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I recently got the chance to work in the ZDNET Louisville testing lab, where I tested the Samsung QN90F and saw how it performed in real-world tests rather than a carefully curated showroom experience. Compared to the S95F OLED, the Samsung QN90F has a picture that's almost as vibrant and detailed, as well as slightly better object-tracking sound.
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For the price, it's a better value unless you're looking for features that only the S95F OLED has, such as the OneConnect box. I ran the Samsung QN90F through a battery of tests to see how well it handled everything from streaming to gaming. I also worked with our lab engineers to run Calman verification tests to see how accurately the QLED panel can recreate images in both RGB and black-and-white.
Unlike the S90F, which had a significant blue shift in its color tests, the QN90F favors warmer tones. This can make some scenes look a bit oversaturated, and this can be exacerbated by the integrated blue light filter that can be toggled on and off.
But I would personally rather have that than how lifeless they can look on screens that favor cooler colors. The warm color shift was most noticeable while screening black-and-white films like Casablanca, pushing everything toward a more pale sepia tone that somehow felt more appropriate than the blue-grey of the S95F.
Read more: I tested the Samsung S95F OLED for a week, and I'm ready to give up my living room TV
The contrast is also fairly comparable to the more expensive OLED model, giving you deep blacks and sharp details that help brighter colors pop. The QLED panel handles fine details well across all picture modes, though the AI-assisted option does make some images look slightly fuzzy, especially if there are characters moving quickly, or a lot of quick cut edits. But where the QN90F really stands out when compared to the S95F OLED is the audio.
Adam Breeden/ZDNET
I'm not sure if it's due to how razor-thin the S95F is, but the audio never sounded as full or as 3D as it could have been. The QN90F is still a thin TV, but by having more room to actually create sound, you'll get a slightly richer listening experience even without having to set up extra home audio equipment.
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