Latest from What Hi-Fi? in Bravia

Three things I liked about the Sony's soundbar and subwoofer combo – and two challenges it faces

robyn.quick@futurenet.com (Robyn Quick) — Tue, 05 May 2026 14:23:19 +0000

Over the years, tech giant Sony has delivered its fair share of five-star soundbars. From the wallet-friendly Sony HT-SF150 to the more premium Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9 (which holds a spot in our best soundbars guide), the brand has plenty to offer.

So it was with high hopes that we came to review one of its latest offerings: the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 7 + S. This is a soundbar and subwoofer combo that comes in at £799 / $1100 (around AU$1510).

While you can buy the soundbar on its own, we recommend spending a little extra for the combined package (for reasons you will understand soon).

The two products deliver a 5.1.2-channel configuration, and offer both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support.

But what did we learn from our hours of listening to the soundbar package in our dedicated test room? Well, spoiler alert, but it’s an absolute delight that spices up our listening experience for both music and movies. Let’s take a look at what makes it so great and the two challenges it faces.

Convincing Dolby Atmos presentation

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The least we expect from a soundbar is that it outperforms the majority of TV speakers in terms of dialogue clarity and immersion. The Sony system delivers on this and then some.

Vocals are clear yet emotive, and should be a welcome addition for those struggling to catch every word of dialogue.

But one of the most impressive aspects of the Sony package is its immersive and convincing Dolby Atmos effects. This is prevalent when watching Top Gun Maverick where the soundbar stretches the height effects above the TV screen as a jet soars into the atmosphere.

There’s a good level of precision with the plane, as you can pinpoint its position from the audio alone as it moves through the sky.

This impressive display continues with the width of the soundstage, as Tom Cruise whizzes across the desert from the right side of the screen to the left on his trusty motorcycle. We say in the review: “You can hear the bike move across the space in a way that matches the movement on the screen.”

That all creates an immersive experience that makes for fun viewing. It doesn’t create the full dome of Atmos sound, but that is a near-impossible task for a soundbar at this price.

Tight, precise bass

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Another aspect that adds to the sense of energy is the well-handled bass from the subwoofer.

When we first plug in the package without any adjustments, we find, in our test room, that the bass is slightly lacking. So we crank it up from the default 0 to 2 via the Bravia Connect app; and we are now treated to a balanced but punchy bass.

The lower frequencies never stand out as abrupt or overzealous, however, and everything is kept in check with the rest of the sound.

We listen to the soundbar on its own and, although it still offers clear vocals and convincing surround sound, it is missing the extra zap of energy that makes the combination such a winner. The sub and soundbar sound as though they are tuned to work together, which is why we dub the overall system a “match made in heaven” in our review.

Neat design

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

While the sound quality is of course our main concern, it would be naive to think that looks do not play a part. After all, this set-up needs to blend into your viewing space with enough room to fit just under your TV screen.

The Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 7 + S ticks both of these boxes in our test room, offering a sleek design that is hard to fault. The front of the bar is covered with a cloth grille that gives it a stylish look.

On top of that, the soundbar measures 95cm wide and just 6cm high, so it fits neatly under our 55-inch TV screen.

The subwoofer measures 36 x 35 x 13cm (hwd) so can neatly and fairly discreetly be tucked next to your TV stand.

There is also an extra element of flexibility that comes with the subwoofer. You can use it in two different positions, with the grille facing either the listener or the side of the room. We try it in each configuration, but there is not much of a difference in presentation. It ultimately depends on what arrangement works for you.

No display

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Despite the practical design, there is a key aspect missing that we are a little disappointed not to see.

You will not find a display on the soundbar, and there are no physical buttons either. That makes it tricky to navigate the settings without the accompanying Bravia Connect app.

There is still a small remote control, which lets you control the power, input, bass levels, volume and turn on Night mode. But that lack of display makes it hard to decipher whether it has registered your adjustments via the app or the remote control.

Up against a big competitor

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The Sony soundbar manages to deliver a five-star performance, but it is up against tough competition. This comes in the form of the indomitable Sonos Arc Ultra, a single bar that scored a What Hi-Fi? Award last year and holds the title of the best soundbar overall in our guide.

It is more expensive than the Sony system, costing £999 / $999 / AU$1799, but it is still a top challenger to the new entrant.

The Sonos Arc Ultra blew us away when we had it in our test room, delivering spacious and three-dimensional sound as well as a deep, tuneful bass.

We put the two soundbars head to head and find in our review: “The Sonos offers a richer overall sound with warmer vocals that have more character than the Sony. But the Bravia Theatre Bar 7 and subwoofer combo delivers a more precise sound that feels more agile in comparison.”

Their different designs are also worth taking into account. The Sonos model is considerably larger than its rival (7.5 x 118 x 11cm versus the Sony’s 6.4 x 95 x 13cm). That means the Bar 7 might well be a better fit for smaller living spaces.

Both bars are top performers, but the Arc Ultra just manages to edge its rival, thanks to its more characterful audio. If your budget cannot stretch to the Arc Ultra, though, the Sony subwoofer and soundbar combo is a great option for less money.

MORE:

Read our full review of the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 7 + S

Check out the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

Here is our Sonos Arc Ultra review

Sony Bravia 3 vs Sony Bravia 5: which is the best value Sony TV?

Verity Burns — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 17:33:43 +0000

Sony

Bravia 3

Screen size 65 inches (also available in 43, 50, 55, 65, 75 and 85 inches)
Type LCD
Backlight Direct LED (no local dimming)
Resolution 4K
HDR formats HLG, HDR10, Dolby Vision
Operating system Google TV
HDMI inputs 4
Gaming features 4K/60Hz, ALLM
Input lag 13.2ms at 60Hz
ARC/eARC eARC
Optical output? Yes
Dimensions (hwd, without stand) 84 x 145 x 7.2cm

The Bravia 3 is among some very tough competition at this price, and while it handles some picture and sound aspects well, its poor handling of dark content and lacklustre gaming specs can’t be overlooked

Pros

Warm and natural colours
Impressive motion processing
Dynamic and spacious built-in sound

Cons

Poor black levels
60Hz panel won’t appeal to gamers
Expensive for its feature set

Sony

Bravia 5

Screen size 65 inches (also available in 55, 75, 85 and 98 inches)
Type LCD (VA)
Backlight Mini LED (240 dimming zones)
Resolution 4K
HDR formats HLG, HDR10, Dolby Vision
Operating system Google TV
HDMI inputs 4 (x 2 48Gbps HDMI 2.1)
Gaming features 4K/120Hz, VRR, ALLM, Dolby Vision game mode
Input lag 13.3ms at 60Hz
ARC/eARC eARC
Optical output? Yes
Dimensions (hwd, without stand) 83 x 145 x 5.8cm

It's significantly more expensive than the Bravia 3, but the Bravia 5 is absolutely worth the extra money, delivering a healthy dose of that premium Sony TV experience at a well-below-flagship price

Pros

Excellent backlight control
Vibrant but still natural and nuanced colour
Great value for money

Cons

Backlight clouding when viewed from an angle
Occasional colour slips
Non-Sony rivals offer more gaming features

If you’ve been eyeing up the Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II for your next TV, but don’t have the budget to stretch to it, taking a look at the other models in the Sony range might feel like a good starting point.

There’s always the hope that the more affordable models have retained some of the flagship greatness at a lower price – but at the very least, that they’ve strived for the same goals when it comes to getting the best picture performance bang for your buck.

However, despite their similar naming conventions, the Bravia 5 and the Bravia 3 are not only completely different panel types to the OLED-packing Bravia 8 II, but also different from each other – so it’s important to step with caution.

While our star rating is always a great indicator of the products we recommend, when you’re comparing two models at quite different prices, it’s good to understand what the differences are between them, and what you’re getting for the extra outlay. Allow us to explain all.

Sony Bravia 3 vs Bravia 5: pricing

Right now, you can pick up the 65-inch Bravia 5 that we tested for around £1299 / $1000 / AU$2695. That’s not a bad price at all for a Sony-branded Mini LED TV with local dimming, and a nice saving from the launch price of £1699 in the UK.

The Bravia 3 is considerably cheaper, and at the time of writing is available for around £849 / $650 / AU$1399. That’s pretty close to its launch price of £899 in the UK (US and Australian savings on RRP are slightly heftier), but we have known this screen size to go as low as £749 during big sales periods.

We'll tackle the question of value through the course of the review. This round is all about which option is cheapest, and that's comfortably the Bravia 3.

WINNER: Bravia 3

Sony Bravia 3 vs Bravia 5: design

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Life On Our Planet)

It’s fair to say that neither of these TVs are going to be the best choice if you're hoping to wall mount.

In our review, we noted that the Bravia 5 has a rear panel that sticks out further than its competition, which could make it feel a bit clunky and awkward for wall hanging.

When you consider that the Bravia 5 measures 5.8cm deep, and the Bravia 3 measures in at 7.2cm, we’d say that both of these sets lend themselves best to life on a TV stand.

As you might expect for the price difference, the Bravia 5’s overall aesthetic is a little elevated compared with the Bravia 3. Both have relatively slender bezels, but the Bravia 5 sports a tasteful dark grey brushed metal effect finish, whereas the Bravia 3 is unashamedly black plastic.

It feels all the more lightweight when you’re putting it together too, and at least for our taste, the feet on the Bravia 3 lack some of the sophistication of those on the 5.

We do appreciate Sony’s no-screw mechanism on both TVs though, which allows the TV to just slot onto the stand, saving fuss and making setup out of the box really straightforward.

The Bravia 3 does score points over the Bravia 5 for its two-way stand, which allows you to set the feet into either narrow or wide positions to suit your furniture or soundbar requirements.

The Bravia 5’s feet only have one position, but thankfully that is relatively narrow to allow you to place it on most stands without issue. If you have a soundbar though, you’ll just want to check that it can fit in front of the stand – the Bravia 5 does adjust to two different heights to make sure the screen isn’t blocked by adding one.

Overall, although the two-way stand on the Bravia 3 is a nice addition for soundbar owners, we much prefer the design of the Bravia 5, and think it can accommodate a soundbar in the majority of situations.

WINNER: Bravia 5

Sony Bravia 3 vs Bravia 5: features

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

One of the biggest differentiators between the Bravia 5 and the Bravia 3 is their panel technology – the Bravia 5 is a Mini LED TV with local dimming across 240 zones, whereas the Bravia 3 is a direct-lit LED TV without any local dimming.

That’s going to have a fair impact on its picture quality capabilities, but we’ll come on to that in the next section.

Elsewhere, the processing chip that runs the show is different between the two models, too.

Given the price difference, it’s not surprising that the Bravia 5 has the more sophisticated of the two – Sony’s flagship XR processor, which also powers the Bravia 8 II.

The Bravia 3, on the other hand, uses the older, midrange 4K HDR Processor X1.

What that means in isolation is hard to quantify, given the TVs’ differing features elsewhere. The XR is clearly a more powerful processor that can draw out more by way of picture subtlety and colour accuracy, but how much that would be as noticeable on a direct-lit LED screen with no local dimming is questionable.

In other words, going for a lower-power processor in the Bravia 3 feels like the right choice for its price and capabilities.

As these are both Sony TVs, their HDR capabilities are the same – they both support HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, and don’t support HDR10+.

However, of the two, only the Bravia 5 is IMAX Enhanced certified, and it’s also the only one that offers a range of ‘Calibrated’ picture modes to get the best picture quality from the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Sony Pictures Core.

Both have Dolby Atmos and DTS:X spatial audio support, though the Bravia 5 has a better sound system to deliver it on.

The Bravia 5 offers 40W of sound across four speakers (two full-range drivers and two tweeters), compared to the 20W across two full-range drivers on the Bravia 3.

If you’re keen to hook up a games console to your TV, the Bravia 3 wouldn’t be the best pick of the two due to its 4K/60Hz panel, with the 4K/120Hz panel on the Bravia 5 making it a much better choice.

The Bravia 5 also has VRR on two HDMI ports, as well as ALLM on all four of them, whereas the Bravia 3 only has ALLM. That makes the Bravia 5 a clear winner for gamers.

Both TVs use Google TV for their smart features, offering a good selection of streaming apps, along with the addition of YouView in the UK for the catch-up services that Google doesn’t offer.

Using Google’s interface also means that both TVs have access to features such as Google Assistant and Chromecast, as well as AirPlay 2. While we did notice a few small glitches initially in the Bravia 3’s handling of the UI, overall, both TVs work smoothly and without issue.

The Bravia 5 also has the compatibility to work with the Bravia Cam, to control the TV by gesture – something the Bravia 3 does not offer.

We don’t particularly value the extra tricks the Bravia Cam adds to the TV-watching experience, particularly considering its £199 / $200 / AU$149 price tag, but if you do, the Bravia 5 is the only set out of the two to get it.

All things considered, it’s not exactly surprising that the Bravia 5 has better features than the Bravia 3, given its higher price tag. However, it’s when you look at the wider market that the winner becomes clear.

The Bravia 5 shoots above its pay grade in many respects, including by being one of Sony’s XR Backlight Master Drive panels. That’s a premium feature found on many of its much pricier TVs that aims to boost picture quality and reduce power consumption by improving local dimming performance.

However, when you consider the Bravia 3 against other competitors at its price, its specs are disappointing. There are similarly priced TVs that use better panel technology and have local dimming and better gaming features.

For those reasons, the Bravia 5 takes the win here again.

WINNER: Bravia 5

Sony Bravia 3 vs Bravia 5: picture quality

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Life On Our Planet)

That feeling of the Bravia 5 delivering value for money only continues when it comes to picture performance.

It might be the cheapest Mini LED model in the Bravia lineup, but the picture quality doesn’t feel compromised by its more affordable ambitions – the Sony DNA runs clearly through this set.

In particular, that XR Backlight Master Drive panel does exactly what we’ve seen it do elsewhere, in that it maximises the performance of the backlight, meaning we get impressively bright and well controlled pictures for this price category, with even and consistent blacks and minimal blooming.

It means the Bravia 5 really holds its own in the contrast stakes, which ensures – when combined with its well-judged shadow detail – that both bright and dark scenes look as natural and cinematic as each other.

All this greatness only starts to become compromised in extremely complex HDR shots, or when you watch the Bravia 5 from much of an angle, when its more affordable local dimming mechanism might become more apparent. Overall though, this is a great performer at its price.

Unfortunately, the Bravia 3’s handling of contrast and shadow detail is not such good news. What strikes us most is how the entire picture has an almost grey hue, which means it lacks solidity in blacks from the get go, and makes dark scenes almost unwatchable.

The panel almost seems to glow in darker sequences, losing a lot of detail in the process, but even in scenes with lots of light, the image lacks contrast. This means Sony’s calling card of excellent three dimensionality is largely lost, which is a big hit on our overall picture enjoyment.

Thankfully, the Bravia 3 manages to look much more like a Sony TV when it comes to colour.

As long as you switch from the out-of-the-box settings to Professional mode, colour performance is pretty good, looking balanced and natural, while retaining a degree of believable richness.

The Bravia 5 has a little more flexibility on its presets, thanks to its more sophisticated processing, but ultimately also manages a great mix of punchiness, shading subtlety and balance, even retaining an impressive amount of colour saturation during darker scenes.

Both TVs manage to show off Sony’s talent for motion processing, with sweeping panning shots handled admirably by the Bravia 3. The XR processor in the Bravia 5 will arguably push motion handling that little bit further, by way of subtlety and realism, but there’s no reason for complaint with either set here.

Despite this, the overall picture quality is a clear win by the Bravia 5 – even at the set’s individual price points.

Once again, the Bravia 5 punches above what we might expect at this price, giving 4K images a sense of density, texture and clarity that we are more used to seeing in Sony’s more expensive TVs.

While some of Sony’s famous picture processing is still evident in the Bravia 3, its poor backlight control leads to a loss of contrast and shadow detail that’s hard to forgive. This is an easy win for the Bravia 5.

WINNER: Bravia 5

Sony Bravia 3 vs Bravia 5: sound quality

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Great National Parks)

While we all know that a soundbar or surround sound system will always make your new TV sound its best, both models do a pretty good job for built-in TV audio.

Even with the pretty modest speaker set-up in the Bravia 3, Sony manages to provide impressively clear dialogue alongside a decent sense of low-level dynamics.

Sound even has a good sense of height to it, giving more space to big effects such as explosions or planes flying overhead. Bass could be heftier, but to be honest, the Bravia 3 already outperforms what we have come to expect from a TV at this price.

The Bravia 5 is equally impressive. No elements in a mix pass the Bravia 5 by, yet the processing is also sophisticated enough to ensure no detail takes on more significance than it should.

The four drivers here create a spacious soundstage that offers a good sense of height, with both dialogue and sound effects placed accurately within it.

There’s power to the sound too, but also a level of precision that ensures sound is never distorted.

Like the Bravia 3, it’s lacking a little bass, but we would always take that over too much, and overall find the sound to be precise and immersive. We’re calling this one a draw.

WINNER: Draw

Sony Bravia 3 vs Bravia 5: verdict

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Life On Our Planet)

From the get-go, this head-to-head might have looked like a shoo-in for the more expensive, better specified, and better reviewed Bravia 5.

But even when you consider both of these TVs’ positions within their respective markets and price categories, it’s hard for us not to recommend – if you are truly torn between the two – that you try to save up the difference and opt for the Bravia 5, or consider a different TV at the Bravia 3’s price instead.

The Sony Bravia 5 follows in the footsteps of the other five-star TVs from Sony’s most recent TV lineup, offering impressive features for its price, a formidable picture performance and a pretty decent sound performance to boot.

By comparison, the Bravia 3 is lacking the features we might expect at this level, and delivers a picture performance we find almost unrecognisable as a Sony TV.

For anyone considering these two TVs, hoping to get Sony’s famed picture processing on a bit of a budget, the clear winner is the Bravia 5. From everything we have seen so far, it’s the clear value proposition in Sony’s current TV lineup.

OVERALL WINNER: Bravia 5

MORE:

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

Sony's new Bravia TVs look set for a showdown with TCL

tom.parsons@futurenet.com (Tom Parsons) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Sony has just taken the wraps off two new TVs, but if you were expecting a new QD-OLED to replace the Bravia 8 II or a successor to the Bravia 9, you might be disappointed.

That's because these two new models are both budget-oriented – and one of them came out in the US last year.

The genuinely new TV is the Bravia 3 II which, as the name suggests, replaces the three-star Bravia 3.

The good news is that the Bravia 3 II features several upgrades over its predecessor.

The most eye-catching of these upgrades is the introduction of four HDMI 2.1 sockets, which, in combination with the 120Hz panel, means the TV supports 4K/120Hz gaming (plus VRR and ALLM) across all of its HDMI inputs.

That's a first for a Sony TV, and hopefully it points the way towards this becoming standard across the brand's range in the future.

The next major upgrade is the processor: the Bravia 3 II receives the XR Processor, which has until now powered only models from the Bravia 5 and up.

This XR Processor brings with it Sony's XR Triluminos Pro technology for wider colour gamut coverage and the XR Clear Image feature for AI-powered upscaling.

Unlike the Bravia 3, the Bravia 3 II also features Netflix Calibrated, Prime Video Calibrated and Sony Pictures Core Calibrated picture presets, which are designed to deliver the most authentic picture quality from their respective streaming services.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Sony has just been in touch to clarify that these calibrated modes won't be present on the Bravia 3 II at launch, but will instead be added at an as-yet unspecified later date]

What hasn't been upgraded, at least on the face of it, is the backlight.

Sony refers to the Bravia 3 II as simply having a 'Direct LED' backlight, and makes no mention of local dimming. That leads us to believe it will, like its predecessor, lack any form of local dimming.

In a world in which TCL offers affordable models with backlights that feature Mini LEDs and 1000+ dimming zones, that's undeniably disappointing, even though Sony has a reputation for squeezing the absolute best out of its hardware.

If you're a UK reader thinking that the Bravia 3 II still sounds like a tempting TV proposition, I'm afraid I have some more bad news: it's not currently scheduled to launch in the UK.

Sony says this is something to do with catch-up app certification, which sounds a little strange, but it does at least seem as though there's a good chance the TV will make it from mainland Europe to the UK at some point in the future.

In the regions in which the Bravia 3 II is launching, it will be available in sizes ranging from a fairly bijou (by modern standards) 43 inches, right up to a whopping 100 inches.

Bravia 2 II

(Image credit: Sony)

Then we have the Bravia 2 II which, as mentioned, launched in the US last year.

As the name suggests, this TV sits below the Bravia 3 II, and it is in fact the new entry point to the Bravia range (there are models further down in Sony's range, but they're not designated Bravia models).

Once again, this is a 'Direct LED' TV, and as you would expect, it lacks the 120Hz panel and HDMI 2.1 sockets of the Bravia 3 II.

The Bravia 2 II also features Sony's X1 chip, rather than the XR Processor.

As with the rest of Sony's Bravia range, the 2 II features the Google TV smart platform, and it has the Sony Pictures Core app built in.

It will be fascinating to see how much the Bravia 2 II launches for in the UK. It will be available in 43-, 50-, 55-, 65- and 75-inch sizes, and in the US, the 65-inch model currently goes for around $700, which seems a little high in comparison with many TCL models.

We'll update this piece with confirmed pricing when we get it, and we will of course be reviewing the Bravia 2 II just as soon as we can get our hands on one.

MORE:

Check out our Sony Bravia 3 review

Here are the best TVs and best cheap TVs you can buy right now

New Dolby Atmos soundbars and beautifully beefy subwoofers are on the way from Sony

tom.parsons@futurenet.com (Tom Parsons) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Sony has just announced the latest additions to its Bravia Theatre Bar range of Dolby Atmos soundbars (plus two new Bravia TVs). And it’s not quite what we were expecting.

Rather than replace the flagship Bravia Theatre Bar 9 or the step-down Bravia Theatre Bar 8, both of which launched almost two years ago, Sony has decided to launch more affordable models below them.

Bravia Theatre Bar 7

First up is the Bravia Theatre Bar 7, which replaces the long in the tooth, four-star rated HT-A3000.

The Bar 7 has a design very similar to that of the Bar 8 and Bar 9, with a rounded mesh front and a metallic, angular rear.

But while it’s the same height and almost the same depth as its more premium siblings, the Bar 7 is significantly narrower, at 95cm compared with the Bar 8’s 110cm and the Bar 9’s 130cm.

It’s worth noting that this means the Bar 7 is still a good deal longer than the 65cm Sonos Beam Gen 2 with which it seems destined to do battle.

As with the other Theatre Bar models, two feet are included in the Bar 7’s box. These can be used to elevate the Bar 7 just a little so that it can straddle an awkward TV pedestal stand. A wall mount is included as well.

Unlike the Sonos Beam, the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 7 features dedicated up-firing speakers, one at each end of the top panel. These are full-range Sony X-Balanced designs.

They are joined by a full-range X-Balanced driver at each end of the bar, plus two forward-facing X-Balanced woofers for the left and right channels, a full-range X-Balanced centre speaker, and two tweeters.

And that’s not all – there are four passive radiators for additional bass, too.

Sony then uses its 360 Spatial Audio technology to create an additional five phantom speakers, which are designed to generate a bubble of sound.

This is the basis for the Bar 7’s reproduction of 3D Audio, which it can handle in both the Dolby Atmos and DTS:X formats.

The compact bar is IMAX Enhanced Certified, too, though only when the optional rears and a subwoofer are connected.

Speaking of which, there are two variants of this new soundbar. You can buy the solo Bravia Theatre Bar 7 (also known as the HT-A7100), or you can buy a bundle that also includes the 100W Sub 7 subwoofer.

This bundle is known as the Bravia Theatre Bar 7 + S, or HT-AP710.

Away from movies, there is support for Apple AirPlay and Spotify Connect, but Tidal Connect appears to be absent.

The Bar 7 comes with the same remote as the Bar 8 and Bar 9. It isn’t fancy, but it is better than no remote at all.

Of course, it will be possible to control the volume using your TV’s remote control, and if your TV is a recent Sony, you’ll be able to access more or less all of the Bar 7’s settings and controls via the TV’s onscreen menus.

Want more ways to control and tweak the Bar 7? No problem: it’s also compatible with the very good Bravia Connect app.

This is also where you complete Sony’s ‘Sound Field Optimisation’ calibration, which attempts to adapt the sound to your room and seating position.

As you would expect, the Bravia Theatre Bar 7 is designed to be connected to your TV via HDMI eARC (in fact, this appears to be another new soundbar without a legacy optical input), but unlike many rivals, there is also a dedicated HDMI input, and the soundbar supports passthrough of 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM.

Bravia Theatre Bar 5

(Image credit: Sony)

Sony has also announced a new entry-level model in the Bravia soundbar range.

The Bravia Theatre Bar 5 is a package that contains a compact three-channel soundbar and a fairly bijou wireless subwoofer to make a neat 3.1 system.

Despite the lack of up-firing drivers, the Theatre Bar 5 is able to reproduce Dolby Atmos and DTS:X signals using Sony’s Vertical Surround Engine, which has previously impressed us in models such as the Bravia Theatre System 6.

Unlike the Bar 7, the Bar 5 doesn’t feature HDMI passthrough, but it does have an optical input nestled alongside the HDMI eARC socket.

News subs and surrounds

(Image credit: Sony)

The two new soundbars are joined by optional new subwoofers and surround speakers, and these are very much flagship models.

The new Bravia Theatre Sub 9 is a gorgeous, sci-fi-styled cube that replaces Sony’s current SW5 flagship subwoofer.

Each half of the cube (it’s not actually a perfect cube, but it looks close enough) features a 20cm aluminium driver.

These are dual opposing drivers that employ phase cancelling to deliver smooth, ultra-deep, distortion-free bass, according to Sony, which also claims a monstrous maximum power output of 600W for the Sub 9.

The Bravia Theatre Sub 8, meanwhile, is essentially half of the Sub 9. It features one of the 20cm aluminium drivers and a claimed power output of 300W.

The new subwoofers are compatible with the Bravia Theatre Bar 9, Bar 8 and Bar 7, as well as the Bravia Theatre Quad.

Thanks to a post-launch software update, you will even be able to pair two of these subs (or two Sub 7s, for that matter) with one of the bars, though the Quad system can still have just one subwoofer.

(Image credit: Sony)

Finally, the new surround speakers.

The Bravia Theatre Rear 9 speakers replace the RS5s and sit above the existing Rear 8s.

They feature a minimalist, cylindrical design, with a metal ring around the top that matches the metal band around the rear edge of the soundbars.

Each Rear 9 features two 80mm aluminium drivers, one facing forwards and the other upwards (with a bit of a forward-tilting angle), plus a front-firing 16mm tweeter and a side-facing passive radiator.

A swivelling wall-bracket for each speaker is included in the box.

Unfortunately, Sony hasn’t yet given us launch dates or prices for any of this new audio kit, but as soon as we have that information, we will update this story.

MORE:

The one to beat: here's our Sonos Beam Gen 2 review

Here are all of the best soundbars you can buy right now

The day after: our experts weigh in on Sony and TCL's new deal to share their thoughts, questions and concerns

Lewis Empson — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 15:54:41 +0000

Yesterday, Sony announced that it plans to enter a joint venture with Chinese TV manufacturer TCL, in which ownership of its TV business will be split almost in half.

I say almost, as TCL will technically become the majority stakeholder by owning 51 per cent of the business, whereas Sony will hold onto 49 per cent.

Frankly speaking, this announcement sent waves across the What Hi-Fi? team. There hasn't been much evidence leading up to this that Sony was looking to spin its TV business off in this direction, and there was certainly no indication that it was striking up a relationship with TCL.

The statement shared by Sony was brief, but it got the message across. The thought process here is that Sony will continue to implement its proprietary picture and audio tech, presumably including its legendary picture processing systems.

In contrast, TCL will handle the development of advanced display technology and leverage its existing cost-effective manufacturing infrastructure.

Sony TVs will continue to exist under the Sony and Bravia names, but the products themselves may look different in the future.

With a surprise announcement and very few details to go off, our team of home cinema aficionados have a range of questions, concerns and theories as to what this deal could entail.

I've assembled our TV and AV Editor (Tom Parsons), Editor in Chief (Alastair Stevenson), and Deputy Editor (Andy Madden) to share thoughts on Sony and TCL's new joint venture.

We have a range of opinions and questions, some more optimistic than others. We wonder if Sony can adapt to TCL's mammoth manufacturing operations, and what about the projectors? Unfortunately, we don't have the answers right now, but you can find our musings below...

What does the future hold for Sony's home cinema products?

A confession: I didn’t see this coming, and I’m not sure how I feel about it

Scale is great, but Sony's strength has always been its attention to detail

As the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em…

MORE:

Check out our full story covering the Sony/TCL partnership announcement

Read our full TCL C8K review

As well as our Sony Bravia 8 II review

Sony is selling its home entertainment business to TCL – but what does this mean for future Bravia TVs?

Lewis Empson — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 12:14:07 +0000

We're not even three weeks into 2026, and already we have some groundbreaking news regarding the future of two of the most prominent brands in the world of TV and AV.

Sony and TCL have announced that they are moving forward with discussions to establish a joint venture between the companies, which will see TCL assume control of Sony's home entertainment business.

The partnership is in early stages, with both companies signing a "memorandum of understanding to confirm their intentions to establish a joint venture that will assume Sony's home entertainment business".

Providing this "strategic partnership" goes ahead, the Chinese tech firm will hold 51 per cent of shares, with Sony maintaining 49 per cent. This will, of course, mean that TCL is the majority shareholder.

In a statement shared by Sony, it confirmed that the joint operation will "operate globally", and will ensure that TCL oversees "the full process from product development and design to manufacturing, sales, logistics, and customer service for products including televisions and home audio equipment".

