LG S80QR review: "A wonderful sound bar that really enriches your gaming and movie watching experience"

In recent times, the humble sound bar has become a desirable solution thanks to the simplicity of setup compared to multi-speaker systems. The LG Sound Bar S80QR brings impressive sound boost to your gaming TV with practically no setup hassle. 

The the S80QR retails for $1,049.99/£1,099.99, and includes sound bar with up firing speakers, subwoofer and a wireless rear speaker kit to round out the sound immersion. There is a cheaper S80QY for $899.99/£999.99 which drops the rear speaker set but as you’ll see, you definitely want those. After a month living with the S80QR, it’s easy to see why we can call this one of the best soundbars for gaming, one of the best gaming sound systems, and why you’d want this as part of your living room setup but I am not convinced that you should pay full price.

Design & Features

The LG S80QR is a rather simple but elegant looking bar with a brushed grey metal finish. It’s a meter wide and fits nicely on most gaming TVs' cabinets without fuss. It fits nicely under most LG TV stands but can also be wall mounted. The front has cloth covering for the speaker with an embedded LED status display in the middle which shows you things like volume, sound mode or connections. On top are the three, up firing speakers with touch controls above the central one.

Around the back are two HDMI 2.1 inputs, a USB and Optical port. The S80QR supports HDMI eARC so those with compatible TV’s like the LG QNED99 TV will enjoy the ensuing benefits. The S80QR also supports ALLM, VRR, so you can plug your console into it for 4K 120Hz gaming.

The 220W subwoofer is massive, like a mini-PC case. It’s wireless so you can position it almost anywhere and it automatically syncs with the sound bar. The rear kit has a wireless receiver and two, 70W speakers to fill out the sound. The receiver needs a power outlet which can affect where you place it but it has very long cables for the speakers.

In addition to the touch controls on the bar itself, you get a mini Magic Remote but for full control, you’ll want to use the LG Sound Bar App for iOS and Android. This gives extensive control over the various sound settings. The S80QR supports all the major formats like Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, DTS:X, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, DTS Digital Surround and more. And if you have the right source, it can also output High Res 96kHz/24-bit and even upscales your regular audio. Wireless connectivity also abounds with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, Apple Airplay with support for smart Assistance from Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri.

Performance

After setting up the S80QR, the difference from the TV speakers was visceral. Not only is the S80QR much louder, but that subwoofer made the sound so rich and powerful. Dialogue was clearer, and thanks to the rear speakers, it often felt like I was inside the movie. In The Crown on Netflix, in one particular scene the main characters were watching a speech on TV. When it switched to the actual location where the speech was being given, it literally sounded like we’d be warped into the scene.

In God of War Ragnarok, I loved how realistic character dialogue sounded, not to mention how epic the battles sounded. In one stand-out moment, I was walking with Atreus and he had wondered off camera to my left. When he next spoke, it startled me because it literally sounded like he was in the room behind me - somethng often only the best gaming headsets can offer. Similar things came through while playing Horizon Forbidden West as well which made game audio an absolute joy.

However, despite the lauded up-firing speakers, I didn’t get any sense of overhead audio at all; even after using the AI room calibration which was disappointing. But even worse was the Meridian tuned Music mode which sounded a lot thinner, lifeless and cold. Notably, it wouldn’t use the rear speakers, sounding hollow as a result. You can fine tune EQ in the app but ultimately, I stuck with the Cinema and Game mode which both ensured full, rich and bassy surround.

Overall - should you buy the LG S80QR?

The LG S80QR is a wonderful sound bar that really enriches your gaming and movie watching experience. The sound is powerful and detailed making dialogue clear and epic moments shake the house. It works wonderfully with easy setup and controls. However, the S80QR won’t satisfy audiophiles and is too expensive for most people — it costs as much as a QNED 4K TV. And while you can get the cheaper S80QY, I’d not recommend it due to how impactful to the overall experience the rear speakers are. The S80QR is great but I’m not sure who is best suited for this.

How we tested the LG S80QR

 To test the S80R, i set it up in my family living room connected to an LG QNED99 TV via the HDMI eARC port. I set the TV to output all audio through the sound bar and we’ve watched plenty of Disney+. Netflix and YouTube content over the past month. I’ve also had my PlayStation 5 connected to the sound bar and I’ve completed an entire play through of God of War Ragnarok, and several hours of Horizon Forbidden West. I’ve also used Apple Play to stream music from my iPhone directly to the sound bar. 

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If you're looking to up your display game as well as your audio game, then check out our best gaming monitor, best ultrawide monitor, and best curved gaming monitor guides.