Sound quality: In its Standard sound mode Samsung's HW-MS650 delivers sound quality that falls in the very good range - although it has some noticeable sonic quirks it reproduces music and dialog very well. The bass has good impact and goes deep, but is a somewhat prominent and boomy. The midrange is fairly even, but is a bit hazy, dark, and grainy, and slightly overwhelmed by the deeper bass notes. The treble is extended and has good detail, but lacks a bit of crispness. This model does a so-so job of recovering room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded); the darkness of the midrange somewhat obscures detail. The various Sound modes and the Smart mode settings all had a noticeable effect ranging from making the sound soft and nasal to making it echoey and/or harsh. The Surround Sound setting added a feeling of spaciousness by making the sound image seem wider and taller but not any deeper, and made the bass more boomy and prominent and the midrange sound somewhat soft and congested. There was no significant difference in sound quality between the HDMI, optical, analog, Bluetooth and WiFi inputs. The system can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: TV setup and EOU is very good overall. Setup: HDMI CEC (Samsung calls it Anynet+) setup is quick and straight forward. When an HDMI connection is not used the soundbar can still be controlled by TV remotes from Samsung and other major brands; activation and deactivation of this feature is quick and easy, but not intuitive so easy to follow instructions included with unit have to be referred to. The HW-MS650 can be set up to receive audio from some Samsung TVs via WiFi; setup is straight forward and the provided instructions are clear, but the first time setup requires a lot of steps. The system comes with optical cable for TV connection, HDMI or stereo analog cables must be purchased separately if you want or need to connect your TV either of those ways. Ease of Use: This model can work seamlessly with many TVs - it can respond to the volume and mute commands from the remotes of HDMI CEC compatible TVs when connected via the HDMI ARC ports with and HDMI cable. It can also be set to respond to the volume and mute commands of the remotes of many TVs from Samsung an other major brands, and it can be connected to and controlled by Samsung TV remotes via a WiFi connection. Its own physical remote has a few unmarked or hard to identify controls but is not difficult to use once you figure it out. App remotes that operate via WiFi can also be downloaded onto Apple and Android mobile devices; we found the sections of these apps that are used when watching TV to be glitch-free but they were not as well organized as others we've seen. The soundbar console's power, source, and volume controls are well marked but are on the right side where they may not be easy to see or access. The console lacks a mute control, but if it is muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. The display can be seen from the typical listening position; it can be used by itself or in conjunction with app remote screens. It shows power status, source selection, a numeric volume level, mute status, and the DSP effects mode.
Features setup and ease of use: Non-TV features setup and EOU is good overall. Setup: Network streaming setup is done via WiFi, requires an app download to an Apple or Android mobile device, and is straight forward. Pairing of a Bluetooth device required a long push of a unmarked multi-function button - easy but not necessarily straight forward. Ease of Use: The HW-MS650's physical remote is easy to use even though it has a few unmarked or hard to identify controls. Apple and Android versions of app remotes that operate via WiFi can be downloaded on to mobile devices. These apps have general sections that are used to control the soundbar like a typical physical remote, and streaming player sections that are used to play audio streamed from the Internet or the mobile device through the soundbar. These apps were geared more toward streaming rather than general use - the streaming content player sections were easy to navigate, well marked, well organized, and glitch-free; the general sections were also glitch-free but they were not as well organized. The soundbar console's power, source, and volume controls are well marked but are on the right side where they may not be easy to see or access. The console lacks a mute control, but if it is muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. The display can be seen from the typical listening position; it can be used by itself or in conjunction with app remote screens. It shows power status, source selection, a numeric volume level, mute status, and the DSP effects mode. The console has inputs for HDMI ARC digital video/audio and optical digital audio connections. The optical input is provided as an alternate connection for TVs that lack HDMI ARC, not as a separate connection for another device. These two inputs are covered under one source and the soundbar uses one or the other depending on what's connected. If both are connected HDMI ARC TV connection takes priority. If you switch from the Bluetooth source to another source and then back again you have to manually re-connect the Bluetooth source device.
