Review: Samsung QN90C QLED

Samsung’s QN90 TV series helped usher in a new era for LED-based TVs—that is to say, those that don’t use a self-emitting OLED panel. These QLED TVs, so named for their mix of quantum dots and powerful LED backlighting for advanced color vibrancy and brightness, have perennially been named among the best (if not the best) options for bright-room viewing.

These days, the QN90’s status as a bright-room powerhouse is under siege on all fronts. The best OLEDs, including Samsung’s own S90C and S95C (8/10, WIRED Recommends), are approaching QLED brightness thanks to advancing panel technologies. Meanwhile, more budget-friendly QLED TVs like Hisense’s U8K (8/10, WIRED Recommends) and TCL’s QM8 serve up the same stunning brightness and even better dimming control than the QN90C at much lower prices.

Its spot may be slipping, but the QN90C proves there’s still room for a premium QLED option in this race. Offering great features, a gorgeous design, and luscious picture quality, the QN90C is worthy of a place on your bright-room TV shortlist—especially if your budget is flexible.

The QN90C isn’t Samsung’s top 4K QLED TV. The more advanced QN95C is in the pole position this cycle, but you’d be forgiven for thinking the QN90C is the flagship, based on looks alone. Its trim pedestal mount, sleek backside, and trim smoked-chrome bezels all look polished and professional. On the practical side, the stand’s base plate is thin enough to accommodate soundbars and allowed me to easily fit the 65-inch review model on my midsize TV console.

Photograph: Samsung

The TV is well appointed on the feature front, starting with a four-pack of high-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 inputs. Each port supports advanced features for next-gen gaming consoles and PCs, including VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and Freesync Pro to sync the display’s frame rate with your source device, 4K video support at 120 Hz (144 Hz for the smaller models), and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) to engage Samsung’s Gaming Hub when you fire up your console.

Samsung’s gaming interface is among the best available, complete with a separate home screen to adjust settings and engage in console-free cloud gaming from services like Amazon Luna, Nvidia GeForce Now, and Xbox Game Pass. Like most competitors, the TV features an available gaming bar for adjustments on the fly, including the ability to choose from a variety of optimized picture modes. I found the default picture too vivid (or “garish,” as my wife put it), but you can adjust settings within the hub or tinker further from the TV’s main interface.

I’ve had my issues with Samsung’s Tizen OS in the past, although I’ve gotten used to it over time. It’s not as easy to set up as Roku or Google TV, and some settings are oddly organized. For example, there are two different adaptive brightness features engaged by default, in the Intelligent and Eco panes, which might confuse you if you don’t realize they’re changing the TV’s backlight. The picture settings are also inexplicably spread out between multiple panels across the main settings bar, though you can (and should) rearrange them.

Another drawback of all Samsung TVs is their lack of support for Dolby Vision, the most prevalent “dynamic” HDR (High Dynamic Range) format. While nearly all rivals support it, Samsung has stubbornly stuck with its own HDR10+ format, which offers frame-by-frame adjustment for HDR content like Dolby Vision. That said, the TV will default to the best HDR mode supported, so you may not notice much difference.

The QN90C’s onboard sound quality better matches its premium aesthetic, rising above the majority of TVs I’ve tested. While it can get a little sharp in the upper midrange, it’s got surprisingly hefty bass response and adept object tracking for a relatively immersive soundstage. I’m pretty picky about sound, so the fact that the TV speakers sufficed for the majority of my testing, even with multiple action flicks, was impressive.

I also adore Samsung’s teensy, solar-powered remote. It’s not backlit, but it's designed to be navigated by touch, with pop-up volume and channel keys, and other controls intuitively arranged. A responsive control ring resides at the center, while a microphone key at the top calls up Alexa or Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant for smart home controls and search.

Right out of the box, the QN90C revealed superb image quality marked by excellent contrast and punchy brightness, rich and natural colors, and vivid detail that pops across both 4K and HD content, thanks to Samsung’s fantastic picture processing.

I did the majority of my viewing in the Filmmaker Mode, with only minor adjustments. The Movie mode is also a solid choice that provides more brightness, though to my eyes it looks less natural. You can rev up HDR brightness significantly by changing HDR Tone Mapping from Static to Active under the Picture’s Expert settings, which also enhances shadow detail for better clarity in particularly dark scenes.

Shadow detail in general is well showcased, especially in SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) mode. Calling up a go-to HD torture test in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, I was thoroughly impressed with the QN90C’s handling of difficult scenes like Voldemort’s hilltop assault or the thrilling tunnel ride into the Gringotts vault, even with moderate daylight pouring in. The movie was mesmerizing in brighter scenes too, as the TV rendered the subtle color shades with depth and balance, right down to nuances like the dust on Griphook’s striped shirt.

One point where the TV underperforms is in its backlight control. Equipped with mini LED backlighting and loads of dimming zones, it can render appropriately deep black levels and excellent contrast between the lightest and darkest images onscreen. But its local dimming occasionally struggles to keep up in particularly difficult scenes, creating some minor light haloing where you can see light artifacts around quickly moving bright objects.

It was only distracting in a couple of instances, but cheaper options like the U8K and QM8 offer very little noticeable light bleed, or blooming, if any. The QN90C is noticeably more clumsy. The pricier QN95C has more dimming zones and likely performs better in these areas.

The QN90C makes up for the occasional light-bleed faux pas with its off-axis viewing, which is among the best I’ve seen in a QLED TV. Unlike OLED displays, which generally betray very little picture quality loss from a side view, most backlit TVs struggle to maintain color vibrancy, brightness, and contrast from even a few feet off the center position. The QN90C mostly remedies this issue, without much compromise to other picture elements. (To my delight, its screen avoids the rainbow reflections from overhead lights found in the much pricier QN900C 8K TV.)

The detail on this TV was stunning, from the sparkled pores on Drax’s alien skin in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol II to remarkably clean 1080p and even 720p content. The TV tends to upscale lower-quality SD content with a fair bit of noise considering its cost, but the overall picture clarity was a treat across virtually everything I watched.

While I was occasionally underwhelmed by the QN90’s minor blooming, its mix of searing brightness, rich colors, and vivid details make for a fun ride. I think most picture purists with this kind of cash will still want to consider an OLED TV like Samsung’s S90C or LG’s C3 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) first, which are bright enough for the majority of homes. If you’re on a tighter budget, you’ll find more value in powerful mid-tier options like the Hisense U8K and TCL QM8, especially at sale pricing.

Samsung’s second-tier QLED is still very much a player in this game, though, especially if you’ve got a large space where folks will be seated off to the side. The QN90C is a bright-room beauty that really ties the room together.