Samsung HW-J650 Review

Being one of Samsung's top models, the HW-J650 is a very sleek 4.1 soundbar with a wireless subwoofer, while also giving you the opportunity to expand the system using wireless speakers for the surround channels.

The HW-J650 is identical to the 651 apart from the 650 being black and the 651 having a silver finish. With dimensions of 41.73" x 2.0" x 2.82" the HW-J650 looks nice with TVs of 40 inches or larger, and as it's only two inches high it also offers minimal obstruction of the TV if placed on a bench. The slim design looks nice with a clean look, no visible buttons when you're seated in the couch, and sides in aluminum.

Hidden on the front behind the grille is a LED display to show you things like selected input and volume level. The display only lights up when you give the soundbar commands to let you know what's going on, but remains turned off the rest of the time. This is actually a nice feature as a bright display can be distracting when you watch movies in a dark room.

Wireless Subwoofer

The subwoofer that comes with the soundbar is wireless and in the same color as the soundbar. It's equipped with a 7-inch driver and has a bass reflex port on the side. This makes it possible to place it close to a wall for example, without any significant impact on bass performance, although an increase in volume is expected when the subwoofer is placed in close proximity to a large boundary. If this is the case, the volume level can easily be adjusted using the remote.

​Now, you won't get a proper 4.1 channel audio out of a soundbar with sound actually coming from the rear, but we're nonetheless very pleased with the overall performance. For obvious reasons the subwoofer won't play extremely deep bass, but the cohesion between the soundbar and the subwoofer is pretty good thanks to a relatively low crossover frequency, making placement easier as it mostly plays non-directional bass, which in the end results in a more enjoyable movie and music experience.

Connectivity

​Being Wireless Multiroom Compatible, the HW-J650 can be used as a part of an extended multiroom system with other compatible Samsung devices. But before we delve into that, we take a closer look at the inputs and outputs as well as some of the main features of the soundbar.

​The in and outputs are placed in recesses at the back and can be a bit tricky to reach depending on how you place the soundbar and what types of cables you're using. There's only one HDMI input and one output (ARC), so you can only connect one HDMI source device, in our case a Blu-ray player, and it would have been nice with at least one more HDMI input for a gaming console or a set-top box for example. If you have more than one HDMI device the option is to connect those to the TV and use that as the audio source using the Audio Return Channel or the optical digital input.

​Apart from the HDMI input and the already mentioned optical digital input you'll also find a network port, a USB port for playing audio files from a USB drive, and an analog auxiliary input (3.5mm) for analog music players, for example.

Bluetooth is also available, providing a quick and easy way to listen to audio using your phone or other Bluetooth devices, and if you happen to own a newer Samsung TV (TV Sound Connect compatible, 2013 or newer) you can also send audio from your TV to the soundbar via Bluetooth. This feature reduces the need for an extra cable, but the downside is that it only works with audio, not video,

You're Surrounded!

So far the Samsung HW-J650 seems to be a run-of-the-mill soundbar, both in terms of looks and features, but compared to most of its competitors it actually has a nice little perk; the ability to add an extra pair of wireless speakers for the rear channels to get a bit closer to a true 5.1 experience.

In a perfect world you would place the rear speakers at an equal distance from the listening position for optimal performance, but for less than perfect situations the Multiroom App gives you the ability to adjust the volume of each speaker to compensate for any difference in distance. In our fairly large and somewhat irregularly shaped listening room we had to increase the volume slightly to achieve a balanced level between the soundbar and the rear speakers.

The HW-J650 is ultimately quite impressive in the surround sound department, especially considering the modest price, but it can't really reach the performance level of a fully fledged 5.1 surround sound system, but that is however not expected.

Let The Music Play

The Multiroom App not only gives you an opportunity to add extra rear speakers and set up a multiroom system, it also gives you the ability to stream music from your local network.

The majority of the most common and popular music services are available, but this can vary depending on your region. You can also play files from a USB drive or your local network, and the HW-J650 can handle just about any file format there is, including high resolution.

The Multiroom App has a nice design, is intuitive to use, and works really well. Selecting and playing music worked more or less flawlessly without any lag or hiccups.

The HW-J650 plays music with a fairly large soundstage, have plenty of clarity and detail, although it can sound a bit small-ish compared to a proper two channel music system, but then again we used it in a relatively large room, and a smaller room may provide a different result. Nonetheless, the soundbar and subwoofer combination works really well with music, giving voices a clear and nice fullness and also managed to keep instruments separate and avoiding muddying the soundstage. Ultimately, it provided us with a nice 'live' feeling, although at a smaller scale. It is not often we come across such a musical soundbar at a price of less than $500 - impressive.