Sonos Arc vs Samsung Q800T Which is Better?

When you are comparing the Sonos Arc with the Samsung HW-Q800T, it is basically a comparison between two immersive 3D audio soundbars with the same price, with both costing roughly $899. Are there any major differences in features and performance between the two? Which is better between Sonos Arc vs Samsung Q800T?

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 If you are looking for a soundbar with a powerful immersive sound, mixed use and Dolby Atmos, it will practically boil down to the Sonos Arc vs Samsung Q800T. Both bars are perfectly suited for mixed usage and they are both relatively neutral and well-balanced. As a result, you can use both of them for a variety of content.

Both the Sonos Arc and Samsung Q800T have good directional 3D sound and an extensive feature list. Overall, you will get an impressive and immersive listening experience with both of these soundbars. But which one should you really go to when it comes down to it?

This article offers you a comparison and takes you on an overview of each of the soundbar to help you make the best choice for your audio needs.

For a start, both of these are highly rated soundbars. Both of them have a number of buttons and features for ease of use and excellent performance. Common features in the two include multi-function, volume up, volume down, and play/pause. The Q800T comes with a subwoofer while the Sonos Arc doesn’t.

The Sonos Arc and the Samsung Q800T can both offer you an all-in-one solution for your TVs to meet the audio shortfall and enhance your overall audio experience. In fact, pairing these with your TVs gives you better clarity and accuracy and dialogue-heavy content.

Sonos Arc

Sonos Arc - The Premium Smart Soundbar for TV, Movies, Music, Gaming, and More - Black

The Sonos Arc is a consistently top-rated soundbar and scores highly if you are looking for good quality audio, particularly those pure audio chops. It’s for nothing that it features as among the best rated and most popular bars with consumers across board.

This is a standalone soundbar although you can seamlessly integrate it with a Sub plus One SL Speakers. Even without the upgrades, you can still squeeze top performance out of this and it will, in fact, rival many of the home theater systems. As we shall see, it does not necessarily give you the rumble and energy that you would get with a Samsung Q800T or the Samsung Q800A. You can even interface it with a wireless subwoofer as well as surround satellites if you are looking for that super-immersive audio experience.

As we stated in the beginning, you’d want the Sonos Arc or the Samsung Q800T if you are looking for a soundbar that supports Atmos content.

The Sonos Arc is very versatile but minus the rumble of a low bass. You will also notice compression artifacts when you tune it to the max volume and this degrades the audio clarity.

The sound performance is bright and even the room correction feature doesn’t make things any better. However, the build is excellent. It is solid and with a sleek look and feel. It also has a built in Alexa and Google Assistant.

Like the Q800T, the Sonos Arc is a fairly large soundbar and spans 45 inches. It is packed with 11 speakers inside which gives it the bulky build. You get crisp sounds out of the Sonos Arc which are also detailed filled. You will get good clarity out of this soundbar which is much better than what your TV’s in-built speaker is pumping out.

The sounds out of the Sonos Arc are well-placed to give the listener a full 360-degree audio experience.

Samsung Q800T

SAMSUNG HW-Q800T 3.1.2ch Soundbar with Dolby Atmos / DTS:X and Alexa Built-In (2020)

The Samsung Q800T is decidedly one of the best soundbars that you can get for your Samsung TV. Not only is this a great looking soundbar but it is also well-built, has excellent performance and with tons of features.

It is one of the more recent Samsung soundbars which combines the soundbar with the subwoofer. The Q800T can be seamlessly paired with the QLED TVs as its names suggests. The combination consists of speakers that you can set in different directions, along with the tall subwoofer.

The Samsung Q800T is well grounded for a large scope of sound. Because the connection is wireless, you can even position the wireless subwoofer some distance from the bar. The Q800T can pump out both the mids and highs and perfectly complements the subwoofer that belts out the lows.

The soundbar is integrated with two up-firing speakers thanks to Samsung’s Acoustic Beam technology that have been built into the soundbar and it also comes with a wireless subwoofer unlike the Sonos Arc.