Discussions are ongoing between the companies, but definitive binding agreements are expected to be reached by the end of March 2026, with operations from the new joint venture expected to commence in April 2027.

We've reached out to Sony and TCL for further comment on this partnership.

What does this mean for Sony Bravia TVs going forward?

Sony claims that it will continue to sell TVs under the globally recognised Sony and Bravia branding.

However, Sony aims to leverage TCL’s advanced display technology development, global scale, and end-to-end cost efficiencies to expand its global reach and bring its TV, audio and home cinema products to a wider range of consumers – particularly those seeking more affordable options.

Sony's contribution to this will involve its "high-quality picture and audio technology", which likely refers to its highly regarded picture processing and audio expertise, which it will continue to implement in Bravia-branded TVs going forward, as well as future home cinema audio products such as soundbars and (hopefully) AV receivers.

Considering that TCL enjoyed a particularly successful 2025, with five-star reviews for its C8K, C7K and C6KS TVs, we can certainly see the value in leveraging the company's resources and experience when it comes to the development of panel technology.

What does concern us slightly is TCL's aversion to OLED, as it has stated many times that it considers Mini LED to be the superior panel technology. Sony's recent OLED TVs (including the Bravia 8 II) have all been absolute show stoppers, so we can only hope that it remains dedicated to OLED with TCL at the helm.

TCL in the wider industry

TCL already plays a key role in providing other manufacturers with panels via its CSOT display manufacturing arm. Therefore, TCL already plays a key role in the production of televisions from a wide range of established manufacturers.

That being said, this joint venture sounds like a much closer partnership, which will see TCL assume a vital role in overseeing everything from development to the sale of Sony Bravia-branded TVs.

We'll have to wait and see how this partnership takes shape, as it's very early days. However, this is certainly an unprecedented and unexpected move from both companies.

MORE:

Read our full Sony Bravia 8 II review

As well as our TCL C8K review

And check out our picks for the best TVs

What to expect from Sony in 2026: RGB Mini LED takes on OLED, and it could be a quiet year for audio

Lewis Empson — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

We think it's fair to say that Sony enjoyed a pretty successful 2026. It delivered a handful of new five-star products, including the Bravia 8 II QD-OLED TV, which our TV and AV editor deemed to be the best TV he has ever tested.

We were also treated to the excellent Bravia Projector 7, and this quote from our review should speak for itself: “our picture testing points us to one obvious conclusion: the Bravia Projector 7 is an excellent home cinema projector.”

Sony, as a whole, took home no fewer than three Product of the Year Awards in the home cinema categories last month, and that's not counting the four additional Awards it won in the wireless headphones category.

That all being said, with just a week of 2025 left before we ring in the new year, we're looking forward to what Sony could be revealing in 2026.

The Japanese AV giant has already given us a huge clue as to what its big 2026 TV innovation will be, but other than that, we're making some educated predictions based on its most recent releases, alongside a few products we hope to see.

Sony's first RGB Mini LED TV is on the horizon

(Image credit: Sony)

We already know that Sony is developing a TV based on the new RGB Mini LED backlight technology. In fact, we have seen Sony's prototype in action a couple of times now; once during a trip to the company's headquarters, and again during a behind-closed-doors demo at IFA 2025.

This new panel tech consists of separate red, blue and green LEDs, thus removing the need for a blue LED backlight with a QDEF (Quantum Dot Enhancement Film) layer sandwiched between it and the LCD panel.

The benefits include higher brightness, improved contrast and colour volume, and a major reduction in blooming.

All of these picture benefits sound excellent on paper, and it could pose a serious threat to OLED – but only time will tell if Sony's take on the new panel technology will impress us as much as the QD-OLED-touting Bravia 8 II does.

As of now, we remain on the cautious side. The last time Sony launched an advanced backlit TV that used new panel technology, we got the Bravia 9. While this remains an impressive TV in many ways, and one that we still very much like, we ultimately feel that comparable OLEDs deliver a better experience.

We're betting on at least one new OLED...

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Sony has deployed an interesting strategy when it comes to TV release schedules. Instead of updating its whole lineup each year in the same way that Samsung and LG do, Sony has segmented its lineup and updated specific TVs each year, a process it began alongside its big Bravia relaunch in 2024.

That year gave us the excellent Bravia 8 OLED TV, the talented Bravia 7, and the affordable Bravia 9. This year, we got the show-stopping Bravia 8 II, as well as the Bravia 5 and Bravia 3 models (the latter of which launched in 2024 overseas).

So, which TVs will Sony update in 2026? That's yet to be confirmed, but we'd bet on at least one new OLED TV, and we don't think it will be a replacement for the Bravia 8 II.

It will more likely be a replacement for the existing Bravia 8, which will turn two years old this year. It makes sense for Sony to replace its mainstream OLED offering, which is available in core screen sizes ranging from 55 to 77 inches, with models that take on the likes of LG's C-series and Samsung's S90-series models for 2026.

That being said, we would also love Sony to remember the smaller-sized OLEDs, and finally update the A90K, which has soldiered on since 2022. It's soon to be four years old, but there has been no indication that a replacement is on the way.

2025 was a great year for small OLED TVs, with the likes of the Panasonic Z90B, Samsung S90F and LG C5 all scoring highly. Sony could make things simple by following in those models' footsteps and offering a Bravia 8 replacement in a wider range of sizes, but only time will tell which route the company will take.

A quiet year for audio?

(Image credit: Future)

Much as with its TVs, Sony's release pattern when it comes to audio products doesn't tend to follow an annual release schedule.

The company refreshed its soundbar lineup in 2024 with the Bravia Theatre Bar 9, Theatre Bar 8 and Theatre Quad system, and it added the Bravia System 6 and Bar 6 this year.

That feels like a fairly cohesive lineup, with options at all different prices and use cases, so we're unsure what Sony could bring to the table in terms of audio.

A fresh take on the Theatre Bar 8 would be nice, as we felt that it underperformed compared with Sony's usual soundbar standards. However, considering how new that soundbar is in the grand scheme of things, we don't expect to see a successor launch quite yet.

If anything, we could expect a refreshed HT-S2000 soundbar, which is the company's budget Dolby Atmos offering and a soundbar we thoroughly approved of during our testing.

On the flip side, an even higher-end offering that sits above the Theatre Bar 9 (a possible KEF XIO competitor, perhaps) would also be appreciated by serious home cinema enthusiasts.

What we'd really like to see, however, is a new home cinema amplifier. The TA-AN1000 AVR has won Product of the Year at the What Hi-Fi? Awards for three years running, yet it remains the solitary offering in Sony's lineup here in the UK.

We'd love to see the range fleshed out with a higher-performance model, as we can only dream of what an even-better version of the TA-AN1000 could look like.

And what about projectors?

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Much like the audio lineup, we don't necessarily have any big expectations regarding Sony's projector lineup – but we’re open to a pleasant surprise. The brand updated its lineup alongside its Bravia TV relaunch in 2024 with the Bravia Projector 8 and Bravia Projector 9, and these models were joined by the Bravia Projector 7 this year.

The only model in the range not be updated is the serial Award-winning VPL-XW5000ES, which is Sony's “entry-level” 4K laser projector. It launched back in 2022 alongside the VPL-XW7000ES, which has since been replaced.

We are still huge fans of the XW5000ES, but we'd be more than happy for an upgraded version to make an appearance this year. Sony's XR Processor has proven to be a hit in the Bravia Projector 7, 8 and 9, so a new model – perhaps a Bravia Projector 5 – is at the top of our wishlist for 2026.

MORE:

Read our full Sony Bravia 8 II OLED TV review

As well as our Sony Bravia Projector 7 review

And check out our picks for the best AV receivers

Sony's wireless Dolby Atmos speaker system has dropped to its lowest-ever price – and now I think it's worth buying

Lewis Empson — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 15:39:12 +0000

Black Friday doesn't officially kick off for another couple of weeks, and yet we're already seeing the prices of some notable home cinema products being cut back massively.

The Sony Bravia Theatre Quad, a wireless Dolby Atmos speaker solution that delivers an impressive surround-sound experience without the need to trail cables around your living room, is a prime example of this.

We initially tested it at the unnervingly expensive launch price of £2499; something that proved to be its biggest downfall. Its predecessor, the five-star HT-A9 system, launched at just £1599 – that £900 price increase proved to be a tough pill to swallow.

Ultimately, we deemed it to be a bit too pricey to give it our full recommendation, which is a shame as it sounds good (if a little bass-light), and the fact that it's wireless makes it super convenient.

Pair that with an easy set-up process, smart design and HDMI 2.1 passthrough on the hub, and the Quad seemed to be within touching distance of true greatness.

Well, it looks like our biggest issue with the Bravia Theatre Quad has been rectified this Black Friday, as it's currently enjoying an £800 discount at Peter Tyson. With the price dropping to £1699, I'm starting to reassess my feelings towards the Quad system.

It's worth noting that most other retailers, including Amazon, Richer Sounds and Currys, have this system priced at £1799 currently, but Peter Tyson is offering an additional £100 discount, which is automatically applied at checkout.

The Sony Bravia Theatre Quad provides clear and spacious sound, good wired and wireless connectivity and intuitive set-up. Unfortunately, the £2499 launch price was a tough pill to swallow. However, that's been recitified with a Black Friday deal that's dropped it to a new lowest-ever price of £1699 at Peter Tyson thanks to an additional £100 discount at checkout.View Deal

Sure, the bass is still a bit underwhelming, but with a saving this huge, the prospect of investing in one of Sony's wireless subwoofers becomes a lot more reasonable. In fact, we identified this as the only sonic shortcoming in our full review.

We described the system as "clean, crisp and energetic" and complimented its ability to deliver an "immersive performance that surrounds us in a bubble of sound".

Sound effects are placed well, putting us in the middle of the action, and it does an impressive job of projecting sound upwards to produce convincing Dolby Atmos height channels.

Our final thoughts on the Sony system were this: "Calling a verdict on the Sony Bravia Theatre Quad is tricky. There are very few systems that can rival it for convenience, and it is a step up over its predecessor in many ways. However, it’s just too expensive to wholeheartedly recommend, especially when getting the very best out of it involves shelling out extra for a subwoofer."

While that statement rang true at its sky-high launch price, the Bravia Theatre Quad is now a much more compelling system at this new, lowest-ever price. Its benefits, which were once outweighed by a hefty price tag, are now back to being the highlights of this wireless surround sound system.

If you're looking for a convenient and effective way of upping your audio game, then check this deal out at Peter Tyson, and remember that the £100 additional saving is automatically applied at checkout – no need to input any discount codes or membership details.

MORE:

Read our full Sony Bravia Theatre Quad review

Here are the best surround sound systems

And check out the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

Our deals experts have unearthed juicy discounts on everything from 4K projectors to five-star wireless headphones

harry.mckerrell@futurenet.com (Harry McKerrell) — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 12:43:00 +0000

In case you missed it, Amazon launched a sort of 'Prime Day 2.0' with its Big Deal Days earlier this week. From 7th-8th October, Amazon was making some seriously tempting price cuts, with rival retailers matching, or even bettering, the best that Bezos could offer.

Some of the those deals are still going, whereas others have bungeed back up to full price. Naturally, we discovered some stellar bargains while the big event was going on, as well as some crackers that emerged outside of those Big Deal Days.

Provenance doesn't really matter. What matters is getting great deals on great gear, and that's exactly what you're getting with our expertly curated rundown below.

If you're looking for native 4K projector, look no further than this five-star performer from Sony. The outstanding 4K projector has gone on to reign supreme as Product of the Year Award in the projectors category for three consecutive years, making it one of the finest products of its kind available today thanks to its “stunningly detailed native 4K pictures” and “impressive black levels and contrast”. It isn't cheap, but if you’re willing to spend money (and save a lot, too), it's a complete no-brainer. View Deal

The Sony Bravia 8 II is a truly exceptional performer and a real all-rounder. It combines stunning brightness, colour vibrancy and sharpness with balance and naturalism, and it performs brilliantly right out of the box. Add excellent sound (by TV standards), an app-packed operating system and very good gaming specification, and you've got an awesome package. Highly recommended. View Deal

The five-star Bowers & Wilkins Px8 over-ears are a great investment for any audiophile looking to enjoy sound quality and comfort. Now that the Px8 S2 have arrived, you can expect to see the original cans plummet in price – just as they have here with a belting £200 saving. They remain stunning over-ears, offering luxury, performance and a flagship feature set in a very attractive package.View Deal

The Sonos Era 100 is one of our favourite wireless speakers, packing in an astonishing amount of streaming and playback features alongside five-star sound. This Prime Day is the perfect time to buy if you've been shopping around, as the Era 100 drops to the lowest price we've ever seen it.
Lowest price on black finish
Deal also at Richer Sounds and SevenoaksView Deal

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds boast punchy, musical sound, solid, weighty bass, excellent active noise cancelling and are also seriously comfortable. Until they lost their spot among our favourite earbuds to the 2nd Gen model, they were the finest buds that Bose produced. The originals are still great, though and at £101 off, it's hard not to be tempted.View Deal

The Hisense PX3-Pro proved to be a gaming-focused projector that could also stretch its talents to make it an excellent option for movies. It's brighter, sharper, and handles contrast better than its smaller sibling, the PL2, and it also supports 4K gaming at up to 120Hz. View Deal

MORE:

All four of the best 2025 flagship OLED TVs are on sale, and I've ranked them so you know which to buy

7 things I wish I had known before having a bespoke TV cabinet made

These are the 7 scarily good tunes we've been using for testing this month

Sony officially resumes projector sales in Europe, and it's even bringing a new model to the market

Lewis Empson — Tue, 27 May 2025 16:07:51 +0000

Sony has officially announced that it will continue selling its home cinema and business projectors in Europe after a two-month hiatus linked to EU export control regulations and trade restrictions.

The news that Sony would have to pull its premium projector line from shelves in Europe rattled the home cinema world when it broke in March of this year.

During that period of uncertainty, many home cinema enthusiasts mourned the loss of some of the best projectors on the market, however, this recent news is a happier twist in the story.

Projectors will "resume shipping in the European market starting this month", including the Award-winning VPL-XW5000ES, Bravia Projector 8 and Bravia Projector 9. Alongside these existing models, we will also see the European debut of another previously announced home cinema projector.

The Bravia Projector 7 will sit in the middle of the range between the XW5000ES and five-star Bravia Projector 8, and it will reportedly bring some features from the latter down to a slightly cheaper (though presumably still decidedly non-budget) price point.

Expect the XR Processor with all of Sony's proprietary picture-enhancing tech, such as XR Dynamic Tone Mapping, Deep Black, and Triluminos Pro. It also features Sony's SXRD 4K projection technology and a laser light source with a claimed 2200 lumens of brightness.

You can check our brief Sony Bravia 7 Projector hands-on impressions for more information about its performance and specs, though bear in mind that it was written during the period in which it could not secure a confirmed European release.

MORE:

Read our full Sony Bravia Projector 8 review

Here are the best projectors for your home cinema

As well as the best projector deals

Sony's new flagship Xperia VII smartphone comes with a huge audio upgrade

Lewis Empson — Tue, 13 May 2025 13:28:57 +0000

Sony has officially announced the latest flagship in its long-running Xperia smartphone line, with the Xperia 1 VII touting a wide range of AV upgrades over its predecessor.

It's set to provide a picture and sound-first approach – something we've approved of for many generations – with a new partnership that should "take sound quality to the next level".

Sony's smartphone team has enlisted the help of the Walkman division to boost audio quality on this new handset. The Sony Xperia 1 VII remains one of the very few flagship phones to include a 3.5mm headphone jack, but Sony has taken it a step further in its dedication to audio performance on its smartphones.

Sony claims that it tested a range of high-quality internal components from its Walkman portable music players, leading to a new headphone jack that is manufactured with high-quality solder containing gold to "enhance the reproduction of subtle sounds" and "improve the soundstage and directional accuracy".

For those who prefer to listen to their music over a pair of the best wireless headphones, you'll be pleased to hear that the LDAC and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codecs are supported for high-quality wireless audio. It also supports Dolby Atmos over the speakers and via headphones.

As if those audio upgrades weren't enough, Sony has also improved the full-stage stereo speakers on this handset; it's touting an "even more realistic" sound, which isn't a quantifiable upgrade per se, but we'll take an upgrade regardless.

Sony is also continuing its partnership with its Bravia TV division, something that was established in greater detail last year after the launch of the updated Bravia TV range (which includes the Award-winning Bravia 8 OLED TV).

The new smartphone's 6.5-inch Full HD+ OLED display has been tuned by Bravia, and it features a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate too. While we do miss the overkill 4K 21:9 display from the Xperia 1 V and IV, we understand the benefits to usability and battery life. Plus, if the performance is anything like that of the five-star Xperia 1 VI, then we should have nothing to worry about.

In fact, Sony says it has implemented an AI system to help reproduce some of the best aspects of its Bravia TVs, including colour, contrast, texture and three dimensionality.

The display is also getting a 20 per cent brightness upgrade, as Sony claims it's the brightest screen in an Xperia device to date. It's paired with a new rear light sensor that should adapt the display settings to suit a range of ambient light conditions.

(Image credit: Sony)

Elsewhere, the Xperia VII features the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite processor with 12GB of RAM, and it runs Android 15; the latest version of the operating system. Sony has jumped on the AI bandwagon with its new Xperia Intelligence suite, which plays a hand in the picture, sound and photography aspects of this device.

On the subject of photography, the Xperia 1 VII sports three rear sensors in total: a 48MP main shooter, 12MP telephoto lens, and a 48MP ultrawide camera. These should pair well with Sony's professional camera app and dedicated camera shutter button for an in-depth smartphone photography experience.

The Sony Xperia 1 VII is available to order now for £1399 (a £100 increase from the Xperia 1 VI's price), and you can pick between three finishes: Slate Black, Moss Green and Orchid Purple. Sony is also running a promotion in which you can get a free pair of the excellent, Award-winning WH-1000XM5 wireless headphones if you pre-order the Xperia 1 VII.

Much like the previous generation devices in this series, it appears as though Sony will not launch the Xperia 1 VII in the US.

MORE:

Read our full Sony Xperia 1 VI review

And our Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review

Check out our picks for the best smartphones

Samsung's S95F QD-OLED TV is pricier than the LG G5 in the UK

Esat Dedezade — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 13:25:34 +0000

UK prices for the Samsung S95F QD-OLED TV have been spotted at retailer John Lewis.

Those prices are £2499 for the 55-inch model and £3399 for the 65-inch version. We're still hunting for a price for the 77 incher.

For context, that puts the 55-inch S95F directly in line with the Sony Bravia 8 II in the UK, but it will be £99 more expensive than its arch rival, the excellent LG G5.

Bump up to the 65-inch model, and it's once again £99 more than the equivalent LG G5, and this time noticeably pricier than the Bravia 8 II alternative.

LG G5, Samsung S95F, and Sony Bravia 8 II Price Comparison
Screen size (inches)	LG G5	Samsung S95F	Sony Bravia 8 II
55	£2400 / $2500 / AU$TBC	£2499 / $2300 / AU$TBC	£2499 / $3500 / AU$TBC
65	£3300 / $3400 / AU$TBC	£3399 / $3300 / AU$TBC	£2999 / $4000 / AU$TBC
77	£4500 / $4500 / AU$TBC	£TBC / $4500 / AU$TBC	No such model
83	£7000 / $6500 / AU$TBC	No such model	No such model
97	£25,000 / $25,000 / AU$TBC	No such model	No such model

It's too early to reveal which one of these three rivals is the best TV, given that we've so far only had the LG G5 into our test rooms for a full review.

We have, however, had hands-on time with both the Samsung S95F and Sony Bravia 8 II (with the latter providing our TV and AV Editor Tom Parsons with a list of seven things he liked and five he didn't).

We will, of course, be putting all three models up against one another once we have them all in the building. It will be a particularly interesting comparison when we consider that they all cost roughly the same amount in the UK.

It's a different story in the US, though, where the Samsung S95F and LG G5 are priced very similarly, but the Sony Bravia 8 II is vastly more expensive.

It seems that Sony is pricing in increased tariffs. Will LG and Samsung be forced to take similar action and increase their prices? Only time will tell.

Needless to say, for US buyers, this gives LG and Samsung a noticeable advantage over their Sony rival – at least in the short term.

MORE:

Read our Samsung S95F hands-on review

Check out our full LG G5 review

Sony Bravia 8 II hands-on review

The Bravia 8 II’s price has been announced and it’s more affordable than we expected

robyn.quick@futurenet.com (Robyn Quick) — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 13:56:18 +0000

We now know how much Sony’s much-awaited 2025 TV lineup will cost – and, pleasingly, the price is lower than we had anticipated.

The most enticing TV on offer is the new QD-OLED Sony Bravia 8 II which, despite the name, does not replace the Bravia 8 but sits above it in the range.

In fact, it is the replacement for the A95L, with a price tag sitting at £2499 for the 55-inch model, and £2999 for the 65-inch version. We gave its predecessor five stars for its excellent overall performance and, in particular, its stunning brightness and contrast.

While we have not yet had the chance to review the new model, TV and AV Editor Tom Parsons got some good first impressions during a recent hands-on session in Sony’s Tokyo HQ. He says the Bravia 8 II looks brighter and more refined in terms of picture quality and adds that at this stage it looks to be an “all-round better version of one of the best TVs around”.

Now, this price is particularly pleasing when compared with the A95L. Its predecessor was first tested at £2999 / $3000 for the 55-inch and £3699 / $3500 / AU$5995 for the 65-inch model. That means the Bravia 8 II is launching at £500 and £700 cheaper than the A95L for the 55 and 65-inch models respectively.

Compared with LG’s new G5 model, the Bravia 8 II’s price is cheaper for some screen sizes. While the 55-inch LG flagship costs slightly less at £2399 / £2499, the 65-inch model is £300 more expensive than the Sony at £3299 / $3399.

We have yet to test the new Sony flagship, but it’s good to see that the TV is this much cheaper compared with the A95L. We can expect the new models to start shipping from 6 June.

The Sony Bravia 5 is also new on the menu (shipping from 23 May). It is the replacement for the mid-range X90L, with the big upgrade being a Mini LED backlight instead of the older version’s ‘standard’ LEDs.

This model will also be cheaper than its predecessor was at launch: it starts at £1499 for the 55-inch model, jumping to £1799 and £2199 for the 65-inch and 75-inch models, respectively. At the larger end of the screen-size scale, you can nab the 85-inch model for £2799, and the huge 98-inch version for a hefty £6999.

The 55-inch model is £100 cheaper than the price of the X90L when we tested it, so the lower price of the Bravia 8 II is not just an outlier.

MORE:

Here are all the new Sony 2025 TVs

And these are the best TVs we recommend

Check out the best OLED TVs available right now

New Sony 2025 TVs: upgraded QD-OLED Bravia 8 II leads the charge

Esat Dedezade — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 16:00:40 +0000

Sony has unveiled its 2025 Bravia TV range – and while it might look like a modest update at first glance, there are a few key developments that you’ll want to want to take note of, especially if you are looking at snapping up one of the best TVs this year.

The headline act arrives in the form of Sony’s long-awaited follow-up to the award-winning A95L QD-OLED. And no, it’s not the Bravia 10. Instead, it’s the rather more clunkily named Bravia 8 II, which is a step up from the A95L, at a more affordable – though as of yet, undisclosed – price.

Also joining the line-up are the Bravia 5 (a new Mini LED model), and the Bravia 3 (which launched in the US last year), which offers an affordable entry-level option with standard LED tech. Notably, these new TVs don’t replace last year’s models – rather, they expand the existing line-up, filling in the gaps below Sony’s premium offerings. That means that key sets from 2024 – including the Bravia 9 and Bravia 8 – remain in the range for another year.

For all of the details, check out our full guide to Sony's 2025 TV range, or simply scroll down for the headlines. Also note that we've updated this story with UK pricing and release date information, and will do the same for the US and Australia once details for those regions become available.

Bravia 8 II

(Image credit: Sony)

The main draw for Sony’s 2025 TV line-up, the Bravia 8 II is the long-anticipated successor to the A95L. It sits above the existing Bravia 8, which remains in the range.

Despite skipping the expected Bravia 10 moniker, this is a new high-end model in Sony’s OLED lineup, with a newer, brighter QD-OLED panel, a refined design, and Sony’s latest AI-powered XR Processor.

The last of those is now equipped with an improved AI scene recognition system which analyses and optimises content in real time, enhancing colours, contrast, and detail, depending on the on-screen content.

The new QD-OLED panel – paired with XR Triluminos Max and XR Contrast Booster 25 – aims to deliver deep blacks, wider colour reproduction, and punchier HDR performance compared with the A95L. Peak brightness should also see a modest boost, bolstered by improved heat-management and a high-luminance panel.

Audio is handled by Acoustic Surface Audio+, which turns the screen itself into the speaker, placing sound exactly where it’s happening on screen. Having thoroughly tested the Bravia 8’s version of this sound system, we found its performance impressive for a built-in setup – though naturally a dedicated soundbar will provide even more oomph. Voice Zoom 3 – a feature that enhances dialogue clarity – is also present, as is Dolby Atmos and DTS:X compatibility for a more immersive audio experience.

The Bravia 8 II also supports 4K at 120Hz with HDMI 2.1 ports, VRR, and Auto Low Latency Mode – ticking the right boxes for next-gen gamers. As for availability, it will arrive in 55-inch and 65-inch screen sizes, with more affordable pricing promised compared with the A95L – though exact figures are still TBC.

Our TV & AV Editor, Tom Parsons, has already seen this A95L successor in action, and very impressed with it he is, too. Click here to read his Sony Bravia 8 II hands-on impressions.

As for the release date/pricing, we have details for the UK at the time of writing. The Bravia 8 II will ship from 6 June, starting at £2499 for the 55-inch model, and £2999 for the 65-inch version.

Bravia 5

(Image credit: Sony)

Filling the gap between Sony’s top-tier Mini LED sets and its standard LED models, the Bravia 5 is a new addition that brings many of the Bravia 9’s best bits to a more affordable (though, again, undisclosed) price point. Most notably, it takes a step up to Mini LED technology – a first for a Sony model in this class.

Picture quality is a core focus here, with Sony’s XR Backlight Master Drive controlling a dense array of Mini LEDs for precise local dimming and superior contrast. The XR Processor also makes a return, working in tandem with XR Triluminos Pro, XR Motion Clarity, and XR Contrast Booster 10 to enhance colours, motion handling, and dynamic range.

The Bravia 5 is available in a wide range of sizes, from 55 inches up to 98 inches, making it a versatile option for those looking to kit out everything from a compact snug setup, to a full-blown home cinema.

Audio comes courtesy of Acoustic Multi-Audio – a step down from the screen-based Acoustic Surface Audio+ tech in the likes of the Bravia 8 II. But, like the Bravia 8 II, this model also supports Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and IMAX Enhanced modes.

Gamers will appreciate the inclusion of HDMI 2.1 ports, 4K/120Hz support, VRR, and a dedicated Game Menu, and there is also PS Remote Play compatibility – a practical feature that allows users to stream PS5 and PS4 games to the TV without needing the console to be physically connected.

Pricing and release date information for the UK sees the Bravia 5 shipping from 23 May, starting at £1499 for the 55-inch model. That jumps up to £1799 and £2199 for the 65-inch and 75-inch models, respectively. At the larger end, you can nab the 85-inch model for £2799, and the largest 98-inch version for a hefty £6999. Again, prices and release dates for the US and Australia have yet to be revealed. In the meantime, click here to read our Sony Bravia 5 hands-on.

Bravia 3

(Image credit: Sony)

The most affordable of Sony’s new (at least to the UK) 2025 TVs, the Bravia 3 is a more entry-level option that still manages to pack in plenty of features for the money. It uses a standard direct-LED panel with Sony’s 4K Processor X1 and Triluminos Pro technology, aiming for respectable colour performance and detail.

Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos are both supported (as is DTS:X), as is Google TV, PS Remote Play functionality, and Game Menu. And with sizes starting at 43 inches (and maxing out at 85 inches), it’s shaping up to be a reasonable Sony-branded choice for bedrooms, spare rooms, or anyone looking to get into the Bravia ecosystem for less cash.

The Bravia 3 will ship in the UK from 16 May, with the 43-inch, 50-inch, and 55-inch models costing £699, £799, and £999, respectively. The 65-inch offering is £1299, with the 75-inch model coming in at £1599. The larger 85-inch version is £1999. US and Australian prices and release date details will be added once we have them.

Overall, Sony’s 2025 Bravia line-up might not look revolutionary on paper, but it smartly builds on last year’s successes – plugging the gaps with new models that broaden the range and offer more choice for buyers at different price points.

The Bravia 8 II is clearly the headline attraction, bringing the latest QD-OLED technology and premium processing in at a more accessible level, while the Bravia 5 and Bravia 3 provide compelling alternatives for those who want to skip the high-end price tag.

We’ll have to reserve judgment until the new models enter our testing room gauntlet, so stay tuned.

MORE:

Sony Bravia 8 vs Bravia 9: which Sony TV should you buy?

Read our Sony Bravia 8 review

And the Sony Bravia 9 review

Sony's 2025 Bravia Theatre home audio range unveiled: soundbar, surround system, and speakers

Esat Dedezade — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 16:00:20 +0000

Sony has just announced its 2025 Bravia Theatre home audio lineup (as well as the Sony 2025 TV range), which is looking to affordably bring immersive cinema-style sound to your home setup.

The range includes two integrated systems – the Bravia Theatre Bar 6 and Bravia Theatre System 6 – alongside two optional add-ons in the form of the Bravia Theatre Rear 8 speakers, and Bravia Theatre Sub 7 subwoofer.

All of the products in the range are designed to integrate seamlessly with Sony’s 2025 Bravia TVs, with soundbar settings appearing directly in the Quick Settings interface on each of the new sets. As expected, the new line also plays nice with Sony's Bravia Connect app, which provides remote setup and control.

