If you’re looking to upgrade your speaker but don’t want something clunky taking up space, Samsung’s Music Frame, which is a music speaker that doubles as artwork, might be just the thing for you.

Why Samsung’s New Music Frame Is a Game Changer

On the fence about purchasing Samsung’s new Music Frame? Here’s why I think it’s a winner…

1. Innovative Form Factor

Samsung’s Music Frame is really quite original. While you can compare it to Ikea-Sonos’ Symfonisk frame speaker, there aren’t too many speakers that look like the Music Frame.

It has a fairly minimal design, with a black frame, a white matte interior, and a centrally mounted photo. Although this might seem a little basic to some people, I, personally, really enjoy its simplicity. Samsung has announced that it will sell white bezels separately, starting in the summer of 2024. So, if you like a more vibrant aesthetic, be sure to check out the other bezel colors.

The photo frame measures 12.9” x 12.9” and can be wall-mounted or placed on a stand. While, from afar, it looks like a regular photo frame, you’ll notice it’s a lot thicker on closer inspection. It also lends itself to customization pretty well, given that you can purchase art prints of varied sizes online.

If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly way to customize the Music Frame, you can just print out your own artwork or photograph and pop it into the Frame.

2. Superior Sound Technology

While its design is impressive, where the Music Frame truly excels is its sound quality. It’s designed with two tweeters, two subwoofers, and two mid-range drivers — located under the 8” photo insert and at the back.

The output is clear, even at loud volumes, and it won’t have much trouble filling up most rooms with crystal-clear audio. A single speaker works impressively, but you can use a pair to create a slightly more balanced output.

The Frame is also integrated with Dolby Atmos, which helps create a better and more multidimensional sound output. Dolby Atmos integration is important to me when I invest in a smart speaker, so seeing it included in the Music Frame makes this device all the more appealing to me.

3. Enhanced Connectivity

The Samsung Music Frame allows you to wirelessly stream music and other audio content, via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity. There’s also support for Apple’s Airplay 2, Alexa, Chromecast, and other similar voice assistants and smart services.

With a 2024 Samsung TV, you can even sync the TV’s speakers to the Music Frame via Q-Symphony. This helps optimize all the audio channels, so you’re able to enjoy a surround sound-like experience, with just your Samsung TV and the Music Frame.

Additionally, if you own a Samsung phone (with Android 8.1 or above), you can simply tap the Music Frame with your phone to start listening to your favorite music. This requires you to set up the SmartThings app, which might seem like an extra step, but is actually pretty useful, given that you can control not just the Music Frame, but also other smart home appliances.

4. Adaptive Sound Technology

Samsung’s Adaptive Sound technology allows you to hear streamed audio better, even at moderate volume levels. To do this, the tech analyzes the audio and your environment in real-time and optimizes the audio to emphasize the most important parts.

This way, you won’t have to worry about missing anything. This is a feature I’m particularly excited about, because with my current audio setup, I have to constantly adjust the volume based on my surroundings.

How Does the Product Stack Up Against the Competition?

The Samsung Music Frame is truly one-of-a-kind, so comparing it with other products can get tricky. In terms of the design, when compared to the Ikea/Sonos’ Symonisk wall art speaker, the Music Frame blends in better with your surroundings and is actually customizable (given that you can use your own photo prints), as opposed to the Symonisk’s minimal black/white and gray artwork.

What’s more, the Music Frame is also more compact, which helps it blend into the surroundings a little better. In terms of audio quality, the Music Frame can easily rival the Era 300 and Apple HomePod, given that it produces really strong audio and is integrated with Dolby Atmos.

One of the downsides that can be hard to look past for some, especially given that the Music Frame is advertised as something that can double up as wall art, is the silver cable that dangles from the bottom. If you purchase the Music Frame, you may want to use a cable management solution or route the cable behind your existing artwork or furniture to keep it hidden.

Another potential downside of Samsung’s Music Frame is its price, and if you decide to buy two Music Frames to create a more balanced audio set-up, the cost becomes all the more prohibitive. You can purchase the Music Frame through Samsung’s website or BestBuy for $399.99.

Does the Samsung Music Frame Make a Good Buy?

The Music Frame is undeniably good-looking (minus the cable, of course), sounds pretty good, and the adaptive sound tech can be really useful. So, for a speaker, it ticks all the boxes.

That said, if you’re on a budget, this might not be the best option for you, given that there are other speakers that have similar capabilities, but are priced more affordably. Also, even if you’re really into the minimalist aesthetic, you might be more happy with a more discrete, compact speaker that sounds good and actually blends into the background because it’s so small, as opposed to having a large music-speaker-wall-art installation that’s hard to ignore.

Still, if you’re purchasing this device for its novelty or purely for how it sounds, you won’t be disappointed.