Samsung HW-B650 review: An affordable home theater setup

The Samsung HW-B650 could be one of the best soundbars below $500 — and it’s only $249. For a sub-$250 price tag, you get a 3.1 channel setup that packs a pretty powerful punch. Not only that, but it’s also compatible with Samsung’s separate channel speakers (9200S), so it could be upgraded even further for relatively few dollars.

The HW-B650 is pretty unassuming visually, but it sounds fantastic. Despite its 3.1 channel arrangement, with some mode adjustments and customization, you can get a virtual Dolby Atmos experience that performs like a much pricier soundbar.

Although it has no built-in smart home capabilities, if you’ve got a smart TV, you’ll be able to access these features in the HW-B650’s glorious sound quality. For just $249, this is one of the most impressive soundbars I’ve come across. Find out all the details in this Samsung HW-B650 soundbar review.

Samsung HW-B650 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? An affordable 3.1-channel soundbar
• Who is it for? People who want great sound but don’t want to spend more than they have to
• What does it cost? A pretty cheap $249 / £299
• What do we like? The sound quality is fantastic, especially after a little playback mode customization
• What don’t we like? Without customizing modes, it’s a little tinny

Samsung HW-B650 review: Specs

Samsung HW-B650 review: Price & availability

At time of writing, the HW-B650 soundbar is out of stock on Samsung U.S., where it is priced at its MSRP of $249. It’s $267 at Amazon U.S. and £187 at Amazon U.K., whereas at Samsung U.K. it’s £299.

Samsung U.S. sells a Crystal UHD TV with the soundbar as a combo, which could be a good option if you need a full new setup.

The $249/£299 MSRP puts this 3.1 channel setup as a pretty heckin’ cheap soundbar combo. The Polk Signa S4, which I reviewed recently and loved, is $399 for a 3.1.2 channel. Similarly, the $499 Bose Smart Soundbar (2024) is a 3.0.2 channel soundbar but requires a secondary (pricey) subwoofer for optimum performance.

Samsung HW-B650 review: Design & controls

• Compact
• Compatible with Samsung surround speakers
• Weighty, high-quality remote

The HW-B650 is pretty small, just 33 inches long and 2 inches high. This means it’s more versatile than larger soundbars like the Polk Signa S4, and will fit on most TV stands. It’s quite unassuming in appearance, with a hard mesh exterior and four small buttons on the top. The subwoofer is pretty tall, at 13 inches high. The 6” woofer provides great bass with some DSP adjustments.

The HW-B650 is compatible with Samsung’s $149 9200S speakers. This makes the HW-B650 one of the best-starting soundbars for a home setup, as you can easily add products to it with time.

The soundbar itself is controlled via a nice, weighty remote that uses 2 x AAA batteries. This remote feels much more professional and serious than Bose’s Smart Soundbar remote, which I think looks cheap and plasticky.

Not that you need to use the remote all that much of course — thanks to the eArc connection, you can control the volume with your TV controller. You’ll need it for the sound settings, however.

Samsung HW-B650 review: Features & setup

• Breezy setup
• Range of playback modes
• No smart home integration built-in

The Samsung HW-B650 is super easy to set up. I connected the subwoofer and soundbar to power, then connected to our Panasonic MZ1500 4K OLED testing TV with an HDMI 2.1 cable. There’s no companion app and no direct smart home integration, but if you have a smart TV, you can use the HW-B650 with it obviously.

As I’ll discuss in the ‘Sound quality’ section below, I did have to shuffle the default settings around to get the best experience. It’s good, then, that there’s a decent range: the HW-B650 has: bass boost, surround sound, game, adaptive, DTS Virtual X, and standard. I found that DTS Virtual X with increased bass provided the most cinematic experience.

Adaptive sound effectively changes the volume between loud and quiet scenes in movies so you don’t have to, but I never needed to use this mode anyway. The other cinematic modes are just as good at this, but perhaps a movie with poor sound mixing will need this setting.

There aren’t really any more features, which is expected on a soundbar + subwoofer at this price point.

Samsung HW-B650 review: Sound quality

• Fantastic sound quality in DTS Virtual X mode
• Great balance between loud and quiet
• High-frequency/quiet sound effects audible in loud scenes

The Samsung HW-B650 soundbar is a 3.1 channel, which means the soundbar itself has a left, center, and right speaker, and there is a separate subwoofer. Although this channel setup won’t be able to translate the ‘true’ surround sound you’d get from having speakers behind and around you, it does a pretty good job.

Movies

As with all my soundbar testing, I watched ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ in the ‘Surround’ audio setting. In the first scene, the jet sound effects weren’t as prominent as the far more expensive JBL Bar 1300X, and some other high-frequency sound effects like footsteps and wheels were a little lost in the melee. However, it still sounded powerful and dramatic for the most part.

