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Despite being the most basic version of OTS, the Samsung QN90A sounds surprisingly good for an ultra-thin TV. Audio performance is impressive, with an open soundstage, plenty of bass, clear dialogue and powerful amplification. Lose yourself in what you're watching with anti-reflection, which minimizes distractions from sun and light so you can enjoy sports and movies any time of day. Unlike Samsung’s higher-end Neo QLED models, the QN90A doesn’t come with a One Connect box, a handy accessory that functions as a connection hub for all your cabling. Instead, all the connection ports can be found at the rear of the TV, to the right as you face the screen. These all face sideways and are located 23cm from the edge of the panel. As ever with Samsung TVs, the 50QN90A supports neither Dolby Vision HDR nor Dolby Atmos sound. However, you do get HDR10+, Samsung’s home-grown rival for Dolby Vision which, like that rival, adds extra scene by scene image data to the video stream to help compatible TVs achieve punchier images. It remains a shame Dolby Vision is not supported, though, given how much Dolby Vision content there is these days. Especially now the latest Xbox consoles have embraced the format.
We head straight for a modern day big hitter with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet on 4K Blu-ray, and all fears of the mind-twisting plot to come are replaced by the wow factor produced by the way this TV handles the action.
With an improved local dimming algorithm and fantastic video processing, the Samsung Q95T is a worthy successor to the Q90R
Max light output HDR (high dynamic range) while displaying small white square taking up 10% of the screen (measured in Nits) We uploaded the brightness measurements and uniformity photos after running the TV for two months in our Accelerated Longevity Test. Unlike many other TVs on the market the Q90 doesn’t support Dolby Atmos, which might put it at a disadvantage. To be honest there’s only so much a TV with stereo speakers can really do to deliver an object-based mix, but importantly the Q90 can send Dolby Atmos from built-in apps like Netflix to supporting soundbars via the HDMI audio return channel. If that wasn’t enough, you can also control your TV using the built-in Bixby smart assistant. This feature can be accessed by either pressing the microphone button on the remote, or simply saying “Hi Bixby”. We found using the mic on the remote worked best, avoiding any confusion caused by ambient noise. However both allowed us to control the TV and ask Bixby questions.
Sound TL;DR: The sound quality is genuinely good for a modern TV, and the addition of AI processing results in audio that automatically adapts to the content and the room. Final verdict Percentage luminance drop at 35 degree horizontal angle from the centre of the screen with 100% white output There are plenty of ways of controlling the Q90, including the provided remote and the SmartThings app. The latter can also be used to set-up your TV and is available for both iOS and Android. The SmartThings app also enables you to use your TV as hub, allowing you to sync, share, control, and connect with other smart devices in your home. For sharpness and detail, the Q90T is also among the best in class. It produces a more solid, deep and three-dimensional image than even the Philips OLED805. But, on occasion, the Samsung’s colours also look a little exaggerated. It certainly skews a little more red than is truly neutral and, while that makes for a pleasant balance most of the time, skin tones can occasionally look just a touch off. Ana Stelline’s face, when lit up by the birthday cake, is a perfect example. Given how clever Samsung’s latest processor is in other ways, though, it seems odd that it’s not better at optimising motion handling without manual intervention.There are a couple of other issues with the 50QN90A’s pictures too. First and worst, in the most instantly appealing Standard picture preset, pretty excessive amounts of shadow detail can be lost in the darkest parts of the picture unless you nudge up the dedicated Shadow Detail adjustment. Go too far with that, though, and the brightness ‘lift’ it causes can start to have a negative impact on bright parts of the picture. Percentage Luminance drop at 35 degree horizontal angle from the centre of the screen with 50% white output The Q95T’s colour accuracy is better than that of the Q90R, too. After calibration, we measured an average Delta E of 1.28, with only a couple of colours exceeding the humanly perceptible error threshold for moving video content. Most colours, including skin tones, look incredibly accurate and natural. Of the Q95T’s various picture presets, Movie Mode is the most accurate.
Underpinning the Samsung QN90A is the Tizen smart platform that Samsung has been using for, well, what feels like forever. New this year is the ability to change which smart assistant the TV uses and your options include Alexa, Google Assistant and Bixby. We still don’t think Bixby is on par with the other two, but now that’s less of an issue given the fact that it’s easy to switch to one of the others instead. Thankfully, Samsung does let you tweak the sound through an EQ if you leave it on the Standard sound mode, however that option will be disabled if you have AI Sound turned on. If you don’t want to use AI and you don’t want to fiddle with the EQ, you can use the Amplify setting to get an uplift in mids at low volumes, which does help alleviate some problems. More important than how it fares against its discontinued sibling, though, is how it fares against similarly priced 2020 TVs from rival manufacturers. Essentially, we’re talking about OLEDs such as the LG OLED55CX and Philips 55OLED805. From a sheer aesthetic standpoint, there’s nothing to dislike about the Samsung QN90A. It has a beautiful look with premium materials and looks great both wall mounted and on its stand. In terms of design, however, the stand is a bit dicey.Performance is equally competitive when upscaling from 1080p. The sweeps over the Canary Islands in Fast & Furious 6 in HD on Blu-ray show off the Samsung’s strength of colour. The grasses, the sea, the reds and purples of the blooming flowers all make you want to retire to some far-away paradise. The Sony is probably a tiny bit richer at that red end of the spectrum and warmer on the yellows, but Samsung wins on the cooler shades. You can overcome it with the Q90T by disabling Adaptive Sound+, but the overall delivery is then smaller, less dynamic and less weighty. Because the issue is rare (this is the only scene that caused it during all of our testing), Adaptive Sound+ is probably still worth using, but if you do encounter problems, turning it off will likely fix them.
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