Samsung HW-K950 vs Philips Fidelio B5

This soundbar can produce cinema-like surround sound using the latest Dolby Atmos standard. Aside from the rear speakers, it also adds height by producing sound above the listener’s head, through extra speakers that reflect it from the ceiling. The ceiling needs to be flat and relatively shallow for this to work best, though. The sheer number of speakers together creates a more realistic sound bubble around the listener, as opposed to soundbars that can only emulate it with limited speakers. While only Dolby Atmos content takes full advantage of these extra speakers, even standard Stereo or Dolby Digital can benefit from this extra dimension.

Samsung has included an application that you can use to stream music from your phone, online streaming services and even media servers in your home network to the soundbar via Wi-Fi. It’s also possible to set up a multi-room system with other Samsung audio products that are compatible with the app.

The 8-inch driver of the subwoofer outputs 165W and is powerful enough to make windows shake. Since this can be overkill in some use cases, like music listening, you can easily control the subwoofer levels through the soundbar.

There are dedicated digital sound processing modes that can be used to enhance audio from movies, sports or music.

The easy-to-read front OLED display gives you all the relevant status information.

The soundbar notifies you and switches automatically to Atmos mode when it detects a Dolby Atmos signal.

If you have an HDMI-CEC compatible device, you can use it to control the soundbar.

There are two HDMI 2.0 inputs and an HDMI ARC output with 4K HDR passthrough capabilities, as well as an optical and an analog input.

The HW-K950 has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support, for wireless media streaming from external devices. It also supports connecting wirelessly to Samsung TVs that support it.

This soundbar supports Dolby Atmos, which has been becoming more popular in streaming services and new Blu-ray releases.

This soundbar has a classic black look with a steel mesh around the unit with brushed aluminum ends. The screen is hidden behind the mesh and illuminates only when there is a change in input or a button is pressed. A blue LED indicates Dolby Atmos signal input.

The rear speakers are approximately the size of average desktop speakers.

Software updates can be done automatically over Wi-Fi, using a dedicated Samsung app.

The main unit can be wall mounted, using the included bracket, but you need to buy separate wall mounts for the rear speakers if you wish to mount them.

It has 16 speakers that combine to deliver the best audio experience for watching and listening to music. Combined, they have a power rating of 500W for a system that consists of a center channel, two front channels, two rear channels, four vertical channels and a low frequency channel. The highs and mids sound clean and clear, without being flat. Movie dialogue is clear and distinguishable thanks to the added central channel.

This Philips soundbar is a stunning performer with an overall clear and balanced sound coming from its high quality speakers. The subwoofer can produce deep, rumbling bass and the highs and mids are well balanced and sound natural.

On each side of the soundbar there are removable speakers that, once detached, can act as rear wireless surround speakers, allowing you to enjoy real surround sound. The speakers can work wirelessly for 8 hours and they take about 2-3 hours to fully recharge. Each of the rear speakers can be used separately as a Bluetooth speaker for music streaming, without having to use the soundbar itself.

The subwoofer has a 6.5-inch downwards firing woofer that can produce frequencies between 20hz and 150hz, allowing for a much wider bass response than many of its competitors.

The soundbar automatically switches between surround and stereo modes, depending on the speakers being detached from the rest of the system or not.

This soundbar has HDMI, optical connection, coaxial, a 3.5mm jack and an RCA input to choose from, so the vast majority of devices can be connected using at least one of these inputs.

Signal processing offers many enhancements including treble and bass control, auto volume level, listening modes, and voice clarification.

With 210W of power (90W just for the subwoofer), its capable enough to use in a large living room.

The system is easy and quick to set up, since the rear speakers and the subwoofer are wireless. You only need two power cords and a signal wire to connect to your TV. The easy-to-use remote lets you easily calibrate everything, as well as change the sound properties, sound modes, sync time and rear volume.

This soundbar comes with preset modes for listening to music or watching movies. There's also a night mode that decreases the overall loudness for when you don’t want to disturb the neighbors.

The Fidelio B5 has a near listening mode where you can place the surround speakers near you and sound will play only from them, disabling the main unit.

Philips provides software updates that can be installed via USB.

The soundbar comes with included wall mounts. The rear speakers are completely wireless and have holes in the back that allows them to be easily hung on the wall.

This unit has a cloth finish that is dust and liquid resistant, with a brushed metal stripe in the center that gives it a premium finish look.

Both the soundbar itself and each detachable speaker can be connected to other devices via Bluetooth. The soundbar supports NFC for easy Bluetooth connection and aptX standard that allows high-bitrate audio streaming using this protocol.

The Fidelio B5 has two HDMI 1.4a inputs that can passthrough signal to the TV, and one HDMI ARC output that can receive sound and remote commands from the TV.

The remote is easy to use and clearly labeled. It has convenient dedicated buttons for each input.

A dimmable front display provides all the necessary information regarding input, sound mode, volume, and sound levels.

It’s possible to automatically calibrate the soundbar, depending on speaker spatial placement, with just the press of a button, on the remote.

The separate rear surround speakers create a full surround cinematic effect that is much better than the virtual surround created from soundbars without rear speakers.

It doesn’t have a central speaker, but it can emulate it pretty well, for clear dialogue and accurate positioning.