Samsung QN90A Neo QLED 4K HDR TV Review (QN65QN90A)

A quick correction to the video review (above): Samsung highly recommends you not use the stand assembly method as I did in the video — and I have to agree. I may prefer my method, but there’s a reason manufacturers create these instructions, and I would hate for anyone to have a bad experience because I decided to go rogue and toss the instructions to the wind. So, do as I say (now) and not as I do and we’ll all be right as rain.

Assembling the stand is a little precarious, no matter how you go about it. But on the positive side, I do like the stand’s look and feel. While the TV will flex on the stand a bit, it’s a secure arrangement, and because it is centralized, there’s less worry about having to have a media stand wide enough to support it.

Of course, if you’re wall mounting — and if you are, I do highly recommend Samsung’s own no-gap wall mount for the best look — the stand is a nonissue.

Everything else about the unboxing experience is great. There’s not a lot of fluff, only a bit of plastic to peel from the edges of the TV, and when you’re all done, you will be staring down a very attractive television, with nearly invisible bezels and a surprisingly thin profile.

While we reviewed the 65-inch QN65Q90A model, our review also applies to the other screen sizes available in the series.

Speaking of measurements, let’s nerd out a little bit.  I tested the QN90A using Portrait Display’s Calman software, an X-Rite i1 Pro meter, and a SpectraCal C6 meter. Out of the box, in the SDR Movie mode with no adjustments to the brightness setting of 23, I got 275 nits, which is great for SDR in most cases. You can boost the brightness to a max of 50, and I measured 638 nits with my meter. Jumping to HDR, again in Movie mode, I got about 1,583 nits. In Standard mode, the TV blasted past that to just shy of 1,900 nits — 1867, to be exact.

I frequently use a test pattern that places white boxes in each corner of the TV’s screen on an otherwise black background, and I did so in this case. I started in SDR, and looking at the pattern with the naked eye, one would likely see a little bit of halo around the edges of the white boxes.

Boosting to HDR, the boxes get brighter and, once again, it would appear there is more halo effect, although much less than I have seen on previous TVs, including last year’s already excellent Samsung Q90T. However, over the years, I’ve learned that bright images on a black background when viewed in a dark room can play tricks on the eye.

In the video above, you’ll see that I cover up the white box just to its edges using a piece of cardboard, and when I do, the halo or blooming appears noticeably reduced. Why? It has to do with our vision. This is not the time for an anatomy lesson, but anecdotally, we have seen supposed blooming with this same pattern on an OLED TV, and yet, we know that possible. On an OLED, the black pixels are black. Totally turned off.

What I’m getting at is that sometimes what we perceive as blooming, when we are in a pitch-black room with a white box blaring into our eyes, isn’t really blooming. Don’t get me wrong, there IS blooming here, but it is less than I’ve seen in the past, and let me be clear here — the black uniformity on this TV is excellent.

The issue of shadow detail (often referred to as black crush) — or a lack of it — is always of concern, especially by gamers who need to see detail in the shadows to play competitive first-person shooters. So, I ran low-luminance and high-luminance starfield patterns and noted the QN90A came out of black very well. For those who want to intentionally raise blacks for games, Samsung provides a settings adjustment for just such a thing.

To sum it up: The QN90A’s brightness and contrast are excellent.

Out of the box, in the Movie preset, my measurements indicated that red was a little too forward, so I backed that down a bit in the two-point white balance menu, and — bam — this TV’s color blend snapped into extremely impressive territory.  In HDR, the TV sometimes overshoots or undershoots some colors, so again, it isn’t perfection, but the color on this TV is scary good.

One of the pitfalls of using a VA-type LCD panel is that off-axis, blooming, and color shift issues become very obvious. I think one of the things I’m most impressed with on the QN90A is its off-axis viewing experience. You do see blooming more from the extreme sides, but even less than last year’s Q90T, which, again, was already well ahead of the pack. There’s also very little color shift — overall, it’s one of the best off-angle TVs we’ve tested here. That means a better seat in the house for everyone.

The antiglare is excellent as well. If you do have a lot of light coming in the room, and you’re watching a dark scene, you may see some rainbow effect, but I’d argue that’s better than looking into a black mirror.

Enough with the nerd stuff. How does this TV look when you are watching regular content in either SDR or HDR? It’s really freakin’ good. This is a demonstrably better TV than the Q90T that came before it, and that was already a pretty great TV — I know, I’m repeating myself.

Images are lush and vibrant, colors and HDR highlights pop, and the superior black levels give a sense of depth you don’t usually get with an LCD-based TV. I did notice a little bit of screen uniformity problems with large swaths of bright colors, but overall, there was very little dirt-screen effect.

As for motion handling, it’s a mixed bag. This TV automatically removes all judder from 24p movie content — there isn’t even a setting you can access to turn this off, which I think for most folks is going to be just fine.

Stutter, though. That’s a different story. This TV has a very quick response time, which is great news for gamers, but for movie buffs — just as it is in OLED — you can get stutter effects. The only way to counter this is with motion smoothing, which will bring in some soap opera effect, which most people apparently hate far less than I, so perhaps it’s not a big deal. Movie buffs will probably want to go with the lowest setting they can tolerate, though.

The QN90A’s sound quality is above average. There’s not a lot of bass — that’s typical — but overall, it’s balanced and tolerable, whereas many TVs I test make me cringe. It is a little odd that you have to crank the volume number fairly high to get normal in-room volume, but I suppose that means more granular control of the volume levels.

I will say Samsung’s object-tracking sound is fairly effective as well, though not on the level of a Sony OLED, where the screen is the speaker. Samsung’s soundbars would be a good match with the TV, and Samsung’s symphony sound — where the TV’s speakers work with the soundbar — is especially impressive.

This TV is a stellar choice for gaming in that it has remarkably low input lag — under 10 milliseconds in game mode for all resolutions at 60Hz and under 6 milliseconds for all resolutions at 120Hz. The TV also supports Freesync, but no G-Sync I’m afraid. I’m not really sure that’s a huge loss for most people because the variable refresh rate is there regardless.

At any rate, HDR gaming is gorgeous on this TV as well, with very little crushing of the blacks, and if you are playing a really dark game, you can raise the blacks a little for slightly better shadow detail. I didn’t really need it playing in a dark room, though. The TV comes out of black fairly well and retains most shadow details. It’s the bright highlights that really have me sold, though. Games pop on this TV.

On the downside, the TV only has one HDMI 2.1 input. So, if you own both the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5, you’ll need to swap them out by hand or go for a full-on HDMI 2.1 A/V receiver to switch between them. Add a gaming PC to that mix — and it’s more of the same.

With just one HDMI 2.1 input, no Dolby Vision, and a smart TV interface that could use a face-lift, the Samsung QN90A is not a perfect TV. But by the most meaningful measures, it is truly outstanding. Putting all the numbers aside, I like to do a simple gut check — I watch a lot of TVs, and some of them are a letdown, some are just fine, some are great, and some are real knockouts. I’ve got to put the Samsung QN90A in that last category. I simply love watching it.

Is there a better alternative?