According to Sony, the new products aim to recreate elements of the professional multi-speaker environments used in cinemas, while taking the more realistic practicalities of domestic spaces into account.

Before we dive in, note that only UK pricing and release date information is available at the time of writing. We'll update this article with details for the US and Australia, when we have them.

Bravia Theatre Bar 6

(Image credit: Sony)

The Bravia Theatre Bar 6 is a 3.1.2-channel soundbar system that comes bundled with a wireless subwoofer. It supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and includes up-firing drivers designed to provide overhead audio effects. Sony’s Vertical Surround Engine and S-Force PRO Front Surround are on board to help create a more immersive soundstage from a compact enclosure.

A dedicated centre speaker handles dialogue, while compatibility with Sony’s Voice Zoom 3 – when paired with a compatible Bravia TV – allows for AI-driven enhancement of speech clarity.

Control is available via the Bravia Connect smartphone app, or directly through the Quick Settings menu on Sony TVs.

The Bravia Theatre Bar 6 costs £499 in the UK, shipping from 10 April. Stay tuned for US and Australia pricing/release dates.

Bravia Theatre System 6

(Image credit: Sony)

Positioned as an all-in-one surround system aimed at users looking for a more traditional multi-speaker setup without the need to assemble components separately, the Bravia Theatre System 6 features a 5.1-channel speaker layout and 1000W of room-filling power. The system includes a bar speaker (with left, right, centre, and tweeters), rear speakers (with tweeters), and a dedicated subwoofer – all pre-configured as a single package.

Like the Bar 6, it supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and Sony’s Vertical Surround Engine and S-Force PRO Front Surround, which are designed to enhance spatial audio performance even with non-surround content. The addition of Multi Stereo mode also allows stereo signals to be expanded across all speakers, further boosting immersion.

Also included is Voice Zoom 3, Sony’s AI-powered dialogue enhancement tool, which isolates speech and adjusts its volume for greater clarity.

The Bravia Theatre System 6 ships from 6 May for £549 in the UK. Stay tuned for US and Australia pricing/release dates.

Bravia Theatre Rear 8 and Sub 7

(Image credit: Sony)

The Bravia Theatre Rear 8 adds a pair of wireless rear surround speakers to compatible setups (only the Theatre Bar 9 is explicitly mentioned in the press release). Each unit includes both a woofer and a tweeter, and supports 360 Spatial Sound Mapping – Sony’s room-aware technology that analyses space characteristics to simulate the effect of multiple phantom speakers, with the aim of greater immersion.

The Theatre Rear 8 pair will set you back £449 in the UK, and ships from 11 June.

Elsewhere, the Bravia Theatre Sub 7 is a compact wireless subwoofer with 100W output and a two-way placement design that allows for flexible positioning. It features Sony’s Separated Notch Edge cabinet design, which is engineered to help control resonance and reduce distortion. It'll ship from 28 May in the UK, for £249.

We intend to put these products through their paces once review samples become available – and only then will we know how well Sony’s latest audio kit stacks up against the competition.

In the meantime, we'll update this article with prices and release dates, as soon as we have them. Stay tuned.

MORE:

Click here to read our first impressions of the new Sony Bravia 8 II and Bravia 5 TVs

Sony Bravia 8 vs Bravia 9: which Sony TV should you buy?

Read our Sony Bravia 8 review

And the Sony Bravia 9 review

I’ve seen Sony’s next-gen RGB LED TV in action – and I think it could be even better than OLED

tom.parsons@futurenet.com (Tom Parsons) — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:25:47 +0000

Look, there’s really no point in pretending otherwise at this point – I’m an OLED guy. I was bowled over when I first saw an OLED TV in action (the 11-inch Sony XEL-1) back in 2007, and I’ve not looked back since taking my first OLED TV home about a decade ago.

Over the years since, I’ve been lucky enough to have had various new, cutting-edge TV technologies presented to me, but (with the exception of Micro LED, which is still very much a pipedream for ‘normal’ people), I’ve not seen anything that has even momentarily suggested to me that it is overall better than OLED.

Until now.

Sony has yet to officially announce its new 2025 TVs, but, in a highly unusual move, it has just announced that it is working on next-gen RGB LED backlighting technology that won’t see the light of day until 2026 – and I have already seen it in action.

In fact, I’m one of the first people who doesn’t work for Sony to have seen the company’s RGB LED prototype in the flesh – just as I was when it was developing the bespoke Mini LED backlight technology that would eventually become the brand's 2024 flagship TV, the Bravia 9.

When I wrote about my experience with that previous prototype, I noted that it certainly had some advantages over OLED, particularly in terms of brightness, but that it didn’t seem to entirely overcome all of the issues associated with backlit TVs. Having now put the Bravia 9 through our rigorous review process (twice, in fact!), we know for certain that it’s better than OLED in some regards but slightly compromised in others.

The demos I have seen of the new RGB Mini LED prototype in Sony’s Tokyo HQ – though too limited to draw final conclusions – suggest that it has all of the advantages of its Mini LED progenitor without the same compromises. I’ve seen the A95L QD-OLED TV, which is my personal favourite TV available right now, used as a reference in numerous TV demos, and this is the first time I have felt it has been beaten across the board.

But before I get into the detail of those first-hand impressions, just what is RGB Mini LED? And what makes Sony’s implementation different from that of its rivals?

RGB LED and the Sony difference

Sony wouldn't let me take any photos of its prototype in action, so we unfortunately just have the company's illustrations and photos to publish here (Image credit: Sony)

While Sony is currently referring to its new prototype as ‘RGB LED’, it could just as easily use the term ‘RGB Mini LED’ because this is a natural progression of Mini LED technology.

Mini LED takes the basic premise of Full Array Local Dimming – rows of LEDs that shine light through a colour panel and are grouped into zones that can be brightened or dimmed independently – but vastly shrinks the LEDs and increases the number of independent dimming zones to improve contrast.

RGB Mini LED is like that, but instead of the LEDs being white, they’re red, green and blue. The general idea is that, because the colour is coming directly from the backlight, it’s possible to achieve brighter, more accurate colours with greater consistency at different brightness levels and mitigate at least some of the ‘blooming’ issues associated with backlit TVs.

Now, Sony is far from the only brand working on RGB Mini LED technology – several of its rivals, including Hisense and TCL, announced RGB LED TVs at CES in January – but it does feel that it has a significant advantage: better backlighting.

The Mini LED backlight that I saw way back in 2023 in prototype form and that went on to feature in the Bravia 9 is more advanced than what other brands are producing in several ways – a major one being how granularly it controls the current and therefore brightness of its dimming zones. This results in a more natural and nuanced picture performance. And this technology is now being applied to this new RGB LED backlight.

The Sony RGB LED prototype in numbers

This is an illustration of the colours ('colour volume') that can be reproduced by Sony's RGB LED prototype – it's much bigger than either Mini LED or QD-OLED, particularly in the brightest parts of the spectrum (Image credit: Sony)

So, let’s dig into the numbers associated with the Sony RGB LED prototype I saw last month in Tokyo.

It’s a 75-inch screen that is very much a ‘development mule’ rather than a finished TV – just as you would expect. Its backlight, which I have seen exposed, is covered in tiny ‘bubbles’ that look very much like those you would see in a standard Mini LED backlight. Look closer, though, and you can see that each bubble contains three LEDs – one each for red, green and blue – rather than a single white one.

The 75-inch prototype (figures will vary depending on the size of the TV) has 96,000 LEDs in total, and therefore 32,000 of these ‘bubbles’. These are arranged into groups of eight, all of which are controlled in unison – i.e. they must all simultaneously be the same colour and brightness.

So, yes, that means the TV has 4000 independently dimmable zones, which is more than double that found in the 75-inch Bravia 9 Mini LED TV. And these zones are coloured rather than white.

As mentioned, it’s how Sony controls its Mini LED backlight that makes it special, and there’s a step up here, as well: the Bravia 9 has 22-bit backlight control and a 30-bit panel; this RGB LED prototype has 66-bit backlight control and a 30-bit panel.

Those are big numbers, to be sure, but how does Sony’s RGB LED TV look in action?

Eyes-on with the Sony RGB LED prototype – colour me impressed

While a Mini LED TV such as the Bravia 9 has a layer of white Mini LEDs that shines light through a Quantum Dot layer and onto the LCD layer, the RGB LED prototype's backlight sends coloured light directly to the LCD layer (Image credit: Sony)

After a breakdown of the approach and a close-up look at the ‘naked’ backlight, it was time to have a look at the RGB LED prototype in action. Sony had set it up flanked by an A95L and the Bravia 9.

I was instantly stunned by the vibrancy of the prototype. It was clearly so much brighter than the A95L, and while the gap between the prototype and the Bravia 9 in pure brightness terms was smaller, the improvement in bright colours was huge.

A standard Mini LED TV inevitably loses some colour volume as the intensity of the white light being shone through its Quantum Dot panel increases, and a QD-OLED model such as the A95L can’t go bright enough over a large area to reproduce the most vibrant colours. The RGB LED prototype has no such problems, though; it has all of the brightness of the Mini LED model – and the colour is coming from the backlight itself, so there is no dilution as things get brighter.

On top of those benefits that come from the raw materials, Sony has also developed a new ‘Colour Boost’ technology, which can essentially redistribute the power from the LEDs that aren’t being fully used into those that are. So, if an image demands a lot of blue, the TV can boost its blue LEDs by diverting power away from the red and green LEDs.

This was demonstrated by Sony using a clip from Frozen in which Elsa (while singing, of course) wields her powers in a pitch black space. The intensity of the blue crystals she produces was much greater on the prototype than either of the current TV models, yet the background remained perfectly black.

I was slightly concerned that this Colour Boost technology might result in some unevenness in colour reproduction – I wondered if pure red, green and blue might end up being more intense than mixed colours – but I saw no evidence of this in the demo sessions. In the Frozen clip, Elsa was wearing a pink dress, but this seemed perfectly in balance with the blue of the crystals. In a later clip from the live-action remake of Aladdin, which featured an expansive palette, all of the colours leapt from the screen in an equally dynamic fashion.

Importantly, while brightness and colour vibrancy were the most initially striking parts of the demo, I didn’t feel as if I was being battered by unrealistic vividness. While I was of course seeing the prototype at its most dynamic, the punch was controlled, and subtler colours – skin tones, for example – looked just as clean and natural as they did from the Bravia 9 and A95L. Granular control of colours is just as big a deal here as increased colour intensity.

Bonus upgrades to viewing angles and blooming

But it is neither the colour subtlety nor the punch that have made me really excited about Sony’s new RGB LED technology. It’s actually what it does to off-axis viewing and backlight blooming that I think is most valuable – and the reason that I think it could end up surpassing OLED in the hearts of TV nerds like myself.

Sony had an ingenious way to demonstrate this: the backlight of the RGB LED prototype could be switched from its RGB mode to pure white. In RGB mode, the colours of the prototype were more vibrant, consistent and ‘full’ than they were from the Bravia 9, even when I was viewing the Bravia 9 straight on and the prototype at an angle. There was little to no discernible washing out of the image as I moved around the room. We’re talking near-OLED levels of consistency in terms of viewing angles.

To illustrate the part that the RGB backlight was playing here, Sony flicked it into white mode. Viewed straight on, the prototype’s picture barely changed, but when I stood at an angle, there was an immediate and substantial loss of colour volume and contrast, and the image became dull.

Part of the magic here isn’t that there’s no blooming at all, but that any bloom is in the colour of the object on screen, so (as demonstrated using a clip from Black Widow), a bright red light doesn’t have a distracting white halo – it has a natural, red glow.

The early verdict – and where does Sony go from here?

The Bravia 9 – will the Sony RGB LED TV replace it or sit above it? (Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

As should be very clear by now, I was hugely impressed by Sony’s RGB LED prototype. It’s true that Sony could have been masking some flaws (there was no demonstration in a pitch black room, for example), but the upgrades over the Bravia 9 and my beloved A95L were so stark, and the apparent downsides so hard to spot, that I can’t help but be really excited for the tech to go on sale.

But when will that be? And in what form?

Well, Sony isn’t being secretive about its desire to launch an RGB LED TV in 2026, but it is being coy about what the TV will be called and where it will sit in the range. Having seen it in action, though, I would be amazed if this didn’t become the new Bravia 10 flagship.

My instinct is that it will sit above the Bravia 9, which will continue to use Sony’s standard, home-grown Mini LED technology for the time being. But Sony clearly has big plans for RGB LED, and in the long run it could replace Mini LED and perhaps even OLED and QD-OLED throughout its range. I should be angst-ridden at that prospect – but I’m actually rather excited.

In for Review: the B&W Zeppelin Pro Edition, Theatre Bar 8 and more tested

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:29:09 +0000

Welcome to the first entry into our new In For Review column where we’ll reveal the latest products we have coming into our viewing and listening rooms for testing (embargoes allowing) on the first Monday of each month.

As well as detailing the products our team of hi-fi and home cinema experts will be testing and publishing full reviews of each month, we’ll also be taking questions for every item on the list – so if you’re curious about a specific design detail, area of its performance, or anything else, make sure to get in touch on our forums, social media feeds or whathifi@futurenet.com email address.

Kicking us off we have an epic list of audio and home cinema products, ranging from Technics’ latest turntable and Cambridge Audio’s latest all-in-one system, to entry level TVs and premium soundbars, in the pipeline for the What Hi-Fi? review treatment.

Here’s what you need to know about them.

1. B&W Zeppelin Pro Edition

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin is an iconic line of speakers that, believe it or not, started in 2007 as an iPod dock before becoming a wireless speaker in 2021 as the four-star B&W Zeppelin, which you can still find and buy in most stores.

We currently have the newest Zeppelin Pro wireless speaker in for review. The Pro variant was unveiled at the end of last year and brings a number of design and technical improvements to the table. The two biggest are the use of B&W’s latest titanium dome tweeters – which also feature in its latest 600-series loudspeakers – and 9cm midrange drivers featuring the same 'Fixed Suspension Transducer' (FST) technology seen on a wealth for firm’s premium floorstanders.

2. Cambridge Audio Evo One

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The Cambridge Audio Evo One was unveiled last year and is the British hi-fi house’s answer to the Naim Mu-so 2 and Ruark Audio R410 – two all in one systems that earned perfect five star ratings from our reviewers.

Thankfully Cambridge Audio’s armed it well to give it a fighting chance against its established rivals. Under the hood it houses four 25mm silk dome tweeters, four 5.7cm aluminium cone midrange units and six 7cm woofers. That adds up to a total 14-driver count, that’s powered by 700W of amplification. Here’s hoping it delivers the goods when we run it head-to-head with its arch-rivals later this month!

3. Esoteric F-01 integrated amplifier

(Image credit: Esoteric)

The Esoteric F-01 integrated amplifier is the only Temptation level product set to get the What Hi-Fi? review treatment this month – which automatically makes it an interesting unit. Outside of this it is a big deal as it sits in the same space and family as the Esoteric K-05XD SACD player, which won a What Hi-Fi? Award last year.

It’s the premium option in the Japanese firm’s current line of integrated amplifiers and comes with some impressive hardware. The 30-watt per channel (into eight ohms) Class A amplifier features a number of the technologies the firm pioneered and continues to use in its Grandioso X Edition designs. We’ll be excited to see how it performs when we fully review it this month.

4. Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 8

(Image credit: Sony)

The Bravia Theatre Bar 8 is the step down option in Sony’s current line of soundbars, sitting just below the five-star Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9 we reviewed last year. The big difference is that it has 11 drivers to the Bravia 9’s 13 drivers. These include four X-balanced woofers, up-firing drivers and side speakers. Considering how impressed we continue to be with the Theatre Bar 9, which offers a solid sense of height playing Atmos audio, we have high hopes for the Theatre Bar 8.

5. LG QNED91

(Image credit: LG)

The LG QNED91 is one of the top Mini LED options in the Korean firm’s “QNED” range of TVs. This puts it in direct competition with the four-star Hisense U8N and Samsung QN95D we tested last year. Will it finally be able to break flagship Mini LED TVs’ run of four star ratings? We’ll find out this month when we put it through its paces in our dedicated viewing rooms.

6. Epson EF-22

(Image credit: Epson)

The Epson EF-22 is a compact “coffee table” laser projector from the giant home cinema brand. Designed for ease of use, the projector has some decent specifications considering its target market. These include the ability to project a 150-inch image onto nearby walls and 1000 lumens max brightness.

Sure, these aren’t best in class, especially compared to the “proper” home cinema options in our main best projectors guide, but considering its £1000 (around £1320 / AU$1955) price it looks pretty impressive. If it delivers the goods when we run it against rivals from Xgimi, Hisense and their ilk in our viewing rooms later this month, it could be a nice option for casual movie fans on the hunt for a no-fuss projector.

MORE:

These are the best TVs we’ve tested

Our picks of the best stereo amplifiers

We rate the best hi-fi systems

Get an extra £200 off the Sony Bravia 8 with this fresh Black Friday OLED TV deal

tom.parsons@futurenet.com (Tom Parsons) — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 08:24:38 +0000

Most of the best TVs dropped to their Black Friday prices a few days ago, and extra discounts are few and far between. This deal bucks the trend in style, though: the 65-inch version of the Award-wining Sony Bravia 8 is down to a record-low price of £1799 at Fenwick.

The price yesterday was £1999 and that's still how much the TV costs at most other retailers, so this is a big, unique new discount. And the TV launched at a price of £2699, making this an overall discount of £900, or 33 per cent. Not bad at all for a brand-new set and our TV Product of the Year.

Sony Bravia 8 (K65XR80) 2024 OLED TV ~~£2999~~ £1799 at Fenwick (save £1200)
Lowest-ever price: £1799
The Sony Bravia 8 is a small but worthwhile upgrade on the Award-winning A80L, and it's now available with a huge discount. This is a great TV that's balanced, immersive and even boasts good sound by TV standards.
Price check: £1999 at Amazon, £1999 at Richer Sounds, £1999 at John LewisView Deal

The Bravia 8 is an excellent TV. It's the successor to last year’s What Hi-Fi? Award-winning, five-star Sony A80L. Having put the Bravia 8 through its paces in our viewing rooms directly against its predecessor, we can confirm it is an excellent OLED TV that improves on the A80L’s Award-winning formula. That's why it's this year's TV Product of the Year – it's even better than the LG C4.

Key improvements include more realistic skin tones and slightly better light control. This allows the Bravia 8 to deliver a wonderfully immersive but authentic movie-watching experience.

Minor improvements to its max brightness also let peak bright areas house slightly more detail, and the inbuilt sound system based on Sony’s custom Acoustic Surface Audio+ tech remains one of the best you’ll find on a TV.

This replaces traditional speakers with in-screen actuators, that vibrate the panel to create sound. Though it sounds weird, the tech works a treat and helps ensure the sound comes from the same place as the image, helping it produce more immersive results than rivals.

The end result is a stellar OLED TV that’s well worth considering and an easy five-star recommendation from our reviews team.

MORE:

Here are all of the best Black Friday deals

These are the best TVs we’ve tested

Our picks of the best gaming TVs

Sony Bravia 8 vs Bravia 9: which Sony TV should you buy?

Joe Svetlik — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 12:24:22 +0000

Sony Bravia 8

Screen size: 65in (also available in 55in and 77in)
HDR formats: HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision
HDMI Inputs: 4 x (2 x 48Gbps HDMI 2.1)
ARC/eARC: eARC
Dimensions (hwd, without stand): 83 x 144 x 3.7 cm

The Bravia 8 isn't a huge step on from the A80L, but any improvement still makes it an awesome TV. The picture is brighter, the sound excellent and it packs all the features you would expect of a top TV – though serious gamers will be better served elsewhere...

Pros

Balanced, immersive picture
Great motion handling
Good audio by TV standards

Cons

Not a huge upgrade on last year’s model
Good, not great upscaling
Only two HDMI 2.1 inputs

Sony Bravia 9

Screen size: 75in (also available in 65in and 85in)
HDR formats: HLG, HDR10, Dolby Vision HDR
HDMI inputs: x 4 (2 x 48Gbps HDMI 2.1)
ARC/eARC: eARC
Dimensions (hwd, without stand): 96 x 167 x 4.8cm

The Bravia 9 is big, feature-packed, and very, very bright. It sounds fantastic, with Sony cleverly getting round the fact it can't use its OLED sound system on a Mini LED. It's just a shame the picture quality is plagued by a couple of annoying niggles – it feels as though they should be easily fixable, so come on Sony!

Pros

Dazzling brightness and highlights
Impressive height effects from built-in speakers
Excellent local dimming on dark backgrounds

Cons

Buggy and compromised picture on some content
Sound could be weightier
User interface can be sluggish at times

It has been a good couple of years for Sony's TVs. Its step-down A80L OLED TV picked up Product of the Year at the 2023 What Hi-Fi? Awards, and its follow-up, the Bravia 8, has won a 2024 Award for the 'Best 55in and larger TV' category.

But what's this? Sony's latest flagship TV, the Bravia 9, eschews the OLED panel tech of the A80L and Bravia 8 in favour of Mini LED. Sony claims this backlit tech gets closer to the movie creator's original vision; but it's a gamble, no doubt about it.

How does it compare with the Bravia 8? And which TV would be better for you? Let's find out.

Sony Bravia 8 vs Bravia 9: price

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Initially, the Bravia 9 launched at only 75- and 85-inch models in the UK and Australia, with just the US getting the more reasonably sized 65-inch model. But now Sony has seen sense, and is bringing the 65-inch model to the UK from November.

That's the only model that is the exact same size as the Bravia 8; being the flagship, it is more expensive (except in Australia), costing £2999 / $3299 / AU$2295 to the Bravia 8's £2699 / $2800 / AU$4495. The Bravia 9 also comes in 75- and 85-inch variants, costing £3499 / $4000 / AU$6995 and £4299 / $5500 / AU$7995 respectively.

The Bravia 8 comes in more modest sizes. The 55-inch Bravia 8 retails for £2199 / $2000 / AU$3495 and the largest 77-inch for £3999 / $3900 / AU$6995.

As ever, there are deals to be had; but seeing as these TVs are newer, discounts aren't as common or as big as with LG's C4 or G4.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 8 **

Sony Bravia 8 vs Bravia 9: design

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

The Bravia 8 looks very similar to its predecessor, the A80L, but there are some differences.

It's flatter, and so sits flush to a wall when mounted, while its feet now have a flat top, helping to accommodate a soundbar lying across the top of them.

Its feet can be positioned closer to the middle of the TV (for placing it on a smaller TV stand) or wider to allow a larger soundbar to sit between them beneath the screen. They can also be set higher to fit in a soundbar, or lower to keep the TV closer to the surface of the TV stand.

The Bravia 9's feet are just as versatile as those of its cheaper brethren, though the TV itself is a much chunkier affair. That's hardly surprising, given that it has to fit in a backlight, whereas OLED TVs don't.

The Bravia 8's remote control handset is made of plastic and feels cheap, whereas the Bravia 9's is made from more premium metal. The Bravia 9 also comes with a slimmed-down Eco Remote, made of recycled material. This has a USB-C port for charging it up, backlit buttons, a mic for controlling Google Assistant and a speaker built in for the 'find my' feature for when it inevitably finds its way down the back of the sofa.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 9 **

Sony Bravia 8 vs Bravia 9: features

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

The main difference in terms of features is that the Bravia 9 features a backlight, while the Bravia 8 doesn't. OLED and Mini LED technologies both have their strengths and weaknesses (OLED gives better black levels while Mini LED goes brighter), but how well it performs is ultimately down to how the tech is implemented on a particular TV. Which we will cover in depth in the next section.

The Bravia 8's WOLED panel is brighter than the A80L's before it, and the TV is powered by the same XR processor as the Bravia 9. This brings AI into play, improving the picture processing to deliver more natural images, while also promising to improve the audio. Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio+ hardware uses actuators under the screen to 'place' sounds around the room – it comprises three actuators and two bass drivers. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are also onboard.

Both TVs run Google TV, with all the UK terrestrial apps present and correct (not all sets running Google TV have these). They all stream in their maximum quality formats (4K/HDR) too.

They also support all the usual suspects in terms of AV formats. These include the HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG formats of HDR (only Samsung's own HDR10+ is missing). There's also an Amazon Prime Video Calibrated mode, which optimises the TV's settings depending on the type of content it is showing (along with the older 'calibrated' modes for Netflix and Sony Pictures Core).

Gamers are well catered for with both TVs, but serious gamers might be better off with an LG model. That's because, while both the Bravia 8 and 9 have four HDMI ports, only two of these on each TV are HDMI 2.1 compatible – and one of those doubles as an eARC connection for plugging in a soundbar. So if you wanted top performance from more than one games console (alongside a soundbar), you would need to do some port switching around the back of the TV.

The HDMI 2.1 ports run at 120Hz in 4K – not the 144Hz as seen on the LG C4. But given that consoles max out at 120Hz, it will only be gaming PC enthusiasts who miss out. Both Bravia TVs support VRR and ALLM gaming features, as well as Dolby Vision Gaming.

What's surprising is how sluggish the Bravia 9 can feel at times, despite all the processing power and AI smarts. There's no issue once you are watching content, it's only when navigating the menus that it's like riding a bike through treacle.

As you can see, there's not much difference in terms of features between the two TVs. But the Bravia 9 does have a more powerful 70W 2.2.2 channel speaker system. Instead of actuators vibrating the screen (this wouldn't work with a backlit TV), Sony has surrounded the screen with speakers, including two upward-firing 10W beam tweeters built into the top edge, which help deliver Dolby Atmos height effects. See how they fare in the sound section lower down this page.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 9 **

Sony Bravia 8 vs Bravia 9: picture

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

So then, from the specification sheet – and in terms of design – the Bravia 8 looks very similar to the A80L. But how does the picture quality stack up?

Once you have tweaked the settings a bit, it does very well indeed. Our preference is for the Professional mode (basically another name for Filmmaker mode) with Peak Luminance at medium and the least possible motion processing.

This results in wonderfully natural skin tones – with noticeably more levels of red in the spectrum than the A80L – butter-smooth motion handling, and plenty of dark detail. The picture has lots of depth and a lovely sense of three-dimensionality, with bags of texture to make the scene feel real.

It is slightly brighter than the A80L too, as Sony promised. But not as bright as the Bravia 9, whose backlit panel really comes into its own during a film such as Pan; here, bright highlights are exceptional, revealing detail where lesser TVs show only one solid block of colour.

The contrast is very impressive, with sharp outlines making objects stand out against the background. Its black levels aren't quite as dark as the Bravia 8's, but for a backlit TV they are very good. Skin tones also aren't quite as warm, though they do still look natural. Motion is typically excellent for a Sony set.

But there are a couple of issues. There are jumps in brightness within the local dimming feature that prove distracting. But turn local dimming off, and the picture becomes flat and lifeless. This seems like a software bug that could be fixed via a simple firmware update, but it's there all the same and worth being aware of.

It is also incredibly fussy. It feels as though, no matter how long you spend toying with the settings, you never quite get the best out of it. Each picture mode has quite significant compromises, which is not something you expect from a TV costing this much.

It's a shame, as when the Bravia 9 is good, it's really good. If Sony can fix these two problems, it would have a real five-star stunner on its hands.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 8 **

Sony Bravia 8 vs Bravia 9: sound

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

The Bravia 8 scored five out of five for sound in our review. That's largely down to Sony's consistently excellent Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology, which uses actuators to vibrate the whole screen to generate sound. It has been used for years, and is always one of the best built-in TV sound solutions.

But it's not all positive. The Bravia 8 is a little light on bass, but the upside to this is that there is no distortion. The TV remains in control at all times, never pushing itself too hard. The results are less impressive once you get north of 80 per cent volume, but you really shouldn't be watching at those levels anyway.

Films sing, thanks to the Cinema sound mode, which brings voices out from the rest of the soundtrack. Dialogue has decent projection too, and with sound effects coming from different parts of the screen, it's a more immersive experience than most TVs.

The Bravia 9 performs similarly to its predecessor, the X95L (that's a very good thing), but the new height speakers add a greater sense of space. Those in-frame tweeters make for better directionality, too.

Vocal clarity and low-level dynamics are excellent, by TV standards. It goes loud, and has a very good sense of projection. Even the Voice Zoom 3 dialogue-enhancing mode is pretty good (often they're not), bringing speech to the fore without elbowing the other sounds out of the way too much.

But, like the Bravia 8, it does play it a little safe, which means the bass is a bit underwhelming, with a lack of punch. Again, the upside is a lack of distortion.

The height channels are mighty impressive. The beam tweeters are automatically calibrated when the TV is set up, measuring the shape of the room and directing the sound towards the seating position. Then all you do is sit back and enjoy...

Though as ever, our advice remains to buy a soundbar. It will elevate even the best TVs to new levels of audio performance.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 9 **

Sony Bravia 8 vs Bravia 9: verdict

As the pricier TV, you would expect the Bravia 9 to be the more impressive. That's certainly true in the sound department, and it is definitely brighter than the Bravia 8. But the picture is marred by some annoying bugs that prevent it earning the full five stars.

Hopefully Sony will fix these via a firmware update; but until then, we have to say the Bravia 8 is the better buy, unless you are desperate for the bigger sizes, extra sound quality and brighter screen.

MORE:

Read our Sony Bravia 8 review

And the Sony Bravia 9 review

Sony Bravia 8 vs LG C4: which should you buy?

Sony Bravia 8 vs A80L: which Sony TV should you buy?

Check out the best Sony TVs

Looking for a new TV? Then check out these 2 amazing deals on award-winning OLEDs

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 11:51:33 +0000

If you’re on the hunt for a new OLED TV and don’t fancy waiting until Black Friday in November, where we’re expecting a fresh wave of deals to appear, then we have good news.

