Sony A95L vs Samsung S90H (QD-OLED)

Sony A95L offers an incredible HDR effect, achieving an impressive brightness level of 1500 nits in scenes such as those from Life of Pi and Sicario 2. These results are truly remarkable – the bright elements in these films practically come alive on the screen, providing the viewer with immersive visual experiences. The only thing to note is minor issues with maintaining brightness in the scene from The Meg, where the entire scene is flooded with light. However, this is a natural effect associated with OLED technology. A big plus also goes to the wide coverage of the BT.2020 colour palette at 89%, which places A95L Sony among the top TVs in terms of colour reproduction. All of this is made possible by the QD-OLED panel from Samsung Displays.

The Samsung S90H is a really bright TV for the mid-range among OLEDs. In synthetic measurements its peak brightness reached around 1650 nits. That's an outstanding result in this class, roughly 50% higher than what we’ve seen from previous models at this price point. Most importantly, these tests translate directly to real video material. In four out of the five film scenes we tested the S90H’s brightness hovered around 1300-1500 nits. That kind of headroom lets it reproduce most HDR films with very high impact and without obvious compromises, especially material mastered to 1000–1500 nits. In practice, highlights, reflections and explosions have the right punch and the picture doesn’t feel dimmed. Of course, on full-screen, very bright scenes the result is naturally lower and drops to about 900 nits. That’s a direct effect of the protection systems that keep the OLED panel from being overloaded. Even in that scenario there’s little to complain about. Nine hundred nits across the whole screen is still a very high level, guaranteeing excellent dynamics in HDR content. A huge advantage of QD-OLED TVs has always been the colours, and the S90H is no exception. The DCI-P3 colour space we measured reached a full 100% (actually 99.9%), while coverage of the much wider BT.2020 gamut hit about 89%. That’s a great result, allowing very saturated and vivid colours in HDR material. It’s worth emphasising that QD-OLED’s edge over WOLED panels isn’t just about gamut coverage. In practice it’s seen mostly in the higher brightness of saturated colours, in other words greater colour volume. That makes intense reds, greens and blues in HDR look juicier and more impressive.

The best factory mode for colour reproduction on the Sony A95L is IMAX Enhanced. This mode seems well-calibrated at first glance, but upon closer analysis, several areas for improvement become apparent. Firstly, the white balance for both SDR and 4K HDR content is marred by an excess of blue and red hues, leading to a subtle pink tint, particularly noticeable on neutral tones. As a result, skin tones are skewed, affecting the realism of the displayed image. This is clearly visible in the comparison photo below. Additionally, the Colour Checker test confirms the presence of these errors – the colour samples often deviate from their reference values, indicating some inaccuracies in the factory colour reproduction of the A95L Sony. The maximum deltaE error values reach up to 5.8, which is a clear indicator that colours are not always reproduced as accurately as they should be.

Regarding brightness characteristics, the gamma for HD/SDR content is generally quite good, maintaining an appropriate balance between brightness and contrast. Unfortunately, a significant jump is visible at the end of the graph, leading to a strong brightening of the image when the screen is fully flooded with white. This can make scenes with very bright backgrounds, such as snowy landscapes or intense daylight, appear too glaring and lose detail. For HDR content, the EOTF curve, which controls luminance, is slightly elevated compared to reference values. This, in turn, causes the image to be somewhat brighter than it should be, which can affect the perception of more subtle details in the darker areas of the frame.

The next stage of the test was to check how the S90H handles colour reproduction without any calibration. As always, we took measurements in Filmmaker Mode, the best factory picture setting. And here Samsung really deserves praise. The factory tuning is at a very high level, which wasn’t always the case a few years ago. The white balance was set correctly, as was the brightness response. The average colour reproduction error (Delta E) stayed around 3, which is below the level at which most viewers can notice inaccuracies. Only in the brightest shades of grey did the values slightly approach 4, but it’s still hard to call that a real problem during viewing. For out-of-the-box settings, the result is simply excellent.

