- VERDICT
The Samsung S95D OLED 4K Smart TV offers outstanding quality with, thanks to the remarkable glare-free technology, the freedom to put this TV anywhere in your home – including the brightest room on your home.
The new Samsung S95D OLED 4K Smart TV offers a remarkable home viewing experience and you can enjoy the quality in any part of your home – even the brightest living area.
Tech Guide sat down with the 77-inch S95D in one of the most challenging locations – a room with lots of windows and bright light streaming in.
The TV is just 11.2mm thick and has Samsung’s Infinity One design with an edge to edge screen with virtually no bezels.
We deliberately timed this review for daytime to test the Samsung TV’s new Glare Free certification which is designed to reduce glare from external light sources – sunlight and any other lights or lamps inside your home.
Why is this important for an OLED display?
Samsung’s OLEDs are typically not as bright as its QLED TVs, so this feature is a brilliant addition.
Frankly, I never had an issue with Samsung’s OLED brightness, and they were always positioned for customers as TVs to be viewed in rooms where you could control the light.
But what was an issue was reflections.
These reflections could take you out of what you’re watching.
With Samsung’s QLED TVs, with much higher brightness it could combat the reflections by literally outshining them.
On the Samsung S95D OLED, the new anti-glare technology made a massive difference. It was simply brilliant.
Where we watched the Samsung S95D OLED there were large windows along one side of the room and even windows above the TV so it was a very testing situation.
But there were no issues with glare or reflections – it was nothing short of amazing.
We watched concerts, TV shows, documentaries and movies and the quality was able to shine through and not be diluted by the external light sources.
The result is rich and accurate colour and deep drop dead black levels which is the holy grail for TVs.
But what we saw punch up the picture was the Quantum HDR OLED Pro, which is up to 70 per cent brighter than OLED HDR+, so the colours and shades still shone through in darker scenes to reveal a lot of detail that would normally go unseen.
The Real Depth Enhancer also did a good job prioritising objects in the foreground by increasing contrast – this would make the background seem further away which is just how we perceive objects and the background with our own eyes.
So not only do you have the hyper realism from the clarity and natural colours but that is further enhanced thanks to the Real Depth Enhancer.
Samsung’s 2024 OLED range is Pantone validated so you’re getting accuracy on the 2030 colours registered with Pantone including skin tones.
The Samsung S95D OLED is powered by the NQ4 AI Gen2 Processor – the same chip you’ll find on the company’s Neo QLED TV which does the heavy lifting when it comes to upscaling and processing the picture and audio in real time to ensure you’re getting the best result.
If you’re gamer, you can enjoy an exceptional experience courtesy of the Motion Xcelerator 4K 144Hz so you’re getting VVR (variable refresh rate).
And with HDMI 2.1 compatibility you’ve got ultra-high bandwidth for compatible devices like the latest gaming consoles and gaming PCs.
On its own the Samsung OLED offers decent sound through its multichannel speakers and rear top speaker channel which makes Dolby Atmos possible on such a thin TV.
Also onboard is the Active Voice Amplifier which can single out and enhance the dialogue so you won’t miss a word.
But you can truly go the next level when you combine the S95D with a Samsung Q990D Q Series soundbar which offers 11.1.4ch sound that will rattle the windows when you pump up the volume.
When you activate Q Symphony – which uses the TV speakers and the speakers aboard the soundbar – you’re getting truly amazing directional 3D sound.
The Samsung S95D OLED is running the Tizen OS which makes the TV easy to navigate and puts all your favourite streaming services front and centre.
Now users can even set up their own profiles on the TV so they can get personalised recommendations for new content.
This 77-inch Samsung OLED is priced at $9,281 – so it’s an investment in quality.
It would have been nice to see a TV of this quality in 85-inch.
For that size and above you’re only option with Samsung is a NEO QLED TV.
There is also a 55-inch ($4640) and 65-inch model ($5,800).
VERDICT
The Samsung S95D OLED 4K Smart TV offers outstanding quality with, thanks to the remarkable glare-free technology, the freedom to put this TV anywhere in your home – including the brightest room on your home.
