The 7 Best 55-Inch TVs - Spring 2023 Reviews

The Samsung S95B OLED is the best TV we've tested that's available in a 55-inch size. It's a premium TV that delivers fantastic overall picture quality and has a huge selection of smart features that are sure to please anyone. It's fantastic for gaming, thanks to its four HDMI 2.1 inputs, meaning you can take full advantage of the new-gen consoles, like the Xbox Series X and the PS5. The built-in Tizen OS is simple and easy to use and has a great selection of streaming apps.

It's a fantastic choice for watching the latest HDR content in the dark. It has impressive peak brightness in HDR, delivering a bright, impactful image that respects the content creator's intent. It's been replaced in 2023 by the Samsung S95C OLED, which delivers similar overall picture quality but a refined design and an external Slim One Connect box for a sleeker, cleaner install. The launch price of the S95C is significantly higher than the current price of the S95B, so until the price comes down, the older model is the better buy.

If you want the absolute best home theater experience possible, then the Sony A95K OLED is a better choice than the Samsung S95B OLED. It's significantly more expensive, but it has much wider format support for home theater setups, including support for Dolby Vision HDR, which is more widely supported than Samsung's HDR10+ format, ensuring you'll get the best HDR experience possible from almost any source. It also respects the content creator's intent better than the Samsung TV, so the overall brightness and colors in HDR look how they were supposed to look.

Although both models support eARC audio passthrough, only the Sony supports advanced DTS and DTS:X audio formats. DTS is the most common format used for Blu-ray and 4k UHD Blu-rays, so this capability is especially important if you still prefer physical media and want the best sound possible. It delivers similar picture quality to the Samsung, though, as they're based on the same panel, so they're both amazing choices for a dark room.

If you're not in a completely dark room, a brighter LED TV like the Samsung QN90B QLED is a better choice than the Samsung S95B OLED. This TV delivers excellent picture quality, with very deep blacks, thanks to its Mini LED local dimming feature, which improves the appearance of dark scenes and brings out bright highlights. It makes it a worse choice for a dark room, as there's some distracting blooming around bright highlights in dark scenes. However, it's better than the S95B and the Sony A95K OLED, thanks to its high peak brightness and superb reflection handling, so glare isn't an issue.

It's a great TV for pretty much any use. It has a great selection of gaming features, including HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four HDMI inputs, meaning you can enjoy 4k @ 120Hz gaming from the new-gen consoles or a recent PC graphics card. It also supports Xbox Cloud Gaming, so you can enjoy some of the latest Xbox hits without investing in an expensive console. Like the S95B, it runs Samsung's proprietary Tizen OS interface, which is fairly easy to use and has a great selection of streaming apps.

The best 55-inch mid-range TV is the LG C2 OLED. Like the top two TVs on this list, it's a premium TV with an OLED panel that delivers stunning picture quality, especially in dark rooms. OLEDs are unique because they can turn individual pixels off, resulting in a near-infinite contrast ratio for perfect blacks in dark rooms, and there isn't any blooming around bright objects either. It also has a wide viewing angle that makes the image remain consistent from the side, which is ideal if you have a wide seating area as everyone sees the same thing.

Its fantastic reflection handling and good SDR peak brightness make it a good choice if you want to use it in a well-lit room. It has decent HDR peak brightness that makes small highlights stand out and respects the content creator's intent. Unfortunately, it uses an older type of OLED panel than the Samsung S95B OLED and the Sony A95K OLED, so colors aren't as bright and vibrant overall, but they still look good.

If you want high-end performance but don't want to spend high-end prices, check out the Hisense U8H. It's significantly cheaper than the LG C2 OLED but delivers impressive picture quality. It has a great Mini LED backlight, letting it deliver incredibly bright highlights and deep blacks simultaneously, with barely any blooming around bright objects in dark scenes. HDR content looks incredible, and like the Sony A95K OLED, it supports Dolby Vision for the best HDR experience possible.

Blacks aren't quite as deep and inky as the C2, and it has a much worse viewing angle, so it's not as versatile. It runs the Google TV interface, which is fast and easy to use, and it has a great selection of streaming features, so you're sure to find your favorite shows. It's great for gaming thanks to its two HDMI 2.1 bandwidth ports, which are great for 4k @ 120Hz gaming on the Xbox Series X or PS5 consoles.

The TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED is a great choice if you're looking for something on a budget. It's a great TV for the price, with surprisingly good picture quality. It looks great in a dark room thanks to its superb contrast and decent full array local dimming feature, so dark scenes look amazing, with very little blooming around bright areas of the screen. It's just as good in a bright room, thanks to its great peak brightness in SDR and decent reflection handling, so you don't have to worry about glare.

It's a great TV for gaming, as it has superb low input lag and variable refresh rate support, so the action on-screen is in-sync with your actions on the controller, and there's very little screen tearing. Unlike the Hisense U8H, it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, which is a bit disappointing for new-gen gamers, but it's still great for visually-intensive games that target 4k @ 60Hz in their 'Graphics' mode.

If you want a basic TV and don't want to spend very much, the Hisense A6H is the best cheap TV we've tested that's available in a 55-inch size. As expected for the price, it's a simple TV with limited picture quality and few extra features, but it's a great choice for an office or guest bedroom. Like the Hisense U8H, it runs the Google TV interface, with a huge selection of streaming apps available. It has a wide viewing angle, which is great if you watch TV while walking around, as the image remains consistent when viewed from the sides.

Unfortunately, unlike the other TVs on this list, it's not a good choice for a dark room. It has a low contrast ratio, and by going with a cheap TV, you're losing out on advanced features like local dimming to improve the appearance of dark scenes. It also can't display a wide color gamut, so although it supports Dolby Vision HDR, it's not a good choice for watching movies in HDR in a dark room, as dark scenes are distracting due to the raised blacks.