Samsung TQ55S90C: a serious rival for the LG C3? Our verdict
In a TV year 2023 in which Samsung has decided to hit hard on all fronts, the S90C is a model in a class of its own. Positioned just below the S95C, the flagship of QD-OLED technology, the S90C can be considered Samsung’s entry-level OLED and one of the main competitors to LG’s “mainstream” OLEDs. While we wait to see what Samsung does best in OLED, let’s take a look at what it’s doing in the most accessible part of these catalog pages. Is the TQ55S90C a good OLED TV? Is it a serious rival for the LG C3? Answer in our test.
Waiting for SC95?
While it may not be the Korean manufacturer’s most ambitious TV, it’s worth remembering that the SC90 is based on the same technical foundation as 2023’s figurehead, the S95C. It uses the same QD-OLED technology that Samsung introduced last year and that equips, for example, Sony’s A95K. The difference between the two? It lies in design, connectivity and brightness capabilities. The two TVs are therefore relatively similar, even if the more affordable of the two will, quite rightly, offer lower performance. This is to be expected, given that the S90C uses the first-generation QD-OLED panel released last year.
Design and finish: Samsung in the text
As usual, at this price level Samsung offers a particularly well-finished TV, with slim edges and a central stand that may be imposing, but gives the whole unit a solid footing. Two things are regrettable, however. The first concerns the stand, which, even if it is a success and raises the TV sufficiently to accommodate a sound bar, protrudes far beyond the front of the TV, making it necessary to have a piece of furniture wide enough to accommodate a sound bar.
Our second reason for disappointment comes from the connectivity section, and the fact that Samsung has chosen not to equip its QD-OLED with its One Connect box. This allows all ports to be housed in a separate accessory, thus reducing the thickness of the TV. Unfortunately, Samsung prefers to reserve this feature for its top-of-the-range models, in order to level the playing field. However, it seems to us that a model which, in its smallest size, sells for over 1,500 euros, deserves this attention.
On the other hand, there’s nothing to say about the remote control. It’s the same model as the one used on the S95B. Compact and ergonomic, it’s a model of its kind.
Image quality: one of the best OLEDs around
The theoretical appeal of QD-OLED technology lies in the possibility of achieving higher brightness than LG’s beloved WOLED, while maintaining the inherent qualities of OLED technology. Unsurprisingly, the S90C achieves this perfectly. The panel’s calibration is impeccable, right out of the box, and color reproduction is as faithful as can be.
Above all, thanks to a higher light peak than the previous generation and still infinite contrast (thank you OLED), the S90C performs very well in dark areas, revealing a significant amount of detail. On content as complex as the latest season of Stranger Things or the “dark” episodes of Game of Thrones, it’s among the TVs that offer the best rendering. The increased brightness (over 1040 cd/m2) also enables it to perform better on HDR content. The absence of Dolby Vision support is now a staple of Samsung TVs, but remains a flaw nonetheless. Of course, it’s in Cinema and Filmmaker modes that the results are most interesting, and it’s in these two modes that we carry out most of our tests.
That said, it’s worth mentioning two aspects of the TQ55S90C’s performance that literally blew us away. The first is a recent Samsung habit: its anti-reflective filter. The Korean manufacturer has been a master in this field for some years now, but this new OLED seems to have gone one step further. What’s in it for you? Of course, it’s the ability to enjoy excellent picture quality in very bright environments or when, in a large room for example, you’re not exactly in front of the TV. On this point, Samsung doesn’t really have a rival to match, which is something to bear in mind, as the anti-reflective filter can compensate for a natural weakness of OLED.
The second point on which Samsung’s OLED stands out, but to a lesser extent, is content scaling. On this point, the Korean brand isn’t at the cutting edge, but it’s definitely among the best. In this case, the S90C manages to upscale the majority of content in a rather astonishing way, without over-smoothing textures, but without stimulating the image with unnecessary artifacts either.
In concrete terms, the picture-quality record is excellent, but the really good news is that this performance is not just for films, TV series and TV in general, but is also applicable to video games.
Video games: Samsung’s new field of excellence?
For the past two years, Samsung has been on a par with LG when it comes to gaming on its TVs. Its most affordable Oled of the year is no exception to the rule, and even proves to be very effective in this respect.
The first thing to note is that all the image quality qualities mentioned above also apply once you’ve launched your PS5, Xbox or Switch.
Admittedly, the game menu allows you to adapt this image with dedicated modes according to the type of game, but keep in mind that if you keep the default settings you’ll simply benefit from a very polished image.
While the gaming mode and gaming bar have evolved little, still offering the possibility of fine-tuning settings, the S90C still boasts two excellent assets for gamers: the first is its input lag, measured at 9 ms by our 01Lab, a high-flying performance in line with the S95B. The second is the OLED’s ability to upscale to 4K at 144 Hz in gaming mode. For the rest, we find the traditional array of features (FreeSync and G-Sync, ALLN and VRR), but indispensable for gamers whether on console or PC.
Quiet like Tizen
On the interface front, the new features have been reduced to a minimum. In its latest version, Tizen does not correct the shortcoming we found last year, namely a few minor sluggishnesses, no doubt the result of an increasingly busy home page. In concrete terms, menu navigation remains fluid in the vast majority of cases; it’s access to applications that sometimes gives Samsung’s in-house OS a hard time.
For the rest, it’s a pleasant interface that’s easy to navigate once you get the hang of it. Nevertheless, it has to be said that with Tizen, Samsung is giving up a little ground on Google TV, which in our humble opinion is the most successful TV OS of the moment.
Audio: a thorn in the side
Audio is traditionally the weak point of Samsung’s top-of-the-range TVs. They can’t boast prestigious partnerships like Philips with B&W, cutting-edge technology like Sony’s Acoustic Surface+, or overpowering equipment like Panasonic’s TVs. Samsung is fighting with its weapons, but no doubt with less desire, since it also has some of the best soundbars on the market. Is this the fundamental reason for the S90C’s weakness in this respect? We can’t say for sure, but we can’t help noticing that Samsung has plateaued in the audio quality of its televisions, while making progress in many other areas.
This rather mixed picture also applies to our OLED test set. Despite its 40W of power, the TV lacks power and is rather weak in bass rendering. Dialogue, on the other hand, is very clear, which is not a bad thing, but it’s also the result of the limited maximum volume. As soon as you want to enjoy a bit of action or a few explosions on screen, the S90C clearly shows its limitations. All in all, the purchase of a sound bar to accompany the Samsung TQ55S90C seems more essential than for any other OLED at a comparable price.