I’ve tested a bunch of TVs over the last decade, but I feel like I’m made it pretty clear to anyone that will listen that I absolutely loved Samsung’s S95C OLED from last year. It’s the first TV that I’ve owned that hasn’t had me reaching to adjust the settings every 10 minutes, especially whilst gaming, so I was ever so eager to spend the day with the S95D which completely changes the game again.
In a move that absolutely nobody expected, the S95D has an anti-glare display that feels like it was made for Australian homes which are notoriously bright and not controlled at all in terms of lighting. I came away really impressed with the technology and how well it diffuses lighting, especially given the room that I was in that had windows from wall to ceiling from one side, with a number of skylights above the TV and lamps all over the room as well.
Without having both TVs side by side and only having a day with the TV, I came away thinking that this would be a better TV for most people. I think if you were to compare the S95C and S95D side by side, you’d maybe notice a little bit of a loss of the inky blacks that OLEDs are traditionally known for, but that’s only if you’re really looking for it.
Whether an anti-glare display or last year’s regular OLED display will be better for your situation really does depend on your specific situation. If you’ve got a few really bright light sources behind you, and have used an OLED display, you’ll notice how prominent they show up when watching dark scenes, where the S95D anti-glare display really well diffuses these, but then they also spread over a larger distance, so it really depends on whether you’d rather have smaller more intense reflections or harder to see reflections that are spread over a wider distance.
Coming back to my S95C after a day with the S95D, I noticed the two lamps that sit behind me more than ever, and whilst they’re only small blips on the screen, they are really prominent, but then I also loved the inkyness of the blacks and feel that the S95C does a really great job of diffusing reflections compared to LG OLEDs that I’ve used in the past.
The S95C was extremely bright to the point that even just a few years ago, it wouldn’t have been thought to be possible in an OLED TV, but the S95D takes things even further adding a 20% increase in brightness (going off what Samsung told me). I think this really works well with the anti-glare display to ensure that none of that pop of colour and contrast is lost with the move to a matte-like display.
I couldn’t helped but be wowed as I went from source to source watching the likes of Our Planet on Netflix and then going across to games such as Horizon Forbidden West. There wasn’t a single thing that I popped on this TV that didn’t impress me, both in how the blacks look but also how bright and vivid the colours were.
In terms of design, the S95C pushed the OLED space forward with its One Connect box that allowed the thickness to be consistent through, which makes for a great wall-mounted TV, and it’s the same thickness here with the One Connect box also having the same four HDMI 2.1 ports and size as well. The bezel size which isn’t as thin as the flagship 8K models also retains its same thickness, but we’re at the point now where almost no TV bezels detract from what’s on the screen.
The UI remains largely the same except for the new addition of a live tab that basically houses all of your live TV channels mostly from Samsung TV Plus (which I still think is one of most underrated things to come to TV in the last few years), an app tab to manage your apps and the ability to customise your home screen more than ever as well, with the order of apps on your screen now changing the rows of recommendation below them.
It’d be amiss not to talk about the gaming features, whilst not exclusive or new to this TV, did come later to the S95C last year. This includes the Samsung Gaming Hub which neatly places all of the Cloud apps such as Xbox Cloud Gaming as well as any connections such as the PS5 and Nintendo Switch in a seperate screen, which has been a godsend in my household as my partner isn’t a gamer at all, so to keep those things away is amazing.
I still believe that this is the best TV for gamers, between Xbox Cloud Gaming that I’m still amazed by every time I use it (especially in situations like this where I can just login in a hotel room and have my games there), as well as the ability to connect a portable PC and play in wide or ultrawide (which I did from my AYANEO handheld). There’s also apparently a new AI Auto Game Mode, which I’d love to spend more time with in terms of how that actually uses AI to optimise that experience.
There’s also some improvements to Q-Symphony which let you more easily control how your TV speakers are working with your soundbar, and this is largely due to the Samsung Music Frame (which we’ll be talking about in-depth later on). The reality is that in terms of value for money, the updated Samsung Q990D that adds 11.1.4 sound to your TV is still the best value money Dolby Atmos setup on the market. The Q990D now also has HDMI 2.1 pass through which is a godsend for those that need an extra HDMI port.
All-in-all, it’s really good to see Samsung innovative in the OLED space, with every model since the introduction building on the one that came before it. Whether you’re getting the S95D to take advantage of that anti-glare display, or feel that you can cope with the S95C, you’re going to get a damn good picture that I almost guarantee will have you never moving away from a Samsung OLED display again.