number of visible cables. Nobody wants their homes cluttered or disorganized, and we are living in a time, in which more consumers are eyeing products that perfectly blend their sophisticated, personal style in and out of the home with technological innovation for a better, connected experience. I believe our soundbars exemplify this desire that we’re seeing in the consumer electronics industry.

7. Samsung’s Q-Symphony sound technology has also significantly improved in the past year. What are some of the upgrades over the previous version?

In the 2021 TV models, Q-Symphony combined the power of the top speakers and the soundbar. The new Q-Symphony enhances the surround sound and feeling of immersion through channel separation technology. This enables the soundbar and TV speakers to work together with all the speakers on the TVs, including the top, bottom and side speakers, providing for an expansive, powerful soundscape.

8. Is there anything else we should know about the Audio Lab and your work?
Running listening tests is crucial to ensure the quality of our products. At Samsung, we work closely with our skilled listeners in various and rigorous listening tests where they give their opinion on our products including the comparison between our previous models. The HW-S800B is no exception and showed compelling results while also competing with much larger soundbars.

Samsung Research America’s Audio Lab

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^[1] Samsung Research, acting as Samsung Electronics’ advanced R&D hub, leads the development of future technologies for the company’s Device eXperience (DX) Division.

▲ (From left) Mingyo Oh, Haekwang Park and Shinhye Choi, at Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Business behind Premium Soundbar, the HW-Q950A

With the increasing popularity of large screen televisions and the continued addition of further OTT (over-the-top) services, more users are looking to establish a theatre-like experience in their homes. On top of that, social distancing measures have required people to go out less, stoking their desire to enjoy premium visual and audio experiences from home.

Full, clear and deep sound plays a crucial role in ensuring that content is delivered as it was originally intended. Paving the way for new audio experiences, Samsung Electronics introduced its high-end soundbar models, the HW-Q950A and HW-Q900A, earlier this year. The new premium models take sound quality to the next level with up to 16 channels and a host of enhanced functions that help bring even greater satisfaction to users[1]. Samsung Newsroom met with the product experts of the 2021 soundbar models to find out the secret behind their powerful and precise sound.

11.1.4-Channel Surround Sound That Fills the Entire Room

▲ Haekwang Park, Principal Engineer at the Sound Device Lab, Samsung’s Visual Display Business

Thanks to our ever-evolving content culture, sound is getting richer, fuller and more expressive. The days of one-directional (mono) sound are long gone as we have ushered in the era of multi-directional channels that allow sound to fill up the surrounding space. “Sound is becoming increasingly important as people nowadays watch a wide variety of programs that place more emphasis on audio quality, such as music shows and films,” says Haekwang Park, Principal Engineer from the Sound lab at Samsung’s Visual Display Business.

To live up to consumers’ heightened expectations, Samsung has spared no effort in developing high-quality soundbar products that deliver very realistic sound. In 2016, Samsung brought its first 5.1.4-channel soundbar model to market. This soundbar was equipped with left, right and middle channels, two rear channels, a subwoofer and four upward-firing speakers, and delivered immersive, three-dimensional surround sound. More channels were added to later models, including a surround channel on the side of the soundbar and a wide surround channel to deliver sound from the front and sides. In 2020, Samsung introduced a 9.1.4-channel model.

In 2021, Samsung went a step further with its latest 11.1.4-channel model, the HW-Q950A, which features two rear surround channels. Product planner Mingyo Oh explained that, “The newly added channels are located on the sides of the rear surround speakers. They add liveliness to dynamic scenes involving things like airplanes in flight and car chases by allowing the sound to hit the side walls before it bounces back to where the audience is positioned.” The premium soundbar delivers an outstanding audio experience by filling previously quiet moments with powerful, immersive sound.

▲ Mingyo Oh from the Product Planning Group at Samsung’s Visual Display Business

Delivering Sound as Intended With Advanced Rendering and Waveguide Techniques

A channel is a passage for sound that dictates which direction it travels. This is why having a higher number of channels provides better, smoother sound. It usually requires costly equipment to offer 11.1.4-channel sound, but Samsung’s HW-Q950A is able to provide a breathtaking 3D surround sound experience with only four speakers thanks to its superb rendering and waveguide techniques.

