HW-Q990C – Firmware 1010.5 destroyed sound quality, firmware cannot be reinstalled, and S95C TV firmware limits SpaceFit Sound

[nsdonev]

After updating my HW-Q990C soundbar to firmware 1010.5, the audio quality has dropped dramatically. The system that once sounded powerful and crystal clear now feels dull, lifeless, and completely unlike a flagship product.

My setup:
Soundbar: Samsung HW-Q990C (firmware 1010.5)
TV: Samsung S95C (QE65S95CATXXH, firmware 2032)
Connection: HDMI eARC (TV HDMI 3 ↔ Soundbar “TO TV (eARC)”)
Region: EU

Symptoms after 1010.5:

• Bass is significantly weaker and lacks depth.

• Dialogue sounds recessed and muffled.

• Atmos height effects are barely noticeable.

• The entire soundstage feels flat and compressed.

Before this update, the HW-Q990C was absolutely outstanding. Now it sounds like a mid-range $200 bar, which is unacceptable for a premium product in this price range.

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What I’ve tried so far

1. Factory reset:
Held Volume + and Volume – on the soundbar until “INIT” and then “BYE” appeared. The reset worked, but the sound quality did not improve.

2. Re-pairing all speakers:
Performed the ID SET procedure for the subwoofer and rears, confirmed all solid blue lights. Connection is fine, but the sound remains weak.

3. SpaceFit Sound / SpaceFit Sound Pro:
TV mic is on, Bixby permissions granted, Q-Symphony disabled, HDMI eARC active. However, SpaceFit Sound Pro is grayed out and cannot be started. This is because of the S95C’s firmware 2032, which removed manual calibration control and replaced it with a background “automatic” process that clearly isn’t working.

4. TV audio settings:
eARC mode set to Auto, Digital Output set to Pass-Through, Dolby Atmos On. Tested both Q-Symphony on and off. No real improvement.

5. Sound modes and EQ:
Tested Standard and Adaptive. Adjusted Center +3, Sub +3, Rear +2, Top +2, Sides +1.
Bass +2, Treble +2, Bass Enhancement On, Virtual Sound Off, Voice Enhancement On. The adjustments help slightly, but they can’t fix the underlying problem.

6. USB firmware reinstall:
Downloaded the correct regional firmware from Samsung’s website, placed on a clean FAT32 USB, followed the procedure with Volume + and – while connecting power. The soundbar displayed “INIT” then “BYE,” but the USB log said “Latest Version.” It refuses to reinstall the same firmware version, meaning there is no way to override or reflash 1010.5, even if the OTA update was corrupted.

7. Direct HDMI source to the soundbar:
Connected a streaming device directly to the HDMI IN on the soundbar to bypass the TV. The sound was still poor, confirming the issue is inside the soundbar’s firmware itself.

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What I’ve concluded

1. Firmware 1010.5 clearly changed or corrupted the sound tuning of the Q990C.

2. The soundbar will not allow reinstallation of the same firmware, preventing recovery from a bad OTA update.

3. The S95C TV firmware 2032 broke manual SpaceFit Sound Pro calibration and limits how the soundbar can perform.

4. Together, these two firmware versions make the overall system sound significantly worse than before.

This soundbar used to be one of the best home audio products on the market. After these updates, it sounds flat and cheap. The combination of firmware 1010.5 on the Q990C and 2032 on the S95C has completely ruined what was a premium experience.

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Conclusion / Complaint

Samsung, this is unacceptable. The HW-Q990C was marketed as a flagship Dolby Atmos soundbar system with class-leading performance. After these firmware updates, it performs nowhere near that standard. The sound quality now resembles a budget bar, and there is no option to roll back or reinstall the firmware to recover its original sound.

On top of that, the S95C TV firmware has removed manual control over SpaceFit Sound Pro and seems to interfere with eARC communication, further degrading the overall experience. This is not what customers paid for, and it is not what was advertised.

We need a corrective firmware update or an official rollback option immediately. Many of us have spent hours trying to fix this through resets, USB reinstalls, calibration attempts, and endless settings changes, and nothing works.

This product was top-notch before 1010.5 and now sounds like something a fraction of the price. That is unacceptable for a flagship product and needs to be addressed by Samsung engineering, not brushed aside by generic support replies.

[JAMES4578]

I hnow some users have reported  deterioration in sound quality such as  sounding more  flat and producing less clarity. one user on another forum has found a  a fix for them bu using Surround Mode instead of Adaptive . https://www.avsforum.com/threads/%F0%9F%8E%A7-samsung-q990c-firmware-1010-5-%E2%80%94-reference-cali...

[nsdonev]

That does not work for all. It is spread in reddit forum as well and as far as I can tell its chatGPT generated bla bla's.

[Mike7463]

I've posted about this myself. The only answer anyone seems to get is that Samsung are unaware of the problem, which is a bare-faced lie, given it's been pointed out to them by quite a few people.  I contacted them via their Facebook page, and they said the best place to post about it is this forum so that their engineers can pick up on the problem, yet not one single answer on my post has been from anyone at Samsung. I recently posted again on their Facebook page, gave them a link to my post, yet all they did was say 'send us a private message, and we can go through some troubleshooting steps...' I replied by saying that I'm fully versed in every aspect of setting up the soundbar, how to update the rear and bass speakers, etc. They just won't accept that the problem has been caused by their firmware update. Customers shouldn't have to use workarounds such has using surround instead of adaptive (it doesn't work anyway). The sound should be as it was before that last crappy update, which was almost a year ago. 

[nsdonev]

Mike, I am just curious if you've tried the soundbar with different TV? I am thinking to try it on another Samsung TV and see if anything changes.

[Mike7463]

Thing is, I've never had a Samsung TV. Mine is attached to a Panasonic TV, and it sounded great before the last update. I've tried every setting I can think of, and nothing works. It's definitely the firmware. 

[nsdonev]

Good to know, thank you. I've actually been trying to contact the Samsung support and sent them multiple emails myself. So far they only referred to a TV update which was wrong and they've been very hesitant to admit their stupid firmware mistake which sort of makes sense. Black friday is coming and people might switch to their newer model. I don't want to believe that this is the case, but without them officially admiting - what else to think of?

[Mike7463]

Well, if Samsung think that by ruining an expensive soundbar is going to persuade me to buy another model, they can think again. I don't have the finances to keep buying expensive soundbars, but if I ever did, then I'd think twice before buying a Samsung. They hate to admit that the firmware is to blame, because they've already ruined another model with a crappy firmware update.  Don't they ever run tests on an updated soundbar before issuing it to the public? It seems not.

[Bob145]

Looks like updating with firmware of different regions causes issues.  Your being sound quality, mine being no WiFi and Bluetooth.  To fix my unit the quote was almost as much as what I can buy a new one for, so not with fixing.  Samsung is taking zero responsibility in how auto-updates are bricking boards in their gear.  In my case it sounds like the WLAN board.

Definitely no firmware fix for a bricked WLAN board.