Samsung S90D TV, S800D soundbar review: An excellent pairing for gaming at a premium price

The Samsung S90 is one of those dream TVs for the serious gamer. 

First of all, yes, it’s OLED because for the gamer who has everything, only OLED is the way to go, with their superior viewing angles, contrast, color accuracy, and of course, pure black levels than most of the other display tech, with all their various acronyms, today. 

The S90D, which we got to test for more than a month, really scratches that itch, because aside from those traits we already mentioned above, it also delivers great HDR performance, and for gamers especially, it’s got great response time (meaning your button-pressing is almost 1:1 in sync with the action on the screen) and other extra features designed for playing. 

TL;DR: If you have P100,000 lying around for a gaming OLED TV that really complements the power of your PS5 or your PC, this might be your thing. In comparison reviews, the Samsung model trumps similar rival offerings from LG and Sony. 

To be honest, you can certainly go down the budget ladder and still find a wonderful TV for gaming. But as we said, if money is no object, and you’re after the purest visuals — you can’t go wrong with the S90. 

Let’s run down its features.  

Super slim design 

The TV has a heavy center stand, and you know what that means — you don’t necessarily need a TV table that’s as long as the TV, as is the case when you’ve got a TV set with a side-leg setup. The stand tapers from base to edge as well for a sophisticated look. 

The TV itself is extremely thin like a wafer with equally slim bezels, again, showing off its classy design. I mean, we’re all used to thin TVs nowadays, but seeing something TV sets in this price class (it’s priced at P108,000 specifically), with their thinness (demonstrated below), still impresses me. 

Surprisingly, despite its thinness, it’s kind of heavy compared to similarly sized non-OLED 4K TVs I’ve experienced, so you might have to ask help for someone when setting it up.

For port options, here they are:

• 4 HDMI inputs (all HDMI 2.1, HDCP 2.2)
• 2 USB 2.0 ports Optical digital audio output 
• RF (antenna) input 
• RS-232 port (minijack, only used by service people) 
• Ethernet port
• 1 optical audio out
• 1 3.5mm audio out

Those 4 HDMI inputs that are all HDMI 2.1 compatible are a big deal for gamers, especially those with multiple systems as those allow for a 120Hz or higher refresh rate when gaming — no need anymore to constantly switch out those HDMIs for different systems. 

The TV is capable of a 144Hz native refresh rate by the way, a number essential to PC gamers with top-tier rigs. It’s a native refresh rate too meaning it doesn’t use software to simulate that number.

Performance

As expected of OLEDs, the contrast performance of the TV is just superb. OLEDs have pixels that individually light up, instead of traditional sets where an area might light up, which results in blooming or light spilling over to other pixels, resulting in a washed out look. This doesn’t happen in OLEDs, especially one in this class, where the lighting is pixel-perfect accurate. 

Games can have some pretty dark areas, and that’s why OLEDs are loved by gamers: the black areas of the screen stay as black as they can, while colors pop out elsewhere, resulting in a brilliant HDR picture. 

Now about the TV’s Game Mode, I did find myself manually tweaking the settings a little to find the nicest picture, rather than follow the automatic Game Mode recommendations as they seem to brighten the picture a little bit too much for my taste. 

Other than tweaks to brightness, the color recreation looks like what the game makers intended the visual to look like, although I found myself, slightly tweaking the settings for a less saturated look. The TV is notable for having an excellent color gamut, but Samsung seems to also have a penchant for a highly saturated default look, so I found myself muting the colors just a little for a more natural look — whether in games or Netflix.

DYNAMIC RANGE. As one would expect from an OLED, the blacks can go deep, and there’s wonderful range from the blackest parts to the brightest, as demonstrated in this scene from ‘Kingdom Come Deliverance 2’

The TV is compatible with VRR (variable refresh rate), including compatibility with NVIDIA’s G-SYNC VRR, and AMD’s FreeSync VRR. Its VRR range, meaning the refresh rates it can match, run from 20Hz all the way to the monitor’s maximum of 144Hz, even at its highest resolution of 4K. 

