Samsung Music Frame review: Bordering on greatness

Samsung's Frame TVs don't hog the headlines in the same way that the company's QLED and Neo QLED models tend to, but it's telling that the popular line of lifestyle TVs has stuck around. Look past the novelty and you'll find the underlying truth. It's no coincidence that TCL, Hisense and others have rushed to play copycat. TVs aren't one size fits all and a lot of people like the idea of tech that can complement their aesthetic rather than define it.

Now, Samsung is looking to extend that formula into the world of wireless audio with the Samsung Music Frame. It's got the same idea, a simple design, some pretty decent acoustic hardware and a handful of hooks that add extra value for those already in the Samsung ecosystem. That combination adds up to a pretty exciting sum total, even if it is haunted by a few first-generation fumbles.

In Australia, the Samsung Music Frame starts at $699. That's pretty expensive, though there's not exactly many ready alternatives waiting in the wings. Fortunately, you can usually find it for less if you look around. Check out the table below for the best deals for the Samsung Music Frame in Australia.

The Music Frame's greatest strength is in its simplicity. You take it out of the box and you're only a stand and power cable from listening to music from it. Naturally, the speaker comes with a wall mounting kit but the slide-on stand that the unit ships with is more than sturdy enough if you're looking to leave it set up on a desk, shelf or alcove.

The font side of the Music Frame very much lives up to its name. It looks like a square-shaped canvas print. Pricing aside, there are a fair few similarities between the Music Frame and IKEA's Symfonisk Picture Frame. Where the latter only supports larger pieces, the former is designed to play nice with art measuring 8 by 10 inches. Swapping out the art inside the Music Frame is as simple as pulling upwards on the frame, undoing a few clicks and then reversing the procedure.

That said, it's easy to see how Samsung could leverage its domain authority in display tech to push the concept further than its Swedish counterpart. While the first-generation version of the Music Frame is designed for physical art, a follow-up featuring a screen akin to the one found in the Frame TV doesn't feel like a stretch.  

In any case, the back side of the Music Frame is where you'll find the power port and an optical input for those who want to keep it old-school. The wire that powers the Music Frame is silver, so it blends into the background better than a black cable might.

There's also a slot for Samsung's SmartThings dongle if you want to integrate the speaker into a smart home setup. Even if you don't though, Samsung has ticked a lot of boxes here. The Music Frame supports both Chromecast, Spotify Connect, AirPlay and Bluetooth 5.2.

While the Music Frame can be set up and used as a standalone unit, a pair can also be used as a stereo pair when teamed up with a compatible Samsung smart TV through Samsung's Q-Symphony feature in the same way that one of the company's soundbars can.

Under the hood, the Samsung Music Frame is powered by a pair of tweeters, two woofers and mid-range drivers. That's a lot more hardware than what the Symfnisk has going on and if you were to sit the two side-by-side that difference would be easy to hear.

Where the latter feels like a decent speaker that's been crammed into a stylish picture frame, this feels like the polar opposite. It's a great speaker that's been crammed into a form factor that could generously be called inoffensive.

As far as wall-mounted tech goes, the Music Frame is concerning heavy. Fortunately, by the standards of consumer-grade audio gear, it sounds terrific. Even if it doesn't necessarily compete on sheer volume by its unique size and shape, the Music Frame sounds more than loud enough. Within the confines of my study, I found it more-or-less deafening at around 60% of the maximum volume.

Samsung has reused its SpaceFitSound Pro feature from its TVs. This optimises sound output based on the size of the room it is located in, which is a great inclusion for a speaker that's being pitched with a degree of versatility. Safe to say, the speaker proved more than up to the task of filling my apartment with vibrant and spacious sound.

If I was approaching this as an alternative to throwing a Sonos in the corner of a room, I wouldn't be disappointed. Likewise, the easy integration within a Samsung TV setup is a solid value add if you're already invested in that particular home entertainment hardware ecosystem.

More than anything else, simplicity is the draw-card here. I really like that Samsung hasn't complicated the core idea of the Music Frame more than necessary. Yes, you've got traditional wired inputs for those who prefer fidelity. However, you've also got support for all major wireless audio standards for those who just want convenience.

While you can manage the MusicFrame via SmartThings, you don't have to. There's additional functionality that's there if you need it, but it never gets in the way. That said, it stinks that important settings for the speaker (such as equalisers and sound profiles) are contained within the app, which will require you to create or log into a Samsung account to use.

For those using the Music Frame purely for music, the ability to tap and stream sound is another neat inclusion. This feature works more or less as you'd expect, though, like many of the aspects of the products related to SmartThings, it's only available to those using select Samsung devices. In addition, I found Tap & Play to be pretty unreliable in practice. More often than not, the Music Frame couldn't seem to sense my phone and you don't feel all that smart when you're waving your smartphone around like you're trying to get a better cell signal.