The Samsung Odyssey Ark is the kind of monitor that at first glance looks like a television. With a proud size of 55 inches, a curved display and a brisk refresh rate of 165 Hertz, it should be perfect for gamers. We dared the test.
design & processing
The Samsung Odyssey Ark is big – so big that we had to set it up temporarily in the living room. There just wasn’t enough room on the stale desk. So the first tip right at the beginning: check the dimensions of your desk beforehand, before you realize afterwards that it doesn’t fit after all. The monitor is 117.48 x 110.2 x 37.9 cm. The desk should therefore also be sufficiently deep. Samsung recommends a viewing distance of 80 cm.
It is best to get a helping hand for the assembly. It can be quite difficult to do it alone. Not only because of its size, but also because of its weight. The Samsung Odyssey Ark weighs more than 40 kg. This is largely due to the massive base, which in turn ensures that the screen has a stable and secure footing.
From a purely visual point of view, the monitor makes a simple impression. The design is completely black and you will look in vain for eye-catching decorations. Honestly, you don’t need them at all. The size and curvature of the display are sufficient to turn the monitor into an eye-catcher.
If necessary, however, two narrow LED strips can be activated on the back. Various color and effect variants are available. The most exciting thing is the ability to adjust the lighting to the image on the display.
Materials and workmanship make a good impression and look quite appropriate for the price. The rotation of the display works smoothly, but more on that later. The edges are nice and narrow – this is also reminiscent of a modern television.
The connections
An unsightly cable chaos is avoided with the help of a practical trick. With the exception of a USB port and headphone output, all connection options have been moved to a separate connect box. As a rule, there is only a single cable hanging directly in the monitor, which can also be laid neatly through an integrated cable system.
All the rest is spread over the box. There are a total of four HDMI ports, two USB ports and a LAN port. The monitor also offers WiFi5 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. With the specially developed “Ark Dial”, a kind of control unit for the monitor, we can easily navigate through the menu and make the most important adjustments at the push of a button. Thanks to the integrated solar cell, there shouldn’t be any runtime problems either.
Versatile
An additional highlight of the monitor is the fact that the display can be rotated 90 degrees for use in portrait mode. The Samsung Odyssey Ark automatically switches back and forth between the different picture modes.
Since the gigantic screen offers quite a lot of space, it can also be divided into different areas if desired. Up to four different image sections are possible in landscape format and up to three in portrait format, which are placed either above or next to each other. In office mode, you can keep an eye on several documents at the same time or a gigantic table.
The monitor also offers the option of adjusting the picture format, for example to 32:9. The rest of the picture then simply remains black. In addition, the displayed image section can be reduced and positioned freely on the display. Unfortunately, only one HDMI source can be called up at a time via multi-view. Otherwise, the feature is limited to the internal apps.
Nice pic
The combination of 55-inch display and UHD resolution results in a pixel density of around 80 PPI. For better classification: a 27-inch monitor with Full HD resolution has a little more than 81 PPI. Accordingly, the image appears fundamentally sharp, but slight weaknesses are noticeable on closer inspection. Especially if you also want to use the monitor for work and have to spend a lot of time reading texts.
The comparably low pixel density is hardly noticeable when gaming. On the contrary, the panel’s rich colors and 1,000R curvature manage to create an impressive immersion. The monitor draws you into the gameplay.
The typical brightness is 600 cd/m², with a peak of up to 1,000 cd/m². Meanwhile, the Quantum Mini LEDs ensure an excellent contrast ratio. Particularly useful for playing HDR content.
Stunning size
With a refresh rate of 165 Hertz and a short response time, fans of typical e-sports titles will theoretically get their money’s worth. If there wasn’t a small, or rather big problem – the 55 inch screen.
If you like playing shooters, you know that you always have to keep an eye on everything that’s happening on the screen. However, if you then have to constantly turn your head from left to right to be able to see the edges of the screen, that’s rather counterproductive. What was impressive in atmospheric single-player games is suddenly annoying.
The panel also quickly appeared oversized when working. Of course, having an area equivalent to four 27-inch monitors sounds great. In our case, however, it was hardly ever used actively. It becomes completely absurd when you use the monitor in portrait format. Neck problems are almost inevitable.
Given the size, it would be obvious to use the Samsung Odyssey Ark not only as a monitor, but also as a TV. Thanks to HDMI 2.1, it is also perfect for the current generation of consoles. And the sound system is more than sufficient for that. But then the curvature of the display could be fatal. As soon as you look at the monitor from the side, which can hardly be avoided with several people in the living room, the image quality suffers significantly.
Conclusion
The Samsung Odyssey Ark is truly impressive. But after the first WOW effect is over, it fails in terms of practicality. Ultimately, it is a wild mixture of curved monitor and television, but it is not really convincing in either area.
| PRO | CONTRA |
| High quality | Limited multi view |
| Practical Connect Box | Absurd cockpit mode |
| Impressive immersion | No DisplayPort / USB-C |
| Beautiful colors | high price |
| Excellent contrasts | |
| Very good speakers |
In most applications, 55 inches is simply too big for a monitor. It doesn’t help that the colors and contrasts are excellent. In the TV area, on the other hand, you can get better devices with OLED panels for less money. This identity crisis is the real weakness of the Samsung Odyssey Ark – technically, however, there is hardly anything to complain about.