LG Sound Bar S95QR guide

LG S95QR review

LG’s flagship soundbar gets an internal glow-up Tested at £1700 / $1800 / AU$2000

The LG S95QR is the top-of-the-line soundbar from LG's 2022 lineup. It's a 9.1.5 setup that comes with a dedicated subwoofer. There are two up-firing drivers on the bar itself for Dolby Atmos content and a unique up-firing center channel that comes with the LG S90QY and the LG S80QY. The rear speakers have a 4.0.2 setup—meaning that there are two front-firing channels and one up-firing height channels on each speaker. Naturally, it's a feature-packed bar, with everything from AI Room Calibration room correction to the TV Sound Mode Share feature that lets you pair it with your TV to enhance its sound.

TechRadar Verdict

The LG S95QR rights a few past wrongs, introduces some genuinely useful innovation in the shape of a new up-firing center speaker, and best of all delivers a fantastically dynamic and immersive experience that’s almost as at home with music as it is with full-blooded movie mixes.

The LG S95QR stretches the definition of a soundbar by including four separate speaker units and delivering a channel count that would embarrass most separates-based systems.

The LG S95QR's unusual 9.1.5 channel configuration points to a new innovation for this flagship 2022 soundbar: an up-firing center speaker. This essentially pushes upwards the same sound that’s also coming out of a more traditional forward-facing center speaker on the soundbar’s front, in a bid to make dialogue sound more like it’s coming from the people talking on your screen.

Until now, even the best soundbars have maxed out at four upfiring channels, but LG is pushing things further – we already saw this new central height speaker on the LG S80QY, and it impressed us there. Now LG is taking it further.

Surround sound kit has always been quite the pain in the aux. If you’re after a true Dolby Atmos system, you’ll need to get the ladder out for some in-ceiling speakers. That’s not quite achievable for everyone, so it’s a good thing that soundbar systems can replicate the effect. Some do so better than others – and the LG S95QR is up there with the best of ’em.

LG’s latest swanky-looking bar of sound sets its sights on taking your home cinema to the next level. It packs some seriously snazzy smarts in as well, with the likes of AirPlay, wireless connectivity, and smart assistants built-in. At £1699 it sits firmly on the premium end of the market, at a cut above most alternatives. Does its sonic performance justify such a high price?

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

With more punch and weight than its predecessors, the LG S95QR now has a sound that lives up to its excellent features

There seems to be a bit of an arms race going on with Dolby Atmos soundbars at the moment. In an effort to one-up the competition, big brands are cramming their latest and greatest soundbars with more and more drivers in new and unexpected places. It has echoes of the early 2000s when the world of men's shaving was rocked by a similar war of creative innovation and capitalism as manufacturers competed to sell razors with increasing numbers of blades in an all-out battle known as the Razor Blade Wars.

But, just as a close shave is due as much to the quality of the blade as the number, an excess of drivers pointing in every possible direction does not guarantee better home cinema sound or less irritation.