Samsung HT-X715 review

Performance
We'll start with the weakest area for the Samsung. We tried a variety of music from a number of different sources, including an iPod, Nokia N95 via Bluetooth and directly from a reference music CD. We were never really convinced by the performance the X715 gave. The main issue was some fairly unconvincing low-end bass.

Luckily, the music performance is the only real chink in the Samsung's armour. Picture quality was excellent: our test DVDs looked truly brilliant and the lack of tweaking needed to enjoy them was also welcome.

For movie soundtracks, this system is very capable. We listened to material from both a DVD and an external Blu-ray player and we found everything we threw at it was handled with skill. It was quite rare that the system struggled. One of the Dolby surround-sound tests did give the subwoofer a problem, but that was the only time we were able to push the system too far.

Of course, the whole reason systems like this exist is to make life easy for people who want surround sound without too much fiddling. The good news is that the X715 doesn't require much configuration. You'll be able to get it up and running in as much time as it takes you to find somewhere to put all the speakers and run the cables back to the main unit.

The only problem we have with the simplicity is how much control it takes out of your hands. For example, we know this player upscales to 1080p, but we couldn't tell you with any certainty when it was doing so. It appears that the unit auto-detects the capability of the TV at start up and gives the user no choice at all about what mode they use. This could be annoying for more advanced users, but unlikely to present a huge problem.

Conclusion
The Samsung HT-X715 is a pretty good all-round system, but it's not without some flaws, especially for the music lover. Upscaling produced good results, though, and movies did look clear, crisp and colourful.

If you're looking for a credible alternative, LG has two decent systems in the LG HT902TB and the LG HT762TZ. We think the Samsung has better build quality than the LGs, but the subwoofer isn't as good as it should be.

Edited by Shannon Doubleday