This JBL Dolby Atmos soundbar deal looks great – but there's a better one on our 2024 Samsung award-winner

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

If you’re on the hunt for a decent early Black Friday deal on a cutting edge Dolby Atmos-ready soundbar system then chances are you’ve spotted the current discount being offered on the JBL Bar 1300.

Specifically, Peter Tyson is currently selling the JBL Bar 1300 for £899, a £400 saving on its regular £1299 price.

But before you go rushing for your wallet, we’d strongly recommend looking at an even better deal we’ve spotted on the award-winning Samsung HW-Q990D Dolby Atmos Soundbar package.

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You can currently pick up the five-star, award-winning Samsung HW-Q990D for £999 at John Lewis, a £700 saving on its £1699 launch price.

For your money you’ll be treated to a full Dolby Atmos system that pairs a central soundbar with twin wireless satellite speakers and a subwoofer. Combined the system can deliver 11.1.4 channel surround sound.

Putting it through its paces in our home cinema test rooms the HW-Q990D immediately impressed our reviewers delivering a large, immersive and three-dimensional sound full of weight and immersive dynamics.

Hence our conclusion: “if you want something approaching ‘proper’ Atmos sound without buying an AV amplifier and twelve individual speakers, it has to be on your shortlist.”

This isn’t a dig at the JBL, which is still a good system. Featuring a wireless subwoofer and battery powered wireless satellite speakers the unit can deliver the same 11.1.4 Atmos experience as the Samsung.

It also has the advantage that its satellite speakers are battery powered, so you don’t have to have them placed in your lounge the whole time, as you do with the Samsung, which requires its satellites to have a mains connection. The speakers instead can be used when needed and then reconnected to the main soundbar to charge when done, which is undeniably convenient.

But even with this advantage, we still recommend the Samsung over it for serious movie fans because the JBL can’t replicate the “dome of sound” Atmos-experience as well as the HW-Q990D and its sub isn’t quite as precise. So if top quality audio is your priority, the HW-Q990D is the better option.

On the off chance neither option takes your fancy, make sure to keep an eye on our best soundbar deals guide, where our experts will be adding all the latest and greatest savings they’ve spotted on units we’ve tested and recommend.

MORE:

These are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars we’ve reviewed

We rate the best surround sound packages

Looking for a TV too? These are the best early Black Friday TV deals we recommend

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Alastair is What Hi-Fi?’s editor in chief. He has well over a decade’s experience as a journalist working in both B2C and B2B press. During this time he’s covered everything from the launch of the first Amazon Echo to government cyber security policy. Prior to joining What Hi-Fi? he served as Trusted Reviews’ editor-in-chief. Outside of tech, he has a Masters from King’s College London in Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion, is an enthusiastic, but untalented, guitar player and runs a webcomic in his spare time.