Samsung arrives at CES this week with its usual fleet of updated soundbars, but the home entertainment giant has a new home audio product to show off: a picture frame equipped with audio drivers that can sync with Samsung soundbars and TVs.
Not to be confused with Samsung’s The Frame line of lifestyle TVs, the Music Frame is, in some ways, a bit of a throwback, given that it’s designed to showcase actual prints (up to 8 x 8 inches) rather than display your photos digitally. The Music Frame also comes with a diasec matte acrylic plate (aka the “Art Panel”) that can be printed with your favorite artwork or snapshot by a third-party vendor.
Of course, showcasing prints isn’t all the Music Frame can do. Measuring 12.9 x 12.9 x 1.7-inches (WxHxD), the Dolby Atmos-enabled Music Frame comes equipped with four front-firing drivers—two tweeters and two mid-range drivers—plus a pair of back-firing woofers.
The Music Frame can operate on its own as a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi speaker, and it even offers a built-in IoT hub that works with Samsung SmartThings.
Best of all, the Music Frame supports Samsung’s Q-Symphony feature, which syncs the drivers on a Samsung soundbar with those on a compatible Samsung TV. Thanks to Q-Symphony, the Music Frame can sync its audio with Samsung TVs and soundbars, too.
For example, you could flank your Samsung QLED with a pair of wall-mounted Music Frames to boost the TV’s soundstage, or place the Music Frame in the rear of the room to bolster a Samsung soundbar’s surround channels or for use as a subwoofer.
The Music Frame also supports Samsung’s SpaceFit Sound tech, which calibrates the audio in real-time according to your room’s acoustics.
Besides its new Music Frame, Samsung unveiled some new soundbars at CES, including its latest flagship, the massive HW-Q990D.
Similar to its predecessor, the HW-Q990C, the Q990D offers a 11.1.4-channel configuration, including four height channels for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. The soundbar also supports wireless Dolby Atmos when used in conjunction with compatible Samsung TVs. (Last year’s Q990C was the first Samsung soundbar to offer wireless Dolby Atmos capabilities.)
New for the HW-Q990D is 120Hz 4K video passthrough, ideal for gamers looking for silky-smooth gaming visuals.
There’s also a new “Private Listening Mode” that restricts the Q990D’s audio to the rear speakers for late-night listening sessions, while a Party Play Mode “broadens” the sound profile to deliver the “perfect vibe.” Finally, the Q990D adds compatibility with Roon, the audiophile-oriented music server software.
Also on tap are refreshed versions of Samsung’s “ultra slim” soundbars, with the new, 46-inch-wide HW-S800D now offering an HDMI-eARC interface, rather than standard ARC like the previous generation. (With eARC, the S800D can accept lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio signals from Blu-ray players.)
Meanwhile, the new HW-S700D takes the S800D’s super-slim form factor and narrows it down to a 35 inch-wide chassis.
Samsung didn’t reveal release dates or pricing for the Music Frame or its 2024 soundbar lineup, but we’re expecting more details in the coming months.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he covers smart speakers, soundbars, and other smart and home-theater devices. You can follow Ben on Twitter.