Samsung 2021 AU9000 Crystal Review

Samsungs 2021 AU9000 Crystal 4K is a pretty awesome TV that offers a range of specs and features at an affordable price. We have put it to the test in this review and inspected its display, audio, design, smart features and gaming capabilities, so read ahead to find out more about our experience with this TV.

Unboxing and setup on the Samsung AU9000

Removing the TV from the box was really easy. Although it is large in size, I just had to cut the securing tape and plastic and then the box easily slid off.

Inside the box, there was the instructions, power cable, universal remotes, a decorative cover and two stand legs. 

The stand comes with 4 screws that slot in and tighten effortlessly. Though the power cable was slightly short and fitting the wires into the tidy slots is a little fiddly, it was completely worth it as the end result looked both clean and smart. 

Design

This TV has a super minimalistic design, making it a sleek addition to any room. The bezel around the edge is so thin that it’s almost invisible, giving that beautiful full-screen effect when watching movies and gaming. I used the stand, but you can see how this can be easily wall-mounted to sit flush on the wall. 

A real staple on this Samsung TV is the built-in cable tidy which helps to keep the space around the TV looking super neat. It’s nice to see an affordable TV utilising the no cable design, as it allowed me to get the same sleek look that comes with the higher-end TV models. 

On the back, there are an array of ports for connecting multiple consoles, hard drives, computers and TV boxes. We have USB’s, x3 2.0 HDMIs with one eARC, an ethernet port, an AV connection and a common interface slot. 

Display

The Samsung AU9000 comes in 5 sizes, ranging from 43” to 75”, opening up the possibilities of fitting this brilliant entertainment system into any size home. 

In terms of display quality, the AU9000 boasts a Dynamic Crystal Clear colour 4K picture. I could clearly see the rich, vibrant colours which made everything I watched seem life-like and realistic. 

I could even see the Crystal 4K processor at work here, as no matter what I put on to watch, it upscaled the quality to give excellent visuals. I was surprised at the speed of upscaling at work here as when watching older movies, I could almost instantly see content with increased sharpness and clarity.

On top of all this, I loved the complete HDR display powered by HDR10+, which enabled movies to look absolutely brilliant as this tech offers the finest detail, adjusting to the truest brights and darks in every scene.

This TV worked well in both low light conditions and in the day, as it was easy to see dark TV and movie scenes with little trouble on brighter days.

Sound

The AU9000 has some interesting sound features. Utilising the Object tracking sound LITE AI technology, it simulates sounds to deliver 3D audio effects that truly bring a cinema experience into the room. I was amazed at how Samsung has worked a powerful sound system into such a slim device. 

For regular viewing, I didn’t necessarily need any additional speakers to get a rich sound quality. Though if you do go down the soundbar route, Samsung has a trick up their sleeve by integrating a special syncing feature to ensure the TV works in perfect harmony with other Samsung tech.

If you ever find yourself changing the sound settings for everything you watch, you may be interested in the adaptive sound feature on this TV. It automatically adjusts to whatever you’re watching, from levelling the audio on your game to enhancing the crisp layers of audio on the latest films for the optimum volume levels. 

Smart Features

The AU9000 has some great built-in smart features for keeping you connected across all platforms. 

It is easy to reduce the number of gadgets around the home when you have everything you need on your display, from multiple voice assistants to control your smart home to the Samsung TV Plus that offers all the latest on demand content. Samsung also boast one of the largest selections of apps, from Netflix to Disney Plus, allowing you to effortlessly switch between subscriptions without relying on consoles and TV boxes for all of your favourite shows and movies. 

If you’re one of the many working from home, you don’t need to tether yourself to the limited screen space of a laptop or desktop. I found having the freedom to connect my PC, keyboard and mouse remotely to this large TV extremely helpful as it allowed me to sit comfortably and see my workload clearly. 

Choosing between your phone and TV screen is no longer an issue with some of the handy mirroring features you’ll find on this new model. Of course, it comes with the usual mirroring capabilities that allow you to project your compatible Samsung phone screen directly onto the TV, but now you can go that one step further with the MultiScreen Feature. Splitting the display into the phone screen and TV screen, I was able to check stats, news or anything relating to the show I’m currently watching without missing the action on screen. Though I did find that this feature only really works with a Samsung phone, you can easily cast other phones onto the screen using the mirroring or airplay features.

Gaming

Of course, Samsung has considered the gamers out there by adding in some helpful gaming features to help give the upper hand against your competitors. I just had to set the TV to game mode and it found my consoles, automatically syncing with the TV to work harmoniously.

The Gameview feature offered a 32:9 screen ratio which gave a wider field of view, making it perfect for catching your opponents before they catch you. On top of this, the GameBar was ideal for switching settings quickly without needing to leave the game. 

All gamers suffer from lag at one time or another, but this TV was pretty good at reducing input lag thanks to Auto Low Latency Mode. Alongside this, the Motion Xcelerator Turbo feature delivered a high refresh rate of 120hz to reduce motion blur, allowing for a smooth overall gaming experience. 

I hardly found any issues between playing high and low-performance games, as I had plenty of options to alter the settings throughout play. I felt that the additional gaming features helped me to easily tune the display and performance in a way that was comfortable for me. 

Verdict

After seeing all that this TV has to offer, I was impressed with all the modern tech that’s packed into this super slim entertainment system. Although it’s not the cheapest range on the market, it does sit at an affordable price when considering the innovative specs and features it possesses. For me, having a TV that adapts to everything you watch to bring the highest quality really makes it worth the money. 

The colours were bright, the picture was smooth and I loved being able to stay connected effortlessly without the need for lots of wires and external devices. Of course, this TV works best with accompanying Samsung branded devices, but I found it also worked well with an iPhone and played games directly from my console with ease. 

That sums up our review of the 2021 Samsung AU9000 Crystal TV, we hope you have found this helpful. For more reviews on the latest tech, check out our Box Blogs or Youtube channel.