In this new review, we bring you our analysis of the Samsung QLED 4K Q95T TV. This is the flagship of the company’s QLED 4K range and is designed for those looking for a TV with the highest performance.
In this review of the Samsung Q95T, we will go into detail about its features, performance in terms of picture, sound, smart TV, etc., and our opinion of it.
The version we tested is the 65-inch version (QE65Q95T), but what we will say applies to all other sizes.
In some countries, there’s also a version sold under the Q90T reference, but unlike this Q95T, it doesn’t come with the One Connect box.
Want to know all the details? Then read on.
Samsung Q95T / Q90T features
- Quantum Dot technology
- Full Array Local Dimming (FALD)
- Ultra viewing angle
- Moth-eye anti-reflection filter
- VA panel
- Quantum Processor 4K Image Processor
- 4K resolution
- Supported HDR formats: HDR 10+, HLG and HDR 10
- Maximum brightness peak of 2000 nits
- Ultimate UHD Dimming Pro
- 100% color volume
- Refresh rate: 120 Hz native (4300 PQI)
- Panel color depth: 10 bit
- Gaming mode
- FreeSync
- ALLM
- Sound 4.2.2 with 60W power
- Object Tricking Sound
- Q Symphony
- Bluetooth
- Operating system Tizen 5.5
- Premium metal voice control
- Integrated assistants Google, Alexa and Bixby
- Compatible with Samsung SmartThings app
- AirPlay 2
- Mobile Tap Mirroring
- Ambient Mode+
- One Connect box with single cable (no One Connect on Q90T)
- Connections: 4 HDMI (1 HDMI 2.1), 2 USB
- 1 HDMI eARC
- USB recorder
- Available in 55, 65, 75 and 85 in.
QE55Q95T, QE65Q95T, QE75Q95T, QE85Q95T
QE55Q90T, QE65Q90T, QE75Q90T, QE85Q90T
Design and implementation
The Q95T has a very similar aesthetic to its predecessor, the Q90R, with a good overall design and a fairly elegant look. It has a square central metal base and very thin bezels around the screen, which together give it a premium touch.
The thickness is pretty thin considering it’s a TV that uses full array backlighting. This is good for hanging it on the wall so it’s not too far away. It’s compatible with generic mounts, but Samsung has a special mount called No Gap for its QLED lineup that puts it just 1 inch from the wall.
Connections
All connections are in the One Connect and there is only one connection on the TV, which is the cable that connects the screen to the One Connect. This one cable carries power as well as all picture and audio information.
This system has a number of advantages over all the connections on the TV:
First, access to the connections is much easier, especially if you hang it on the wall. We can put the One Connect in an accessible place where we can connect our devices.
And secondly, aesthetically it’s much better because you would only see one cable and that cable is pretty much hidden, so it looks much cleaner when you want to hang it on the wall.
Connections include four HDMI ports, one of which, port 4, is 2.1 compatible, two USB ports, antenna and satellite ports, an optical audio out, an IC slot, and an Ethernet port.
In some countries, instead of this model, another is sold with the reference Q90T and has the same features, but the One Connect has been removed. In the case of Spain, only this version is sold, which comes with the One Connect.
Picture quality
Let’s now go into detail about the picture quality that this Samsung QLED Q95T offers. But before that, as always, we’ll leave you with our calibration so you can get the most out of it and get a better picture compared to how it came from the factory.
You’ll have one calibration for SDR and one for HDR, so it’s set right for the content you’re watching.
Samsung Q95T Picture Adjustment in SDR
First, disable the power saving features in the economic solution section.
Picture Mode: Filmmaker Mode or Movie
Brightness: 40 (lower if you are watching it in a dark room)
Contrast: 44
Sharpness: 6
Color: 28
Hue (R/V): 0
Clarity setting: Personal
Local Attenuation: Standard
Contrast Enhancer: Off
Hue: Warm 2
Gamma: BT.1886
Shadow Detail: 0
Gamma setting: Original
Samsung Q95T image setup for 4K HDR
First, disable the power saving features in the economic solution section.
