On paper, QD-OLED sounds like the perfect TV technology. Combining the pixel-perfect contrast of OLED with the vibrant colors of QLED, it promises something that approaches the best of both worlds, delivering an unparalleled viewing experience. That’s the sale anyway, and for the most part it pays off.
Samsung’s S95B was the first QD-OLED TV to hit stores, and the company’s first foray into OLED after years of bombarding the technology. While we thought it was an excellent TV and awarded it five stars, there was room for improvement (isn’t there always?).
Samsung hopes that its successor, the S95C, excels in the areas where the S95B can improve. Let’s compare the two sets and see which one comes out on top.
Samsung S95C vs S95B: price
The S95B launched for £2399 / $2200 / AU$3495 for the 55-inch model and £3299 / $3000 / AU$4495 for the 65-incher. But now that the set is almost a year old and Samsung’s aggressive pricing strategy, the sets have dropped to £1499 / $1600 / AU$2995 and £1999 / $1799 / AU$3995 respectively.
We’re still awaiting full international pricing for the S95C, but early indications are that it will be more expensive than its predecessor. The European price for the 55-inch model is €2500 (about £2200 / $2655 / AU$3885), while the 55-incher costs €3300 (about £2900 / $3485 / AU$5175). There’s also a 77-inch model that will cost €4800 / $4500 (about £4235 / AU$7525).
These prices don’t translate exactly, but they give an idea of what to expect.
We will update the section as soon as we have official prices.
Samsung S95C vs S95B: design
The S95B was Samsung’s first QD OLED TV – a true landmark device and one that was styled appropriately. It’s incredibly slim – just a few millimeters in most places – and even the bump that houses the processor, connections and speakers is thinner than most.
This thinness extends to the bezels that frame the screen, although considering they’re almost non-existent, “frame” feels like the wrong choice of words.
Even turned off, it’s beautiful thanks to Samsung’s Ambient Mode. This presents a selection of digital artwork or video screensavers, so even if you’re not watching TV, the screen can still show what it’s capable of.
As with all of Samsung’s premium TVs, the S95B comes with two remotes: a regular one with lots of buttons and a stripped-down ‘smart’ one. Both work well for a variety of uses, and the smart one is powered by a built-in solar panel.
The S95C has changed this design a bit. Instead of being 2mm thin with a larger hump for components, it’s just 1cm thick throughout. It’s the same approach as LG’s G-series ‘Gallery’ models, and allows the TV to be mounted more or less flush with the wall. It also makes it feel less flimsy and distributes the speakers more evenly across the TV.
This new design was made possible by the addition of a “One Connect” box – essentially a DVD player-sized platter that houses all of the connections. This can be attached to the back of the stand or placed in a cabinet, out of sight, so that only one cable runs from the box to your TV. Talk about minimalist.
Samsung S95C vs S95B: Features
Both TVs offer Samsung’s QD-OLED displays that combine OLED’s self-emissive pixels with the Quantum Dot color system previously associated with LCD TVs. The goal is to deliver more brightness and color volume than regular OLED panels.
The S95C will get even brighter than the S95B, according to Samsung, although there’s some confusion about how much brighter it will actually be. We’re told it will be 20% brighter, but it’s not entirely clear if that compares to the S95B, the S90C or both. Meanwhile, Samsung USA says the S95C is actually 30% brighter than last year’s S95B.
Ultimately, it’s always tricky to put a number on this sort of thing, as peak brightness can be measured in different ways and in different picture presets. The bottom line, though, is that the S95C should be brighter than any previous QD OLED, and it’s noticeable.
While Samsung wouldn’t confirm, we understand that this extra brightness is largely due to the use of a second-generation QD OLED panel that uses a material called deuterium – the same material that was added to standard OLED to make the brighter ‘OLED EX’ panels that made their way into new models last year. Not only does Deuterium allow panels to be driven harder and brighter, it’s widely believed to make them more durable and less prone to image retention, so this could be a bug deal for the S95C.
Both TVs are powered by a specially modified version of Samsung’s Neural Quantum Processor 4K, which promises to improve brightness and colour, perceived resolution and 4K upscaling once again.
