The Samsung HW-8 A and HW-Q700A are the middle model of Samsung’s 021 soundbar lineup. The Samsung HW-Q700A is the replacement of the HW-Q70T while the HW-Q800A is the replacement of HW-Q800T in 2020. They both have 3.1.2 setup. Additionally, they also come with a dedicated sub-woofer, allowing them can produce a thumpy low-bass. And overall, both of the HW- QN800A and HW-Q700A have neutral sound profile. This makes them is good sound bar for listening to a variety of audio content. They both also come with many sound enhancement features like Q-Symphony, dialogue enhancement, Graphic Preset and EQ, etc, allowing you to customize sound according to your own preferences. That is not only that, they also support wide array audio formats, even also high quality audio format like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, etc. But unfortunately, they both lack satellite speaker, making you cannot enjoy an immersive surround sound experience.

Although they come with the same setup, in the market, as the step-up model, the HW-Q800A is sold more expensive than the HW-Q700A. But of course, it offers more features and expected also offers better sound quality than the step-down model.   So, what advantages are offered by the HW-Q800A over the HW-Q700A? Is the excess price of the HW-Q800A worth with the benefits offered?

The design of the bar of the Samsung HW-Q800A and HW-Q700A is similar. It has dimension of 98 cm x 6 cm x 11.5 cm. Since the top and frond of the bar is covered by a metal grille, this makes their surface is sleek. But even so, except the front bar that covered by a metal grille, basically they are made by hard plastic. Meanwhile, there are two opening on the back of the bar. The right opening is for power cable while the left opening is for inputs/outputs cable. And if you want to mount them on the wall, they have universal hole on the underside. In general, their bar design is similar and has great built-quality.

While they have similar soundbar design, the design of the sub-woofer of the Samsung HW-Q800A is different to HW-Q700A. If the HW-Q800A has dimension of around 20 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm, the sub-woofer of the HWQ700A has dimension of around 25 cm x 35 cm x 30 cm. They both may be made of wood, but it has a difference in the thin fabric that covered their speaker. On the sub of HW-Q700A, speaker faces forward and on the front of the sub and it is covered by a thin fabric that also covers all surface of the front. Meanwhile, the speaker of the sub of HW-Q800A faces sideways. It is also covered by a thin fabric. But unlike the HW-Q700A, it covers the surface of the speaker only. Additionally, the back of the sub is also made of plastic, but it has plastic port.  At the bottom left-corner, there is power cable while at the bottom right-corner, there is pairing button.

The Samsung HW-Q800A has better frequency response than the HW-Q700A. Their stereo sound profile is equally neutral, allowing them can deliver good sound quality for a variety sound of content. That is not only that, although the HW-Q800A has a bit better average deviation and more accurate sound reproduction, but in general, their sound reproduction is also equally accurate. Additionally, they both also have excellent high average response, which is around 20 KHz. This makes them can produce extended treble. But even so, in low frequency, the HW-Q800A can produce lower low-frequency extension, allowing them can produce deeper thump and rumble than the HW-Q700A. Overall, they both have well-balanced stereo frequency response, but the HW-Q800A is a bit better.

Winner: HW-Q800A

Both of the Samsung HW-Q700A and HW-Q800A have excellent stereo dynamic performance. At maximal volume, they both can get very loud, which is around 95 dB SPL. It is loud enough to use at crowded room of in a large room. Nevertheless, if you set them at max volume, there is a bit compression in the treble and bass range. Fortunately, in real content, most people should not notice that so this is not serious problem for them.

Winner: Draw

Overall, the Samsung HW-Q800A has a bit better total harmonic distortion than the HW-Q700A. At Maximal Volume, performance of the HW-Q700A may a bit better than the HW-Q800A. But overall, at max volume, there is much distortion in the sound produced by them. While at max volume, the HW-Q700A is a bit better, at normal listening volume, the HW-Q800A is better. But even so, in general, at normal volume, their distortion is much better than at max volume. Overall, at both normal listening volume and max volume, there may be still distortion in the sound delivered by them but with real life content, it is difficult to hear.

