Samsung's Quantum Dot OLED TV mark 2 is here - and it rocks
Back panel inputs include four side-mounted HDMI 2.1 ports , an optical digital output, and an antenna connection.Native 4K resolution with HDR supportBy far the most eye-catching feature of the S95C is that it introduces us to the second generation of Samsung’s Quantum Dot OLED panel. The highlight of which is the 40% or so extra brightness it achieves.
Samsung has upgraded its processor this year, drawing on the accumulated know-how of no less than 20 individual neural networks, to deliver a number of further benefits beyond the previously mentioned brightness booster. Perceptual colour mapping, for instance, is designed to express colours so that they more closely resemble the sort of tones the human eye sees in the real world.
We’ll cover the S95C’s impressive gaming support and less impressive smart TV interface later. One last thing definitely worth covering here, though, is the S95C’s promising audio set up. For starters it deploys a 4.2.2 configuration of real speaker channels that combines eight substantial mid/bass drivers spread right across the TV’s rear with smaller detail speakers ranged around the TV’s edges.
In fact, the S95C has greatly improved on its predecessor where black level consistency is called, thanks to a new filter that reduces the potential for ambient light to introduce greyness into dark scenes. Being able to deliver as much brightness as the S95C can through a pure RGB colour system delivers a spectacularly rich, vibrant colourscape that holds up even in very bright parts of an HDR picture.
Almost the only area of the S95C’s pictures where the new processor hasn’t made any real progress is motion. The default Picture Clarity settings that host the TV’s motion controls generate distracting processing ‘glitches’ and cause 24p films to look unrealistically smooth. An untweaked Standard preset can also leave skin tones occasionally looking fractionally jaundiced - but in this case colour settings are provided that help you work around this.
The resulting wall of sound usually feels engaging and cinematic - especially since Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound system does a consistently excellent job of placing specific effects in a mix in the right place on the screen. Or just off the sides of the screen if that’s where a sound effect is supposed to be.
The sound doesn’t push out forward from the screen as much as I’d have liked it to, and although the sound is much more dynamic and full-blooded than that of its predecessor, it can still run out of steam before the film world’s loudest moments reach their crescendo, denying such moments some of their impact.
The rear panel manages to house eight sizeable mid-range drivers despite the set’s ultra-thin profile. While the quantity of content the S95C carries is beyond refute, the interface it uses to present all of its options could be better. Samsung has mercifully made better choices this year over the sort of content it chooses to prioritise on the home page, and the system seems to run more consistently slickly than 2022’s debut for the new-look interface. There’s good voice recognition support too, across multiple platforms .