Does the concept lead to the ultimate experience for immersion whether its for gaming, entertainment, or productivity?
Whats in a Name (and the Box)?
The Odyssey part of the moniker has been lent to other gaming-centric monitors in Samsungs lineup.
An evocation of a fabled adventure, tethering you to fantastical gaming possibilities.
Ok, Ill buy the marketing.
Out next are the two tools to navigate this Ark.
Second is the Ark Remote a plastic 6.5" x 1.5" remote that seems to clash aesthetically.
But at first glance, you wouldnt know they were for the same unit.
But more on that later.
A solar cell on the back of the remote accompanies the eco-friendly charging route.
Part two of the packaging starts with the Ark display stand.
Like the Ark Dial, industrial design seems to be the theme of the Odyssey Ark.
And it runs Samsung’s Tizen OS for its connected features and the built-in Smart Hub.
The stands smooth plastic backing doesnt afford much grip.
In all, assembly took about 20 minutes.
To be honest, it stunned me more than the display itself.
Samsung calls it Sound Dome technology.
It consists of four corner speakers and two central subwoofers that produce a 60W 2.2.2 channels of sound.
It’s incredibleand all I was listening to was the setup screen music.
Fortunately, its easy.
Depress two specific buttons on either remote for more than four seconds, and youre connected.
The displays aggressive 1000R curve certainly brings you right into the experience.
We flipped the gadget into cockpit mode briefly.
The ease at which the gadget rotated was fantastic.
You pull the display up to its top height before rotating the Ark to either the left or right.
It feels right to give users the choice of which direction they would want to turn the machine.
It was pure enjoyment.
But when the new must become the routine, things change.
And thats when things got a bit rocky (as I suppose every Odyssey must?)
To start, only the Ark Remote can control the volume of the gadget.
The Ark Dial has no volume control capabilities.
What it does have is quick access to the Ark Dial Menu with the press of a button.
Rotate the dial to choose the configs you want to dive into.
There is some input lag over time, and you may find yourself getting annoyed with the lag.
The Ark remote on the other hand doesnt seem to have this issue.
The Ark Remote has dedicated buttons to built-in streaming apps available in the Smart Hub.
Then once you select a display, the Dial acts as a content contextual controller.
However the limitation of stacking whatever content you want on screen also presents itself with multiple HDMI inputs.
Adding built-in Samsung apps to MultiView isnt an issue but it is a limitation that severely disappoints.
The point of a one-monitor solution is to free up the need for multiple displays.
So what does this leave you with for productivity in MultiView?
Here again is again why I say using the Odyssey Ark is best in twos.
This is when I found myself being most productive.
The same goes for streaming movies.
Windows 10 presents some scaling quirks, as it recommends scaling the display to 300%.
Not only is this ugly but takes away the point of having such a large display.
Closing the tab from another Firefox window and reloading was the only way to bring back the lost tabs.
A highly accurate and responsive alternative to Philips Ambilight TV this is not.
After fiddling with the picture tweaks, I found myself sticking primarily to what Samsung calls Filmmaker Mode.
Its good to see the level of detailed options an expert can play with.
For my preference, turning it all off felt best.
The most my nVidia GeForce 1060 GTX could muster was 30FPS sadly, but VRR was activated.
A Samsung rep told me that for best results an nVidia GeForce RTX 3080 would be ideal.
All Aboard the Ark?
The Samsung Odyssey Arks key issue for me is its not enough to just be a standalone Ark.
That sound quality though?
Thats something Ill deeply miss.
My hesitation about the Samsung Odyssey Ark is first and foremost the price tag.