Specifically, that not one, but two five-star, What Hi-Fi? Award-winning OLED TVs are currently selling at fantastic prices on Amazon and Sevenoaks Sound and Vision.

If you’re after a 65-inch OLED we’d recommend checking out this stellar Bravia 8 discount, which not only lets you pick one up for £2099, it also knocks 50 per cent of a Sony soundbar or speaker package if you get them at the same time.

We’d personally recommend pairing it with the Bravia Theatre Bar 9, which is also a What Hi-Fi? Awards 2024 winner.

Sony Bravia 8 ~~was £2699~~, now £2099 with 50 per cent of a Sony soundbar at Sevenoaks (save £600+)

The Bravia 8 is a fantastic OLED TV on its own. But paired with a Theatre Bar 9 and it becomes one of the best home cinema setups money can buy.View Deal

If you’re not after a soundbar, and want something a smidgen smaller, then you can also get the 55-inch Bravia 8 for £1599 on Amazon, a hefty £600 saving on its full price.

The Bravia 8 is a fantastic TV that delivers a wonderfully punchy, but accurate home cinema experience. Featuring warmer, more authentic colours than its predecessor, best in class light control and wonderfully fluid, realistic motion handling it’s one of the best options on the market for serious movie fans that value authenticity.

55-inches still too big? Then we’d recommend checking out the deals we’ve spotted on the 42- and 48-inch LG C4 models.

The 42-inch has the best discount right now, with the smallest LG C4 retailing for £889 on Amazon, a giant £510 saving on its regular price.

LG OLED42C4 ~~was £1399~~ now £889 on Amazon, save £510

The 42-inch LG C4 is a fantastic option if you need an OLED for a smaller viewing space or are a gamer looking for a top end TV to partner with your PS5 or Xbox Series X/S.View Deal

The C4 is the best new 42-inch OLED on the market delivering flawless gaming features and a fantastically bright, immersive picture, based on our testing.

That’s why you’ll currently find it as the top recommendation in our best gaming TV buying guide. The current deal price is also excellent, and the cheapest we’ve seen it sell for, outside of a very brief window at the start of the month when it was £15 cheaper.

If you’re after something bigger, the 48-inch LG C4 currently sells on Amazon for £1199, a still solid £300 on its RRP. During testing we found the 48-inch LG C4 is a fantastic OLED for smaller lounges offering the same perks of the smaller model, but with slightly warmer colours. The only reason we’re not pushing the 48-inch set more is that it sold for an even more impressive £1099 in September, making the current discount less enticing.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we’ve reviewed

Our pick of the best 65-inch TVs

We rate the best small TVs

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9

whathifi@futurenet.com (What Hi-Fi?) — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 17:14:34 +0000

Replacing a three-time What Hi-Fi? Award-winner can’t be easy, and yet that is the task Sony set itself with the catchily named Bravia Theatre Bar 9. Its predecessor, the HT-A7000, appeared in 2021 and has been proclaimed Product of the Year in our soundbars category in that and every year since. Had Sony not replaced it, there’s every chance that it would have won again this year.

But Sony has replaced it, and the Bravia Theatre Bar 9 (aka the Bravia Theater Bar 9 in the States) features subtler styling, a more practical design, a better app and more drivers – but fewer HDMI sockets. Of course, what really matters is whether Sony has also managed to improve the sound.

Price

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix / Drive To Survive)

The launch price of the Bravia Theatre Bar 9 (which also has the product code ‘HT-A9000’) is £1399 / $1400 / AU$1795. That’s a not-insignificant increase on the launch price of the HT-A7000, which was £1199 / $1300 / AU$1699 at launch, but that did come out way back in 2021.

It’s against the HT-A7000 that the Bravia Bar 9 will be most enthusiastically judged – it is still the best performance-per-pound soundbar you can buy and the last few examples are being sold with some huge discounts.

There’s no end of non-Sony rivals to contend with as well, of course, most notably the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus and Samsung HW-Q990D, the latter of which is a complete system in a box.

The Sonos Arc, meanwhile, is significantly cheaper than the Theatre Bar 9 but looms large over the Dolby Atmos soundbar category, and the much-rumoured Sonos Arc Ultra, which will apparently carry a similar price tag to the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9, must surely be close to launch at this point.

Design

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix / Drive To Survive)

Soundbar aesthetics are hard to get right and very much open to interpretation. Still, to these eyes, the Bravia Theatre Bar 9 is much more visually appealing than the HT-A7000, which we described as having ‘slightly confused styling’ way back in our original review. It’s not aged particularly well, either, and it now looks a bit old-fashioned as well as confused.

The design of the Bravia Theatre Bar 9 makes a lot more sense. The rounded front corners and fabric cover, which shrouds 90 per cent of the bar’s visible surfaces, make the Bar 9 look much softer and more discreet. It doesn’t stand out in a room, and that’s just as it should be.

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix / Drive To Survive)

Connectivity HDMI out (eARC), 1 x HDMI 2.1 in, wi-fi, Bluetooth 5.2, AirPlay 2

Format support Dolby Atmos, DTS:X

Streaming Spotify Connect

Voice control? No

Dimensions (hwd) 6.4 x 130 x 11 cm

In terms of dimensions, the Bar 9 is exactly the same width as the HT-A7000 (130cm), but it’s also less tall (at 6.4cm) and deep (11cm), making it seem more svelte and also more likely to sit in front of your TV without blocking the bottom of its screen. Handy ‘spacers’ (essentially foot extensions) are also included in the box so that the ‘bar can be raised slightly to straddle a TV stand. Inevitably, these are designed primarily with the new Bravia 9, Bravia 8 and Bravia 7 TVs in mind, but they also work like a charm with the Panasonic LZ1500 and Samsung S95D TVs with which we combine the Bar 9 for testing. Should you prefer to wall-mount there’s a bracket included in the box.

Quite remarkably, there’s just one control on the whole device – a power button nestled on the metal frame on the right-hand end. During testing, we’re surprised to discover that we don’t miss on-device controls for functions such as volume and input, but that’s because as well as the soundbar’s own remote control (a bare-bones little thing), most controls can be handled by your TV’s remote and more advanced adjustments are made via the app – more on which below.

More disappointing, though, is Sony’s decision to follow soundbar fashion and not give the Theatre Bar 9 a display. The HT-A7000 had a basic-but-useful scrolling text display, but the Bar 9 has naught but a couple of lights, one that illuminates only when the system is muted or isn’t properly set-up/connected, and another that is primarily designed to indicate which input is in use. This second light can illuminate in five different colours and it can flash in various different sequences, so making proper use of it involves referring back to the manual. There must be a better way, and there is – a simple display.

Features

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix / Drive To Survive)

Under the fabric cover are 13 individual drivers (up from 11 on the HT-A7000) and quad passive radiators. Along the front are four woofers, three standard tweeters and two beam tweeters; on each end is a side speaker; and on the top are two up-firing speakers and those passive radiators.

The up-firing drivers and beam tweeters are the same as those found in the HT-A7000, but all of the other speakers (and the passive radiators) are new. Of particular note are the four front-firing woofers, which are 1.7 times larger than those of the HT-A7000 and are designed to boost bass and midrange.

This array is designed, as expected, to create a sort of bubble of sound in your room using Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping, which creates phantom speakers in places where physical speakers don’t exist. You can, though, add more physical speakers if you wish, with the Bar 9 supporting the existing SA-RS5 and SA-R3S wireless surrounds and SA-SW5 and SA-SW3 wireless subwoofers.

While it’s certainly not an excuse for the soundbar itself not having a display, the new ‘Bravia Connect’ partner app is largely very good. Its most important function is to talk you through the Sound Field Optimisation process, which involves taking three measurements using your smartphone. The process is very quick and made very straightforward by the clear instructions and animations. Sony says that this Sound Field Optimisation has been improved this year and can better account for the individual characteristics of a room. Intriguingly, the goal is to tune the sound to match Sony’s reference listening rooms in Tokyo as closely as possible.

From within the app, you can also make various advanced adjustments to, for example, the height of the soundfield, the automatic dynamic range compression (DRC) and the HDMI signal format. However, we find that the default settings are all what we would consider to be ‘correct’, so most users will never need to delve into these advanced settings. For most, the main page of the app is all they’ll need. This allows you to mute and change volume, change input, adjust the amount of bass, and even take a measurement for the current listening position, just in case you’re sitting in a different seat to usual and want to temporarily adjust the soundfield accordingly.

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix / Drive To Survive)

There are just three further ‘buttons’ on the front page of this app, and each one has a corresponding button on the remote. These simply toggle the Night, Voice and Sound Field features. As you would expect, Night mode reduces dynamic range and bass weight so that sound carries through the house less, and Voice is designed to enhance dialogue for greater clarity. Sound Field, meanwhile, simply toggles the soundbar's 3D audio processing which, by default, will be Sony’s own 360 Spatial Sound Mapping. Dolby Speaker Virtualizer and DTS Neural:X are alternatively available in the advanced settings, but we find that the default 360 Spatial Sound Mapping works best throughout our testing.

And that’s it for sound settings. There are no dedicated ‘Music’, ‘Movie’ or ‘Game’ settings, and as far as we’re concerned, that’s as it should be. When soundbars feature modes such as those, we test them and almost always find that turning them off and sticking with ‘Standard’ is the way to go for the most consistent and authentic sound. Here, Sony has simply made the decision and reduced confusion. In day-to-day listening, the only setting you really need to bother yourself with is Sound Field, which is best switched off for stereo music but can be left on for practically everything else.

As you would hope, the Bravia Theatre Bar 9 can handle both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D sound formats. Support for IMAX Enhanced is coming post-launch via a software update, but that also requires wireless surrounds and a subwoofer. Sony’s Acoustic Centre Sync makes a return with the Bar 9, so that owners of certain Bravia TVs can use the TV as the centre channel of the surround system created by the soundbar, and many Sony TVs going back as far as 2019 will also have the Bar 9’s controls integrated into its menus when connected.

While in most ways the Bar 9 is an upgrade on the HT-A7000, there is one disappointing downgrade: the number of HDMI inputs has been reduced from two to one. While it seems likely that the majority of Bar 9 owners will simply connect their TV to the soundbar using eARC and leave it at that, some always need more HDMI inputs. The Bar 9 does at least have one of those, which is more than can be said for rivals such as the Sonos Arc, and it supports 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM, but the Samsung Q990D has two such inputs.

HDMI isn’t the only way to send sound to the Theatre Bar 9, of course: you can also send music using Spotify Connect, AirPlay and Bluetooth 5.2. It’s a shame that Tidal Connect isn’t also supported.

Sound

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix / Drive To Survive)

While it might seem counterintuitive, we often start our soundbar tests (after a good day or so of running-in) with music, as this is usually a great way of digging into the core sound quality. And, feeding the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9 Tool’s Invincible via Bluetooth, we’re immediately impressed.

We’re instantly struck by how crisp and clean the delivery is, and how it sounds both airy and direct. The soundbar’s rhythmic and spatial organisation is second to none in this category, with every instrumental and vocal layer afforded space to breathe while clearly maintaining its tether to the whole.

Dynamics are superb, with lower-level subtleties in individual notes and Maynard James Keenan’s vocals rendered impressively, and the overall build of the track delivered with consistent granularity. There’s impressive tonal balance, too, with crisp but controlled treble at one end and deep, weighty bass at the other, with neither overshadowing the expressive midrange.

Quite remarkably, the HT-A7000 sounds a touch fuzzy and congested by comparison, though we do appreciate its extra tonal warmth, which is particularly effective through the vocals.

Playing the duel scene from Deadpool & Wolverine, the clarity and organisational ability again shine through. Every strike of sword on claw zings crisply through the controlled audio chaos, and every blade into body-part is conveyed with an appropriately unpleasant squelch. Dynamics are once again excellent and, combined with the crisp punch of each effect, that makes for a hugely exciting delivery. Our only concern here is that some particularly deep bass notes stick out slightly more than they perhaps should, which, at high volumes, can be a touch distracting. By and large, though, the bass does an excellent job of underpinning the action with satisfying weight.

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix / Drive To Survive)

Switching to our regular Unbroken Dolby Atmos test, the Theatre Bar 9 puts in arguably the most Atmos-y delivery we’ve heard from a solo soundbar. You’ll need to add wireless surrounds if you want the audio to stretch behind the listening position, but the Bar 9 alone pushes sound far out to the left and right, a long way into the room and right up to the ceiling. More importantly, it places individual effects into this soundstage effectively and tracks them as they sweep across the room. To be clear, the Samsung HW-Q990D is still a fairly hefty step up in this regard, but that’s a full package rather than just a ’bar.

The Theatre Bar 9’s other strengths shine through here, too. Its clarity and low-level dynamic subtlety mean the voices of the bomber’s crew are both intelligible over the background noise and emotive, the flak hits with weight and punchy precision, and the impressive spatial organisation makes it easy to audibly track the action even when all hell breaks loose.

Again, it’s a noticeable upgrade on the HT-A7000, with just one exception: those increases to clarity and detail appear to have come with a slight reduction in warmth and richness, and at times the Bravia Bar 9 comes across a little clinical.

Verdict

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix / Drive To Survive)

Even with that slightly clinical character, the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9 is comfortably better than the excellent HT-A7000 that preceded it. For clarity, detail, dynamics, solidity and outright Atmos-ness, it’s hard to fault, and its design is a big improvement, too.

First reviewed: May 2024. Updated review: November 2024.

SCORES

Sound 5
Build 4
Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony HT-A7000

Also consider the Samsung HW-Q990D

Read our Sonos Arc review

Best soundbars: options for every need, recommended by our experts

3 of 2024's best step-down OLED TVs prices are crashing – but the best is yet to come

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:50:43 +0000

If you’re shopping for a fancy new OLED there’s plenty to get excited about right now. Specifically, that we've seen huge savings appear on three five-star OLED TVs in rapid succession.

This started when we spotted huge savings on the five star LG C4 and cutting edge LG G4. Deals first started appearing on both during Prime Day in July, but things escalated earlier this month, when both the C4 and G4 dropped to their lowest prices ever.

This meant you could grab the 42-inch model of the LG C4 OLED TV for £879, a healthy £529 saving on its regular £1399 price. Above it, the flagship 55-inch LG G4 – which our reviewers still describe as the best premium option available in our best OLED TV guide – dropped to sell for £1699 at Richer Sounds. That is a £700 saving on its normal price and the best we’ve ever seen it sell for to date.

Not content to just dethrone the LG C4 as our recommendation to most people after we finished reviewing it earlier in September, Sony then got in on the action with its Bravia 8. Amazon slashed the price of every size of the OLED, but we were particularly shocked to see the 55-inch Bravia 8 sell for £1619, a £580 saving on the £2199 it normally costs.

As a final nail in the coffin, Philips decided to get involved, with Richer Sounds slashing the price of every size of the firm’s OLED809 – which also happened to score a perfect five stars when we tested it. Here, the premier deal lets you pre-order the 77-inch Philips OLED809 for £2199. That’s a £1050 saving on its £3249 RRP and the cheapest price we’ve seen on any 77-inch step-down OLED that has launched this year.

Prices have since gone up on all three sets, but the early cuts are still weird. Why is that weird? Because we’ve not seen new OLED TVs launched this year get such hefty price drops this early in their lifecycle before. Normally the best deals would target the older OLEDs from last year, as retailers rush to clear stock. I even penned an opinion piece in 2023 explaining this is a key reason why we tend to take a while before recommending new OLED TVs over their predecessors.

So if you a new OLED TV right now, you’re probably feeling pretty great and for good reasons – trust me, having seen every one of the three TVs mentioned above, I can confirm you’ll likely be happy with any of them, especially if you’re coming off an ageing Plasma, LCD or early OLED.

But, for those that can, I’d strongly suggest waiting a little longer before pulling the trigger for one key reason – Black Friday is fast approaching.

Black Friday used to be a key shopping event that started in the US and happened on the last Friday of November, just after Thanksgiving. But it has recently grown to cover pretty much all of November and become an international phenomenon. It is also no longer limited to Amazon, with a number of big name specialist hi-fi and home cinema retailers also getting in on the action in recent years.

The event usually brings with it a number of excellent OLED TV deals as a result. Last year these included the first solid deals on the then flagship LG C3 whose 42-inch size dropped to sell for £899 during the event.

With the C4 already having crossed that price threshold, I can't help but wonder how much further it will drop during Black Friday and I think, and hope, that the best OLED TV deals are yet to come.

MORE:

These are the best TVs we've tested

We rate the best gaming TVs

Our picks of the best 65-inch TVs

Don't buy the Award-winning Sony A80L OLED TV – especially while the Bravia 8 is almost the same price

Lewis Empson — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 11:49:29 +0000

You read that correctly; after a year of singing the Sony A80L OLED TV's praises and recommending it as our favourite TV on the market, the time has come for us to withdraw that unwavering support in favour of a newer model. While we are often advocates of opting for an older TV to save some of your hard-earned cash, there are rare occurrences when the new model is within touching distance of its predecessor.

Case in point, the 42-inch LG C4 has just been discounted to £879 – just £20 more than the outgoing C3 model. And we have spotted an absolutely stellar deal in the same vein as that LG offer, though this time it concerns the five-star Sony Bravia 8 OLED TV.

The 55-inch model, which launched at £2199, is now down to just £1619 at Amazon; we're struggling to find reasons not to call this an absolute bargain. The 55-inch A80L (which is beginning to dwindle in stock) is currently £1599; for £20 more, you would be crazy not to spring for the latest model.

Sony Bravia 8 (K55XR80) ~~£2199~~ £1619 at Amazon (save £580)
We tested the 65-inch variant of the Bravia 8, but this smaller model should perform similarly to the larger five-star model. We praised the Bravia 8's balanced and immersive picture, which even sounds pretty great by TV standards. View Deal

Sony's step-down OLED TV has been our favoured model both for recommending to prospective buyers and for benchmarking TVs in our AV testing room; but all good things must come to an end. Fortunately for us, we have found that the Bravia 8 is a worthy successor to the A80L, even if it is a subtle upgrade.

In our full review, we find that the Bravia 8 builds on the A80L's favourable picture performance with slightly brighter highlights, a touch more warmth to the colours and even better motion. It retains the crisp details and excellent contrast from its predecessor too, leaving us with a balanced and immersive image. The Bravia 8 manages to feel even more three-dimensional than the A80L too, which is no small feat; especially as that was one of our favourite aspects of the A80L.

Furthermore, the Bravia 8 sounds good (by TV standards, of course – a soundbar is still preferable) thanks to its 50W actuator-based speaker system. Sony continues to take its "sound from the screen" mission deadly seriously and, while we wish it had a bit more low-end presence, the Bravia 8 delivers a controlled sound that accurately reflects what is happening on the screen while also making a decent attempt at recreating larger spatial effects.

Finally, we deem the Bravia 8 to have a solid feature set, even if it can't compete with LG or Samsung's latest sets where connectivity is concerned. The Sony TV has two HDMI 2.1 sockets (alongside two HDMI 2.0 connections) which support 4K/120Hz signals with VRR and ALLM. PS5 gamers also get some exclusive features, including Auto HDR Tone Mapping and Auto Genre Picture Mode. If you're not a gamer, then you can use the built-in Google TV system to stream from the likes of Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video.

The Bravia 8 also has the usual suite of picture and sound features we expect to see on premium TVs of this stature. HDR is supported in the HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG formats, while immersive audio is delivered via Dolby Atmos. Sony's new XR Processor also handles a plethora of picture upgrades, including analysing the picture to enhance depth-mapping, contrast, colour, motion and more.

While we have stated that the Bravia 8 is a small upgrade over the excellent A80L, we certainly consider that upgrade to be worth the additional £20. If you're looking at either of these Sony OLEDs, we urge you to opt to spend the extra cash and net yourself the newer of the two.

MORE:

Read our full Sony Bravia 8 review

Check out the best OLED TV deals

And find our picks for the best TVs here

Sony is officially bringing the smaller Bravia 9 to the UK later this year

Lewis Empson — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 12:16:38 +0000

Sony has announced that it will bring the 65-inch Bravia 9 Mini LED TV to the UK and Europe in November of this year. It states that after hearing the outcry from ourselves and others with a keen interest in the world of TVs, it will scale down its 2024 flagship TV after only bringing the 75- and 85-inch versions to the UK back when the new Bravia TV range launched earlier this year.

We've already reviewed this TV at 75-inches, finding it to be mostly impressive, although an issue with the new Mini LED backlight system that Sony has developed for this model held it back from true five-star greatness. We also griped in our review that 75 inches is far too big, so seeing a "smaller" 65-inch model launch here in the UK is a win in our books.

Tthe smaller Bravia 9 should carry forth all of the features we've come to expect from the larger model, including the Bravia XR Processor, Acoustic Multi-Audio+ sound system with beam tweeters, and the new Amazon Prime Video calibrated mode.

A smaller screen size should also mean a lower price, which is another thing we're rather pleased to see. Pricing hasn't been locked in by Sony yet, but it will certainly be cheaper than the 75-inch model; meaning those who are desperate to try out Sony's advanced new backlight system will no longer have to shell out a whopping £4499.

The 65-inch Bravia 9 retails for $3000 in the US, so we could potentially see it retail for around £2500 here in the UK – though that is speculation for now. Sony is also yet to confirm an exact release date, instead citing November 2024 as a launch window.

MORE:

Read our full Sony Bravia 9 review

As well as our Sony Bravia 8 review

And find the full Sony 2024 Bravia TV range here

The new Bravia projectors look great, but it’s discounts on the Sony VPL-XW7000ES I’m really excited about

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 16:10:27 +0000

Sony has unveiled its latest Bravia 8 and 9 projectors, and while the naming convention is a little confusing – as there are also Bravia 8 and Bravia 9 TVs – they certainly look interesting, based on our brief time with them at the launch event.

Read our staff writer Lewis Empson’s Bravia 9 projector hands-on and you’ll see that, despite it being way too soon for our final verdict, they have left a very strong opening impression. His early verdict says it all:

“While it may not look like anything new on the outside, the upgraded processor and new picture features certainly appear to give this new flagship projector a boost in the picture department, with the inclusion of HDMI 2.1 being the cherry on top. Sony's latest step-up projector makes a dazzling debut.”

Outside of new Taylor Swift songs, he doesn’t often give praise like this. Trust me.

But for me personally, as much as I’m excited to get the new projectors into our dedicated viewing rooms for their full reviews, there’s another projector I have my mouse cursor floating over the buy now button for. Specifically, the Sony VPL-XW7000ES projector the Bravia 8 is set to replace.

Why am I so interested in an outgoing model you ask? There are two simple reasons. First, because it is still an exceptional projector. It not only earned a five-star rating when we reviewed it, but also picked up a What Hi-Fi? Award last year.

Which is why it’s still used as a benchmark and comparison point when we review projectors. On top of that, having sat in our viewing rooms helping review new projectors more times than I care to count, I can personally confirm it’s still a stellar performer. It offers stunning levels of contrast and exceptional light control that make everything from gloomy horrors to blockbuster action movies look excellent. Make no mistake, even now it will delight any home cinema fan with the cash to spare.

Speaking of cash, that brings me to my second reason – price. Projectors at this level never come cheap, and even at launch the VPL-XW7000ES was very expensive, retailing for £14,999 / $27,999 / AU$25,499. But, it’s now shedding thousands and is looking more tempting than ever. The newer Bravia 8 replacing it in November will retail for £15,999 / €15,999 but the VPL-XW7000ES is now seeing some hefty price drops thanks to the imminent arrival of the new unit. I’ve already seen some shops, including Peter Tyson and Amazon, offering it for £12,999 – a £2000 saving on its regular retail price.

Sony VPL-XW7000ES ~~£14,999~~ £12,999 at Peter Tyson (save £2000)
The Sony VPL-XW7000ES is about to be replaced by the Bravia 8 projector. But the 2023 Award winner is still a fantastic option for movie fans, especially as prices are already going down.View Deal

With the VPL-XW7000ES set to be sent to the farm, I can see retailers dropping prices even further in the not too distant future. This is the standard pattern I’ve seen time and time again with outgoing home cinema hardware, having covered the industry for nearly two decades.

If it goes down in price even further, say to £11,999 or £10,999, this would make the VPL-XW7000ES one of the best deals to appear this year. And with the yearly sales bonanza, Black Friday, set to land the same month that the VPL-XW7000ES officially retires, I can see exactly that happening. Which is why I can’t help but get a little excited and wholeheartedly recommend any home cinema fan looking for a cracking projector for movies keep a close eye on its price over the coming months.

MORE:

These are the best projectors we’ve tested

We rate the best surround sound packages we’ve reviewed

We rate the best AVRs money can buy

Sony is bringing its OLED TV smarts to projectors with the new Bravia 8 and 9

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 13:00:47 +0000

Sony has unveiled new Bravia 8 (VPL-XW6100ES) and Bravia 9 (VPL-XW8100ES) 4K laser home cinema projectors, which will replace one of the What Hi-Fi? team's favourite bits of home cinema hardware.

The new projectors were unveiled at a press event attended by What Hi-Fi? and carry the same naming convention as Sony’s Bravia 8 and Bravia 9 top-end TVs.

The Bravia 8 is the cheaper of the two and is set to cost for £15,999 / €15,999 when it launches in November this year. It will replace the five-star Award-winning Sony VPL-XW7000ES.

The Bravia 9 is a new step-up model that will also launch at an unspecified point in November, but for an even more premium £25,999 / €25,999. It sits above the outgoing VPL-XW7000ES and new Bravia 8, but below the company’s uber-expensive, top end GTZ380, which will remain on sale.

US and Australian pricing hasn’t been revealed for either projector, but we’ll update this page when we get it.

Its cost puts the Bravia 9 as a direct rival to the JVC DLA-NZ900, which was unveiled in May and targets the same premium market.

Sony

The big selling point for both of the new units is that they will be the first to use Sony’s XR processor for projectors. Sony says this is a modified version of the processor we saw running the Bravia 8 and Bravia 9 TVs, which brings with it a variety of benefits.

These include Sony’s proprietary XR Dynamic Tone Mapping, XR Deep Black, XR Triluminos Pro and XR Clear Image technologies.

XR Dynamic Tone Mapping uses the chip’s processing smarts to analyse and tone map the peak bright areas of the picture at a frame-by-frame level. XR Deep Black aims to improve the projector’s black level and shadow detail while Triluminos Pro and XR Clear Image aim to improve their upscaling powers.

Both also feature Sony’s Z-Phosphor laser light source technology, which aims to improve the units’ efficiency. For gamers, both the Bravia 8 and 9 projectors will support 4K at up to 120fps with a quoted 12ms input lag thanks to the inclusion of two HDMI 2.1 inputs and an Auto Low Latency Mode.

Finally, the two will both come with Corner Keystone correction, which should help make setting the projectors up in less than ideal viewing conditions easier.

The Bravia 9 can go brighter than the Bravia 8, with a quoted 3400 lumens peak brightness. The Bravia 8 has a 2700 Lumens quoted brightness, by comparison.

The more expensive model is also the only one of the two to feature a Live Colour Enhancer which, according to Sony, will let it perform better in bright environments. This is a feature we liked on the VPL-XW7000ES, and Sony claims it will work even better on the Bravia 9 thanks to the use of the newer XR processor.

We only had a chance to have a brief hands-on look with the Bravia 9 projector at the Sony launch event. The hands-on wasn’t in optimum settings, so we’ll wait until we get it into our controlled viewing room and can run it directly against its predecessor and rivals before offering a final verdict. But our staff writer Lewis Empson did come away from the session with a positive opening impression of the Bravia 9 projector.

We’re hoping to get both units in for testing soon, so make sure to keep an eye on What Hi-Fi? ahead of launch for our full Bravia 8 and Bravia 9 Projector reviews. Ahead of that, if you have any questions about the new units make sure to get in touch on our forums and social media channels.

MORE:

These are the best projectors we’ve tested

We rate the best surround sound packages

Our picks of the best Sony TVs

Sony Bravia 8 (K65XR80)

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 11:10:45 +0000

Introduction

The Sony Bravia 8 is one of 2024’s biggest TVs for a couple of reasons. First, because it’s the only new OLED TV from the Japanese home cinema giant to arrive this year. Second, because it is the follow-up to the Sony A80L, which picked up a Product of the Year accolade at the What Hi-Fi? Awards.

Does it live up to its predecessor’s legacy? After putting it through its paces, including side-by-side comparisons with arch-rivals and its predecessor, the answer is a firm yes, but only just.

Price

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

In line with rivals at launch, but coming down in price every week.
Only available in 55-inches and above.
Performance-identical Bravia 8A model also now available.

The Bravia 8 is the second most expensive option in Sony’s 2024 range. Some deals have started doing the rounds, but most days you can get the 65-inch model being reviewed here for £2699 / $2800 / AU$4495. The smaller 55-inch Bravia 8 retails for £2199 / $2000 / AU$3495 and the largest 77-inch for £3999 / $3900 / AU$6995.

That puts the Bravia 8 roughly in line with most step-down OLED TVs this year. To put it in context, the 65-inch LG C4 launched costing £2700 / $2699 / AU$4299. But there are a couple of spanners in the works that complicate things.

The first of these is that the LG C4 and several other rivals that launched earlier this year have already started receiving hefty price drops. Right now you can grab the same 65-inch LG C4 for around £2250. There are also still stocks of the outgoing Sony A80L available at some retailers with the 65-inch model selling for a much cheaper £1899.

The second issue is that Sony isn’t offering the Bravia 8 in sizes below 55 inches. Instead, it has chosen to keep the two-year-old A90K on sale rather than release smaller versions of its new set.

