Samsung Neo QLED QN95B Review & Rating

With the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B, the manufacturer from South Korea takes the position next to the LG OLED C2 with its OLED evo panel and excellent black value. If you prefer home cinema, the Sony Bravia A80J TV is also worth a look.

The Samsung Neo QN90B is also an additional option with its slim design and lower price. However, you will have to cut back on the sound, the Infinity One design and the One Connect Box with the smaller brother of the top model.

Right out of the box, the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B shows us its sophisticated design based on the Infinity One concept introduced last year in the 8K model series.

The slim aluminum frame is barely noticeable when viewed from the front. Thanks to the consistently flat design of the casing, the TV is ideally suited for the so-called “No Gap” wall mounting.

We’ll tell you how you should best proceed and what you should pay special attention to in our buying guide for TV wall mounts.

If that is not an option for you, you can also park the mini-LED TV on the centered stand with a safe heart. The sturdy base offers our 65-inch review device enough stability and matches the silver design.

You can conveniently connect your cables in the usual Samsung manner via the slim One Connect Box on the back of the stand. Alternatively, you can simply place the black connection box under the TV or in a suitable spot on your living room wall.

This way, you have all ports at a glance, do not have to make any contortions behind the TV to find the right port and avoid problems when plugging it in.

In contrast to the display edge, the back of our test device has a patterned black finish. On the bottom, you will find four speakers on both sides, which tastefully match the Samsung Neo QN95B’s design on the back and bring native Dolby Atmos sound into your living room this year.

Like the predecessor, the Samsung Neo QN95B’s panel is powered by backlit LEDs. However, the number of LEDs has not changed this year. A total of 792 light zones are independently controlled by the 2022 model. Unpleasant side effects of dimming like blooming are thus reduced from the start.

Do you know exactly what the blooming effect looks like on the TV and how the unclean display is created? If not, we’ll explain it to you.

The so-called Quantum Matrix technology is a further development in the 2022 lineup and ensures a more precise control of dark and bright areas on the panel.

For this purpose, the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B has up to 16,384 illumination levels – four times the amount of its predecessor. The leap also has a corresponding effect on the HDR mapping.

The former 12 bits become a total of 14 bits. Samsung calls this Quantum HDRHigh Dynamic Range – image/video with more dynamic range (contrast range) 2000, but the color space of the VAVertical Alignment, type of LCD Panel panel remains unchanged. It remains at a color depthThe color depth is measured in Bit. 8 Bit stands for 2⁸ different values for each color channel, for TVs those are red, green and blue. By combining the 3 rgb channels 2⁸*2⁸*2⁸=16.777.216 colors are possible. HDR10 or the dynamic HDR formats work with 10 or even 12 Bit. of 10 bits.

In practical terms, this image tuning ensures finer brightness gradations in large scenes and a high luminance of over 2200 nitsSI unit of luminance: 1 nit = 1 cd/m² – The best way of measuring and comparing a TVs brightness  .

Thus, the Samsung Neo QN95B ranks above its predecessor in terms of peak brightness and outputs excellent picture performance even in highly illuminated environments.

Besides the improved overall brightness, the panel also has a so-called anti-reflective coating. This additionally helps the QN95B to minimize reflections. Even with direct illumination, the external light source can hardly penetrate the screen.

On the processing side, the mini-LED TV is powered by the Neo Quantum processor. The updated processing unit ensures improved AI upscaling.

Samsung improves the depth effect of pictures with the so-called Real Depth Enhancer feature. The function recognizes the most important objects and motifs in video streams and optimizes them so that they stand out better from the background and thus create a more immersive picture impression.

If you do not have a frontal view of the panel, Samsung grants you a detailed, bright and quite even picture without major quality losses due to the so-called Ultra Viewing Angle of the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B even from a large angle.

Nevertheless, the panel simply cannot keep up with the color fidelity and brilliance of an OLED TV and has to admit defeat in this point.

Want to learn more? We explain what the best screen technology has to offer in terms of viewing angles.

Due to the Full Array Local Dimming, the “dirty screen effect” might not be completely avoided. As you can see in the picture on the right, the color gradient of the panel becomes quite unclean, especially towards the corners, and shows slight spot islands and is thus not at the absolute top level. However, this problem affects all common LED LCDLCD = Liquid Crystal Display – a type of screen using liquid crystals for creating the image TVs.

The motion handling of the 144 HertzHertz is the derived SI-unit of frequency with 1Hz=1/s – When talking about TVs this means how many different pictures a TV can display in one second. panel is impressive for an LED-LCD TV and ensures smooth motion sequences.

According to our measurements, the response time is about 4 ms, which means that only little blur is visible even in fast movements. Thus, the value is more than 2 ms below Samsung’s manufacturer’s specification.

If the picture is still unclear, the Black Frame Insertion feature helps. Brightness losses are hardly noticeable thanks to the enormous luminance and can be safely neglected.

Due to the comparatively low response time, there is a risk of stuttering at low refresh rates. This effect usually occurs during slow camera movements.

Stutters are avoided by the interframe calculation, but the so-called soap opera effect can still occur. In addition, some unsightly artifacts also show up in intense scenes.

The Samsung Neo QN95B can easily remove judder from all sources. The backlight’s frequencyHertz is the derived SI-unit of frequency with 1Hz=1/s – When talking about TVs this means how many different pictures a TV can display in one second. of 960 hertz does not cause any problems and is perceived as continuous illumination by us.

