It’s all been relatively quiet on the Harman home audio front since Samsung announced its acquisition of the manufacturer back in November 2016. But this week Samsung finally gave us a peek of what it’s been working on in the form of two soundbars.
Pitched as ‘premium’ soundbars, the HW-N950 and HW-N850 are the first fruits of the Samsung and Harman partnership and are available from September onwards in select countries – branded by both companies.
Each soundbar targets bringing Dolby Atmos and DTS:X quality sound to living rooms everywhere, with up-firing and side-firing speakers on hand to create ‘immersive’ sound.
The N950 provides a 7.1.4 channel system (with 512W output) – that’s the largest number of channels available in a soundbar, whilst it’s less powerful sister model, the N850, offers a 5.1.2 (372W) system.
The N950 comprises of a soundbar, a wireless subwoofer and two wireless surround speakers, with 17 speakers accompanied by four up-firing and two side-firing drivers. Connectivity options include two HDMI inputs (& one output) and an optical input, as well as WiFi and Bluetooth options. For occasions when users want to just stream music from their phone, Samsung states 32-bit upscaling has been incorporated to boost the listening experience.
In comparison, the N850 incorporates 13 speakers in total, in addition to a wireless subwoofer.
Pricing outside Europe hasn’t been confirmed yet, but the HW-N950 will be priced at approximately €1,500 ($1,700) in European countries, and at €1,000 ($1,130) for the HW-N850.
In a climate where everyone’s investing considerable time and effort into their soundbar offerings, will Samsung/Harman’s N950/850 suceed as a more high spec alternative to the recently released Sonos Beam or a HEOS system?
Last week, Philips also introduced its latest OLED TV featuring an integrated soundbar developed by Bowers & Wilkins.