After almost ten years, Samsung is back in the OLED TV business with the S95B, and the wait was surely worthwhile. All the advantages of OLED are also provided by a new panel design based on quantum dots, along with purer colors and brighter highlights. Excellent image accuracy, vibrant colors, and HDR stand out.
Review of the Samsung S95B OLED: Construction, Control
The Samsung S95B has an ultra-slim design that spreads up to 40mm toward the bottom to allow connections, circuitry, and speakers. This design is pretty comparable to that of the majority of other OLED TVs now on the market. This TV is slim even by OLED’s size-zero standards, though.
Given that the larger lower piece only spans about half of the panel’s width and that the panel itself is only a few millimeters deep, the panel’s overall integrity is somewhat shaky. As a result, the panel flexes alarmingly when you attach the stand, which locks into place using clips.
The S95B feels a little more sturdy after assembly, and the stand’s smaller footprint makes situating it simpler, but you should still be cautious while moving the TV. If you’d like, you may wall mount the TV using either Samsung’s Slim Fit support or a typical 300 x 200mm VESA bracket. The 65in S95B is 1444 x 40 x 832 mm (WDH) in size and weights 21.2 kg before the stand is added, when its dimensions increase to 1444 x 288 x 898 mm and 25.5 kg.
Review of the Samsung S95B OLED smart TV platform
The most recent iteration of the Tizen-based smart platform, which is still somewhat of a mixed bag, is used by the Samsung S95B. Positively, there is a wide variety of video streaming applications available, including all of the popular ones like Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Now TV, Rakuten, YouTube, and all of the UK catch-up services.
Additionally, there is the SmartThings app, which facilitates setup, and voice control with Bixby, Google Assistant, or Alexa. When a compatible device is found, a pro-active prompt that appears allows you to quickly establish an AirPlay 2 connection. The two-screen Multi View option also includes a video call app, however the latter requires a camera.
The newly designed full-screen home page’s layers of recommendations and carefully selected material have the unfortunate propensity to make it seem overwhelming. Additionally, utilizing the smart controller to access the inputs and settings menus is difficult, and the system as a whole is fairly slow with a less-than-intuitive navigational interface.
Review of the Samsung S95B OLED: Image quality
The Samsung S95B comes with the Standard picture setting, which exhibits the typical extreme blue gamma and dramatically oversaturated colors. All of these problems are resolved by choosing the Filmmaker mode, which results in colors with an average error of 1.65, a gamma that tracks 2.4, and a greyscale with an average error of 1.5.
There are calibration controls available for people who demand perfection because these measurements are much below the observable threshold of three. Due to the utilization of quantum dots, SDR images have a surprising level of accuracy that results in deep blacks, outstanding shadow delineation, precisely portrayed details, and natural colors.
Additionally, picture processing is outstanding, with the 4K Neural Quantum chipset bringing out and enhancing the details in high-quality photographs. Even content with lesser resolutions may be viewed thanks to excellent upscaling and visual enhancements. Motion handling is also excellent, providing moving images devoid of judder or other motion artifacts.
Review of the Samsung S95B OLED’s HDR performance
The Samsung S95B delivers a peak brightness of over 1,000cd/m2 on 1% to 10% windows and manages to create over 200cd/m2 on a full-field pattern, living up to the company’s boasts regarding the advantages of QD-OLED. These are best-in-class figures for an OLED, which means the S95B can display 1,000 nits of content without the use of tone mapping.
Additionally contributing to HDR’s purer and wider color palette are the quantum dot layers utilized for red and green. This is demonstrated by the DCI-P3 coverage, which measures 100%, and the outstanding 76% achieved by BT.2020. Importantly, BT.2020’s DCI-P3 saturation sweeps are also quite accurate, producing HDR footage with wonderfully depicted colors.
In Filmmaker mode, the HDR greyscale measurements are equally precise, tracking red, green, and blue virtually exactly, and the EOTF precisely maps the PQ target. This makes sure that aesthetic decisions are upheld whether the grade employs 1,000, 4,000, or 10,000 nits. High dynamic range is supported by the S95B in the form of HDR10, HLG, and HDR10+ Adaptive.
Watching Stranger Things 4 on Netflix quickly demonstrates the Samsung’s HDR capability. In the scenes where Elle is “remote viewing,” there is water on the ground and the subjects Elle is watching are well-lit. The S95B renders these images brilliantly, picking out reflections on the water, presenting the blacks with depth, and lighting the subjects without losing any detail.
Review of the Samsung S95B OLED: Audio quality
Considering its ultra-slim dimensions, the Samsung S95B sounds surprisingly decent, but its overall audio performance isn’t as striking as that of some of the brand’s other high-end TVs. Given the constrained area for speakers, it makes sense that the S95B only implements the most basic form of Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound technology.
The language is crystal clear and well centered on the screen, and the soundstage is well-balanced. The audio has some dimension as well, although expectations should be kept in check. Despite the fact that this TV supports Dolby Atmos, the level of immersion is only moderate, and the amplification quickly runs out of steam once the volume is turned up, which causes some distortion.
Review of the Samsung S95B OLED: Gaming
Thanks in large part to its support for 4K at 120Hz and VRR (variable refresh rate), which supports AMD Freesync and Nvidia G-Sync, although the latter isn’t officially accepted by Samsung for some reason, the Samsung S95B is a top-tier gaming TV. For a better gaming experience, the company also offers Motion Xcelerator Turbo Pro technology.
Thanks to ALLM support, the TV instantly switches to game mode when it detects a console, and the input lag is an astonishingly low 9ms. A variety of PC games support the 21:9 and 32:9 ultra wide aspect ratios, and the Game Motion Plus controls help give smoother motion without appreciably increasing lag.
The Game Bar 2.0, which appears when you hold down the play/pause button or when a game console is recognized, compiles all the game-related data into a single useful display. The HDR information, which supports HDR10+ Gaming and HGiG, as well as the frame rate and VRR status, as well as important gaming picture modifications, are all included in the Game Bar.
Streamed gaming services are available through Samsung’s freshly released Game Hub, but no matter how you access your games, the results will be excellent. The S95B creates rich, vibrant 4K HDR visuals that offer games a lot of punch and guarantee a smooth, quick-paced gaming experience.
Review of the Samsung S95B OLED: Verdict
The Samsung S95B performs superbly in SDR and HDR, fully demonstrating the manufacturer’s confidence in its brand-new quantum dot OLED TV technology. An accurate image is supplied straight out of the box thanks to the presence of a Filmmaker mode, and the promise for brighter highlights and more saturated colors is realized both in terms of measurements and actual content.
The image has a pleasingly natural appearance, as well as a subtle depth, and the additional luminance ensures that HDR has significant impact. The motion control is amazing, the blacks are perfect, and the shadow detail is superb. A variety of innovative features offer an exceptional next-generation gaming experience, and the crazily thin panel looks fantastic.
