Samsung has been at the top of the soundbar market for 12 years, but the company is branching out into design-first smart speakers inspired by shapes as simple as a circle and a dot.
Erwan Bouroullec first collaborated with Samsung on the attractive and unique Serif TV, and has brought his design expertise to the company’s new smart speakers.
The designer and the idea
Bouroullec took abstract inspiration for the Dot Design from music notation, evoking a semibreve, minim, and dotted note.
His stated aim is a speaker that wouldn’t be forgotten as soon as it stops playing music, instead blending into and enhancing the space it occupies.
The broader philosophy around Bouroullec’s design is that items in your home should blend harmoniously without feeling outdated decades from now.
That philosophy can be seen on the Serif which eschewed the trend of ultra-minimal bezels, instead creating a purposeful profile that anchored the television in your home.
The carefully considered Music Studio 5 and 7 feature a timeless, simple design that balances mid-century modern clean curves and lines with contemporary minimalism.
Samsung Music Studio 7
The Music Studio 7 is an all-in-one unit that provides powerful 3.1.1 channel virtual surround sound with left, right, centre, and top-firing drivers along with a built-in subwoofer.
The Music Studio 7 supports Dolby Atmos signals and hi-res audio up to 24-bit and 96kHz sample rate.
Samsung showed off the Music Studio 7 as a stereo pair to provide a wider soundstage. That’s a good thing, because the unit is too small to provide realistic stereo separation on its own.
If you’re looking to use the Music Studio 7 as a Hi-Fi system for your TV, the best experience is to have two or more of them.
Samsung Music Studio 5
The Music Studio 5 is an even smaller, sleeker unit with an attractive rounded design. It features 2-channel audio from a 4-inch woofer and dual tweeters paired with a waveguide design that disperses audio evenly through your room.
It features virtual Dolby Atmos support and Samsung Audio Lab tuning to extract high quality audio from the minimal design.
The unit itself is designed to be seen. The Music Studio 5 is not much thicker than a typical picture frame and looks great on a shelf or a side table.
Technology
On the hardware side, both the Studio 5 and Studio 7 support connectivity over Wi-Fi, AirPlay, Google Cast, and Bluetooth. The Studio 7 additionally provides a HDMI port for easy connection to your TV.
The units are Q-Symphony compatible, so it’s easy to pair with your Samsung TV as an extra speaker to achieve a wider soundstage and richer, more directional audio.
Q-Symphony availability scales depending on your TV’s age – the technology supports one device for TVs from 2020-22, three devices for TVs from 2023-25, and five devices on current year models.
That means with current year TVs, you could pair four units together to form a surround sound setup with Q-Symphony letting your TV act as the central speaker.
It’s worth noting that connection options are much more limited with non-Samsung TVs. Wi-Fi or Bluetooth would be the best option where available.
Opinion
The Music Studio 5 and 7 are attractive speakers that provide a great option for those who don’t want a soundbar dominating the entertainment unit.
Each comes in either black or white and looks great in contemporary living spaces.
However, to get the best out of them for a TV setup, you’ll need to consider buying two – and to make that work you’ll need a newer Samsung model TV.
With the Music Studio 5 coming in at $499 and the Music Studio 7 coming in at $699, it’s a high-end proposition, but definitely a stylish one.
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