Samsung HW-D570 review and full specifications

TrustedReviews says

Although the HW-D570 falls short in terms of sound quality, there’s plenty to admire – particularly the glamorous brushed silver styling and wireless subwoofer. It’s easy to install, easy to use and the wireless iPod dock is the icing on the cake

Design and Connections

Samsung’s HW-D570 is a stylish 2.1-channel soundbar that offers 310W of audio power without cluttering up your living room with boxes and wires. But unlike some soundbars, such as the Roth Bar 1 we reviewed recently, this is not a simple TV speaker upgrade – Samsung’s effort comes equipped with a wider range of connections and sound features, making it more of a hub for all your equipment (although there’s no disc drive on board).

Naturally for a Samsung product, looks are high on the agenda. The HW-D570 is beautifully styled in a glimmering brushed silver finish, which looks elegant and glamorous. The front panel, which measures just 80mm high, sports exposed drivers – two midrange woofers and a tweeter at either end – but the piece de resistance is the central control panel. The dot matrix display shines through from behind, showing the current input and volume when altered, plus there’s a row of touch-sensitive buttons above it, which is very cool indeed and ensures that the front surface is completely flush.
What’s also pleasing is how slim this soundbar is. The 45mm depth is perfect for wall mounting beneath a similarly wall-mounted TV (there’s a bracket in the box). It’s 1056mm wide, which is ideal for TVs of around 40-46in.
Accompanying the soundbar is a wireless subwoofer, that can be placed anywhere in the room and anonymously beefs up bass output with its 150W amplifier. The only limitation is that it needs to be near a power supply. It’s a stylish unit too, with a sleek gloss black finish, but couldn’t be less matched to the soundbar so it might be wise to tuck it away out of sight.


There’s a useful array of sockets housed in two recesses on the back. You get two HDMI inputs and one output, with 3D video pass-through capability – great news if you have a couple HD sources you want to channel through the soundbar, and with Audio Return Channel support, it’s simple to enjoy sound from your TV. The HDMIs are all mini sockets and there’s a compatible cable in the box, but you’ll have to buy an extra mini HDMI cable for a second device.


You’ll also find two optical digital audio inputs for non-HDMI sources and an analogue stereo minijack input, which is useful for MP3 players and the like. There’s a USB port too, but it’s only for software updates and not to play digital media – Samsung has missed a trick here.

Features

• 310W power output
• Wireless subwoofer
• Wireless iPod/iPhone dock
• 3D Sound Plus and DSP modes
• Two HDMI & two digital audio inputs

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Stunning silver styling
• Wireless sub and iPod dock
• Lots of connections

Cons

• Overly bright sound
• No HD audio decoding
• No USB media playback

Manufacturer

Samsung