Like other top-end Samsung soundbars, it also has a Q-Symphony feature with which you can synchronize the Samsung QLED TV speakers to provide you with a very cinematic sound. The Samsung Q800T is also integrated with an Amazon Alexa voice assistant support with seamless functionality including the ability to turn off the microphone when it is not in use. The Q800T has a more neutral sound reproduction than the Sonos Arc. You will get a nicely balanced sound reproduction out of these soundbars without having to tamper with anything else.

The Q800T also enables you to play Dolby Atmos content and is suited for mixed use so you can use it with an array of audio content ranging from music to movies and even TV shows. However, you won’t get a high level of immersion when playing Dolby Atmos content with this. The upside with the Samsung Q800T is that there are lots of customization as well as connectivity features that you get out of this which permits versatile use-cases.

Audio Features

Both the Samsung Q800T and Sonos Arc are soundbars with active amplification type. They don’t feature an inbuilt subwoofer but you can interface them with an external subwoofer of which the Samsung Q800T whips with one. Both of them can also play Spotify content.

Connectivity

The Sonos Arc and the Samsung Q800T all have a wireless Wi-Fi interface. They also feature 1/0 HDMI inputs/outputs as well as an HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC).  However, the Q800T has better connectivity options than the Sonos Arc.

Extra Features

You can control both soundbars with an application. They also have a microphone. However, the Q800T offers extra features including an ability to cascade it into a multiroom system.

Multichannel Surround

The Sonos Arc and Samsung Q800T have both been equipped with a Dolby Atmos audio decoder. DTS:X support means the Q800T can easily pump out surround sound. The Arc scores poorly when it comes to multichannel surround support.

Pros and Cons

The Samsung Q800T and the Sonos Arc have their pros and cons that you should factor when trying to pick one over the other.

For instance, the Q800T has Graphic EQ+ presets which is lacking in the Sonos Arc which does not provide full EQ.

In terms of the looks, the Sonos Arc is undoubtedly well built and has a sleeker look and feel than the Samsung Q800T.

While the Samsung Q800T offers a crystal clear and well-balanced sound, the Sonos Arc experiences compression artifacts at max volume. You can pump a huge bass and rumble from the Samsung Q800T without any distortion which makes it a really energetic soundbar if you are looking for some powerful rumbling sound.

You can interface both of these bars with subwoofer but the Sonos Arc doesn’t ship with one. If you have a Samsung TV, we’d recommend the Samsung Q800T which will smoothly synchronize with your TV’s QLED speakers for an immersive sound.

The Verdict

A versatile soundbar, the Samsung Q800T is perfectly suited for mixed usage. You get a well-balanced and neutral sound out of this, with great clarity, which makes it a great soundbar for different types of content. It has excellent low-bass that is a great choice if you are after some rumble. You get other advantages with the Q800T such as graphic EQ and presets. Its Adaptive Sound Feature enables you to scan audio content in real time and to make adjustments to the sound for content optimization. While it is not as sleek as the Sonos Arc, it has a better overall performance and more features.

The Sonos Arc is also a great sound bar for mixed use but it gives you a brighter sound. It has a sleek design but it lacks certain features that you will find in the Q800T such as full EQ. You will not get a top rumble out of the Sonos Arc as it lacks low-bass and might not be the right soundbar for bass-heavy music or even action-packed movies. Besides, unlike the Samsung Q800T, the Sonos Arc does not ship with discrete surround speakers.

Conclusion

The Sonos Arc is consistently ranked as one of the best soundbars at the moment but its weaknesses have been documented above. The sound quality is superb but not bass-heavy. It makes a great pairing for some of the best TVs in the world but again, you will have a shortfall in terms of the bass. At maximum volume, you will experience some compression artifacts.

We would recommend the Samsung Q800T if you are looking for an upgraded audio experience from your soundbar and, particularly, if you are looking for an ideal speaker for your Samsung TV. The Q800T offers an accurate and clearer sound with a very well-balanced sound profile. Go for this is you are looking for an energetic soundbar that can withstand bass heavy performance and which relays dialogue-heavy content with accuracy. You can tune this further with the dialogue enhancement feature which gives you crisper sound.

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