Winner: HW-Q800A

As we see on comparison table above, both of the Samsung HW-Q700A and HW-Q800A has discrete center speaker. And the performance of their center speaker is equally great. They both have well-balanced sound profile and combined to their stereo speaker, this allows them can reproduce dialogue and vocal clearly and accurately. They both can get very loud where the HW-Q800A can get around 91 dB while the HW-Q700A get around 90 dB SPL.  Meanwhile, at normal listening volume, the distortion performance of the HW-Q800A is better but at max volume, the HW-Q700A is better. Overall, the performance of their center speaker is really impressive. But even co, compare among them, the HWQ800A is a bit better than the HW-Q700A.

Winner: HW-Q800A

Surround sound performance of the HW-Q800A and HW-Q700A is equally poor. This is due they both don’t have dedicated surround channel. So, when they receive 5.1 audios signal, the surround channel is downmixed to Stereo. The result, sound object like footstep of voice cannot be localized accurately. Audio sounds like it’s coming from in front of you rather than from behind or around you. It is much worse than a sound bar that has discrete surround speaker, even than soundbar that use phantom speaker to produce surround sound. Nevertheless, except the localization, although their sound is downmixed to stereo, but sound produced by them is actually well. It has well-balanced sound profile and can get very loud. Additionally, there is not much distortion in normal listening volume and max volume.

Winner: Draw

Although they both don’t have a discrete height speaker but it can produce 2 channel of height. Meanwhile, to produce height sound, it utilizes its up-firing speaker on their bar that act as phantom speaker. To give the impression of height, height sound produced by their speaker is bounced off the ceiling and backed down to you. Their height sound actually has good performance. Although not as loud as their center or stereo sound, but at max volume, their height sound is still fairly loud which is around 90dB for the HW-Q700A and around 84 dB for the HW-Q800A. Additionally, it also has well-balanced profile and good distortion performance at normal and max volume. But even so, since they only have phantom speaker, of course, the height sound produced is no as real as that created by discrete down firing speaker found in some home theater setup.

Winner: Draw

As we see on the comparison table above, both of the Samsung HW-Q800A and HW-Q700A have a lot of sound enhancement feature. They both have Auto Volume or Night Mode, Subwoofer level adjustment bass adjustment, treble adjustment, and Height Level Adjustment. Additionally, they both also have both Graphic and Presets EQ. You can use Graphic EQ to customize your sound according to your own preferences or Presets EQ you can choose between “Standard”, “Surround”, “Game Pro”, and “Adaptive Sound”.  That is not only that, if you use SmartThings app on your Android or iOS device, there is also “Voice Enhancement” under Advanced Sound Setting that can help to make dialogue crisper clearer. But a bit unfortunately, they lack room correction feature.

Both of them also come with an advanced sound technology called Acoustic Beam. This feature helps to improve you listening experience that created by the use of virtual sound. That is not only that, they also have a feature called SpaceFit that can automatically calibrate sound when the bar is paired with a compatible Samsung TV. There is also Tap sound, allowing you to mirror music from your phone when you tap it against the bar. And finally, the Q Symphony that can synchronizes the audio production to the speaker of your Samsung TV.

Winner: Draw

The Samsung HW-Q700A and HW-Q800A are equipped with the same connectivity. They have 1 HDMI In, 1 HDMI Out that Shared with HDMI ARC. Their HDMI In supports a variety of audio formats including Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, Dolby True HD, DTS-HD-MA, and 5.1 PCM. Meanwhile, their HDMI ARC also supports eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel), allowing them can pass high quality audio format like Dolby True HD, DTS:X, 5.1 PCM, DTS-HD MA. They both also supports higher surround audio format like Dolby Vision or Dolby Digital Plus, albeit to play them, they have to surround sound downmix into stereo. Both of the HW-Q800A and Q700A also have HDMI output that can passthrough 4K video signal like 4K @ 60Hz, 4K@60Hz 10 bit, 4K@60@4:4:$, and also HDR10 content.   In addition HDMI ports, they both also have Digital Audio In (optical). But if you connect your other devices on these soundbars via optical connection, they can only play DTS and Dolby Digital audio formats.  They both are actually equipped with 1 USB ports. But unfortunately, their USB port doesn’t support USB play back, so you cannot play USB files. Their USB ports are only used for service and updating their software.

They also are also equipped with some wireless connectivity. They connect to their sub-woofer wirelessly. Additionally, to play content from your other devices wirelessly, they both are also equipped with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. That is not only that, they also support AirPlay, allowing you to cast content from your apple devices via Airplay app.

