Samsung QN90AA QN98QN90AA 98 Inch Neo 98" 2021 Review

Buy this 98-inch Samsung if you want a stunning gaming and sports arena for your living room. Skip it if you're a movie buff or hate Samsung's Tizen OS.

This Samsung QN90AA is a massive, loud, and fast TV that's built for one thing: dominating your living room. The one thing to know? It's a gaming and sports powerhouse first, and a movie TV second. At 98 inches, it's an absolute statement piece, and with performance rankings in the top 5% for audio and gaming, it's designed to impress a crowd, not just a cinephile.

What surprised us was just how good the sound is. A 4.2.2 channel, 60W system hitting the 95th percentile means you might not even need a soundbar, which is wild for a TV this thin. The gaming performance is also a standout, with that 120Hz panel and FreeSync Premium Pro delivering buttery smooth action. The picture quality score in our database is more middle-of-the-pack, which tells us its strengths are in brightness and motion, not necessarily perfect black levels.

At nearly $6,500, this is a huge investment. You're paying a premium for the massive 98-inch screen and its elite gaming and audio performance. If those are your top priorities, the value is there. If you care more about a perfect movie experience or a slick smart interface, this price tag starts to look hard to justify.

The most direct competitor is the Sony Bravia K98XR50. Sony typically beats Samsung on out-of-the-box color accuracy and processing for movies, but Samsung often wins on brightness and gaming features. For a 98-inch screen, it's really between these two. Don't get distracted by the 77-inch LG OLED listed; that's a completely different beast with perfect blacks for movies, but it's much smaller and can't match this Samsung's raw brightness for a bright room.

If you're looking for the ultimate home theater TV for watching films in a dark room, this isn't it. Go get a large LG OLED instead for those inky blacks. Also, skip this if you hate ads and slow menus; the smart system here will drive you nuts.

We recommend the Samsung QN90AA if you have a massive wall, play a lot of fast-paced games, watch sports with friends, and hate the clutter of a soundbar. It's a fantastic social TV. But if you're a film purist who watches in a dark room, or if you live inside streaming apps and want the best interface, look at that Sony or step down to a smaller, newer OLED.