Sony A95L offers excellent tools for professional screen calibration, allowing you to maximise the potential of the IMAX Enhanced mode. We used them to achieve an image quality that satisfies even the most demanding viewers. After calibration, the white balance for both 4K HDR and SDR content looks simply fantastic – nearly perfect. The Colour Checker test confirmed that deltaE errors do not exceed a value of "2", which means that colour reproduction is extremely accurate, and any deviations are practically imperceptible to the human eye.

The calibration also brought a significant improvement in brightness – gamma is now perfectly balanced, eliminating the previous problem of excessive brightening in scenes with very bright backgrounds. Thanks to this, even the brightest moments, such as snowy landscapes or intense daytime scenes, appear natural, without the risk of blown-out highlights. The EOTF curve, responsible for controlling luminance in HDR content, has also been improved – it now reaches reference levels in both synthetic tests and practical movie watching.

As a result of the calibration, A95L Sony provides an excellent experience, whether you are watching regular TV content or your favourite films. Every detail is reproduced exactly as the creators intended – without unnecessary brightenings, with perfectly rendered colours and appropriate depth. This shows that this television, after professional tuning, can compete with the best screens on the market, offering an image that truly impresses.

All right, but you know we wouldn't be ourselves if we didn't also check how much we could get out of the S90H with professional calibration. And there was no big surprise. Since the out-of-the-box settings were already very good, there wasn't a huge margin for improvement. Even so, we managed to refine the image almost to perfection. After calibration the average colour reproduction errors fell below the threshold of perception, reaching Delta E values under 2 for both SDR and HDR material. We also improved the luminance response, so the picture more faithfully reflects the creators' intent and maintains correct tonality across the entire brightness range. After professional calibration the S90H therefore becomes a screen very close to reference. Will the difference be spectacular for everyone? Not necessarily. The factory settings already deliver a very high level, so in everyday viewing some people may not notice a huge jump. Much also depends on the specific unit. Our sample was very well tuned straight out of the box, but that doesn't mean every S90H will present the same level. Even identical models can differ in their factory calibration. That's exactly why professional calibration makes sense: it lets you bring a particular unit to the highest possible accuracy, rather than relying on a bit of luck when buying.

The tonal transition smoothing function in Sony A95L works really well and is worth noting. We recommend setting it to "Medium" level, as this value achieves an ideal compromise – no artifacts appear, and the image looks incredibly natural and pleasing to the eye. This ensures that transitions between different shades are smooth while maintaining scene detail, which further enhances viewing comfort.

When it comes to upscaling, you can see the full power of the XR processor here. Sony A95L handled our test material featuring a model exceptionally well – the image is remarkably clear, there are no excessive jagged edges, and the background details are perfectly preserved. The XR processor effectively improves low resolution, providing very good results that allow you to enjoy content in nearly high quality, even if its source is not perfect.

W tej kwestii Samsung praktycznie nic nie zmienił względem ubiegłorocznego modelu, co akurat jest dość dobrą wiadomością. Funkcja odpowiedzialna za wygładzanie przejść tonalnych nadal bardzo skutecznie ogranicza efekt posteryzacji. Trzeba jednak pamiętać, że działa dość agresywnie, bo oprócz samych artefaktów potrafi usunąć również ziarno filmowe i delikatnie zmiękczyć drobne detale obrazu. Jak zwykle jest to więc kwestia kompromisu i własnych preferencji. Jeśli zależy Wam na jak najwierniejszym odwzorowaniu materiału, polecamy pozostawić tę funkcję wyłączoną.

Również w kwestii upscalingu trudno mówić o rewolucji. S90H korzysta z tego samego autorskiego procesora obrazu NQ4 Gen3 co jego poprzednik, dlatego jakość skalowania pozostała praktycznie bez zmian. Telewizor dobrze radzi sobie z materiałami o niższej rozdzielczości, skutecznie poprawiając ich ostrość. Nadal jednak nie rozwiązano problemu z overscanem. W przypadku niektórych starszych materiałów, zwłaszcza archiwalnych nagrań, może zdarzyć się, że fragment obrazu przy krawędziach zostanie ucięty. To drobna wada, ale szkoda, że Samsung kolejny rok z rzędu pozostawił ten problem bez zmian.