Winner: Draw

You can control them via several methods. If you want directly control them via bar controls, they have touch sensitive buttons that located on the top of the bar. But even so, via bar controls, you can only to power on and off, change the input, and adjust the volume.  Additionally, they both also have remote that allows you to control all functions of the sound bar. But even so, their remote cannot act as universal remote, so they are not able to be used to control your TV. In addition via remote and control bar, you can also control them with SmartThing app on your Android or iOS device. Although not as many as with remote, with this app, you can control many of bar’s features like bass adjustment, dialogue enhancement, etc.  Meanwhile, the advantage of the HW-Q800A is that it supports voice navigation while the HW-Q700A doesn’t support. With built-in Amazon Alexa, you can control some certain functions of this bar with your voice command.

Winner: HW-Q800S

Their neutral and well balanced sound profile and great performance of center speaker overall makes them can produce dialogue accurately and clearly. Of course, it is great for TV Shows which have a lot of dialogue. Additionally, they also have dialogue enhancement feature that makes voice heard crisper and clearer. That is not only that, they both also can get very loud, so albeit you located them in a large or crowded room, you can still hear dialogue obviously. Also, they have Auto Volume feature, allowing you to hear sound with consistent volume between different programs while keeping the dialogue present in the mix. Overall, both of them are great soundbars for TV Shows or Dialogue. However, compare between them, The HW-Q800A is better than the HW-Q700A. In addition has better stereo frequency response, it also has better center speaker performance.

Winner: HW-Q800A

When used for listening to the music, their performance is also fairly good. Since they have neutral sound profile, they are suitable for most genres of music. They also have several sound customization features like Graphic and Presets EQ, Bass Adjustment, Treble Adjustment, etc. This allows you to customize sound according to your own preferences, so you can get the maximal sound quality according to your taste. They both also can get very loud, so you can still use them at parties. Overall, they are equally good Soundbar for listening to the music. But even so, compare among them, the HW-Q800A is better. Its subwoofer can produce lower low-frequency extension than the HW-Q700A. With HW-Q800A, you can enjoy deeper rumbles and thumps in bass-heavy genres.

WInner: HW-Q800A

Although not great, their performance when used for music is also equally good. Combination of great center speaker performance and balanced mid-range makes dialogue in the movies heard obviously. Additionally, their ability to produce extended low bass also lets you to feel the deep and thump when watching action-package scene. But even so, their soundstage is only a bit wider the bars their self and there is no trick to makes their sound stage is wider. Additionally, when you watch movies with surround sound, they don’t have surround channel because they come with 3.1.2 setup only. The surround sound will be downmix to stereo, resulting less immersive listening experience. Fortunately, they also support Dolby Atmos. However, they only use phantom speaker instead discrete speaker to produce height sound. So, height sound produced is not as real-life like as height sound produced by discrete sound speaker installed on the ceiling. Nevertheless, their performance is also not so and at least you can still enjoy movies with Dolby Atmos sound format.

And compare among them, the HW-Q800A is better, especially for action movies with a lot of rumbles and thumps. Since they have better stereo frequency response, lower low frequency extension, and better center speaker performance, dialogue, rumbles, and thumps in the movies will heard a bit better.

Winner: HW-Q800A

As we have discussed a lot above, as the step model of the HW-Q700A, the bar of the HW-Q800A offers has similar design to the bar, but its bar can work a bit better than HW-Q700A. Additionally, the sub-woofer of the HW-Q800A can work better in producing bass than the HW-Q700A. So, rumble and thump in the moves produced by HW-Q800A will be heard deeper than sound produced by the HQ-Q700A. While its sound quality is better than the step-down model, it also has more advanced features than the HW-Q700A. They both may have same inputs and formats supported by them are not also much different. Additionally, they both also have the some Sound Enhanced Features that help to improve your listening experience like Graphic and Presets EQ, Dialogue Enhancement features, Bass Level Adjustment, Treble Level Adjustment, etc.  Meanwhile, to control them, you can use their touch sensitive buttons on the top of the bar, remote, or via SmartThings app that available on both Android and iOS devices. Meanwhile, the advantage of the Samsung HW-Q800A is that it also supports voice navigation. With Amazon Alexa built-in, you can make voice command to control some certain functions of the soundbar.

So, which is a better choice? Of course, decision comes back to you according to your own preferences. The HW-Q800A may be better for any usage, but the Samsung HW-Q700A is cheaper and its sound performance is not much different to the step-up model.