This means that if you want to save money and get a smaller 42- or 48-inch OLED, or simply can’t fit something that big into your living room, you will have to look elsewhere – which is a shame considering how many of us, What Hi-Fi? reviewers included, love OLED but don’t want to have to sacrifice an entire room’s feng shui to get it.

As of October 2026, Sony has taken the unusual step of launching a variant of the Bravia 8, called the Bravia 8A.

The Bravia 8A comes with a non-backlit version of the Bravia 8's remote, and you get with it 5 credits and 12 months of streaming for Sony Pictures Core, rather than the 12 credits and 24 months of the Bravia 8.

The performance is identical, though, so this Bravia 8 review also applies to the Bravia 8A model which, once prices have settled, should be available for less.

Design

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Feet stand design.
Tall enough to fit a soundbar under.

Out of the box, the Sony Bravia 8 looks a lot like its predecessor, the A80L. Standing one next to the other in our viewing rooms there are a few subtle differences, however.

At a superficial level, the rear, while still made of plastic, has a slightly different square textured pattern running along it. It’s also noticeably flatter than the A80L’s, which helps it sit flush on a wall when mounted.

But more important tweaks have been made to its stand and remote. The Bravia 8’s foot stands have been tweaked to have a flat top and be slightly thinner. The A80L’s look slightly chunky by comparison. This is an intentional tweak by Sony designed to make it easier to plonk a soundbar across the feet.

For those planning to use it on a larger stand, the TV retains two position options for the feet. One that places them close together in the middle of the Bravia 8’s bottom edge, and a second where they sit on the right and left corners – the latter allowing for a larger soundbar to sit underneath the TV without touching the foot stands.

On the off-chance you don’t want a soundbar, the feet can also be set to two heights, one placing the set incredibly close to your table stand, another raising it 10cm higher.

The configuration works well and means the TV can neatly sit on most standard-sized TV stands. The only slight issue is that, unlike many pedestal stands, there’s no pivot/swivel mechanism. This isn’t a deal breaker but we’re always fans of a hinge mechanism on a stand as it not only lets you quickly adjust the screen’s orientation on the fly, it also makes it easier to access the set’s HDMI inputs.

Our only other minor quibble is that Sony has made the Bravia 8’s remote a purely plastic, slightly cheap-feeling affair. Unlike with the A80L or Bravia 9, the remote’s top doesn’t have a metallic finish and it feels significantly cheaper as a result.

This is semi-forgivable as it is otherwise well stacked, featuring useful shortcut buttons to commonly used streaming services, plus a backlight – a key item missing on the remote of its arch-rival, the LG C4.

Features

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Only two HDMI 2.1 inputs.
Powered by Google TV.

Despite having very few aesthetic changes to the Bravia 8, Sony’s made some important upgrades under the hood.

The headline stat is that the Bravia 8’s WOLED panel is quoted as being 10 per cent brighter than its predecessor. This makes it the latest in a long line of step-down OLED TVs to market higher maximum brightness as a key reason to upgrade this year.

LG made the same claim with the LG C4, and Philips followed suit with its OLED809, which passed through our viewing rooms just before the Bravia 8’s arrival.

However, while this means the Bravia 8 still won’t go as bright as its QD-OLED sibling, the Sony A95L or the MLA-equipped LG G4 – which can go up to 3000 nits’ peak brightness – this is still a bold claim by Sony. The A80L remains one of the brightest standard OLED TVs without MLA or QD-OLED, despite being over a year old.

The TV is powered by the same Bravia XR processor as the more expensive Bravia 9. The XR processor, like all the new TV chips we’ve seen this year, promises to leverage AI to improve the set’s picture processing and let it deliver an even more authentic, natural-looking home cinema experience – an achievement it largely manages, based on our testing, at least on the Bravia 8.

The AI-focused chip aims to do a similar thing with audio, using its processing chops paired with Sony’s unique Acoustic Surface Audio+ hardware in an attempt to offer radically better virtual surround sound.

The Acoustic Surface Audio+ tech has been a staple feature on Sony TVs for quite some time. It uses under-screen actuators to produce sound rather than traditional speakers. The idea here is to ensure the sound comes from the same place as the image, helping it lock on better.

The set-up on the Bravia 8 is identical to the A80L’s. Specifically, it’s a 50W system consisting of two actuators, two tweeters and a single bass drivers. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support also make a return and round out the TV’s audio features.

Outside of this, the Bravia 8’s features remain largely unchanged from its predecessor. The set runs using the Google TV operating system, which is more than good enough for most people. All the heavy-hitting apps are supported including Netflix, Disney Plus, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video.

Specialist Sony-owned apps including Sony Pictures Core and Crunchyroll (the best anime streaming service available in our opinion) are also present. In the UK, local streaming app support is also solid with BBC iPlayer, ITV X, Channel 4 and Channel 5 all included – many Google TVs are missing these. Having tried them all we can also confirm that all correctly stream in 4K / HDR where applicable.

Sony Bravia 8 (K65XR80) tech specs

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Screen size 65-inches (also available in 55- and 77-inches)

Type OLED

Backlight NA

Resolution 4K

HDR formats HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision

Operating system Google TV

HDMI Inputs 4 x (2 x 48Gbps HDMI 2.1)

Gaming features 4K/120Hz, VRR, ALLM

ARC/eARC eARC

Optical output? Yes

Dimensions (hwd, without stand) 83 x 144 x 3.7 cm

In the same vein, all the usual formats are supported, the Bravia 8 working with HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG. Like the Bravia 9 there’s also an IMAX Enhanced picture mode. The only ongoing omission is HDR10+. Normally, we’d be forgiving of this as Prime Video is the only mainstream service pushing the standard. But the presence of a new Prime Video Calibrated mode makes it feel slightly odd on the Bravia 8.

The new mode works in a similar way to the TV’s Netflix Calibrated Mode and Sony Pictures Core Calibrated Mode (previously known as Bravia Core Calibrated Mode). It aims to optimise the TV’s settings based on the type of content being played within the app. Taking it for a quick spin switching between sports and films, these 'optimisations' equate to minor picture adjustments to colours and brightness, rather than massive shifts.

For gamers, the Bravia 8 is in many ways excellent, but it again comes with a few omissions common to most of the non-LG or Samsung OLED TVs we test. The first is that only two of the set's four HDMI sockets meet the 2.1 standard, and one of those doubles as an eARC connection.

This is fine if you just want to connect one current generation games console and a Dolby Atmos soundbar. Current games consoles require an HDMI 2.1 input to run at full speed. To get Dolby Atmos you need to connect a compatible bar to the eARC input. So if you have a PS5 and Xbox Series X/S and Atmos soundbar, you will have to contend with a fair amount of cable swapping or make do with one of your consoles being more limited than it should be.

The inputs also only run at 120Hz in 4K, rather than the super-fast 144Hz seen on the rival LG C4. Though, as current consoles can only go up to 120Hz, this will only be an annoyance for PC gamers with supremely powerful rigs. Outside of this both the HDMI 2.1 inputs support VRR and ALLM – two key features that help make games feel more fluid and reactive.

Finally, Dolby Vision Gaming is present, which is another minor upgrade for the Bravia 9 on the A80L and a welcome addition for Xbox gamers, as the latest X/S consoles support the standard. This is a version of Dolby’s film and TV HDR standard optimised for games. It brings the same benefits, including better contrast and more accurate colours on compatible games mastered to the standard – of which there are roughly 100 available on Xbox.

Picture

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Incredibly bright and sharp image.
Best in class motion handling.

If you think the technical upgrades detailed above sound small then you’d be right. But as we saw earlier this year reviewing the LG C4, specifications never tell the full story, and sometimes seemingly modest updates yield big improvements in the real world.

Is this the case with the Bravia 8? To find out, we put the Bravia 8 through its paces, comparing it directly with its predecessor, the A80L, in our viewing rooms. In this set-up we used an HDMI splitter so that both TVs were getting an identical signal and the Oppo UDP203 Blu-Ray player as the source, unless otherwise specified. The Blu-ray player and splitter were set up to send content to the TVs in its native format, so any upscaling or processing would be done by the TVs.

To start, there is some fandangling to be done to get the most out of the Bravia 8. Out of the box, playing a heated desert battle scene from our Dune Part 2 test disc, both TVs’ Standard mode is a little too heavy-handed for our liking, adding an artificiality to the picture and characters’ movements.

The Cinema mode acts as a middle ground for people who want 'pop' and a 'blow your socks off' experience that still retains some semblance of realism. But for purists who value an 'as the director intended' experience, there’s still a little too much going on. For example, the peak bright parts of the picture, including the desert sun, occasionally go too bright compared with the rest of the scene and lose detail, distracting us from the characters.

We get the best results moving to the Bravia 8’s 'Professional' mode. This is Sony’s equivalent to a Filmmaker mode, in that it aims to reduce processing to its absolute minimum and offer a picture that is as the director intended. Running the same Dune Part 2 test scene, our previous issues are largely fixed. Lost details and a wider, more natural-looking hue return to the desertscape and skin tones.

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

However, while the very minor but slightly distracting spikes in brightness disappear, some dynamism is lost. Rapid movements of a missile blasting towards an enemy flying machine have a very slight stutter. To get a happy medium and the best results we raise the Peak Luminance setting to Medium and motion processing to its lowest setting.

Once in these settings, the TV performs very well. The first and most immediate is how it handles colours, particularly skin tones. The Bravia 8’s picture is wonderfully natural, with characters' skin tones offering more reds than the A80L, which shifts more to the blue end of the spectrum. The same is true of the rebels’ desert suits, which have a browner, more realistic tone.

The trend continues with the opening scene of Blade Runner 2049. Watching Ryan Gosling’s character fly into a dusty protein farm, motion handling is beautiful and we don’t see any artefacts as his car zooms over the landscape and a recon drone examines the scene. Dark areas retain oodles of detail, with every crinkle in the sofa in Dave Bautista's home being apparent. The Bravia 8 offers warmer skin tones with Bautista's hulking character’s face having noticeably more life than the cooler A80L, creating, once again, a more natural picture.

To our surprise the Bravia 8’s light control has been refined, giving the picture even more depth and a wonderful three-dimensionality. Light leaking into the dark room reflecting off a kitchen counter oozes detail, showing the surface’s texture and offering a true sense of depth.

Moving to Oppenheimer, the Bravia 8 continues to impress. Black and white scenes reveal exceptional levels of detail, with every stitch and weave on characters’ suits and ties remaining clearly visible. The picture is wonderfully sharp and doesn’t appear flattened, as it does on the flagship Bravia 9, with characters and objects holding a true sense of depth and separation from the scene’s background.

But what about Sony’s 10 per cent higher peak brightness claims? Flipping things around with Pan, a terrible movie we often use to test peak brightness due to its atypical 4000 nits mastering, the Bravia 8 continues to impress. As the pirates’ flying ship sails through the sky, the Bravia 8 delivers immersive peak brights that retain a smidgen more detail than the A80L. The setting sun offers a slightly wider hue and tiny details around the clouds that are lost and displayed as pure white on the A80L.

It is the same story running Rogue One on Disney Plus, which we use to test Dolby Vision HDR performance. Dolby Vision Dark Mode makes the picture look a little dull, with the halo around planets and stars looking less impressive than we’d expect. Switching to Dolby Vision Bright mode, the Bravia 8 comes to life, offering significantly more punch, with distant stars twinkling and reflections in the sea glistening without the TV losing its sense of realism and authenticity.

So, all-in-all, the Bravia 8 is a fantastic TV that delivers great picture quality. But there are two small flies in the ointment.

The first relates to its handling of SDR, Full HD content, where the Bravia is good, but not best in class. Here we start by using our standard True Grit Blu-Ray test disc. This is a great movie for testing due to its grainy, dusty quality which properly stretches any TV’s upscaling powers. The film retains its natural grain, and appears wonderfully sharp – textures on the characters’ thickly spun cotton clothes ooze detail and skin tones look nicely sun-scorched. But some black crush does occur in particularly dark scenes.

There’s also the fact that, while the Bravia 8 is a great TV, the differences between it and the A80L are modest – we’re talking single-figure percentage improvements at best. This is particularly noticeable this year, where the difference between Sony’s OLED offering and key rivals has grown smaller.

The Philips OLED809 matches, and at times beats, the Bravia for blow-your-socks-off “this is bright” sections of the picture, and the LG C4 has come on leaps and bounds in this area too – we’re yet to get Panasonic’s range of Z-series OLEDs or the rival Samsung S90D in for review, which is why they’re not mentioned here.

This doesn’t make the Bravia 8 bad – remember the A80L is still excellent, so any improvements on its performance are still impressive.

Sound

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Can be beaten by a decent soundbar, easily.
But makes the right call sacrificing "oomph" for control.

The Bravia 8 is one of the better-sounding OLED TVs we’ve tested, but again not a huge step forward for Sony.

Like all the brand’s flagships it uses Sony’s unique Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology, which involves actuators that vibrate the whole screen to generate sound.

Running our standard chapter two of Blade Runner 2049 stress test, the TV’s audio is slightly bass-light, even compared to rival sets. But it makes up for this with its control. The thumping, deep drum part doesn’t have the impact needed to get your heart truly beating, and the roaring synth underscoring it doesn’t dig deep enough to pull you into the scene the way even a moderately capable soundbar can.

But we don’t experience any distortion or loss of precision as we do on most TV speaker systems – at least until we raise the volume above 80 per cent. Once again, Sony has sacrificed direct impact for control with the Bravia 8’s sound.

The Cinema sound mode offers a nicely spacious, controlled experience. Watching Ryan Gosling’s Blade Runner 2049 character converse with a hologram moving around an apartment, the voices are suitably differentiated from background noise and the scene’s soundtrack. There’s also a sense of direction, with the hologram’s disembodied voice projecting and matching its movements on screen better than expected.

This is equally true when we switch to a car chase scene in The Batman. The Batmobile’s engines may not growl the way we want, but the sound follows the car’s movements with suitable accuracy to immerse us in the scene and make us feel like we’re in the midst of a fast-paced chase. There aren’t many TV in-built speaker systems around that can achieve the same results.

For us, this control and spaciousness are worth sacrificing some low-end heft for. Though, again, we’d still recommend investing in a soundbar or speaker package if you want the best experience possible.

Verdict

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

The Bravia 8 is not a massive step forward for Sony OLED TVs. It doesn’t have QD-OLED and it isn’t a night and day improvement on its predecessor the way the LG C4 is compared with the LG C3. But, you have to remember the A80L was a What Hi-Fi? Product of the Year award winner when it came out and to this day remains a stellar OLED TV.

This means that the very fact Sony has managed to improve it at all is impressive, especially as the upgrades target the key areas cinephiles care about. Skin tones are warmer and more realistic, and advances in its light control make the picture look wonderfully three-dimensional. Audio also remains a cut above the experience you’ll get on rival sets. So while the Bravia 8 may be a hard sell for people who only recently bought an OLED TV in the past few years, it is still an incredible set worth considering for everyone else.

First reviewed: September 2024. Updated review: November 2024.

SCORES

Picture 5
Sound 5
Features 4

Also consider

LG C4
The LG C4 is the Bravia 8’s main rival. Having run them directly against one another during our review, for sizes 55-inches and above the Bravia 8 is better. But for gamers and people who want a smaller 48-inch or 42-inch OLED, the LG C4 is the one to get.View Deal

Philips OLED809

The Philips OLED809 is a TV with a singular focus: delivering a blow your socks off home cinema and sports watching experience. If that appeals, its well worth considering.View Deal

FAQ

Should I wait for the new Sony TVs?

Sony is expected to unveil its new TVs in the not too distant future. But until it does we can't comment on quality. Last year the brand surprised us, choosing to load its Bravia 9 flagship set with a Mini LED, rather than OLED panel. The choice led to mixed results, with our testers awarding it a 4/5 rating after reviewing it. Given how prone Sony is to surprising us each year, we're holding off making recommendations until we see the new models.

MORE:

Read our review of the LG C4

Also consider the Philips 809

Read our Sony A80L review

Best OLED TVs: the latest and greatest models, tested by our experts

Movies as they were intended: How Sony's 2024 Mini LED TVs bring the cinema home

Sponsored — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 00:55:24 +0000

In the ongoing battle for supremacy among TV panel technologies, Sony’s latest 2024 season of Bravia TV releases is making clear the advances made and the advantages offered by premium Mini LED backlighting. Sony’s new flagship range, the Bravia 9, is exclusively Mini LED, and it goes brighter – and blacker – than ever.

Sony also retains OLED TV technology, for its Bravia 8 range. In comparison with Mini LED, OLED panels have certain inherent advantages in being front-emissive, and they’re therefore able to achieve absolute blacks more easily than backlit technologies.

But the numbers don’t lie – Mini LED is now achieving far higher brightness, and also higher dynamic range than OLED can muster, and that’s a combination which makes Mini LED better suited to any scenario other than a darkened room. Australian homes in particular favour open and bright sun-lit spaces, where Mini LED’s combination of brightness, contrast and eye-popping colour – especially in the large screen sizes available for Sony’s Mini LED Bravias – can really bring big-screen cinema-quality images to your home.

A new light

(Image credit: Sony Australia)

You might say that Sony’s new TVs have their own built-in movie director in the shape of the company’s XR Backlight Master Drive. This considers every frame of content, then uses a high-precision level of control to optimise the front panel together with Mini LED’s vast arrays of tiny discrete backlights. The control system leverages new silicon developed specifically for Sony’s latest generation of Mini LEDs, and algorithms that benefit from the company’s expertise in supplying professional mastering monitors to the film industry. This degree of control maximises the brightness peaks and the dynamic range available for the highest-quality Dolby Vision and HDR10 releases.

In addition, Sony’s XR Motion Clarity is renowned for delivering smooth-moving images without blur or judder, regardless of the content or its delivery method, while retaining the quality of the original image, without halos or posterisation.

The flagship Bravia 9 Mini LED range, in 75-inch and 85-inch sizes, not only brings Mini-LED brightness that’s able to shine brightly in any room regardless of ambient light, there’s also Sony’s X-Wide Angle technology which will benefit those in larger rooms particularly, with the ability to maintain contrast, clarity and colour even for viewers sitting far outside the central sweet spot. Errant reflections and glare are also dampened down by the Bravia 9’s X-Anti Reflection layer, which completes these stylish TVs with their ‘Seamless Edge’ bezels.

Watch movies and shows as the creators intended

(Image credit: Sony Australia)

If you’ve ever become lost in the expert settings of your TV, wondering whether to punch up the gamma or wind down the contrast, you will very much appreciate Sony’s innovative implementation of Studio Calibrated modes in its latest Bravia TVs (OLED and Mini LED both).

Studio Calibrated modes are tailored to key streaming providers, knowing exactly how their streams are delivered, and so optimising their delivery automatically – so there’s no need for deep menu diving in order to achieve the perfect picture.

Bravia Series 7, 8 and 9 all have a Netflix Calibrated Mode and a Sony Pictures Core Calibrated Mode, with this second mode optimising an ultra-high-quality Sony Pictures Core streaming service that aims to deliver 4K Blu-ray-like quality at up to 80Mbps (assuming your internet connection can oblige). Sony Pictures Core is also home to largest collection of IMAX Enhanced movies, and Sony Bravia TVs are certified by IMAX, meaning they will faithfully reproduce these movies with stunning accuracy.

Bravia series 7, 8 and 9 also add a special Prime Video Calibrated Mode to automatically optimise content arriving from Amazon’s video streaming service. This is highly useful user-friendly functionality, and with clear scope to expand.

In ensuring the perfect delivery direct from the streaming provider, Sony is handing its XR Backlight Master Drive the best possible input signal on which to perform its Mini LED magic, and so deliver the clearest pictures and the best possible HDR performance, in addition to the brightness and brilliance of the underlying screen technology.

Google TV brings it together

(Image credit: Sony Australia)

As every viewer knows, a good TV requires not only the best possible picture, but also ease of use. Sony is employing the Google TV OS throughout its 2024 ranges, with the familiar and smart interface bringing together Google’s exceptional range of apps, and also making Google Assistant available to control your TV by voice, and much more besides, including Chromecast and Apple HomeKit integration. Google TV is an acclaimed interface to a world of streaming content, the perfect partner to Sony’s technology within.

First class audio – and gaming too

(Image credit: Sony Australia)

The new Bravias also continue Sony’s innovative delivery of TV sound, including a new up-firing Beam Tweeter in the Bravia 9 to complement two frame tweeters and to deliver real height content from Dolby Atmos or DTS:X soundtracks, as well as through Sony’s 3D Surround Upscaling. Another great pairing, to expand on the Bravias’ built-in sound systems, might be one of Sony’s latest soundbars, designed to link seamlessly with Bravia TVs and so provide the bigger sonic presentation deserved by one of the latest large-screen Bravias.

As for gamers, it’s no surprise to find Bravia TVs optimised for perfect performance with PlayStation consoles, as well as having wider gaming credentials.

From the set to the screen

(Image credit: Sony Australia)

As a company involved in every aspect of filmmaking – from the shoot to the screen – Sony is clearly well-placed to bring those movies right into the home. Sony’s new 2024 Bravia TVs first optimise your content, then deliver world-leading control to achieve industry-leading performance from both Mini LED and OLED technologies. Combining top TV processing with the granular control and peak brilliance of Mini LED, Sony’s flagship Bravia 9 range delivers movies and all manner of programming in literally a new light. It’s a genuinely premium presentation that’s ideal for large-screen family viewing – the full package, to bring the cinema home.

I've reviewed some of 2024's top TVs and I have one take away – Mini LED needs to stop fighting OLED

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 07:00:13 +0000

2024 was pitched by numerous big name TV makers as the year Mini LED would dethrone OLED as the top performer in the premium market.

This initially started with Hisense and TCL, two companies with a strong pedigree in the mid-range and affordable TV market that have long espoused Mini LED as the future.

But, the reason we took it particularly seriously this year is that two other companies, both with a very strong track record in the premium TV space, then joined the chorus.

First Samsung came out swinging making some bold performance claims about its QN95D and Q90D sets, which are all but identical to the firm’s S95D and S90D OLED sets, outside of the use of a Mini LED panel. Then Sony followed suit, surprising everyone, the What Hi-Fi? team included, when it revealed its 2024 flagship, the Bravia 9 uses a Mini LED panel.

Sure Samsung’s done this before, mainly when it didn’t make OLED TVs and was instead focussed on selling Neo QLED (it’s version of Mini LED) and its Quantum Dot technology as the best TV tech. But it was interesting to see it make the claim again after quietly seeming to concede that OLED is worth it when it launched the S95B in 2022.

Sony was a bigger shock as the firm had great success with OLED in 2023. The Sony A80L is so good we gave it a product of the year award, with our comparative checks showing it to be the best option for most people from a performance and value perspective.

The more expensive Sony A95L also proved to be one of the best TVs we’ve ever seen from a raw performance perspective, which is why we not only gave it a perfect five star rating, but also continue to use it as a benchmark during our review process.

Which brings me on to the crux of the question, has the gambit pivoting to push Mini LED in the premium space paid off? With us now half way through the year and having reviewed many of the big name sets, including the Hisense U8N, Sony Bravia 9 and Samsung QNS95D, the answer for now is a firm “no”.

If you look at the Hisense, Sony and Samsung reviews you’ll see a common theme – they all earned good, not great, four star ratings.

There are nuances between each sets' performance, but the common reason shared among all of them is, though they can go incredibly bright, Mini LED simply can’t match OLED’s perfect blacks. This is because OLEDs generate images by charging individual pixels, while Mini LED charges zones.

In isolation the issue isn’t too bad, as every one of the flagship Mini LED sets we've tested delivers a solid picture, with a black level that’s a cut above what you can get on a basic LCD. But in our viewing room, when we ran them against competing OLEDs, including the Award-winning Sony A80L, LG C4, LG G4 and Philips OLED809, in every instance their blacks looked distinctly grey by comparison.

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix / Drive To Survive)

Side-by-side this meant our testers agreed the OLEDs, next to their equivalent priced Mini LED rivals, all delivered a more immersive, three-dimensional image, especially during darker, or high contrast scenes.

We said as much in our Hisense U8N review:

“All-in-all if you are coming from a basic LCD, then the U8N will feel like a night and day upgrade. But if you’re used to OLED, you’ll notice the less deep blacks and paler, cooler colour temperature right away.”

And, from our Sony Bravia 9 review: “So, has Sony’s big Bravia 9 gamble paid off? Perhaps not yet.”

And our Samsung QN95D review:

“The S95D, which lurks uncomfortably close on price and with its glorious QD-OLED panel produces a deeper, richer and more cinematic picture overall. While it may not go quite as bright, the S95D's sensational handling of contrast means that it will be the better buy for most people.”

So does that mean Mini LED is generally not worth it, or as good? No. Mini LED still has a very definite place in the TV market. Mini LED is easier to produce than OLED, which is why you’ll find it on mid-range and cheap sets. Done right, these can beat OLED in a key metric; value for money.

The Award-winning TCL C845K we tested last year is a great example. Though it can’t beat OLEDs on pure picture quality, it offers the best performance you'll find at its price – the high cost of OLED means there’s no direct rival for it.

Which is why I think companies should be focusing on growing and improving Mini LED there, using it to fix the ongoing lack of “good” cheap TVs, which I’ve chronicled many times before, rather than pushing it as a replacement for OLED.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we’ve tested

We rate the best 55-inch TVs

Check out our picks of the best 65-inch TVs

Rewind: A fresh Rega turntable review, new Monitor Audio speakers, Google’s latest Apple TV rival and more

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 07:00:25 +0000

Welcome back to Rewind, the What Hi-Fi? team’s weekly news digest where we detail the top stories to break in the world of home cinema and hi-fi over the past seven days.

And what a week it was. Last week our experts not only delivered their final verdict on some of 2024’s biggest TVs and turntables, on top of that we saw huge product announcements from tech giant Google and hi-fi heavyweight Monitor Audio.

Here is everything you need to know.

We delivered our verdict on Hisense’s latest attempt to dethrone OLED

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Last week our team of TV reviewers delivered their final verdict on Hisense U8N TV. This is a key set for the brand, designed to show Mini LED is ready to take on OLED at the premium end of the TV market.

Sadly, while our experts found plenty to like about the set, especially comparing it in isolation to other Mini LED sets, including the Samsung QN95D and Sony Bravia 9, it didn’t quite beat rival OLEDs. Compared to the Sony A80L and LG C4, which are only slightly more expensive, the U8N’s inability to match OLED’s perfect black level proved, once again, to be a sticking point.

Read our full Hisense U8N review

Google unveiled a fresh rival to the Apple TV

(Image credit: Google)

The Google Chromecast with Google TV has been a staple feature in our best streaming stick buying guide for quite some time. In fact, one of the only devices to beat it has been the five star, more expensive Apple TV 4K. Which is why we were happy to see Google unveil a new Google TV Streamer to take the fight to Apple last week. Featuring a new box design and updated hardware, Google claims it will offer significantly better picture and sound quality than its predecessor.

Find out how it compares to the old model in our Google TV Streamer vs Chromecast guide

Our editor fell back in love with portable DACs

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Like many of us, our editor (me), fell for the convenience of wireless audio when commuting and listening to music at work many moons ago. But that changed recently when I started using a Chord Mojo 2 mobile DAC. Find out why you should do the same in my latest feature!

Read the full story: This portable DAC helped me get my hi-fi ‘Mojo’ back

Monitor Audio unveiled new “Gold-standard” speakers

(Image credit: Monitor Audio)

Last week Monitor Audio lifted the lid on its new Gold Series 6G speakers. Why’s that exciting? First because the new speakers come mere weeks after our testers awarded the company's Studio 89 speakers a perfect five-star rating. Second because the six models in the range come with some interesting new features and hardware, including new cone technology, new drivers and completely new designs.

Read the full story: Monitor Audio Gold Series 6G speakers boast new cone technology and designs

We were reminded what a difference a cartridge makes

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Rega’s Planar turntables have been a staple sight in our best record player guide for some time. But last week our reviewers were once again reminded how much a good cartridge can elevate any turntable’s performance when they reviewed the Rega Planar 3/Nd3. During our checks we found the new cartridge improves the Rega 3’s clarity, dynamics and precision – making an already great option for vinyl fans even better.

Read our full Rega Planar 3/Nd3 review

MORE:

These are the best surround sound packages money can buy

We rate the best 65-inch TVs

Our picks of the best DACs

Philips OLED809 (65OLED809)

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 14:22:47 +0000

The Philips OLED809 is the second cheapest option in the company's top-end line of TVs.

Why’s that a big deal? Because it makes the OLED809 a direct rival to the LG C4, which proved to be one of the best OLED TVs to arrive this year, when we reviewed it in April.

Which may lead you to wonder, why should you consider the Philips OLED809 over its established rival? Thankfully having thoroughly put it through its paces, we can confirm it is a very solid TV that proves there is life in regular OLED yet.

Make no mistake if you don’t care about getting next generation Micro Lens Array or QD-OLED screen tech that’s all the rage at the top end of the market, then the OLED809 is well worth considering.

Price

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The Philips OLED809 is the third and cheapest option in the brand’s current OLED lineup, sitting below the more expensive Philips OLED909 and OLED959.

It’s also only available in specific retailers, where prices are already beginning to fluctuate. But, in the UK its price is generally close to its archrival, the LG C4.

The 65-inch Philips OLED809 we’re testing here is officially priced at £2099, though we have already seen it available for less. The slightly smaller 55-inch model retails for a more modest £1599, while the largest 77-inch option goes for £3499.

The only slight oddity is that the 42-inch and 48-inch Philips OLED809 both cost £1399. We’ve asked Philips why the two sizes cost the same, though it’s likely due to smaller OLEDs being harder and more expensive to make.

By comparison, the 65-inch LG C4 is retailing for a slightly more premium £2250. As a slight spanner in the works, the older, What Hi-Fi? Award-winning 65-inch Sony A80L is also currently slightly cheaper, retailing for £1899 – though this is about to be superseded by the newer Sony Bravia 8, so that’s not massively surprising.