Sony A95L is a television that should satisfy both gamers and movie enthusiasts. When it comes to watching films, this model is equipped with Motionflow technology, which allows you to precisely adjust whether you want the image to be more "framey," like in traditional cinema, or exceptionally smooth, like in cinema TVs. The "Smoothness" slider allows you to control the level of fluidity – from subtle changes to more noticeable effects, while the "Clarity" slider reduces flicker and artifacts, helping to achieve more natural and clear movement. When it comes to gaming and watching sports, the A95L Sony offers a refresh rate of 120 Hz, making every dynamic action look incredibly smooth. Gamers will appreciate the lack of blur, and sports fans will see every movement in full clarity. Overall, the television performs excellently – both with fast-paced gameplay and emotionally charged film sequences.

In terms of motion handling the S90H delivers a very high level of performance. A new feature here is a panel with a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, although in practice this will mainly benefit PC gamers. Movies, TV series and sports broadcasts don’t use such high refresh rates, so when watching them the difference compared with the standard 120 Hz won’t be noticeable. That said, thanks to the OLED panel’s instantaneous response time, motion is very clean and the image doesn’t suffer from the smearing common to many LCDs. Samsung has equipped the TV with extensive motion settings. You get two sliders: judder reduction and blur reduction, which let you easily tailor the image’s character to your preferences. You can easily achieve very smooth motion for sport, but you can just as easily preserve a more cinematic feel at the typical 24 fps. It all comes down to which effect you prefer.

Sony A95L is a television that will truly satisfy gamers, thanks to several key features that set it apart from the competition. To begin with, the 120 Hz refresh rate – this is something that anyone who loves fast-paced action games, racing, or dynamic shooters will appreciate. This makes the image exceptionally smooth, and gameplay more satisfying, without annoying stutters. The A95L Sony also has an ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) feature, which automatically activates low-latency mode when we start up a console. What does this mean? Primarily, faster reactions on screen, which in games where every second counts, is simply invaluable. Added to that is VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), which ensures that the image refresh rate adapts to the number of frames generated by the console. The effect? No tearing of the image, and everything looks smooth and cohesive – even with varying FPS.

It's worth mentioning the support for Dolby Vision with low input lag in games – something we don't often see in televisions, but here it is included. As a result, the image in HDR-compatible games is incredibly vibrant, with vivid colors and excellent contrast. Both the brightest and darkest details are visible, making everything look just as the game developers intended. And there's also the "Game Bar" – a small but very practical convenience. It gives us all the essential gaming-related settings at our fingertips, such as VRR and lag information. There's no need to interrupt gameplay to adjust settings – everything is at hand.

However, it's important to note that the A95L offers only two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is allocated for eARC. This could be somewhat limiting if we plan to connect multiple devices – for example, a next-gen console and a soundbar simultaneously. In such cases, eARC occupying one of those ports may be a bit problematic, blocking the option to connect a second console.

From the start, the Samsung S90H gives the impression of a TV designed with gamers in mind, and it's easy to see why. The maker has equipped it with nearly everything you’d expect from a modern gaming display. You get as many as four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, support for ALLM, VRR and very high refresh rates. There's also a clear Game Bar that lets you quickly check key picture parameters or change settings without leaving the game. Another very welcome improvement is HGiG support. Last year it could cause quite a few problems, but in the S90H it works exactly as it should.

Samsung's real ace, however, is its proprietary Game Motion Plus mode. The feature works much like the motion smoothing used in films: it improves animation smoothness in games while keeping input lag at a very reasonable level. For titles running at 30 or 60 fps, with the right settings, input lag in our testing never exceeded 40 ms. That's an excellent result, especially since on many manufacturers' TVs enabling similar features results in delays several times higher. Game Motion Plus doesn't replace Dolby Vision Gaming, of course, since it's a completely different type of feature, but overall for gaming it's an addition that many players may find more noticeable. Smoother motion in 30/60 fps games often makes more of a difference than HDR itself, which, incidentally, is often poorly implemented in games.