Rendering is the process of creating a way for the audio output to deliver sound exactly as the artist intended. The Samsung developers made it possible to deliver an optimal acoustic experience with the soundbar system by tapping into its cutting-edge rendering technology. “To provide the most natural audio experience to users, we have carefully designed our products to deliver sound seamlessly. The HW-Q950A soundbar delivers sound that is reflected in various directions and arrives at users’ ears at the optimal angle,” related Shinhye Choi.

▲ Shinhye Choi from the Global Product Marketing Group at Samsung’s Visual Display Business

An advanced waveguide technique is also indispensable when it comes to delivering next-level sound. A multi-channel speaker emits sound in multiple directions, and the waveguide technique allows components in the speaker to deliver sound in the direction intended by the developer. Haekwang Park reported that, “Top-tier experts at the Visual Display Business’s Sound Lab and Samsung Audio Lab in California came together to design the parts that went into the speakers. Our soundbar models are meticulously constructed to deliver world-class sound performance.”

How SpaceFit Sound+ and Q-Symphony Further Elevate the Viewing Experience

Usually, most of the sound emitted by speakers hits walls or curtains before reaching the audience’s ears. This explains why the same sound is heard differently depending on the dimensions and layout of the viewing environment. Samsung’s HW-Q950A soundbar and 2021 TV models deliver stunning sound that tunes into users’ viewing environments by analyzing the dimensions of the space they’re in using SpaceFit Sound+[2].

SpaceFit Sound+ combines SpaceFit Sound technology, which delivers optimized audio, and Auto EQ (auto equalizer) technology. Together, the SpaceFit Sound and Auto EQ solutions use embedded microphones to thoroughly survey the viewing space, and then feed that data to the soundbar to enable it to deliver a tailored sound experience.

But the collaboration between the Samsung TV and the soundbar does not stop there. Samsung’s innovative, proprietary Q-Symphony technology additionally combines and enhances the sound generated by the TV and soundbar to provide optimal sound quality. Normally, when you connect a soundbar to your TV, the sound is emitted only from the soundbar. What’s more, there can sometimes be issues involving out-of-sync sound and tone disparities between the two devices. Q-Symphony[3] helps overcome these issues by incorporating a stereoscopic sound effect that allows sound to play through the speakers that wrap around the TV in addition to through the soundbar, providing richer and more realistic sound compared to when sound is produced through the soundbar alone.

Combining Truly Rich Sound With Highly Convenient Functionality

As with other models, Samsung has placed great emphasis on creating a new level of acoustic immersion with the HW-Q950A. But that doesn’t mean it can’t also include a host of convenient features. To begin with, the Auto Voice Amplifier (AVA) feature clarifies dialogue in the viewer’s favourite shows to help them hear on-screen conversations clearly amid a variety of background noises. With an embedded microphone, the soundbar automatically measures noise levels and enhances voices if the noise continues for more than three seconds or surpasses a certain threshold.

And the HW-Q950A optimizes sound for different types of scenes, such as those with loud sound effects and dialogue-heavy scenes. For instance, the Adaptive Sound feature analyzes sound signals to deliver an optimal sound experience for each scene. Moreover, Game Mode Pro delivers a powerful, immersive gaming experience with subwoofers and upward-firing speakers. The Tap Sound[4] feature also enables users to simply tap their smartphones on the soundbar when listening to a song to take their experience to the next level.

The motto of Samsung’s soundbar developers is to get the basics right when it comes to sound. “We are working our hardest to deliver sound of the highest quality,” the developers related. “We do this by collaborating closely with groups of experts and employing Samsung’s advanced measuring and simulation techniques to set clear standards for what we define as ‘optimal’ sound.”

The developers’ ultimate goal is to deliver a best-in-class acoustic experience to users regardless of the type of content they’re consuming, or the specific features of their viewing environment. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they make this dream a reality.

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[1] When compared to previous Samsung soundbar models.

[2] SpaceFit Sound+ is compatible with 2021 Samsung QLED (Q70 and above). For a complete list of compatible models, please refer to Samsung.com for more information.

[3] Q Symphony is compatible with 2021 Samsung TV (AU8000 TV and above). For a complete list of compatible models, please refer to Samsung.com for more information.

[4] Tap sound is working through Bluetooth, and compatible with Samsung mobile devices with Android 8.1 and above.