Picture Mode: Filmmaker Mode or Movie
Glow: 45 (lower if you see it in a dark room)
Contrast: 50
Sharpness: 8
Color: 28
Hue (R/V): 0
Clarity setting: Personal
Local Attenuation: High
Contrast Enhancer: Off
Hue: Warm 2
Gamma: ST.2084
Shadow Detail: 0
Gamma setting: Original
Black Level
As mentioned earlier, this Q95T uses a full array backlight with local dimming. Unlike Edge LED TVs that only use LEDs on the bottom, this Q95T has the LEDs spread out on the back, using more of them.
Not to be confused with the Direct LED system, which also positions the LEDs on the back of the screen, but uses fewer of them and has no way to dim the lighting.
In the specific case of this Q95T, the Local Dimming system is able to control 120 zones independently to adjust the lighting much more precisely. That’s less than the 2019 Q90R, which used a total of 480 zones.
This could imply that this Q95T performs worse than its predecessor by using fewer zones, but this is not the case. Despite the lower number of dimming blocks, Samsung has improved the algorithms that control dimming by zone, so even better results can be achieved with fewer zones.
The local dimming feature now works better and responds faster, so you notice less of the transitions when adjusting lighting in real time. There are also fewer halos around bright objects against a dark background.
The panel has excellent uniformity with no flare or clouding, and the local dimming system responds quickly to adjust brightness in any part of the image without any noticeable change in brightness.
You can adjust the intensity of local dimming with three different modes. First, there’s Low mode, which is the least aggressive and least shocking. Then there’s Medium, which is already noticeable in the blacks and brightness, and finally High, which offers the purest blacks and maximum brightness, but also at the cost of a less correct image for some content.
Our recommendation is that for SDR content, whether it’s broadcast, satellite, cable TV, or a DVD movie, stay in the middle. Since this content has higher compression, it may produce a worse image if we select High.
For 4K and HDR content, it is best to set it to High to take full advantage of the good definition of these values and get the best reproduction in black and the maximum brightness.
The native contrast is very good with a value close to 4000:1 that delivers very deep blacks, but with the local dimming it reaches almost 11:000, a spectacular value for an LED TV.
This means that the blacks don’t reach the level of an OLED TV, but they are quite close. Therefore, this Samsung Q95T is a very suitable TV for watching movies and series in both bright and dark rooms.
The panel, as usual in the Korean company, is of VA type, which, as we have often spoken, speaks for the fact that the blacks are purer.
The details in the shadows are particularly good, and you manage to preserve the details in these areas, so that in the typical very dark scene you do not miss any information that could be important for the plot.
Brightness
Another advantage of the Samsung Q95T is its high brightness, which makes it an ideal TV to enjoy all the new HDR content. The maximum brightness achieved is 2,000 nits, a value that is undoubtedly spectacular, but also in dynamic mode.
Dynamic mode results in an image that is too forced and looks less natural. We recommend that you perform the image calibration described above with the film mode selected.
In this mode, a value of over 1,200 nits is achieved, a value that is still impressive and makes the HDR content stand out more.
Thanks to its high brightness, it’s a great option if you want to watch it on the terrace in the summer or if there’s a lot of light where you want to put it. On top of that, as we’ll see in a moment, is the excellent anti-reflective filter that this series has.
It supports HDR 10+, HLG and HDR 10 formats, but unfortunately it is not compatible with Dolby Vision, as is the case with all models from the brand. This is one of the few negative points we found with this TV, but it’s a bit disappointing since Samsung is practically the only brand that doesn’t support Dolby Vision yet.
Color
The Samsung Q95T uses Quantum Dot technology, which adds a layer of these nanoparticles to provide better color reproduction. These Quantum Dot nanoparticles, when excited by light from LEDs, emit a color that varies depending on the size of the LEDs.
It should also be noted that the LEDs in the backlight are blue, so the color blue is already produced and a different color is achieved for the other colors, depending on the size of the Quantum Dot.
Another advantage is that the color volume is improved and the saturation is maintained regardless of the brightness level, so Samsung states that this model achieves 100% color volume.
In our article about this technology we will tell you everything in detail:
The colors are bright and you get quite faithful colors and as we said, they keep the saturation in the very bright areas very well. The color gamut achieved is close to 100% of the DCI-P3 color spectrum.
