Samsung Music Frame Review – your secret sound to fill your room with music

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 9, but it released at 9 and you’ll find it now under 0 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 USD each to customise, plus postage.

Shipping was a staggering USD

And on conversion that’s 4.74 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