Like all Philips TVs, the OLED809 isn’t available in the US, so we apologise in advance for the lack of dollar pricing.

Design

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The 809 doesn’t rock the boat with its design. The TV looks a lot like the previous generation Philips OLED808, which itself wasn’t a huge deviation from the even older Philips OLED807.

This isn’t a bad thing for the most part. The OLED808 features a pedestal stand that neatly attaches to the TV’s back with four included screws.

Like the OLED808 it also has a swivel mechanism. This is a really positive addition we wish more TVs had, as the ability to quickly adjust the screen’s orientation makes it significantly easier to access the set’s ports on the fly.

Unlike the OLED959 and OLED909, the OLED 809 doesn’t have a speaker bar attached to its bottom. Instead it has a discreet 2.1 channel set-up, with an integrated 70W subwoofer sitting on its back.

This, plus the fact the base is flat, rather than having an angled orientation makes it easy to neatly place a regular sized soundbar under the OLED809.

The remote is also excellent. It is built of robust feeling metal, and features full backlighting, making it easy to use, even in pitch black movie watching conditions.

We honestly wish every TV remote had this feature and can’t fathom why so many companies still seem to give little thought to remote control designs and add backlighting – we’re looking at you LG.

Features

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

If you look round the back of the Philips OLED809, you’ll spot its most unique feature – Ambilight. This is a bias lighting feature unique to Philips and a key differentiator you won’t find on competing OLEDs including the LG C4 and Sony A80L.

The version on show here is the three-sided variant. This is a less refined set-up than the top end new Ambilight Plus tech seen on the Philips OLED959 and four-sided set-up seen on the OLED909. Whether that is a big deal remains to be seen as we haven’t had the OLED959 or OLED909 in for testing.

That aside, every version has the same goal: to reduce eye strain when watching TV and make the screen feel larger and more immersive by matching the ambient conditions the set is playing in with what’s being shown on screen. For example, if you’re watching football, Ambilight will show hues of green, reflecting the colour of the pitch.

Philips has also made some improvements to the three-sided version of Ambilight seen here, compared to last year’s OLED808. Philips claims the inclusion of new lenses in the LEDs will let sets with Ambilight Plus offer a wider halo of higher resolution colours.

Philips OLED809 tech specs

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Screen size 65-inches (also available in 42-, 48-, 55- and 77-inches

Type OLED

Backlight N/A

Resolution 4K

HDR formats HLG, HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision

Operating system Google TV

HDMI inputs x 4 (2 x 48Gbps HDMI 2.1)

Gaming features 4K/144Hz, VRR, ALLM, Dolby Vision gaming

ARC/eARC eARC

Optical output? Yes

Dimensions (hwd, without stand) 70 x 122 x 11.3cm

Ambilight itself remains a Marmite feature in general, even among the What Hi-Fi? team for this reason – with some of our testers finding the feature distracting and an unnecessary source of light pollution. Others love it, however.

Regardless of our overall feelings, our reviewers agree the version on show on the OLED809 will delight Ambilight fans. The system delivers a wonderful bloom of colours, and matches ambient conditions well and in a suitably reactive fashion to deliver the intended effect.

This means that if you are already a fan of Ambilight, it remains a key selling point for the OLED809. We also wouldn’t disregard the set, even if you don’t want to use Ambilight, as you can quickly turn it off using a dedicated button on the TV’s remote.

There’s a new “Ambient Intelligence V3” feature. This is a new addition powered by the OLED809’s 8th Gen P5 AI processor, which is a step up on the 7th Gen P5 AI processor seen in the older model.

It uses the new chip’s improved processing prowess to try and intelligently optimise pictures settings and output based on ambient light levels to improve HDR performance, even when watching TV in very bright conditions.

HDR support is solid, with the OLED809 working with HDR10+ Adaptive and Dolby Vision. For the more hardcore there’s also CalMAN calibration, an IMAX Enhanced preset and Filmmaker modes. These make it one of the most flexible sets in its price bracket for HDR-standard support and specialist film settings. Though as ever, we only recommend true experts try and properly calibrate their TV, even with the CalMAN mode.

The TV's gaming powers are also generally competitive with rival sets. There’s the same GameBar quick settings menu which is a bonus for next generation gamers who want to adjust the TV’s options on the fly. Like many of 2024’s step down OLEDs, Philips has also raised the OLED809’s max refresh rate to 144Hz, which means it can render games even faster when a very powerful PC is connected. Until this year many TVs had a 120Hz max refresh rate.

Alongside this there’s Dolby Vision Game, VRR, ALLM, HGiG, FreeSync Premium and G-Sync support, which means it has all the bells and whistles you need to run a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S at full speed.

Interestingly, it also supports DTS Play-Fi. This is a rival to Dolby’s soon to be launched Flexconnect technology, which aims to make it quick and easy to create wireless surround-sound systems using compatible hardware. We haven’t had a chance to test any Play-Fi speakers yet, but Philips’ early support is interesting.

There are a couple of compromises however. First, like pretty much every OLED that’s not made by LG or Samsung, the Philips only has two HDMI 2.1 inputs, one of which doubles as an eARC connection. This means that if you have a Dolby Atmos soundbar and two current generation games consoles and want to take advantage of all their features, you will have to contend with a fair amount of cable swapping.

Second, the use of Google TV OS means that the set doesn’t have quite as good an app selection as rivals. In the UK there’s no BBC iPlayer, ITVX or Channel 4 app, for example. This isn’t a complete deal breaker if you don’t use these catchup services very often, as it otherwise has all the staples we’d expect, including Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

Picture

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

The OLED809 features LG Display’s current generation OLED EX panel. Like all the step down OLED TVs we’ve seen this year it doesn’t feature brightness boosting Micro Lens Array (MLA) tech, which is once again limited to flagship models – in Philips’ case the OLED909 and OLED959+.

Despite this, Philips has made some bold claims about raising the OLED809’s max peak brightness level up to 1300 nits. That may not be close to the 3000 nits figure seen on MLA sets this year, but considering regular OLED sets struggled to go beyond 700 nits even a few years ago it is still a marked improvement.

But does it deliver results in the real world? Based on our testing, the answer is that it depends on the specific settings you use. Philips makes no secret about wanting its OLED TVs to deliver a “blow your socks off” home cinema experience. In the past this has meant it has gone for impact over realism in some instances.

The OLED809 continues this trend for the most part, especially if you stick to its out-of-the-box settings. The TV’s native preset pushes brightness levels as far as it can, and cranks the colour temperatures, which makes the picture eye-catching, but also noticeably unnatural in many instances. This isn’t helped by the fact that its native motion processing is very heavy handed. Being fair to Philips, this is true of most of the sets we test, but it's particularly noticeable on the OLED809.

Thankfully, if you take the time and tweak its picture settings, the results rapidly improve and the OLED809 can deliver an excellent home cinema experience, even for people who value “as the director intended” authenticity over in-your-face impact.

Playing the opening and second scenes of Top Gun: Maverick the OLED809 delivers wonderfully natural skin tones, with a richness and warmth that oozes authenticity. This continues with ocean views where the reflections on the water sparkle and are complemented by a skyline full of an authentic, wide range of colours that make for a captivating viewing experience. The test is a great showcase for quite how wide and vibrant a colour palette the OLED809 can display.

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Motion processing, once tempered, also yields significant improvements. As Maverick speeds across the desert landscape on his bike, the movements are smooth, but natural and free of artefacts, which are a common issue on many OLED TVs including the Samsung S95D.

Dune is equally impressive, with the OLED809 throwing up wonderful levels of detail and realism as the camera pans over the planet’s scorched desert landscape.

Moving to Pan, our standard test disc for seeing how a TV handles incredibly bright scenes due to its atypical 4000 nits mastering, the OLED809’s performance during bright scenes continues to impress.

As a flying pirate ship sails into the distance the skyline is wonderfully vibrant, with the sun remaining full of detail and a wide range of colours lost on most of the many traditional OLEDs we test. The same area on the Sony A80L loses the details, with the sun displaying as pure white.

Make no mistake, during bright scenes the levels of detail, colour accuracy and range the OLED809 offers match if not beat the best OLEDs we’ve tested at this price.

But it’s not altogether perfect and things take a turn when we move to darker movies. Playing the opening scene of Blade Runner 2049 the OLED809 delivers good but not best in class shadow detail and depth for a TV in its weight class.

In isolation the image is immersive, but there’s less contrast and heft, especially compared to the Sony A80L which delivers more dynamic and higher levels of detail during the incredibly dark scene. The skin tones across Dave Bautista’s skin look good, but the picture offers less contrast, especially between the darkest to lightest parts of his face than the A80L.

This is typical of the OLED809’s general performance in dark scenes, where in comparison the A80L’s increased shadow detail leads to more contrast and a greater sense of depth in dark scenes as a result.

The Batman tells a similar story. As the caped crusader chases down a criminal in the Batmobile the flames and city lights in the scene look wonderful with a beautiful hue of colours in their brightest areas – but again there’s not quite as much shadow detail as the best in the business. The OLED809’s colour accuracy veers off here as well, with the darkest parts of Batman’s armour taking on a slightly brownish, paler tone.

This makes the Philips OLED809 an interesting performer that offers near best in class performance at this price in many instances, especially bright scenes, but then falls behind in darker ones.

Upscaling is good, but also not perfect. Playing True Grit, a famously difficult SDR test disc due to the movie’s gritty dark, grainy nature, the picture remains watchable, but we experience noticeable black crush.

Sound

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The OLED809’s sound system combines two-way left- and right-channel speakers with a rear-facing triple ring bass driver reinforced by four passive radiators.

As inbuilt TV speaker set-ups go, it is a capable performer, once you take advantage of its room calibration service and switch it to the AI, rather than standard, sound setting. Like most TV, the standard setting is particularly flat and lacks the space to do any good movie justice.

Low level heft is the most immediate differentiator between the OLED809 and rivals, including the Sony A80L. The second scene of Blade Runner 2049’s incredibly demanding soundtrack, sees the Philips set deliver a surprisingly controlled performance, while still offering enough impact to make the scene exciting. This is impressive as the scene is challenging, with most TVs' speakers either presenting too thin a sound or suffering from distortion, including more expensive sets such as the LG G4.

A difficult scene in Dune, where buzzing flying machines zoom over the desert with a high intensity, thumping drum soundtrack accompanying it, shows similar results. The speakers offer a safe, neutral performance where each part of the frequency range is suitably represented for basic, casual movie watching.

Impressive enough by TV speaker standards, but be warned it is still not as immersive or deep as the sound you’ll get on even an entry-level soundbar, such as the Sonos Beam Gen 2.

There are also some caveats. Like the LG C4, and most OLEDs this price, it doesn’t have upward firing speakers. So surround sound, let alone Dolby Atmos performance, is limited. During Dune there’s little sense of direction, with the sound remaining firmly located at the TV’s centre. The A80L’s speakers meanwhile give a much greater sense of space and direction, with there being a noticeably better-placed 'zoom' as the machines fly overhead.

Dialogue also lacks the separation needed to make for a truly immersive experience, with the characters' voices lacking the space and directionality you’ll find on even moderately priced soundbars. This is especially noticeable during a conversation in Blade Runner 2049 where a character chats to a dishevelled hologram. Here the hologram's disembodied voice should float around the room, matching her location around the apartment. Instead it all falls to the TV’s centre.

People who like to keep their neighbours up should also be warned, like many sets, the OLED809 rapidly loses its composure when running near its max volume.

This is a common problem on all TV speakers though, and the Philips’ performance is safe but above average by inbuilt speaker standards. But our advice remains, budget for a soundbar or sound system on top of your new TV if you want the best experience possible.

Verdict

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The Philips OLED809 is in many ways a fantastic TV. Philips has designed it with an overt focus on helping it deliver exceptional results in regular home viewing conditions, as well as the pitch-black environment favoured by cinephiles.

Though it retains Philips’ “blow your socks off” goal, once you tone down its out-of-the-box picture settings the TV gives great results, particularly during bright scenes. Here it delivers a wonderfully wide colour palette and brilliantly high max brightness, which leads to a truly immersive viewing experience.

The only downside is that it isn’t quite as impressive during particularly dark scenes, where its colour accuracy and detail level start to waver and don’t quite match the experience you get on some rivals.

But thanks to its capable audio and solid suite of gaming features, this is forgivable and makes the set one well worth considering for any TV buyer looking for an OLED that won’t break the bank.

SCORES

Picture 5
Sound 4
Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony A80L

Also consider the LG C4

Read our Panasonic MZ1500 review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and affordable flatscreens tried and tested

Can Mini LED beat OLED in 2024? It’s not looking good so far, but there are two rays of hope

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 12:41:54 +0000

2024 was meant to be the year Mini LED finally took off as a valid alternative to OLED in the premium TV market for a couple of reasons.

First, because in 2023 two big-name flagship sets massively closed the quality gap between Mini LED and OLED. Both the five-star Samsung QN95C and Sony X95L offered huge year-on-year improvements – to the point they beat the flagship OLEDs we tested them against in some areas.

Our verdicts on both TVs say as much.

“The dimming-zone rich QN95C proves emphatically that Mini LED is much more than just a bright room technology,” wrote our testers in our Samsung QN95C review.

“Mini LED combines with local dimming and Sony’s latest picture processor to outstanding effect,” they continued in our Sony X95L review.

Second, because the same big names seem set to build on the success Mini LED had enjoyed with the new Samsung QN95D and Sony Bravia 9 TVs.

Both companies made huge marketing pitches for the Mini LED sets, with Sony going so far as to not bother releasing an OLED flagship, leaving the Bravia 9 as the top dog in its current line-up.

But, with both sets having been reviewed in our dedicated testing rooms, we can sadly confirm that lightning hasn’t struck twice and both sets are good, but not great. The Samsung QN95D and Bravia 9 are both solid four-star products. That doesn’t mean they’re bad, but when we compared them to this year’s OLEDs they simply couldn't justify their high price.

Read our reviews and you’ll see there are common gripes on both. First, no matter how many times companies claim otherwise, we’re yet to see a Mini LED generate blacks that are as convincing as those from an OLED. This is due to the fact that OLED creates images by charging individual pixels, rather than using a backlight, and so it can create perfect blacks simply by not charging the pixels that are meant to be dark.

Mini LED ultimately is a refinement of LCD that still uses a backlight. It aims to improve performance by using smaller LEDs, which are arranged into a wider array of dimming zones, giving the TV more granular control over which elements emit light at any given time. This leads to performance improvements, but ultimately Mini LED still charges sections of a backlight, rather than individual pixels, so it can’t match OLED’s perfect contrast.

Second, both are a little finicky and come with some annoyances that might be forgivable at lower prices, but a problem when the TV costs the same as an OLED. On the QNS95D there's regularly a blue halo effect around particularly bright objects in the picture. On the Sony there are general inaccuracies with local dimming, which leads to distracting bursts of brightness in some instances. The only way we found to mitigate this on the Sony, was to turn off local dimming, which resulted in a lifeless picture. Sony has promised this will be fixed with a future software update, thankfully.

Compare that to the stellar experience we got on the five-star step-down LG C4 OLED, let alone true flagship LG G4 and Samsung S95D QD-OLED and we simply couldn’t recommend the Mini LED flagships over their OLED rivals.

So does that mean it’s all over for Mini LED in its latest effort to dethrone OLED in the flagship TV space? For now, yes. Even Samsung seems to be aware of this with it prioritising its big screen OLEDs for the second part of the year in its latest investors call.

But there are two rays of hope for Mini LED.

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The first is the Panasonic W95A. This is Panasonic’s direct rival to the QN95D and Bravia 9. It’s a flagship TV that’s all but identical to the Panasonic Z95A OLED, outside of its use of a Mini LED panel. We haven’t reviewed the unit yet, but we did get an early look at it during a Panasonic press showcase. During it, Panasonic played a series of demos comparing it to its predecessor, the previous generation MZ950 Mini LED in a dark room.

In it there was a massive difference, with the newer set offering more shadow detail, inkier blacks and more accurate colours. This was a demo however, so I have to caveat I was not in control of the settings, meaning any differences should be taken with a pinch of salt, it was still impressive. If the W95A manages to continue to deliver excellent results when we get it in for proper testing, this could be a key victory for Mini LED in the premium TV space.

The second ray of hope for Mini LED comes from the new TCL C855K. The TCL C855K is the successor to the What Hi-Fi? Award-winning TCL C845K from last year. It’s not a flagship level set, with pricing set to sit well below that of a top end OLED, but it could be another great example of Mini LED’s greatest strength – its stellar value for money and performance in the mid-range space.

OLED TVs are fantastic at the top end of the market, but despite my constant letters to Santa, the panel tech is yet to trickle down to the mid-range, let alone affordable end of the market. If you want a 55-inch or above TV, an OLED will still set you back at least £1000 / $1000, even if you go for an old model.

Mini LEDs dominate the mid-range market as a result, offering the best performance-per-pound ratio. This was why we rated the TCL85K so highly, despite it also not matching even entry-level OLED’s picture performance in key areas during our tests. If history repeats itself, with the C855K, this could let Mini LED retain its dominance of the mid-range market and secure one key victory over OLED this year.

MORE:

These are the best 65-inch TVs we’ve tested

Our picks of the best OLED TVs

We rate the best cheap TVs

Sony Bravia Theatre Quad

whathifi@futurenet.com (What Hi-Fi?) — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 16:21:52 +0000

While we firmly believe that a dedicated AV receiver and speaker package is the best way to achieve immersive home cinema sound, we also have to admit that there are some compromises to be had in opting for a set-up such as that. Let’s not beat around the bush – whether for practical or aesthetic reasons, no one wants cables trailing around their living room. Rogue wires usually repulse interior design aficionados, while cats and dogs often like to gnaw at them.

That's why a product such as the Sony Bravia Theatre Quad (Sony Bravia Theater Quad in the US) makes total sense to us – it’s a full surround-sound speaker package that is wireless except for the power cable for each unit, with sound being sent through the air from a box hooked up to your TV’s HDMI eARC socket. Conceptually, this neat solution is already a winner. Sony has attempted this type of product before with incredibly successful results: the HT-A9 has been a beloved product within What Hi-Fi?’s Team AV so news of a sequel has us rather giddy.

Price

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Unfortunately, the Bravia Theatre Quad system takes a bit of a stumble at the first hurdle, as it is significantly more expensive than the preceding HT-A9 package. At £2499 / $2499 / AU$3699, the Quad is a whopping £1000 / $700 / AU$1200 pricier than its predecessor.

The HT-A9 launched at £1599 / $1799 / AU$2499 back in 2021, and while we have to acknowledge that inflation and the financial landscape have changed drastically within the last three years, this still feels like a rather excessive and gratuitous leap in price. While the Quad is set to succeed the HT-A9 in the long term, the older model remains available on Sony’s website and through other retailers, although we’re not sure for how long that will be the case.

Furthermore, as was the case with the HT-A9 system Sony doesn’t include a subwoofer with the Quad, so you’ll have to shell out even more cash for either the SA-SW5 or SA-SW3 if you feel like the low end is lacking – more on that later.

The Quad system also looks very expensive next to our favourite soundbar-based speaker system, the Samsung Q990D, which includes a soundbar, two wireless surrounds and a wireless subwoofer for £1699 / $1400 / AU$1999.

In fact, the Quad's price isn't far off that of an entry-level AVR and surround speaker package – though we're well aware that such a system isn't an option for those looking to cut cords from their living room.

Build

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

This wireless speaker system has gone through a dramatic physical transformation since its previous iteration. The HT-A9 system featured four cylindrical speaker units, whereas the Quads are a quartet of flattened square speakers that can either sit on the minimal included stands or be wall-mounted with the included brackets. Sony has cleverly implemented the power connection on the bottom edge of each speaker with a small cable guide that ensures the single wire doesn’t detract from the sleek and understated styling. Each speaker measures 31 x 29 x 13cm (hwd) with the tabletop stands applied, which means that they are an identical height to the HT-A9 speakers.

Sony Bravia Theatre Quads tech specs

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Connections 1 x eARC, 1 x HDMI input

Video pass-through 4K/120Hz, HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG, ALLM, VRR

Chromecast? No

Apple AirPlay 2? Yes

Bluetooth 5.2

Voice control Works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa

Audio formats Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Dual mono, DTS, DTS HD High-Resolution Audio, DTS HD Master Audio, DTS ES, DTS 96/24, DTS:X, LPCM

Dimensions (hwd) Speakers: 31 x 29 x 13cm, control hub: 5.6 x 16 x 16cm

Speaker weight 2.6kg

Much like the HT-A9, the Quad is available in just one colour – a mild and inoffensive if slightly drab grey. While this colour should blend well with most home interiors, we think a handful of colour options would have been a nice touch to really help integrate these speakers into a variety of different home designs. Unfortunately, the speakers don’t match the optional subwoofers in Sony’s range, so if you plan on adding one of those, be prepared for a mismatched aesthetic.

While the speakers themselves have had a drastic redesign, the connectivity hub box that controls this system has not, although it is slightly larger this time. It’s still a rounded black box that can easily be confused for an Apple TV 4K streamer at a glance, with a small display on the right-hand side that occasionally displays information such as your input or if the speakers are in pairing mode. The control box has a fairly understated footprint, at just 5.6 x 16 x 16cm (hwd), making it discreet and easy to neatly tuck away in a media unit.

Features

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The Bravia Theatre Quads are a clear step up over the HT-A9 in the specification department, and that’s evident from the sheer number of drivers. There are 16 channels with a total power output of 504W. There are four speakers in each unit – a forward-firing X-Balanced woofer, midrange driver and tweeter, and an up-firing X-Balanced driver. X-Balanced drivers, for anyone wondering, are developed by Sony to deliver 'a powerful, spacious sound and a more rewarding listening experience' and can be found in various Sony portable speakers and Sony soundbars.

Comparatively, the HT-A9 speaker system features 12 speakers in total, so the Bravia Quads take the crown here. However, more speaker units don't necessarily mean better sound, but we’ll come to that in due course.

Setting up the Quad system is an absolute breeze: simply clip together and screw in the included stands (or wall mounts), plug each speaker into a wall socket and hook the control box up to your TV with the included HDMI cable. From here the Bravia Connect app does much of the heavy lifting, which is appreciated as there is no on-TV set-up process – something that the HT-A9 did have.

The new Bravia Connect app (with which the HT-A9 is not compatible, in case you're wondering) picks up the slack, however, and it does so with an intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface. The step-by-step instructions tell us how to position the speakers, allow us to connect the system to the wi-fi, and take us onto the auto-calibration system – a necessary step for a product such as this, as placement can seriously affect the sound. Sony accounts for this with a handy calibration system using the microphone in our mobile phone. It asks us to hold the phone in the ideal seating position and to direct our handset towards the TV to better hone the sound and accommodate Sony’s 'sound from the screen' philosophy. This also contributes towards the Sound Field mode, which we will dig further into during the sound portion of this review.

As for sound format support, the Bravia Theatre Quad includes the expected duo of Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, as well as Sony’s 360 Reality Audio immersive format. Connectivity also gets a boost, with AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and Bluetooth 5.2 in the SBC, AAC and LDAC codecs. Furthermore, wired connectivity is solid with a single full bandwidth HDMI 2.1 passthrough socket on the control box. It supports 4K/120Hz signals with VRR and ALLM; this is hugely appreciated as many TVs (even Sony’s latest and greatest Bravia models) are still limited to just two HDMI 2.1 ports, so claiming one back for your PS5, Xbox Series X or gaming PC is a thoughtful touch. That HDMI socket also supports Dolby Vision HDR and HLG.

Finally, there are a handful of features that promote synergy with the best Sony TVs. Acoustic Centre Sync is included here, which will incorporate the speakers in a supported Sony TV and which the company says will deliver fuller-sounding vocals and better match effects to their position on the screen. There is also a handy quick settings menu, and the Voice Zoom 3 feature that boosts dialogue to make it clearer in scenes with lots of additional sound effects.

There is also a simple, lightweight remote in the box that features all of the basic buttons we need to operate the system. While it may seem like a step back from the HT-A9’s button-heavy controller, the Bravia Connect app is more fully featured.

Sound

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

While home cinema purists will probably turn their noses up at a wireless speaker system, citing that compromising audio quality for the sake of convenience is a futile effort, we’re here to defend the Bravia Quad, as this system sounds rather good. We’ll get the disclaimers out of the way first regarding the wireless aspect: during our testing time, we didn’t come across any lag, dropouts or desynchronised audio.

We have also paired the Quads with the Sonly A80L OLED TV for our testing, which has given us access to the Bravia-centric features including Centre Sync. We’re overall very pleased with this feature, as it provides a convincing sound-from-the-screen effect while also ensuring the TV speakers and the Quads sound cohesive. We expect the performance to vary based on the TV you’re using here, though; for instance, we suspect that the A95L might sound even better with its impressive sound system, while some of Sony’s LCD TVs could sound different due to the fact they don’t have the actuator based system found on the OLEDs.

Onto the main event, how does the Bravia Theatre Quad system sound? In many ways, this is a truly impressive product. We’d describe these speakers as clean, crisp and energetic, as they deliver a really engaging and clear sound. Testing them with a variety of our go-to test discs, including Blade Runner 2049, Top Gun: Maverick, The Batman, Unbroken and Dune: Part 2, we’re pleased with how crisp and detailed dialogue is, and that applies to general sound effects too. Low-level dynamics are also well-presented, with an earnest monologue during the final scene of The Batman being skillfully handled with plenty of tangible emotion to be felt throughout.

It’s also a mighty fine performer when it comes to Dolby Atmos height effects, as well as placing sounds around our seating position. Using Unbroken as our Dolby Atmos test disc, we’re treated to an immersive performance that surrounds us in a bubble of sound. We toggle the Sound Field mode on and off to test how it impacts immersive audio, and it leads us to a simple conclusion: Sound Field creates a bigger and broader sound with a greater emphasis on height effects, although it loses some focus in the process. That being said, we found the tradeoff of scale for a slight sacrifice in precision to be worthwhile overall.

Blade Runner 2049 provides further proof that these speakers are truly skilled at creating a sense of space and placing object-based sound. The 'baseline' interview scene in chapter two is a prime example, with the interviewer’s voice truly feeling like it is being projected from a ceiling speaker. Furthermore, in the scene in which Officer K returns home to his apartment and speaks to Joi from what appears to be another room, the Quad system does an excellent job of recreating the area and placing the sounds to simulate the effect of characters speaking in different rooms.

Cohesion is also a key strength, as the speakers all work harmoniously and there are no noticeable gaps between each unit. This is most likely due to each speaker having the same driver configuration, and it works to the system’s strength greatly.

However, there is one notable shortcoming with the Bravia Quad: unfortunately, there's just not enough weight or depth to the bass, particularly given the price of the system. Returning to Blade Runner 2049’s tricky chapter two sequence, the Flight to LAPD track is just lacking some oomph, leaving it feeling lightweight and therefore impacting the tension of the sequence. While it’s not necessarily dynamically challenged – in fact the building volume helps to add a sprinkle of tension into the scene – it’s purely the bass that feels hollow.

Comparing the Quad to the HT-A9, we find that this newer model is a step up in a variety of ways – clarity, crispness and spatial effects particularly – but it just isn’t quite as punchy and solid when it comes to low-end effects. Truthfully, we’d pair the A9 system with a subwoofer if given the opportunity, but it doesn’t feel essential; the Quad, on the other hand, feels like it really needs a subwoofer in order to flourish.

While that wouldn’t necessarily be an issue, we have to remember that this system is notably more expensive than the previous model, so shelling out additional cash for one of Sony’s optional wireless subwoofers feels like a bigger sting. For the money, we would have liked to have seen a subwoofer bundled in with the system.

Verdict

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Calling a verdict on the Sony Bravia Theatre Quad is tricky. There are very few systems that can rival it for convenience, and it is a step up over its predecessor in many ways. However, it’s just too expensive to wholeheartedly recommend, especially when getting the very best out of it involves shelling out extra for a subwoofer.

Still, if you want a discreet and fairly stylish sound system that’s especially good at Dolby Atmos height effects, then this could be an ideal option for you. Even more so if you're already the owner of a compatible Sony TV.

SCORES

Sound 4
Build 4
Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony HT-A9

Also consider the Sennheiser Ambeo Max

Read our Sonos Arc review

Best soundbars: options for every budget, recommended by our experts

Sony Bravia 9 vs Samsung QN95D: which Mini LED TV is best?

Joe Svetlik — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 13:52:56 +0000

Sony Bravia 9 (K75XR90)

Screen size: 75in (also available in 85in, 65in in the US)
HDR formats: HLG, HDR10, Dolby Vision HDR
Operating system: Google TV
HDMI inputs: x 4 (48Gbps HDMI 2.1 x 2, HDMI 2.0 x 2)
Dimensions (hwd, without stand): 96 x 167 x 4.8cm

The Bravia 9 certainly isn't cheap, and is less likely to be discounted than the Samsung. It's a chunky beast too, and its feature set isn't quite as impressive (only two HDMI 2.1 sockets, for example). But in terms of picture and sound quality, it's the one to beat.

Pros

Dazzling brightness and highlights
Impressive height effects from built-in speakers
Excellent local dimming on dark backgrounds

Cons

Buggy and compromised picture on some content
Sound could be weightier
User interface can be sluggish at times

Samsung QN95D (QE65QN95D)

Screen size: 65in (also available in 75in, 85in)
HDR formats: HLG, HDR10, HDR10+
Operating system: Tizen
HDMI inputs: x 4 (48Gbps HDMI 2.1)
Dimensions (hwd, without stand): 83 x 145 x 2cm

The Samsung QN95D does a lot right. It's a beauty to look at, it's more affordable than the Sony and comes in more practical sizes. It's better-specced for gamers, too. But some annoying picture niggles (such as backlight blooming) and sub-par sound mean it's second best in terms of performance.