The panel’s color depth is 8 bits + FRC, unlike the Q90R series, which has a native 10-bit panel. However, it controls the occurrence of banding very well and does a very good job of color gradation, avoiding the appearance of the onion effect on very similar tones.
Sharpness
Samsung always provides good image processing and scales well with low-resolution fonts. All image processing is controlled by the Quantum Processor 4K image engine with artificial intelligence.
This processor relies on Deep Learning to improve its algorithms and scaling formulas. These formulas are updated through a connection to a Samsung server in Korea, which allows for further improvements over time.
In this way, the TV learns from the content we see and will perform better scaling to apply the new formulas.
The work that this Q95T does with sources that are not 4K, such as TV shows or streaming videos in low resolution, is very good and is scaled correctly and you get good clarity and a good level of detail.
But as we’ve seen with so many Samsung TVs, the image processor does very well with close-up shots when the source is of low quality, but it doesn’t do so well with general shots. For close-up shots of faces, the clarity you get is top-notch, but for more general shots, it costs a little more.
What we’ve also seen Samsung improve in recent years is noise reduction. When tested with highly compressed images where there is a lot of noise in the dark areas, the Q95T removes noise and artifacts very effectively. As a result, you can enjoy very clean, clear images.
Motion
The management that makes the fast pictures disappointed us a bit, as there is some blurring and there are marks in the fast movements. In side panoramas, we notice a trailing effect that leaves a small mark and is a bit annoying.
The native refresh rate of this Q95T is 120 Hz. Unlike the 60 Hz models that only have the option to adjust the blur reduction, there is also a second setting here to control vibration reduction or judder.
You can choose between 3 modes: Keep Off, Auto Mode or Personal Mode, which you can set as you like. We recommend choosing a custom setting and finding a point where you feel comfortable.
In the calibration above, we’ve left the parameters we recommend, but it depends on the type of content you’re viewing and whether you like a cinematic feel or smoother motion.
Input lag and gaming experience
If you are a gaming enthusiast and want to use it intensively for gaming, the Samsung Q95T is an excellent gaming TV. It has the latest technologies to enjoy every game to the fullest.
For starters, as we saw in the ports section, this Q95T is compatible with HDMI 2.1. However, only port number 4 is compatible with HDMI 2.1. If you connect one of the new PS5 or Xbox Series X gaming consoles to this port, you’ll be able to play at 120 Hz in 4K resolution. It’s also compatible with FreeSync, so you can play at variable frame rates.
This FreeSync technology reduces input latency, avoids interruptions and frame instabilities when playing on game consoles that also support this functionality, such as the new generation PS5 and Xbox Series X, as well as the previous Xbox One X and One S.
Although there aren’t many games that can be played at 120Hz yet, some games are already available. These include the Xbox Series X, Halo Infinite, the, Call of Duty: Warzone or Dirt 5 for example. Also on the PS5, although the catalog is smaller today, some of the titles are available for playback at 120 Hz Destiny 2, Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition among others.
The input lag of this model is really spectacular and is only 9.5 ms in 4K at 120 Hz when the game mode is enabled. If we activate all the features available in gaming mode, the latency increases a bit, but still offers excellent performance.
It also has the automatic low latency mode (ALLM) feature. With this feature, the TV detects that a game console is connected and automatically switches to gaming mode without you having to change it manually.
Therefore, the Samsung Q95T is one of the best gaming TVs you can currently buy.
However, it lacks support for NVIDIA’s G-Sync, which LG’s OLED TVs offer. G-Sync offers improved performance compared to AMD’s FreeSync.
Viewing angles
The Samsung Q95T achieves very good viewing angles thanks to the Ultra Viewing Angle filter. This filter can be found on this model and in the Q800T and Q950TS 8K series.
VA panels like this model’s always have poor viewing angles as a weak point. To improve this, Samsung has developed a new panel with a filter that significantly improves the viewing angles of its TVs. In 2019, Samsung implemented this panel in its high ranges, and in the new range, Samsung has done the same but improved it even more.