Both TVs feature a full complement of four HDMI 2.1 ports, so they’re equipped to handle 4K/120Hz HDR with VRR gaming graphics. Three USB ports, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi round out the connections, enabling support for SmartThings and Apple AirPlay 2.
Both also support ALLM so they can activate their fast response Game mode when a game resource is detected. Samsung’s Game Bar gives you a readout of important game information and lets you jump to game-specific settings, while there’s also a split-screen mode, four genre-based presets, 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratios, and the ability to set the brightness threshold of dark areas of the game image.
All the usual streaming apps come from Samsung’s smart Tizen interface. And you get plenty of options for how you watch, with ‘Multiview’ picture-in-picture and three voice assistants. Other extras include a video calling app and Samsung’s increasingly curated and handy ‘TV Plus’ list of streamed TV channels.
It’s not all good news. The new interface is a bit clunky and difficult to navigate – fingers crossed these niggles can be ironed out for the S95C.
In terms of HDR, the S95B and S95C support HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG formats, but not Dolby Vision (none of Samsung’s TVs do). But the Dolby Atmos audio format is supported, while Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound system ensures that the audio appears to be coming from the correct part of the screen.
Aside from the panel, the feature sets of these two TVs are very similar, but the S95C does get a sonic upgrade in the form of a 70W 4.2.2 sound system, compared to the S95B’s rather underwhelming 60W 2.2.2 setup. Not only is the S95C’s sound system more powerful, the speakers are ostensibly better positioned, which should make it sound better all around.
Samsung S95C vs S95B: Photo
As a five-star TV, the S95B is a marvel to look at. This is mainly due to the contrast, which is, in a word, stunning. The blacks go as deep as the best OLED TVs, while the brightness – both the highlights and across the screen – is another level. It even surpasses Sony’s A95K QD-OLED TV.
That’s at least in part due to the fact that Samsung’s standard default picture preset is a bit more enthusiastic than most TVs. Put it in dynamic mode, fire up some HDR content and watch the fireworks fly. Although we wouldn’t recommend this for everyday use. Unless you just want to marvel at the colors rather than delve into what you’re watching.
The default image preset is a better bet, to get the right balance of impact (including excellent rendering of subtle shadow detail) without looking unnatural. But it does have its problems.
Skin tones can look oversaturated, while in dark scenes they look undersaturated, with yellows and greens creeping in. A less common problem is occasional brightness skipping. don’t miss out on the best contrast the S95B has to offer.
Both upscaled HD and native 4K content look very sharp, although not quite as pin-sharp as Samsung’s best 4K LCD TVs. Thankfully, this sharpness is maintained when there’s movement in the image, especially if you take the edge off the screen’s own judder with a touch of Samsung’s motion processing.
Viewing angles – as with OLED TVs – are wonderfully wide and the strong HDR brightness peaks are accompanied by very little clipping (loss of subtle shadow detail). There is also practically no color banding with video or game sources. In fact, the S95B’s skills lend it perfectly to gaming, even if its aggressive approach to color can give some games a rather blown-out look. But a quick tinker in the settings corrects this – just change Color Space to Auto.
If you are too close to the screen, you may see some reddish lines around the edges of some image details. But this is not noticeable during normal viewing.
All in all it is a beautiful watch. You do have to dig and play around in the settings and presets until you get the best results – skintone processing would be very welcome – but once you’ve seen the fruits of your labor you’ll know it was worth it.
We haven’t had the S95C in our test rooms for a full review yet, and a full verdict will have to wait until we do, but we’ve gone hands-on with the 77-inch model in a side-by-side with the LG G2.
During our demo, we were struck by the extra brightness and vibrancy of the S95C’s image. There was an extra level of subtlety and naturalism that was missing from the S95B. We’re looking forward to putting the S95C through its paces, but at first glance it looks like Samsung has managed to make it brighter and more exciting while adding an extra dose of subtlety. That will be a big deal if true.
Samsung S95C vs S95B: Early Verdict
We haven’t tested the S95C ourselves yet, so can’t comment definitively on how it performs. But so far the signs are very good indeed.
It promises more brightness than the S95B, a more durable screen and improved sound. And the S95B was certainly no slouch to begin with, as our five-star review proves.
If Samsung can make these improvements in these key areas, the S95C is well worth the extra outlay. Stay tuned for a full review.
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