Pros

Sharp and clear picture quality
Handles dark details well
Excellent gaming specs

Cons

Strange blue halo effect at times with some dark content
Poor bass control
Expensive for a Mini LED TV – though admittedly less so than the Sony

Mini LED is the TV tech on everyone's lips at the moment, especially since Sony chose it over OLED for its flagship 2024 model, the Bravia 9. But Sony isn't the only firm backing the backlit technology – Samsung has been prioritising Mini LED for years now, and it has a new flagship 4K model for 2024, the QN95D.

These firms are two of the major players in the TV market, so we have high hopes for both sets. Wondering which is worth your hard-earned? You've come to the right place...

I've tested two 2024 flagship 4K Mini LED TVs – are they worthy OLED rivals?

Sony Bravia 9 vs Samsung QN95D: price

The Bravia 9 is a bit of an oddity, in that Sony only sells it in 75- and 85-inch variants in the UK and Australia. The 65-inch version is exclusive to the US, where it costs $3300. That's bizarre given that US homes are overwhelmingly larger than British ones, but then again, Sony is undoubtedly targeting the high end of the market. The 75-incher is £4499 / $4000 / AU$6995 and the 85-incher £4999 / $5500 / AU$7995.

The Samsung QN95D isn't available at all in the US or Australia. It's not exactly cheap in the UK either – but it is significantly more affordable than the Sony Bravia 9. The 65-inch QN95D is currently on sale from Samsung for £2799 (around $3600 / AU$5500), while the 55-incher is £2099. Not to be outdone, it also comes in 75- and 85-inch sizes, for £3899 and £5999 respectively (though some specs, such as the number of dimming zones, vary at different screen sizes).

Generally speaking, Samsung's TVs are also discounted more often – and by larger amounts – than Sony's, so keep a look out come sales time.

We've only tested the 75-inch Bravia 9 and 65-inch QN95D. We do expect both TVs to scale up and down in size fairly consistently, but our evaluations are based on those specific sizes.

** Winner: Samsung QN95D **

Sony Bravia 9 vs Samsung QN95D: design

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

At nearly 5cm thick, the Sony Bravia 9 is more than twice as bulky as the Samsung QN95D. It bears plenty of the hallmarks of the best Sony TVs, including a crosshatched pattern across the back with Sony’s recycled SORPLAS material making up 65 per cent of the TV’s body. It also has the same feet that can be positioned either narrow or wide depending on the width of your TV cabinet, and higher than standard to accommodate a soundbar.

This SORPLAS material also features in the new Eco Remote, which comes bundled with the regular one. Features include a speckled green effect to hint towards its eco-friendliness, USB-C charging, a built-in speaker for the find my remote function and a mic for barking orders at Google Assistant.

The Samsung QN95D looks practically identical to the QN95C it's replacing. The 'Infinity One' design means very slim bezels and a central stand that doesn't swivel. This stand does, however, make it very easy to fit the TV on pretty much any surface.

Around the back is a selection of grooves that work as cable tidies, and the stand's detachable back plate can be removed to route cables through. All this is necessary as there's no One Connect box, as there is on the Samsung S95D.

Like the Sony, the QN95D also comes with two remotes: one standard and one slimmed-down, Solar Cell Remote. Again, the latter is a more environmentally-friendly version (though you can't help but feel the actual green option would be to only produce one remote), this time with a solar-powered battery that can be topped up via USB-C if needed.

** Winner: Samsung QN95D **

Sony Bravia 9 vs Samsung QN95D: features

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Because both TVs are Mini LED models, they both have backlights consisting of tiny LEDs that shine light through a colour layer (consisting of Quantum Dots in both of these cases). These Mini LED backlights allow these TVs to go much brighter than even the brightest current OLED models.

Backlit TVs can't control each individual pixel in the way that an OLED can, so instead they break the screen up into local dimming zones – the more of these they have, the greater precision they can exert over the picture. Sony hasn't revealed the exact number of dimming zones, though we estimate around 1920 – that's more than the Samsung QN95D's 1344, but remember the Samsung TV that we have tested has a smaller screen.

Sony claims the Bravia 9's backlighting is 30 per cent more power efficient than that of the X95L it replaces, which should save you some money on your energy bills. Sony's Eco Dashboard lets you track your energy usage, though its many – laudable – green features will limit the TV's brightness, which kind of misses the point of buying a Mini LED TV in the first place. You can turn these off if you prefer.

Google TV comes as standard, which is better in some ways than the Samsung QN95D's Tizen, but the Bravia 9 feels rather sluggish at times as you plough through menus. That's despite being powered by Sony's super powerful Bravia XR Processor. Odd. Hopefully this can be fixed via a firmware update.

The Bravia 9 features an Amazon Prime Video Calibrated mode, which will optimise your TV's picture using cloud data. It only works for supported Prime Video content, but it does as advertised, adjusting the colours and lighting during our testing. The Bravia 9 has similar modes for Sony Pictures Core (formerly Bravia Core) and Netflix, but these aren't new.

Like other Sony TVs, the Bravia 9 supports the HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG formats of HDR. There's no HDR10+, which is surprising given that Prime Video is practically the only streaming service to support HDR10+ – we would think it would be the central plank of the Prime Video Calibrated mode. The Samsung QN95D also lacks one HDR format – in this case, it's Dolby Vision, which is far more common than the Samsung-created HDR10+. Sony also includes IMAX Enhanced with the Bravia 9, which works with the small selection of IMAX Enhanced content on Disney Plus.

Unbelievably – and some would say unforgivably – for a high-end TV, the Sony only has two HDMI 2.1 sockets (the Samsung has four). With one of these two doubling as an HDMI eARC connection, gamers with an AVR or soundbar hooked up to the eARC port will only be able to plug in one modern console (or gaming PC) and get the best gaming experience. If you have a sound system and switch between games machines a lot, you'll be better served by the Samsung in this regard.

But the Sony is well-specced otherwise for gamers. It supports 4K/120Hz gaming with VRR on both of those HDMI 2.1 ports, with the two remaining HDMI sockets still able to support 4K/60Hz gaming (the Samsung allows 4K/120Hz gaming regardless of which HDMI socket you use). All four of the Bravia 9's ports support ALLM, and it also has an optical connection, ethernet and two USB ports.

The Bravia 9's wireless support is also strong, with wi-fi and Bluetooth 5.3 with the LE codec supported, alongside Apple AirPlay, Apple HomeKit and Google Chromecast Built-in. And on the sound front, the 70W 2.2.2 channel speaker system tries to ape its OLED models' actuator-based system by surrounding the screen with speakers. There are two front-facing 10W midrange drivers, two 5W tweeters built into the sides and – in a first – two upward-firing 10W beam tweeters built into the top edge, which help deliver Dolby Atmos height effects. These are joined by dual 10W rear-mounted subwoofers.

Samsung's set is powered by its Neo Quantum 4K AI Gen 2 Processor (also found inside the five-star S95D). Its more than 20 neural networks help it to upscale standard definition and 1080p content to 4K and provide an enhanced three-dimensional effect to images through the Real Depth Enhancer Pro system. Meanwhile, Auto HDR remastering attempts to convert SDR content into HDR (it's not always 100 per cent successful).

Audio-wise, the QN95D supports Dolby Atmos, while Samsung’s Q Symphony feature synchronises the TV's speakers with those of a compatible Samsung soundbar connected over HDMI eARC. The TV boasts a 4.2.2 channel sound system with the same 70W of power as the Sony. Samsung has implemented AI here too – Active Voice Amplifier Pro enhances dialogue in the mix, and Adaptive Sound Pro optimises the sound performance based on the characteristics of your room and the content itself.

** Winner: Samsung QN95D **

Sony Bravia 9 vs Samsung QN95D: picture

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Sony has made some bold claims about the Bravia 9's picture quality, but there are a couple of issues.

Firstly, the local dimming feature has noticeable jumps in brightness that can be distracting. It's only really noticeable with films mastered at a high brightness, and you can avoid it by switching off local dimming, but that makes the picture look flat and lifeless.

Secondly, we found it impossible to get the best out of the Bravia 9. All the picture presets are compromised in some way or other, and even extensive manual tweaking leaves the TV short of where we feel it should be.

These are both software issues, so hopefully Sony can fix them with a firmware update. But they are present nonetheless, and hence worth considering.

But while the TV is a bit fussy, it's also dazzling. Colours are rich and impactful, with detail in even the brightest parts of the picture. Edges are sharply defined, adding a real sense of depth to the image, and while black levels aren't quite OLED deep, they're still very impressive for a backlit TV. There's very little haloing around bright spotlights in dark scenes – as we'll see, the same can't be said of the Samsung QN95D.

Colours are balanced and skin tones natural, though they could be a little warmer. There's no noticeable judder with fast-moving objects either – it's good to see Sony retaining its crown as king of motion control.

And so on to the Samsung QN95D. It gets a lot right. It’s bright, crisp and fairly well-balanced, and noticeably brighter than its QD-OLED cousin, the S95D. The picture is vibrant and punchy, but not unnaturally so, while skin tones look authentic throughout. The colour variation might be a little more subtle in the S95D, but the QN95D is still plenty vivid and engaging, and it shows that Samsung can keep a lid on its oversaturated colours, and that's a big plus.

Overall the picture is sharp and crisp, with no details missed in skin and environmental textures. The level of shadow detail is also impressive, but it's in the dark areas that problems start to emerge. Bright objects in dark scenes have a curious blue halo around them, and while the QN95D is the brighter TV, the S95D has the better contrast thanks to its inky blacks.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 9 **

Sony Bravia 9 vs Samsung QN95D: sound

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Sony's TVs are some of the better-sounding we've tested, and the Bravia 9 continues that tradition. Its sonic profile is similar to that of the X95L, but the new height speakers add a greater sense of space and the frame tweeters improve the directionality of the sound. Vocal clarity is excellent, and low-level dynamics are impressive. It's loud too, and projects well into the room.

The Voice Zoom 3 dialogue-boosting mode works as advertised, and doesn't sacrifice too much in the way of the other effects.

There's a lack of distortion around the low end, but the flip side to this is a slightly underwhelming bass performance – it could use more weight at that end of the frequency range. But the height channels are a real highlight, making the sound feel more spacious (aided by the room calibration feature on set-up).

The QN95D also lacks some weight in the sound department, but it also lacks a decent level of projection. The dynamics are a little disappointing too, though there is some height to the audio, giving it a sense of space. Speech is clear and easy to understand, though the lack of low-level dynamics does mean you'll miss the odd word or phrase.

As ever, we recommend a Dolby Atmos soundbar or full surround system to get the best audio from either TV.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 9 **

Sony Bravia 9 vs Samsung QN95D: verdict

So there you have it. Two new Mini LED TVs, two four-star performers. We can't pretend we're not slightly disappointed, especially given both companies' track records of producing stellar five-star sets. But while expensive, both TVs have a lot going for them.

The Sony is pricier, not quite as attractive as the Samsung, and a little lacking in the features department. But for our money, it performs better in terms of picture and sound, which are the really important areas for most people. If your budget can stretch, the Sony is the better investment.

** Overall winner: Sony Bravia 9 **

MORE:

Predecessors: read our reviews of the Sony A95L and Samsung S95D

Also consider the LG G4

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and affordable flatscreens tried and tested

Samsung has dropped a huge hint about its future OLED and Mini LED TV plans

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 11:40:39 +0000

Samsung has dropped a huge hint about its future TV plans, confirming premium, big screen OLED TVs will be its focus for the foreseeable future.

Samsung dropped the hint in its second quarter 2024 earnings statement where it confirmed:

“In the second half of 2024, overall market demand is expected to recover further due to growing demand for QLED, OLED and larger screen TVs. The Visual Display Business will capitalise on peak season demand by implementing sales programs centred around premium and large-size TVs.”

The company made the decision after reporting strong growth in the premium, especially, OLED TV market in the first half of the year. This suggests, though they weren’t mentioned by name, its current line of OLED sets, including the Samsung S95D and step down Samsung S90D have sold well.

Based on our time with the Samsung S95D, which earned a perfect five star rating when we reviewed it in our dedicated viewing rooms, this isn’t a huge surprise. With improvements to colour accuracy, motion handling and more, our reviewers continue to list the S95D as Samsung’s finest QD-OLED yet.

Neo QLED (Samsung’s term for Mini LED) is a vogue technology many companies are pushing, but is yet to match the experience offered by OLED, even in the top end of the market.

Sony’s Bravia 9 flagship and the Samsung QN95D Mini LEDs both earned four-star ratings when we reviewed them, with shared issues including less impressive black levels and near OLED level prices that hindered their overall appeal.

Interestingly, Samsung also pegged the series of sports events this summer as another key area driving growth. This year we’ve seen huge F1 races, the Euros and ongoing summer Olympics.

The company put less of a focus on 8K TVs, despite listing them as a key priority and potential growth area in its previous statements.

The Samsung QN900D was the first 8K TV to earn five stars from our testers, thanks to its advanced upscaling powers. Despite this, while it is great for early adopters, our experts still recommend most people avoid 8K at the moment due to the lack of native content mastered at that resolution.

The company once again made no mention of plans to improve its smaller and more affordable TVs, which have struggled to perform well when we’ve tested them in recent years.

The Samsung CU800 demonstrated this when we awarded it two stars in January. Despite being very cheap and offering solid specifications, severe backlight issues made it impossible for our team to recommend.

Do you applaud Samsung’s focus on big, uber-expensive TVs? Let us know on our forums and social media channels.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we’ve reviewed

Our picks of the best 65-inch TVs

We rate the best Samsung TVs money can buy

Will there ever be a replacement for the Sony A95L? I believe so, but it could be a long way off

tom.parsons@futurenet.com (Tom Parsons) — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 10:57:00 +0000

It's fair to say that Sony's current TV strategy is a touch confusing. The famous Japanese brand produced what I feel was the best money-no-object TV of 2023 – the A95L QD-OLED – while simultaneously hinting at a huge pivot away from OLED and towards next-generation LED backlighting.

That pivot has now taken place, and Sony's 2024 flagship TV is the backlit Bravia 9 – a TV with a huge amount of promise but a couple of teething issues that hold it back from greatness, as we explain in our Sony Bravia 9 review.

Throughout this whole period of apparent change, a couple of related questions have repeatedly come up: is Sony done with OLED TVs? And will there ever be a replacement for the awesome A95L?

These are questions that I have actually put to Sony myself, and it probably won't surprise you that the company is very cagey about its future plans. That said, looking at its recent history and reading between the lines, I think it's possible to get a steer on what the future holds for Sony TVs.

Is Sony done with OLED TVs?

Sony's 2024 flagship TV is the Bravia 9, which features next-gen backlight tech rather than an OLED panel (Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

On the one hand, Sony is demonstrably not done with OLED TVs. That's because it has a new OLED TV for this year, the Bravia 8, which is a direct replacement for last year's Award-winning A80L.

On the other hand, though, Sony has confirmed that it's not replacing the A95L QD-OLED or its A90K 'small' OLEDs this year. The first of those decisions can be explained away by how late in 2023 the A95L arrived, but the decision to not replace the A90K models is a peculiar one, mostly because they first launched in 2022. For a modern TV to have an on-sale lifespan of more than a year is very unusual, and going beyond two years is practically unheard of.

Sony tells me that the A90K TVs are continuing for another year simply because they're still selling well, but this doesn't sound like the whole story to me. There's high demand for small OLED models, and Sony's A90K TVs, which are available in 42-inch and 48-inch sizes, look a bit old-fashioned and overpriced compared to LG's C3 and now C4 rivals.

Ultimately, while Sony certainly isn't 'done' with OLED TVs, it is at least giving the impression that it's less committed to them than it was.

Will there ever be a replacement for the A95L?

Producing a TV that's materially better than the A95L must be no easy task. (Image credit: Future / Netflix, Our Planet II)

While a seeming reduction in commitment to OLED as a technology inevitably casts worrisome doubt over the prospects for an A95L successor, I have now come around to thinking that such a TV really is in development – though it's probably quite early development.

I believe Sony is genuine in its feeling that it's too soon to replace the A95L this year, and I also believe that it wants to give the new Bravia 9 and its next-gen backlight some time to shine at the top of the range. I think there's probably also an element of the company feeling that it needs some time in order to produce an A95L successor that's materially better – no easy task, I'm sure.

It's telling, too, that the Bravia 9 is priced lower than the A95L, leaving space for a TV above it. I'll go out on a limb and say it will be called the 'Bravia 10'.

So, when will this Bravia 10 appear? It won't be until next year, for sure, and my guess is that Sony will aim to repeat this year's schedule. That would mean an announcement around April 2025 and a launch around July. With any luck, the exhausted A90K will be replaced at the same time.

Of course, I could be wrong about all of this and Sony could indeed be moving away from OLED. But I, for one, sincerely hope that's not the case.

MORE:

Here's our full Sony Bravia 9 review

These are the best TVs you can buy right now

and here are the best TV deals

Rewind: our final verdict on the Sony Bravia 9 TV, a retrospective on a KEF classic, and more

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 08:15:47 +0000

Happy Monday and welcome to the latest entry into What Hi-Fi?’s Rewind news digest, were we detail all the big hi-fi and home cinema headlines to break in the past week.

As much as our team of experts would love a break, it was another busy one in What Hi-Fi? towers, with our experts delivering their final verdict on Sony’s latest flagship TV and our hi-fi wizards taking a fond look back at a landmark in speaker design.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Sony’s Bravia 9 is a tricky beast

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

2023 was a great year for Sony TVs with its flagship A80L OLED winning a product of the year accolade at the What Hi-Fi? Awards. So we had high hopes for its 2024 flagship, the Bravia 9, which is interesting for a couple of reasons.

First, because it’s huge with sizes starting at a whopping 75-inches in the UK and most other territories. The US is the only territory to get a smaller 65-inch option.

Second, because despite Sony’s success with OLED, it uses a Mini LED panel. Did the changes pay off? After thorough testing our team found for the most part, yes, though the TV is undeniably fussy and needs a lot of tweaking if you want to get the most out of it.

Read our full Sony Bravia 9 review

We compared Dyson’s OnTrac headphones to Bose’s best

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Last week our team took the time to take an opening look at how Dyson’s newly unveiled wireless headphones, the OnTrac, compare to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra. This is a key comparison as Dyson made a big song and dance about the OnTrac’s active nose cancellation (ANC) capabilities, claiming its experience designing vacuums and fans means it has “mastered the physics of sound”. This apparently puts it in a prime position to dethrone the class leader, Bose, at ANC performance.

Read the full article: Dyson OnTrac vs Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones: what are the differences?

Physical media is making a comeback

(Image credit: Future)

For years, outside of vinyl, most forecasts suggest physical media is in rapid decline. But last week fresh sales numbers from retailer HMV suggested this may not actually be the case as of DVD and Blu-ray are back on the rise! As fans of the formats, this was music to our ears. Now we just need to get the same thing happening for MiniDisc and SACD…

Read the full story: 4K Blu-ray strikes back against streaming according to one of Britain's largest entertainment retailers

We reminisced about KEF’s iconic Reference 104/2 (1984) speakers

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Old enough to remember, or even have listened to KEF’s legendary Reference 104/2 speakers? Even if you’re not you’ll want to read our technical editor, Ketan Bharadia’s latest That Was Then… column where he takes a fond look back at what to this day are remembered as a landmark in speaker design.

Read the full article: That Was Then… KEF Reference 104/2 (1984)

MORE:

These are the best TVs we've reviewed

Our pick of the best KEF speakers

We rate the best Blu-ray players

I've tested two of the most important flagship 4K Mini LED TVs of 2024 – but are they worthy OLED alternatives?

Lewis Empson — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 13:58:49 +0000

We're comfortably into the second half of 2024 now (doesn't time fly when you're having fun?) and we can say without doubt that it has been an exciting year for TVs. While a lot can be said for Samsung and LG upping their OLED games to turn 2023 four-star TVs into 2024 five-star TVs (those being the S95D and C4 from those respective companies), we're here to talk about Mini LED.

It's been an interesting year for Mini LED TVs, as this feels like the first year that the panel technology is really being positioned as a high-end alternative to OLED. Samsung has subscribed to this ideology for some time with its Neo QLED technology; however, it looks like Sony and Panasonic are jumping on the bandwagon too.

Samsung has positioned the QN95D Mini LED TV in equal standing to the excellent S95D QD-OLED, while Sony has pushed Mini LED to the forefront of its 2024 TV lineup with the Bravia 9. Our editor-in-chief, Alastair Stevenson, also made note of Panasonic's eagerness to show off its W95A Mini LED TV more than some of its OLED TVs during a recent trip to Dusseldorf.

While I'm yet to see the Panasonic TV in action, I have had a hand in testing both the Samsung and Sony TVs mentioned above, so I feel as though I'm fairly qualified to take stock of how Mini LED TVs have fared in 2024 thus far. We consider these to be two of the most important Mini LED TVs of this year – no pressure, right?

If you've read both of our reviews then you'll know what rating both of those TVs earned. If you haven't then – spoilers – they both received four stars. Four stars might sound slightly critical, but we'd like to remind you that it still represents a product we would recommend under many circumstances. However, considering Sony's track record from 2023, this may come as a shock, as it enjoyed an onslaught of five-star ratings last year. Samsung was also awarded five stars for the QN95C last year, so dropping a star is an understandable cause for concern.

So, what attributed to these TVs not performing as well as their predecessors? In the case of the Sony, it was a few frustrating picture quirks that just held it back from true greatness. We liked how it handled rich colours with stellar gradation, and we think that the brightness of this set is very impressive.

However, for a TV that's designed for content mastered to high brightness, it really did seem to struggle with local dimming control on 4000-nit and 2500-nit content. Our go-to high-brightness films, Pan and Mad Max: Fury Road, highlighted (no pun intended) an issue in which the TV tends to make distracting adjustments by brightening and dimming the image in noticeable steps.

Furthermore, we found that there were compromises to the picture regardless of the settings combinations we used, and this varied by the content we watched. For example, the picture settings that we settled on for Pan ultimately didn't suit Mad Max Fury Road as it made certain fine textures look oversharpened, and in toning that down it left other aspects of the picture looking a bit soft.

The Samsung, on the other hand, had plenty of positive aspects surrounding its rich colours, excellent brightness and impressive handling of dark details. However, it has to be said that it trips up on bright content against a dark background, as the halo effect is well and truly present on this TV. A shot we often refer to in Oppenheimer in which the runway in front of the nuclear bomb is lit up ahead of the Trinity Test looked rather unpleasant on this TV. There were blotchy rings of light and a cloudy effect across what should be a very dark desert vista under a night sky.

The QN95D also struggles in the monochromatic parts of this film, with a peculiar blue aura plaguing these sequences that is quite offputting considering the only colours on display should be black and white.

Now, we're not going to make any bold claims about which panel technology is definitively better, as both Mini LED and OLED are constantly evolving. For example, Sony has employed a new, more advanced backlight for the Bravia 9, so with this first-generation system I'm personally very intrigued to see how Sony builds off this technology. However, I viewed both of these TVs side by side with equivalently positioned OLED models, and if my money was on the line, I would have opted for the OLED TVs on both occasions.

As mentioned in our full reviews, the Samsung QN95D was compared to the S95D, while the Bravia 9 was compared to the LG G4. In both instances, I found the deeper blacks, enhanced contrast and rich yet balanced colours of the OLEDs to be preferable, even if they couldn't muster the same brightness levels. While black levels on Mini LED TVs have come on leaps and bounds, there's still nothing quite like the deep, inky blacks of OLED TVs to really enhance immersion.

That being said, I am also making it 100 per cent clear that my mind is remaining open to Mini LED, as Panasonic could well deliver a TV that solves the issues mentioned above. The next Mini LED TV that lands in our test room could well prove to be an exception to what we've seen so far, and the battle between the two biggest panel technologies is certainly far from over.

MORE:

Read our full Samsung QN95D review

And our Sony Bravia 9 review

As well as our picks for the best OLED TVs

Sony HT-A9 vs Bravia Theatre Quad: how has the home cinema system evolved?

Joe Svetlik — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 13:18:41 +0000

When the Sony HT-A9 launched back in 2021, it was a proposition like no other (as the old Sony slogan goes). Smaller and more versatile than a 5.1 surround sound system, but considerably more advanced than a soundbar, it was something of a halfway house between the two, but rather than compromising on both, it offered the best of both worlds. We gave it five stars.

Now Sony has released a follow-up, the Bravia Theatre Quad. This system has more drivers, the speakers are more discreet and it has app control. But it does cost quite a bit more than its predecessor. Is it worth the extra?

Sony HT-A9 vs Bravia Theatre Quad: price

The HT-A9 launched in 2021 for £1599 / $1799 / AU$2499, and despite its advancing years, its price has stayed stubbornly high. Even now its successor is available, it still costs around the same as at launch.

It's significantly cheaper than the Bravia Theatre Quad, which launched in May for £2499 / $2499 / AU$3699. That's a little more expensive than the monster Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Max, and over twice the price of the Award-winning Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 Home Cinema Pack, so it will have to do a lot to justify that price. Though it is worth mentioning that it's more of a surround solution than the Sennheiser, and much more compact than the Wharfedale.

Sony HT-A9 vs Bravia Theatre Quad: design

(Image credit: Sony)

This is one of the major differences between the two speaker systems. At first glance, the HT-A9's speakers look cylindrical like the second-gen Amazon Echo, but their backs are flat so they can sit flush against walls. They also have a concealed hook for attaching them to walls. That gives them plenty of versatility, though they should have a direct line of sight to the listening position and ceiling for the best performance.

The off-white colour scheme and design are pretty understated, but at 31cm tall, they dwarf most soundbar surrounds. The optional wireless subs don’t share the same aesthetic and instead are matte black and blocky with rounded corners. And the control hub is more of a puck, a bit like the Apple TV 4K.

The Sony Bravia Theatre Quad has evolved the design. Its speakers are sleeker and flatter than the HT-A9's, and they're a little shorter, at 27.5cm tall. That makes them more suitable for wall-mounting as, at just 55mm deep, they will intrude into the room much less than the HT-A9's (which are 14.8cm deep).

They're a lighter grey than the HT-A9's speakers, and should fit in with most home decors (unless maximalism is your thing). The control hub looks unchanged, with the same look and feel as its predecessor, and same black finish.

Sony HT-A9 vs Bravia Theatre Quad: features

(Image credit: Future)

The HT-A9's control hub has all the ports you could need. As well as an eARC output and an HDMI pass-through that supports 4K@60fps and HDR (Dolby Vision, HLG and HDR10), there's also a LAN socket (and wi-fi connectivity), a USB service port and a mini-jack output for connecting to S-Center sync.

While the speakers connect to the hub wirelessly, they do need to be plugged into a mains socket for power. The bundled power cables are a little short, so you might have to replace them depending on your speaker placement and layout of wall sockets (they're standard figure-of-eight cables).

There's a small remote control, and you can access an on-screen menu with set-up options through a compatible Sony Bravia TV. The system will calibrate the sound to your room automatically, but you can adjust it manually as well if you like. It has three sound modes to choose from too – Standard, Music and Surround.

Both the HT-A9 and Bravia Theatre Quad support the same codecs: Dolby Atmos (in the Digital+ and TrueHD formats), DTS:X, LPCM, hi-res wireless audio and Sony 360 Reality Audio spatial technology. And if content isn't available in 360 Reality Audio, you can up-mix it to virtual 3D sound using the height speakers and the rears using the 'Immersive AE' setting.

With four drivers in each speaker, the Bravia Quad has one more each than the HT-A9. And like Sony's new soundbars, it can be controlled via the Bravia Connect app, so you don't need a Sony TV to see an on-screen menu. Sony claims the Sound Field Optimisation feature is more accurate than previous versions.

If you do have one of the best Sony TVs, some extra features come into play. Acoustic Centre Sync lets you use your TV's speakers as the centre channel, letting them work in harmony with the Bravia Quad's speakers (the HT-A9 has a similar feature called S-Centre Sync). Voice Zoom 3 uses AI to recognise human voices and amplify or reduce their volume accordingly so they're clearer in the mix. And you can access a quick control menu on-screen with a compatible Bravia TV.

The new woofer's unique structure lets it create high sound pressure from a slim speaker unit. Coupled with a bass reflex port, it should generate a powerful low-end sound, according to Sony.

Sony HT-A9 vs Bravia Theatre Quad: sound

(Image credit: Sony)

We haven't tested the Bravia Theatre Quad yet, so can't comment on its sound quality. But the HT-A9 has a five-star sound, one that blew our scepticism out of the water.

Call us cynics, but we were doubtful Sony could live up to its promise to deliver an even, balanced sound no matter where you placed the HT-A9's speakers around the room. We were wrong.

What strikes you straight away is the level of dispersion the HT-A9 is able to achieve. The four equal speakers can convey sounds from off-screen as well as those on, and the precision and texture on show is more immersive than any soundbar package.

The HT-A9 is at its best when driven hard, with frantic action and a high volume. Partnering it with the SA-SW5 subwoofer adds more scale and brings out more midrange from the speakers, while the high-end adds an expansiveness and level of detail that really immerses you in the action.

The sound is room-filling, with dialogue clear despite the lack of a centre channel. Even with a lopsided speaker arrangement, the degree of speech clarity is always impressive. No matter how haphazard our speaker positions, the sound design never feels off-kilter or detracts from the action on-screen – it's a forgiving, well-blended soundfield, with an easy flow and handover between each speaker.

For music, the HT-A9 produces good stereo imaging, and a nuanced, characterful vocal performance. The top end can feel a bit insistent, especially in busy arrangements, though the addition of the sub does help balance this out.

