Samsung has shown off the two newest additions to its Music Studio lineup: a pair of WiFi-connected speakers that arguably focus as much on looks as audio.
Developed in partnership with French designer and artist Erwan Bouroullec, the focus on simple lines and circles is intended to help the speakers fade into your decor’s background, rather than stick out from it.
Whether or not this is the effect they’ll have will likely be up to the beholder, with the Studio 5 (pictured above) being particularly eye-catching. But they do at least match a promising trend Samsung began in 2017 with its Frame TVs and continued in 2024 with its Frame speaker: acknowledging tech and appliances should work when required, but needn’t constantly draw your eye when not.
The Music Studio 5 is the most visually distinct of the two, its circular frame more resembling a clock than a speaker. It’s also the cheaper option, launching in Australia for $499.
Looking over its specifications, the audio hardware isn’t much to write home about. There’s nothing alarming, either, and we’ll go over its compatibility with some fancy new Samsung features shortly. But given this stock standard hardware and the sharp deviation from long-established design standards, it’ll be interesting to see if the Studio 5 can back its unique form up with quality audio. Intriguing as its design may be, there’s a reason most speakers are essentially a rectangular box with a few holes cut in it: it works.
The Music Studio 7 (pictured above on the left) has a more familiar appearance, but the clean lines, metal casing and monochromatic palette still draw from the same design ethos as its sibling.
At $749, the Studio 7 is meant to be the heavy hitter of the pair. That's all well and good, just keep in mind you’ll need to buy at least two speakers if you want stereo sound, at which point the $250 price gap starts to add up.
Cutting through its various technical specs, the Studio 7 looks promising on paper and even has a dedicated centre channel for making dialogue clearer. This will mostly be a boon for people using the Studio 7 in a multi-speaker TV setup, but might also mean it’s part of a rare breed of wireless speaker that doesn’t forget to focus on mid-range sound frequencies, rather than throwing everything at bass. We can but hope.
Both speakers can connect via WiFi, Bluetooth 6.0, and optical cable, but only the Studio 7 has an HDMI port. Both support high-resolution audio up to 24-bit/96kHz and can act as one of up to five other speakers paired with Samsung’s Q-Series soundbar.
And then there’s Samsung’s auto-equalising bag of tricks.
Adaptive EQ
The Studio 5 and Studio 7 can both automatically adjust their sound profiles to suit their surroundings and context. This is done with a mixture of proprietary tech, namely SpaceFit Sound Pro, AI Dynamic Bass Control, and Active Voice Amplifier Pro.
The Studio 5 and Studio 7 each have a built-in mic, tuned to work with subsonic frequencies emitted the first time you activate the speaker each day. It analyses your room’s acoustics and auto-adjusts the audio balance, including bass, to match. In theory, you could move furniture about, face the speakers in a different direction, or swap them between rooms without changing how they sound.
It’s an interesting concept and could be one of those background quality-of-life features you love without ever realising it's there – particularly for renters. But whether it’s a game-changer or another lost bit of jargon will depend on the execution (and, for me at least, if custom equaliser settings get the same treatment).
The last bit of auto-enhanced wizardry is Active Voice Amplifier Pro, which detects when there’s too much background noise and adjusts dialogue volume and clarity in response. This is one feature home-bound cinephiles might appreciate, given how much of a problem it can still be getting decent audio balance out of streamed video and modern TV speakers.
Of course, Samsung slaps an “AI” label on top of all this, which begs the question if your speakers might hallucinate they’re in a grand hall and start blasting at max volume. But to be honest, most of it sounds like good, old-fashioned machine learning rather than modern AI, so with any luck, your fancy speaker tech will know how to stay in its lane.
There are plenty of streaming options in Australia these days – enough that it can be hard to keep track of. HBO Max has high-quality originals, Disney Plus does family movie night best, and Binge and Stan have plenty of homegrown content. But there are many more to choose from. Here's a quick look at what's on offer, along with the cost of each service's entry level plan:
|
AMC+ Bundle
TV7-day free trial
From
$8.99/mth
or $83.88/yr
|
|
Disney+
From
$9.99/mth
or $179.99/yr
|
|
Amazon Prime Video
TV + movies + more30-day free trial
From
$9.99/mth
or $79/yr
|
|
Netflix
From
$9.99/mth
|
|
Binge
TV + movies + sport7-day free trial
From
$10.00/mth
or $79/yr
|
|
Crunchyroll
TV + movies7-day free trial
From
$11.99/mth
or $119.99/yr
|
|
Apple TV
TV + movies7-day free trial
From
$15.99/mth
or $129/yr
|
|
Kayo Sports
Sport7-day free trial
From
$29.99/mth
|
|
DAZN
From
$31.99/mth
or $149.99/yr
|
|
Foxtel Now
TV + movies + sport10-day free trial
From
$35/mth
|
|
Paramount+
TV + movies + sport7-day free trial
From
$7.99/mth
or $70.99/yr
Link not supplied
|
|
Stan.
TV + movies + sport
From
$9.99/mth
Link not supplied
|
|
HBO Max
TV + movies
From
$11.99/mth
or $119.99yr
Link not supplied
|
|
BritBox
TV7-day free trial
From
$13.99/mth
or $139.99/yr
Link not supplied
|
|
MUBI
Movies7-day free trial
From
$14.99/mth
or $119.88/yr
Link not supplied
|
Alex Angove-Plumb
Digital Content Editor
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