When my son walked into the office last night he asked “what’s with the photo frame?” knowing full well that generic standard photos and art isn’t my thing – he knew it was a gadget of some sort.

So then I fired up Spotify and watched his eyes open wide as crisp clear music started coming from the Samsung Music Frame.

Positioned here on my coffee table, facing my workstation – probably not your ideal or normal position, but in my testing, I just wanted to fill my room with sound.

Normally, you’d see this placed on a shelf, entertainment unit, or even wall mounted.

Critically too, you could wall mount two of them – one either side of your TV.

Because this is more than just a speaker. If you’re in the Samsung ecosystem this frame or several of them can be part of your Q-Symphony sound system which combines the TV output with external devices like the Music Frame or a soundbar.

Setup of the Samsung Music Frame is easy using the Samsung SmartThings app and you’re up and running in no time.

Streaming to the Music Frame is also a breeze because you can use either Chromecast or Airplay to the unit from your smartphone music app directly.

I found the sound to be genuinely room-filling. I think if I was to be critical I feel like it lacks a certain clarity – it’s not that it is a muffled sound as I may have expected given the large plastic image holder that sits in front of the speaker, I think it’s just that it’s designed to push sound around and less direct.

Pumping the volume right up there’s no distortion of the bass or trebel just a strong all-round sound.

Controlling the volume is done in the SmartThings app, or via the physical touch buttons on the side. Because the buttons are a touch sensitive surface not a physical moving button you do need to keep an ear out for the subtle beep that indicates a volume change, and getting to a lower level is better done by press and holding the volume down button I’ve found.

It’s a fantastic idea for a product. I doubted it at launch when I was told the price-tag was $749, but it released at $699 and you’ll find it now under $500 which I think is a more suitable price.

I have found it soothing to have music in the room over the last few weeks, instead of putting the TV on in the background I can find my favourite playlist and let the music do the work.

It sits 38cm of the base and is 35cm wide, so you do need a bit of space for it which might prove challenging for some. Wall mounting is a serious option – the Samsung Music Frame comes with a “one connect” like single cable that’s just over 2m long before the power brick. So you’re going to either have to put up with a cable on the wall or run it through the wall cavity for the best look on the wall – worth it I reckon.

The Samsung Music Frame comes with a face-plate that is made to hold a photo or image of your own. The backing holds an 8×10″ image, though only the centre square will show outwardly.

Alternatively you can get an entire new front plate printed for you.

I decided to take this photo:

And get it printed as a face-plate for my Samsung Music Frame.

It hasn’t arrived yet, but here’s how it’s done.

You head to Marpple – a website that offers a range of printing and printed products. I had to spend a fair amount of time working this out – There’s no paperwork inside the box of the Samsung Music Frame which tells me where to go, or even that’s it’s possible to order a unique face-plate.

They are $46USD each to customise, plus postage.

Shipping was a staggering $44 USD

And on conversion that’s $144.74 at the time I made the order.

Marpple only accepted PayPal (or AliPay) which was frustrating, but I got it done.

I do think that’s worth it if you have a print or photo you love – but at the same time, just getting an 8×10 print done at Officeworks is probably the smarter move for highlighting your photo on the Samsung Music Frame.

When this was announced I really thought this was a digital screen, like the Frame TV, but it’s most certainly not. And I’m finally at ease with that.

The Samsung Music Frame is a fantastic way to bring sound to a room without having to put a speaker in a room. Simple as that. No one will know, you’ll fool everyone.

If you own a Samsung Frame TV – this might be the perfect way to enhance your sound without having to place a large black soundbar on the wall or entertainment unit, why not keep the Art theme going?

But on it’s own, the Samsung Music Frame is a cracking way to entertain without the overt placement of a “speaker” in the room.

Web: Samsung