VRR solves screen-tearing (elements in the graphics might look like they’re tearing) which happens when your game drops to a frame rate other than the set refresh rate of the TV. 

It’s also compatible with consoles’ auto low latency mode for both PS5 and Xbox Series, to further minimize input lag, or the delay that you may sometimes get from other TVs pressing the controller button, and seeing the resulting action on the TV. 

We didn’t get to compare it with other sets, but a technical analysis on RTINGs.com has praised the S90 over its rivals from LG (the C4 OLED) and Sony (Bravia 8), noting how the Samsung covers a wider HDR range and has access to a wider color gamut. The LG has the advantage of having support for DTS audio format, used in Blu-ray, so that’s a consideration for those with a wide Blu-ray collection. The Sony meanwhile, is better in upscaling lower resolution content according to the site. 

Compact form, powerful sound

As for the audio, we paired the S90D with the beautiful-looking HW-S800D soundbar. It’s long and thin, with ends that are shaped like a capsule, and a white light indicator on the front for when you are changing the volume. It’s certainly more of a looker than most long rectangular cuboid sets. 

The soundbar has a slim profile too, matching the TV’s sleekness

The 800D carries 10 speakers on the bar for a 3.1.2.channel setup. Quick explanation of those numbers: so that’s 3 flat channels firing directly at you (left, right, center); 1 subwoofer for bass; and then 2 channels firing into the ceiling to simulate surround sound. 

Thanks to Samsung’s Q-Symphony feature, it combines with the S90D’s own speakers to create an even more dynamic soundstage. 

But what really impressed me is the subwoofer. It’s a compact cube that packs power, and it’s a joy to turn up whenever I get the chance as it delivers such a surprising rumble for the size — although you do have to turn it up to get that sound. At lower levels, the bass is still very much appreciable, but it’s at about the middle point of the volume, that the subwoofer shows its potential. 

At first I thought it wouldn’t deliver that cinematic rumble, but despite its relatively compact form, it delivers enough power that you’d want to actually turn it down a little in fear of disturbing neighbors.

(Of course, we can’t always have the subwoofer all the way up to 11 because your neighbors will complain. Or if you have a grandmother, expect she will ask whether she heard thunder or not.) 

The soundbar works great for shows because they deliver crisp dialogue audio that exhibits separation from the main score. Know how the score can suddenly turn up, and drown out the dialogue? The audio separation is always one benefit when you have a multi-channel audio setup, and it works well with the S800D. And because it has a great subwoofer, it’s great for listening to music too, especially if you’ve had Kendrick Lamar on repeat. 

And again, what’s impressive is that it’s so slim, but the sound that comes from it, always seems bigger than what it should be capable of. 

It also has a few useful tricks. Voice Amplifier allows you to boost the dialogue volume further, while Night Mode can compress the sound in a way that it reaches less ears other than nearby viewers. A Game Mode Pro option emphasizes environmental audio directionality, designed to help gamers detect where an enemy might be due to sound. Lastly, a SmartFit feature uses the speakers’ mics to analyze your room, to tweak the sound to its best potential. You can also control the speakers via the SmartThings app on your phone. 

The system includes a mini-HDMI-to-HDMI cable for connecting to a TV via HDMI e-ARC, but also has a wireless Dolby Atmos option. 

And here’s the downside: it’s a premium choice at about P60,000. It’s the price to pay for what may be the most impressive sounding soundbars that are this slim and compact. 

Together, the S90D and S800D, for those in this budget range, are a suitable centerpiece for your home entertainment system if you are due for an upgrade. Of course, if you can wait for several more months, the successors to the S90D, the S90F (being touted for higher brightness and new AI features) may soon be on the market, which means you may be able to find the latter at a lower price soon.

If this is something in your budget range, it’s really a great pairing. – Rappler.com 

Rappler borrowed the units from Samsung for this review.