With the improved Ultra Viewing Angle filter, the viewing angles are much higher than TVs with IPS panels.
As a result, we can enjoy the high contrast of a VA panel and even better viewing angles than an IPS panel. Contrast and color are almost preserved even at very sharp angles, so there are no problems when viewing from the side.
The Q95T series is a great TV for the whole family, because even if you have to sit in a corner, you can still watch the movie in the best quality.
Reflections
One of the things we certainly like best about this TV is how it looks in brightly lit rooms. That’s because Samsung has the best anti-glare filter on the market today. Sony uses a similar system and LG in its OLED TVs, also has very good results, but the system implemented by Samsung, is the best.
The amount of reflection it eliminates is spectacular and will allow you to see it in very lit rooms without any kind of problem. So if you get a lot of light from outside or use it on the terrace in the summer, the Samsung Q95T is the most recommended TV for these situations. The top-of-the-line 8K Q800T and Q950TS also have this system, but not the Q700T.
Sound
The sound system is a 4.2.2 with an output power of 60W. The sound is acceptable with good definition and no distortion, and for normal TV use it should be sufficient for many people. But it has the same problem as always and that is that the sound comes out down.
However, there are some improvements thanks to the Object Tracking Sound feature, which tries to simulate a more realistic and immersive sound by following the objects that appear in the scene.
However, if possible, we recommend adding a soundbar, especially if you want to enjoy a better experience when watching movies and series.
Smart TV
The integrated operating system is Tizen version 5.5, which offers a large catalog of apps and is an operating system that works very quickly and is very intuitive. You have access to the most used apps like HBO, Movistar+, DAZN, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ or Rakuten among others.
Samsung QLED Q60T
With the One Remote, we can give voice instructions thanks to the built-in microphone. We can use voice commands for the built-in smart assistants Alexa, Google Assistant and Bixby.
You can perform all kinds of searches to find movie content, find out the weather or search for information about appointments, places, etc.
With the SmartThings platform, you can connect other smart devices in your home. This allows you to receive notifications on your TV and control your other connected devices through your phone’s app.
Samsung Q95T final opinion
Samsung’s 4K flagship is undoubtedly an all-rounder that meets even the most demanding requirements. In terms of picture quality, it scores with excellent contrast with pure blacks and high peak brightness for maximum enjoyment of HDR content.
The algorithms that control the backlight have been improved, and the zone control now works a bit better than its predecessor, although it has fewer attenuation blocks. This results in high uniformity when viewing in the dark, with no flare, virtually no halos, and blacks that are of course not the same as an OLED, but very close.
Viewing HDR content is spectacular, and this is where the Q95T shines the most thanks to its high brightness, which makes high dynamic range images stand out even more.
Highlighting its anti-glare system, which is the best currently available and allows you to see properly even outdoors or in rooms with a lot of light, and the Ultra Viewing Angle filter, which allows you to see from any point without almost losing quality.
And we also love the One Connect, which gives you more convenient access to all your connections and avoids all the cable clutter.
So in our opinion, the Samsung Q95T is the 4K LED TV we most recommend if you want the best picture quality and gaming performance.
Is the Samsung Q95T worth buying?
As we mentioned in this review, we think the Samsung Q95T is an excellent TV if you’re looking for good picture quality and we recommend it 100%. But there are other alternatives like the LG OLED CX, which is also one of the best purchases you can make if you want a TV with the highest quality.
In general, the Q95T stands out more as a TV for viewing on terraces or in brightly lit rooms, thanks to its spectacular brightness and great anti-reflective system. It also excels at gaming, especially if you use it very intensively and don’t want to run the risk of marking yourself (which is very rare these days anyway).
The Q95T is also a very good option in the large inch sizes, as it is priced much lower in the 75 and 85 inch sizes.
On the other hand, the LG OLED CX stands out more when viewing in dark rooms, as the black level is higher since it’s a self-luminous technology and you completely avoid the appearance of halos, and the motion is also a bit better thanks to the shorter response time of OLED technology. And also importantly, unlike the Q95T, it supports Dolby Vision and also Nvidia’s G-Sync.
Whichever option you choose, we’re sure none of them will let you down.