Gamers will get their money’s worth with the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B. This is ensured by the four full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports, which allow you to plunge into digital worlds in 4K and at 120 hertz. The Auto Game Mode with FreeSync Premium ProVariable Refresh Rate with AMD graphics cards or consoles with at least 120fps at Full HD and HDR supports you here.

In addition to reducing screen tearing and input lag, the all-in-one package also enables the display of HDRHigh Dynamic Range – image/video with more dynamic range (contrast range) content and includes the Low Framerate Compensation feature. As you can see in the picture on the right, our in-house measurement of the input lag resulted in an excellent value of 10 ms.

Due to the misleading advertising of a 144 hertz output by Samsung, we took a closer look at the QN95B and checked this point as well. The result: As you can see in our World of Warcraft test picture, you don’t have to miss out on native 144 frames per second. This makes the QN95B the first TV to support this frame rate.

The decisive factor is the input signal. The increased frame rate is not possible on the current consoles. Both the Xbox Series X and the Playstation 5 are limited to a maximum of 120 frames per second.

However, if you connect the TV to a computer or laptop with a powerful HDMI 2.1 graphics card, you can use the feature without restrictions.

Samsung also gives you some options in terms of clound gaming. You can stream games directly to the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B’s panel via GeForce NOW, Stadia or Utomik with the new Gaming Hub — which will be available later. You simply have to pair your controller directly with the TV.

Learn more about what cloud gaming exactly means, who is offering the service and what requirements you need in order to use it.

This year, Samsung once again abandons Dolby Vision and Dolby VisionDynamic HDR-format with a color depth of up to 12 Bits and Mastering of up to 10,000 Nits Gaming for its premium model. Instead, you get the full High Dynamic Range program including the dynamic picture adjustment with HDR10+License-free, dynamic HDR-format in competition with Dolby Vision Adaptive and HDR10HDR10 Media Profile – HDR with a color depth of 10 Bit in the Rec. 2020 colorspace + Gaming.

You also have access to a variety of settings via the Gamebar 2.0, which combines all important gaming functions in a compact way. This simplifies the adjustment and informs you about all important parameters at a glance.

In terms of sound reproduction, the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B brings the 4.2.2 channel setup already known from the predecessor QN95A with 70 watts of continuous power into your home. In order to get a three-dimensional listening impression, the integrated speakers radiate to the sides as well as upwards and therefore now also output native Dolby AtmosObject-based surround sound format with 3D-Sound from any direction.

Additional audio codecs are Dolby DigitalMulti-channel-sound-system for up to 5.1 channel Surround Sound and Dolby Digital Plus. Read more about 3D sound with Dolby Atmos in our overview.

With the help of the Object Tracking Sound+ feature, OTS+ for short, the sound follows the movements on the screen and dynamically adjusts the playback accordingly. Typically, basses are rather sparse. This is of course a result of the slim build and therefore does not really surprise us at all.

If you have a compatible soundbar, you can use the Q-Symphony function to tune the sound on both devices and play it back together.

The TV speakers act as an additional sound source. Muting your TV is not necessary. If you haven’t found a proper soundbar yet, it’s worth taking a look at Samsung’s current Q-series.

Samsung has given the previous layout a general overhaul. Unfortunately, the compact start menu of the Tizen operating system is now a thing of the past. Divided into the three sections Media, Game and Ambient, the full-screen display of version 7.0 now looks rather cluttered and untidy. Menu items are rather awkwardly linked and the structure is unfortunately not customizable.

Today, every TV manufacturer offers its own interface navigation. You can find out everything you need to know about this in our TV operating systems comparison.

If you want to spend a movie night with friends, you can now do so digitally. A video chat is displayed in a second window while a movie from the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B is played on the main screen. This way, you can communicate with each other in real time while you watch.

As we expected, the Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa also welcome you alongside Samsung’s in-house voice assistant Bixby. On top of that, a variety of apps and all important streaming services are available. Additional devices can be connected to the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B via the SmartThings app.

Our voice assistant comparison shows you which voice controls are available, how you can use these intelligent assistance, and what upgrade options you have.

The so-called Premium Solar Smart Remote supports you in operating the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B. The special feature: The charging process starts as soon as you place the remote with the front facing down underneath a light source. Direct sunlight is most efficient.

You can easily adjust the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B via a calibration app on your smartphone using the so-called Smart Calibration function. There are two options available: A quick calibration method that allows you to set up the device within a few seconds and a detailed measurement that takes about 10 minutes of your time.

As you can see on the EOTF curve on the right, the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B shows slight deviations. Image content that should normally be displayed darker is a bit too bright on the panel. The TV also differs in terms of color balance. Accordingly, grayscale levels are not displayed accurately either.

If we look at the color reproduction, the QN95B is right off the mark in several areas. Apart from the high blue proportion, which is the norm for LCDLCD = Liquid Crystal Display – a type of screen using liquid crystals for creating the image TVs, the values for red and green also deviate strongly from the nominal value. This deviation affects the color reproduction of cyan and magenta in particular.

Although our calibration process resulted in an improvement, it was comparatively small. The average error in the brightness levels dropped by just 0.5 points to 2.2. Dark areas are still displayed too brightly by the panel. The situation is different in the RGB balance. We were able to adjust the colors and at least minimize the blue cast.

In contrast, the color reproduction has improved less than we thought. Despite adjustments, the average error is still 2.4 points. Besides the aforementioned blue cast, we were also able to improve the reproduction of red and green tones and achieve a slightly higher color fidelity, but we could not completely eradicate the color errors.