In the scene where (spoiler) Maverick is trying to reach Mach 10, the exterior shots made the jet feel like it was flashing past me in real life. In the following scene, where Maverick enters the restaurant, the bluegrass guitar notes swam around my head. I was pretty impressed with the surround-sound in these two scenes.

I upped the treble to try to improve the high-frequency sound effects. When Maverick is riding a motorcycle down a runway, I was a little disappointed when the motorbike sound effect whooshed past me but instantly disappeared, instead of following the vehicle as it zoomed out of shot. As I watched James Bond, I realized this was a Top Gun mixing issue, and not a Samsung issue.

In the first dogfighting scene, the soundtrack and the jet sound effects were both clear, but there was a little crispiness in some of the treble. I turned the treble down using the ‘Tone Control’ button on the remote, which seemed to correct some of that sizzling effect.

Although I had some teething issues with too much/too little treble and some flat surround sound, in the first bar scene the bartender’s voice sounded like it was coming from directly behind me. The HW-B650’s surround sound mode is good when it works, but it’s not as reliable as the JBL Bar 1300X or the Polk Signa S4’s — the 360° experience seems to come and go.

This could be a result of the Ultra HD 4K Blu-Rays I was watching — being designed for a bigger channel setup like an 11.1.4 and cutting off some of the sound layers, for example. But despite these small inconsistencies, my overall viewing experience wasn’t impacted negatively.

After ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, I watched ‘No Time To Die’, which is famous for its Dolby Atmos integration. I switched to ‘DTS Virtual X’ to make the most of the Dolby Atmos surround sound.

In the club scene, the bass shook the floor of our testing room, and the clinking of coins was still audible over the bassy music. Unlike ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, the motorcycle sound effects in ‘No Time To Die’ followed the motorbike all the way through the shot — so the HW-B650 likely wasn’t the problem there.

Even tiny sound effects like bottle caps being unscrewed, zips being unzipped, and lapping waves were audible and clear, and I never had to change the volume between quiet, pensive scenes, and loud action scenes.

When Bond was walking through Santiago, the motorbikes, music, and general hum of chatter and shops was great, and I felt completely immersed in the scenes.

For the price, I’m really impressed with the Samsung HW-B650. No, it’s not ‘true’ 360°, but that’s very difficult without dedicated surround speakers.

Even though it doesn’t have the no-stone-left-unturned bombastic sound of something like the JBL Bar 1300X or the Sonos Arc Ultra, the price tag makes it all the more appealing.

TV

To test the Samsung HW-B650, I watched ‘Toxic Town’ on Netflix using the soundbar’s ‘Adaptive’ mode. The dialogue was very clear and I never struggled to hear, even when the soundtrack was pretty loud.

I changed to ‘Standard’ mode halfway through testing for direct comparison. This immediately lowered speech volume, but I never struggled to understand. I think you’d need to play around with the sound modes to get the best outcome based on what you’re watching at that moment

Music

Although I immediately recoiled upon connecting my phone via Bluetooth and playing ‘Alice’ by Sleepazoid, after switching to ‘Bass’ mode I was much happier. I wouldn’t recommend listening to music in any playback mode other than ‘Bass’. ‘Standard’ is very tinny, ‘Surround’ is lackluster, ‘DTS Virtual X’ sounded almost warped, and ‘Game’ is very tinny (which makes sense, as it’s designed to prioritize high notes like player footsteps).

However, ‘Bass’ was groovy, thumping, and frenetic. I played ‘Toy Boy’ by Confidence Man, which is a soulful house track. The synth bass notes reverberated through the floor (I did increase the subwoofer to top volume) and I was very pleased with this playback quality. My colleagues who work underneath the TV testing room asked me if I was bringing the nightclub to the office.

Obviously there’s not as much musical clarity as you’d expect on some of the best Bluetooth speakers, but soundbars are known for not being as adept at music playback. For a soundbar — a cheap soundbar, too — the HW-B650 was epic.

Samsung HW-B650 review: Verdict

I was actually, as the kids say, ‘shook’ when I saw the price tag for this soundbar. You mean to tell me, Samsung, that this thing is under $250? I couldn’t believe my eyes. Or my ears.

The audio quality is phenomenal with a little mode adjustment. If you unbox this thing, set it up, and listen on default, you might think I’ve got water in my ear.

You need to shuffle through the listening modes to find your ideal preference that suits whatever you’re watching. For me, I enjoyed the DTS Virtual X when watching 4K movies, and the bass mode when listening to music. For TV, I found standard and adaptive were both excellent.

If you have a small budget but you don’t want to sacrifice epic movie watching, then Samsung has answered your prayers with the HW-B650 soundbar system. It’s a major yes from me.