Sony HT-A9 vs Bravia Theatre Quad: early verdict

The Bravia Theatre Quad looks like a compelling middle ground between a soundbar and a full 5.1 system. If it can build on the HT-A9's impressive performance, it could be the ideal home cinema solution for a lot of people. It's a shame about the price, but hopefully that will come down more significantly than its predecessor's.

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony HT-A7000

Also consider the Sonos Arc with Sonos 1 surrounds and sub

Best surround sound systems to bring movies to life

Sony Bravia 9 (K75XR90)

Lewis Empson — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 16:33:15 +0000

Sony’s strategy for its 2024 TV lineup is about as bold and unconventional as it gets. While practically every other manufacturer has shown off a full range of brand-new TVs with an advanced OLED model taking the flagship spot, Sony has instead put its eggs in the Mini LED basket with the Bravia 9.

It’s just one of three new models for 2024, while the rest of Sony’s lineup comprises TVs released either last year or even the year before. Considering Sony’s near-perfect track record within the last year, we wouldn’t have blamed the brand for releasing a lineup of samey sets with modest upgrades and new model numbers for 2024, but it has grander plans.

Instead, it's made a huge gamble by leveraging its experience in the production of films and using that as the philosophy behind this new Bravia range. If Sony has a hand in producing the content – think Sony Pictures as well as the cameras and mastering monitors used to shoot and edit Hollywood films – then surely it should be able to deliver the ideal screen on which to watch said content.

That’s where the Bravia 9 comes in. Its heritage lies in the editing bays of multi-million dollar movie studios, and Sony hasn’t been shy in comparing this TV to its new 4000-nit mastering monitor, the BVM-HX3110. It’s also made direct jabs at OLED, hinting that this new Mini LED backlight could be the next evolutionary step in panel technology.

We initially reviewed this TV in July 2024, and found that an issue arose when playing bright content that resulted in a noticeable raising and lowering of the backlight. That, alongside other picture aspects such as somewhat dull picture modes and a lack of finesse, resulted in us awarding it four stars. Four months later, Sony says it has addressed the issues we raised, so we have decided to give it a fresh look and update our review.

So, is the Bravia 9 now better? It certainly is. But can it now be counted among the very best TVs currently available? That's where things get complicated.

Price

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Very expensive for a backlit TV at launch, but prices have now dropped significantly
Replaced the X95L Mini LED model and sits alongside the A95L QD-OLED
The Bravia 8 OLED is available for very similar money

Sony stumbled with the initial launch of the Bravia 9, deciding to offer it in the UK only in its 75- and 85-inch sizes, and with very high price tags of £4499 / $4000 / AU$6995 and £4999 / $5500 / AU$7995 respectively. So there was a size issue as well as a price issue.

Thankfully, Sony has since seen sense and launched the 65-inch Bravia 9 in the UK, albeit at a price of £2999. The price of the 75-inch model tested, though, has dropped a huge amount and can now be yours for £3099 / $3500.

Despite being Sony’s latest flagship TV, the Bravia 9 isn’t the replacement for the spectacular A95L (£5499 / $4998 for the 77-inch version) in Sony’s roster. That TV is rightfully sticking around for a bit longer after launching late last year. Instead, the Bravia 9 is positioned as a replacement for the X95L (£2199 / $2199), which was Sony’s high-end Mini LED TV for 2023.

In terms of non-Sony competition, the Bravia 9 is up against some tough rivals from the likes of LG and Samsung. The LG G4 (which we have in our TV testing room to compare the Bravia 9 against) with its Micro Lens Array brightness boosting tech and the QD-OLED-touting Samsung S95D have already scored highly in our reviews, and both are available in 77-inch sizes for less than the Bravia 9.

Sony has also provided itself with a fierce competitor in the form of the Bravia 8 OLED TV. This TV has just been given a prestigious What Hi-Fi? Award and is available at 77 inches for £2899 / $2600 / AU$6995 – so it's cheaper than the Bravia 9 by about £200 in the UK and $900 in the US.

Design and build quality

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Unsurprisingly much chunkier than its OLED rivals
Feet can be placed at the ends of the bottom edge or towards the centre
Rechargeable, backlit controller with 'find my remote' feature

At 75 inches, our Bravia 9 sample is a sizeable opponent to the more conventional 65-inch LG G4 and 65-inch Bravia 8 that we have placed it alongside for testing. As you would expect, given that this is a backlit TV, It’s also much thicker than most of the OLED sets we see. Elsewhere, the Bravia 9 bears the marks of other Sony sets, including a crosshatched pattern across the back with Sony’s recycled SORPLAS material making up a claimed 65 per cent of the TV’s body – a nice touch for the eco-conscious.

Sony has also continued one of our favourite aspects of its 2023 models with the Bravia 9, and that has to do with the adjustable stand. The Bravia 9 sits atop two fairly flat and minimal feet, but you can place these in either a wide or narrow configuration depending on the width of your TV stand. Better yet, you can choose between two heights, with a sleek, low-profile option or a higher position that can accommodate a soundbar.

Finally, Sony has packaged an updated remote with this new generation of Bravia TVs, so alongside an old-school button-heavy affair, there's a new Eco Remote, which is also made of recycled SORPLAS material. It features a new speckled green effect to hint towards its eco-friendliness, a USB-C socket for recharging the internal battery, and the backlit buttons from the previous generation remote make a comeback. This remote also has a speaker built in for a handy “find my remote” function and a microphone for interacting with the Google Assistant.

Features

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Super-bright, next-gen Mini LED backlight and Quantum Dot colours
Google TV operating system
Still just two HDMI 2.1 sockets

The headline feature of the Bravia 9 is Sony’s next-gen Mini LED-based backlighting system, which is making its grand debut on the Bravia 9. This is the only TV of the three new models to be graced with the advanced new backlighting system, which leverages Sony’s updated Bravia XR processor alongside more advanced LED drivers. These cutting-edge drivers allow for more granular control of the backlight compared with other Mini LED TVs; each driver consists of six channels, each comprising four LEDs. Each channel can be considered an individual dimming zone.

Sony remains coy with specific details, meaning we don’t know exactly how many dimming zones this TV has, however, it claims that it features three times the dimming zones of the outgoing X95L, as well as being 50 per cent brighter. While we haven’t got exact figures, a quick count during a hands-on event earlier in the year suggested that the 75-inch Bravia 9 has 7680 individual LEDs, 320 LED drivers and 1920 independent dimming zones – though we wouldn't want to bet the house on those figures being 100 per cent accurate.

Sony Bravia 9 tech specs

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Screen size 75 inches (also available in 65in, 85in)

Type QLED

Backlight Mini LED

Resolution 4K

HDR formats HLG, HDR10, Dolby Vision HDR

Operating system Google TV

HDMI inputs x 4 – 48Gbps HDMI 2.1 x 2, HDMI 2.0 x 2

Gaming features 4K/120Hz, VRR, ALLM

Input lag 17ms (60Hz)

ARC/eARC eARC

Optical output? Yes

Dimensions (hwd, without stand) 96 x 167 x 4.8cm

Even if we're only close, that’s a pretty big jump in the sheer quantity of dimming zones. However, Sony stresses that the drivers are truly the most important factor. They can exert far greater control of the current reaching the Mini LEDs than the equivalent drivers in rival sets and therefore have greater control over the brightness of each dimming zone. This should have a huge impact on contrast and the effectiveness of the local dimming, in turn reducing the appearance of blooming and halo effects. There is, of course, also the increase in brightness to account for. While Sony is playing its cards close to its chest in revealing specific figures, it’s been strongly hinted that a figure around 4000 nits might not be far off.

Despite the increase in brightness, this backlighting system is supposedly more energy efficient than previous examples. Sony specifically claims that the Bravia 9 is 30 per cent more power efficient than the outgoing X95L. You can even track your usage with the Eco Dashboard feature baked into the software, which is also home to a handful of settings and useful tips for those who wish to save on energy consumption. However, if you’re after pure performance, you’ll want to disable those settings as they can limit the TV’s brightness capabilities.

Speaking of software, the Bravia 9 is running the Google TV operating system, which should come as no surprise considering Sony’s 2023 lineup used the same OS. App compatibility is great with no noticeable gaps, including worldwide streaming applications such as Netflix, Disney Plus, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video and, of course, Sony-owned apps such as Sony Pictures Core and Crunchyroll. Local streaming apps are also well supported, with BBC iPlayer, ITV X, Channel 4 and Channel 5 all present and correct. We didn’t come across any noticeable issues with streaming from these apps, with all of them correctly streaming in 4K HDR where applicable.

On the subject of streaming, another feature that’s new on the Bravia 9 is the Amazon Prime Video Calibrated mode. While watching supported Prime Video content, the TV will collect data stored in the cloud to adjust the picture of your TV to suit the content being shown. We took this mode for a quick spin with the macho punch-up blockbuster Road House (the 2024 version, not the 1989 original) and we mostly like what’s on show. It appears to tweak the colours and lighting slightly to capture the grungy and dark atmosphere of the film, however, it can be turned off if you’d prefer to do without this feature. It’s worth noting that calibrated modes for Sony Pictures Core (formerly Bravia Core) and Netflix already exist on previous Sony models, and these modes also return on the Bravia 9.

One thing that we aren’t as much of a fan of is how sluggish the set can feel at times; an issue that persists with our second sample of the Bravia 9. Despite Sony's super smart and powerful Bravia XR Processor running the show, we can’t help but feel that the settings menus and Google TV home screen could be a bit more responsive. Considering we spend quite a lot of time jumping in and out of the picture menu to fiddle with individual settings, it becomes a touch frustrating the more we test this TV. Interestingly, the Bravia 8 appears to handle the Google TV menus and settings pages much more fluidly.

Moving onto connectivity, there is one more minor frustration that we find it hard to believe we’re still complaining about in 2024. This TV only features two HDMI 2.1 sockets, with one of those sockets doubling as the HDMI eARC connection. This will be an annoyance for avid gamers who own both current-generation consoles (and/or a gaming PC) and an AVR or soundbar. That said, the Bravia 9 supports 4K/120Hz gaming with VRR on both of those HDMI 2.1 ports, with the two remaining HDMI sockets still able to support 4K/60Hz gaming. All four sockets support ALLM. There is also an optical connection, ethernet and two USB ports.

The Bravia 9 is also well equipped where wireless connectivity is concerned, with wi-fi and Bluetooth 5.3 with the LE codec supported, alongside Apple AirPlay, Apple HomeKit and Google Chromecast Built-in.

Moving on to HDR support, the Bravia 9 sticks with the usual HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG combo that we’ve come to expect from Sony. Once again, HDR10+ is not supported. However, Sony does include an IMAX Enhanced picture mode, which will work with the small selection of IMAX Enhanced content available on Disney Plus.

Rounding things out is the new 70W 2.2.2-channel speaker system. Sony has attempted to emulate the actuator system found on its OLED models to continue the 'sound from the screen' experience. It’s not possible to vibrate the screen of a backlit TV in the same way as it does on the Bravia 8 and A95L, so Sony has cleverly addressed this issue by surrounding the screen with speakers. This includes two front-facing 10W midrange drivers, two 5W tweeters built into the sides and – in an apparent first – two upward-firing 10W beam tweeters built into the top edge, which have a hand in delivering Dolby Atmos height effects. These are backed up by dual 10W rear-mounted subwoofers.

Picture quality

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Stunningly bright and vibrant when required, but still subtle and cinematically accurate
Very impressive black depth and contrast control for a backlit TV
But the Bravia 8 still performs better with most current content

The most important aspect of any TV’s performance, of course, is the picture. Sony has made some seriously bold claims with this set, so expectations are high, especially for a TV at this price. We’ve paired the Bravia 9 with our trusty Panasonic DP-UB820EB 4K Blu-ray player, alongside a few of our favourite reference movies, such as Oppenheimer, The Batman, Top Gun: Maverick and Blade Runner 2049, as well as some films mastered to very high brightness, such as Pan (mastered at 4000 nits) and Mad Max: Fury Road (mastered at 2500 nits).

As you may remember from our first review, there was an issue with the backlight that caused jarring jumps in brightness during content mastered to high nits. Essentially, the TV would adapt its backlight to the content before the content required it. So, for example, if a movie had a bright shot immediately after a dark one, the brightness would be boosted before the transition. Needless to say, this was very distracting.

While we did caveat that we don't anticipate that many people are buying this TV to exclusively watch the very limited amount of super-bright content that is currently available, we did have to make note of the fact that Sony has built this TV with the wave of high brightness content that the company believes will arrive in the next few years in mind. We therefore expected it to excel in this area, and it did not.

Now that we've seen the Bravia 9 for a second time, we're pleased to report that Sony has done a great job of addressing this issue. We re-watch the pirate ship scene in Pan that first drew our attention to the problem in various picture modes and find the backlight's behaviour to be much more consistent.

Furthermore, this issue never presented itself in films mastered at lower brightness levels, such as Oppenheimer and The Batman, and this remains the case in our second bout of TV testing.

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Sony has also addressed our criticisms of some of the picture mode presets, which could present content in a rather flat and unengaging manner. Make no mistake, the Bravia 9 is still a somewhat fussy TV that requires some tweaking in the picture menus to get performing at its best, but there is much less tweaking required now that the Cinema mode has been improved.

This preset has been upgraded to feature more depth and solidity in the image, with sharper outlines and improved contrast, making it appear less dull and flat than when we first saw it. It also uses the Expert 1 colour profile, which we approve of, though we do still make one adjustment in turning Live Colour up to Medium. This produces a more balanced image while still allowing the TV to flex its muscles in the brightness department. It's sharper and more impactful than the last time we looked at it, not to mention much easier to set up.

On the other hand, the Professional preset, which should be right up our street thanks to its promise of cinematic authenticity based on the creator's intent, is still far too dark for our liking, even when viewing in a pitch-black room. At least now, though, there's a more satisfying alternative.

Thankfully, while this TV is fussy (and at times frustrating), it’s also dazzling when you feed it the right content. Back to Pan, the highlights seen as the ship descends through space and glides into a dreamlike floating ocean are exceptional, with rich, impactful orange hues and noticeable detail in the very centre of the sun – something that we do not see in the deliveries of the LG G4 or Bravia 8.

The floating bubbles ooze with gorgeous colour variation, with rich emerald greens at the centre melting into sparkling blues. These bubbles also highlight the Bravia 9’s contrast capabilities, as they have wonderfully sharp outlines that present a striking yet still natural three-dimensional effect.

Onto some darker content, and Oppenheimer is a similarly impressive show, with a masterclass in local dimming on display. Black levels aren’t quite OLED level, as the pixel level control of the G4 and Bravia 8 is still superior; however, for a backlit TV, the Bravia 9 is mighty impressive. In the shot of a runway being lit up at night (the same shot that proved to be a challenge too far for the Samsung QN95D), the Bravia 9 doesn’t falter by brightening the surroundings of the spotlights. On the contrary, it keeps tight control over how the light is displayed, with very little haloing, and the surrounding black is also very deep by LCD standards.

Colours are also well-balanced overall. While we would like to see an extra touch of warmth to skin tones, they generally come across as natural. We’re in favour of the Live Colour Enhancer feature, as it adds a bit of needed richness to colours, but we recommend that you keep it to the Medium setting for the best results, as High can look a tad overcooked. We also have to give the LG G4 its dues for retaining colour volume in low-light scenes, as the Sony can look slightly pale in comparison.

Top Gun: Maverick continues the dazzling brightness as glints of sunlight reflect off cockpits and visors in spectacular fashion, and the Bravia 9 remains unphased by fast-moving fighter jets. We have dialled the Motionflow setting down, but that hasn’t introduced any noticeable judder, and in the picture presets with more aggressive Motionflow settings applied, we find movement to look off-puttingly smooth.

It's with Blade Runner 2049 that we really settle on our opinion of this TV’s picture performance. While the Bravia 9 is a promising first-generation use of this backlighting technology, it still can't quite match the cinematic strengths of OLED. Side by side with the Bravia 8, we come to a realisation: the Bravia 9 seems designed to solve a problem that we're not convinced truly exists, and it brings with it some inherent compromises elsewhere.

We recognise that the Bravia 8 we have is smaller, and therefore has a higher pixel density than our Bravia 9, and we take that into account with our comparative testing. Even so, details in the eye of the opening shot of Blade Runner 2049, the outlines of characters in Sapper Morton's farmhouse and the buildings of the dystopian 2049 Los Angeles skyline are all simply sharper, cleaner and more three-dimensional on the Bravia 8. Moreover, skin tones look fuller and richer on the cheaper OLED model, while they can comparatively look washed out on the Bravia 9. The bright neon signs scattered throughout the dark city also look more vibrant and impactful on the Bravia 8 than they do the Bravia 9.

That certainly isn't to say that the Bravia 8 will be the better TV for everyone – those who watch a lot of very bright content and in bright rooms will probably find the Bravia 9 to be a great choice – but most of the content we watch (which is broadly representative of most of the content available at home) looks more appealing and balanced from the step-down OLED model than it does the Mini LED flagship.

Those who are still cautious about OLED burn-in will also likely gravitate towards this TV over the Bravia 8, though we must reiterate that we believe this is more or less a non-issue at this point. Finally, if you just want to be dazzled by a super bright TV rather than enjoy a balanced and authentic delivery, you can boost the brightness of the Bravia 9 far beyond the peaks of the Bravia 8.

Sound quality

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

2.2.2-channel speaker system with a claimed 70W of power
Very good sound by TV standards, particularly in terms of clarity and spaciousness
A little lacking in bass depth, but the sound is always controlled

As is the case with the Sony TVs that have come before it, the Bravia 9 is a very good-sounding TV. It bears a similar character to the X95L in this regard, however, the new height speakers add a greater sense of space and the frame tweeters improve the directionality of the sound. Using our go-to audio test disc, Blade Runner 2049, we deduce that while a soundbar (or, even better, an AVR and speaker package) will of course sound significantly better, the Sony's sound system is a cut above the norm.

Certain examples within the second chapter of Blade Runner 2049 include excellent (by TV speaker standards) vocal clarity and low-level dynamics within the “baseline test” scene, as well as a solid sense of direction to the sound. We can audibly place where Officer K is sitting and where the interviewer’s voice is coming from with our eyes shut, and it helps that the Bravia 9 can also go fairly loud and project sound well into our AV testing room. We also give the new Voice Zoom 3 dialogue-enhancing feature a go and find it to be effective in making dialogue more prominent without squashing the other effects too much.

That being said, we find that Sony’s tendency to not push its built-in speakers too far out of their comfort zone can lead to a slightly weak bass performance, as the thunderous Flight To The LAPD track that plays while Officer K drives back into the city is lacking a bit of weight. Heftier dynamics are also a touch damp, and a bit more punch would be appreciated. That said, Sony’s decision to tune the performance so that it stays well within the sound system’s natural limitations means we never hear any distortion.

Arguably the height channels are the most impressive aspect of the Bravia 9’s speaker system. The upward-firing beam tweeters are automatically calibrated during the set-up of the TV, with the sound directed to the seating position while also measuring the shape of the room. The TV has no issue adapting the sound to our testing space, and the result is genuinely impressive. The sound feels more spacious with the upward-firing drivers involved, and height effects such as rain falling and hitting the rooftops in Blade Runner 2049 sound very effective.

Verdict

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

So, has Sony’s big Bravia 9 gamble paid off? Perhaps not yet, but there’s every chance that it could. The next-gen Mini LED backlight is a technical marvel, even if the TV as a complete package isn’t perfect. We have to commend Sony for addressing a lot of the issues we found in our initial testing – the improved backlight behaviour and improved Cinema picture mode are both very much appreciated.

At its best, this TV is sensational – serving up dazzling brightness, impressive blacks (by backlit TV standards), generally vibrant colours and even an enjoyable (if slightly restrained) sound experience.

For most people, though, we simply feel that the cheaper Bravia 8 OLED is the better option thanks to its improved skin tones, more consistent handling of colours, better three-dimensional depth and sharper details. We're certainly not writing off Sony's new Mini LED backlighting system, as a second-generation version could be truly brilliant but, at this point, its strengths – impressive though they are – don't quite outweigh its compromises.

Original review published July 2024. Review updated December 2024 and again in March 2025.

SCORES

Picture 4
Sound 4
Build 4

Also consider

Sony A95L
Sony's QD-OLED TV came out in 2023 but still sits in the range alongside the Bravia 9. It can't go as bright as its Mini LED sibling, but that's almost never an issue and its flawless contrast and colours make it our preferred choice.View Deal

Sony Bravia 8
As the name suggests, the Bravia 8 OLED officially sits beneath the Bravia 9 in Sony's range, but while it's not as bright or vibrant as the Mini LED alternative, its pixel-level contrast control and awesome consistency make it the better buy for most people.View Deal

LG G4
It's now been replaced by the G5, but the G4 is currently still on sale and with some huge discounts. It can't go quite as bright as the Bravia 9 but it's very bright by OLED standards, and it boasts a lovely design and four HDMI 2.1 sockets, which will be a boon for serious gamers.View Deal

Samsung QN900D
The only Mini LED TV that we'd seriously consider against the Bravia 9 is this 8K Samsung. There's still no 8K content worth watching, but the QN900D uses exceptional upscaling to make 4K content look super-crisp and sharp. It costs significantly more than its Sony rival, though.View Deal

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Missed the Sony A80L Prime Day deal? Don't hesitate on this second chance to save over £1100 on this Award-winning OLED TV

Lewis Empson — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 16:39:53 +0000

The Sony A80L has been one of the stars this Amazon Prime Day, as deals popped up that lowered the price of the TV to just £1199 for the 55-inch model. Unfortunately, that deal has now ended, proving that you need to be quick to take advantage of the best deals this Prime Day.

The good news is that another deal has popped up for this TV courtesy of Richer Sounds, and while it's not quite as low as the previous one, it's still an incredible saving of £1140 on the XR-55A80L. Richer Sounds has supplied a discount code to reduce the price of this TV from £2399 to £1259, meaning if you missed out on the last A80L deal and have regrets, then this is your shot at getting the TV at a reduced price once again. Just make sure you use code SONY10 at checkout for the full savings.

Looking for one of the bigger models? Fret not, as Sevenoaks has enticing deals on the 65- and 77-inch variants of this TV, where a similar £1200 saving can be made on both sizes.

Sony XR-55A80L 2023 OLED TV ~~£2399~~ £1259 at Amazon (save £1140)
Our favourite performance-per-pound TV of 2023, the Sony A80L uses standard OLED technology to amazing effect, delivering a picture that balances the spectacular with the cinematically subtle with absolute aplomb. It sounds good by TV standards, too, and has a solid gaming feature set. Use code SONY10 for the full discount. View Deal

Sony XR-65A80L 2023 OLED TV ~~£2999~~ £1799 at Sevenoaks (save £1200)
We haven't reviewed the larger Sony A80L OLED TV, but we have it on good authority that its performance should be just as good as the smaller variant. If you want a screen with masterful contrast at a larger size, then look no further. And with a ludicrous £1200 slashed from the price, this TV is an even bigger bargain. Use code SONY10 for the full discount. View Deal

Sony XR-77A80L 2023 OLED TV ~~£2999~~ £2799 at Sevenoaks (save £1200)
We reviewed the A80L at 55 inches, so cannot say for sure that performance will be identical at this larger size; however, we anticipate that most of the positive qualities that we liked from that smaller model should be present here. View Deal

While 2023 was awash with next-generation QD-OLED and MLA OLED TVs, Sony proved that 'standard' OLED technology (often referred to as 'WOLED' because of its use of a white sub-pixel) is capable of absolutely stunning results when it's tuned with care and attention.

The A80L produces an image that pops with vibrant colours and superb contrast, yet combines that with a naturalism and subtlety that means you're always seeing movies and TV shows as intended. It balances all of these desirable picture traits to create an image that is nothing short of dazzling, allowing it to beat the likes of LG's C3 and Panasonic's MZ1500 OLED TVs.

The Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology, which uses actuators that vibrate the whole screen in order to make sound, ensures that the audio and imagery are spatially connected in a way that non-Sony TVs can't match, and the A80L sounds direct, detailed and open by general TV standards, too.

While the LG C3 is still an impressive and very likeable TV, we felt that LG didn't differentiate it from the C2 enough, despite increasing the price at launch. The A80L, on the other hand, is a startling step forward and the best performance-per-pound TV of the year so far, particularly with this discount. LG has thankfully rectified this with the C4, which we felt performed much more competitively with the A80L, although that TV is newer and, as to be expected, more expensive.

You might still want to consider the LG C3 if you're a hardcore gamer, though, as it has four HDMI 2.1 ports (the Sony A80L has just two, of which one also handles eARC duties) and supports Dolby Vision gaming and HGiG, which the Sony doesn't. For everyone else, though, the Sony A80L is a brilliant buy.

There's also the Bravia 8 to consider, which has just replaced the A80L. We haven't tested that TV yet so cannot verify whether it's a worthy follow-up to this Award-winner, however, Sony claims that the new model is brighter and it leverages the new Bravia XR Processor too. That model is also much more expensive currently, so if you're after a better-value model, then the A80L is seriously worth a look, especially with over a thousand pounds of savings.

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony A80L (XR-55A80L)

Our picks for the best OLED TVs in 2024

The best 55-inch TVs: smart, HDR, 4K, and OLED options

Sony Pictures Core: price, availability, movie selection and quality

John Archer — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 11:16:49 +0000

Sony Pictures Core (previously known as Bravia Core) is Sony's high-end movie streaming service. It promises picture quality to rival 4K Blu-ray, a large selection of IMAX Enhanced movies and the latest box office releases from Sony Pictures. But is it right for you? And how can you get it? Here's everything you need to know about Sony Pictures Core...

Sony Pictures Core is a streaming service with a difference. Or quite a few differences, actually. Starting with the fact that it is not currently available on any devices that aren’t made by Sony.

For much of its three-year life, in fact, Sony Pictures Core was available – under its previous Bravia Core name – exclusively on Sony TVs. Playback was later enabled for Sony’s Xperia smartphones, too, and then in October 2023 the service’s availability was finally extended to two other key members of the Sony product family: the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 games consoles.

Since the Bravia part of the old Bravia Core name referred specifically to Sony’s TV technologies, it made sense for Sony to change the service’s name to Sony Pictures Core when it was expanded out to the PlayStation family. But we’d also say the new name more accurately reflects the fact that all of the service’s content comes from Sony’s own film and TV studios (including the Crunchyroll anime streamer Sony bought in 2021).

Free movies for Sony owners

(Image credit: Future / Netflix, Our Planet II)

With most streaming services, of course, the idea is to be as widely available as possible. With Sony Pictures Core, though, Sony seems to see the service more as a way of driving purchases of its TVs and games consoles. A notion backed up by the fact that from the moment the service launched as Bravia Core in 2021, Sony TV buyers have been entitled to a number of free recent release movie purchase credits, as well as free access to a curated selection of up to 100 movies from the service’s back catalogue. A classic ‘buy this TV, get free movies’ marketing promo.

The exact number of movie credits and the length of free catalogue access you get depends on the Sony TV you’ve bought. Buy a premium model and you’ll earn 15 free ‘new release’ permanent purchase credits and two years of access to the curated back catalogue titles. Mid-range Sony TVs see the free movie token offer drop to 10, while more entry-level models get you five new release purchase tokens and a year’s subscription to the curated (and regularly updated) back catalogue selection. You should check the small print of any Sony TV you’re thinking of buying to see how much Sony Pictures Core access your TV purchase is getting you.

PlayStation Plus subscribers, meanwhile, bag new free movie credits on the service too, with PlayStation Plus Premium members getting access to the 100 or so curated movie catalogue.

Prices for additional movie rentals and purchases

(Image credit: Future)

Sony TV purchase and PS Plus subscription rewards are, of course, not the only way to access content on Sony Pictures Core. You can also rent or buy extra titles, with the amount varying between £13.99 and £7.99 in the UK to buy recent releases, and between £5.49 and £3.49 to rent films where a rental option is available.

Sony claims that there are up to 2000 titles available to rent or buy across the whole of Sony Pictures Core, some available with bonus content such as director’s commentaries and exclusive offers. At the time of writing, titles available went as recent as 2024’s Anyone But You and Tarot, and as old as 1939’s Mr. Smith Goes To Washington – with a huge range of classics across the decades in between. Honestly, it only takes a few moments browsing Sony Pictures Core’s catalogue to come away amazed at just how many classics Sony owns the rights to.

Sony Pictures Core streaming quality

That said, it’s not so much the quantity of content on Sony Pictures Core that’s its main attraction as it is its quality. Starting with the fact that the service claims to support the highest streaming bandwidths in the video streaming world. So while Netflix and Prime Video get by on data rates of under 25Mbps and Apple TV+ tops out at 40Mbps, Sony Pictures Core uses a technology it calls PureStream to support rates up to 80Mbps.

Obviously, this depends on your own broadband system being able to carry such rates. In fact, Sony recommends that your broadband supports rates up to 115Mbps or higher to ensure you enjoy the full-quality Sony Pictures Core experience without buffering, with a minimum of 43Mbps required before the PureStream technology even kicks in.

The PureStream name accurately describes why the sort of streaming bandwidths the Sony Pictures Core service offers matter; basically, the higher the bandwidth of a digital video signal, the less that signal should have to be compressed. And the less a video stream has to be compressed, the sharper, cleaner and more natural the resulting video playback should look.

Unfortunately, PureStream is only available via Sony TVs. Via the PS5 or PS4, movies are streamed at the sort of bit-rates that are common with rival streaming services.

IMAX Enhanced content on Sony Pictures Core

(Image credit: Future)

At least as important as the unique streaming speeds supported by Sony Pictures Core is the quality of the masters it provides. Pretty much every remotely recent release is available in 4K resolution and high dynamic range, and Sony has been pretty busy remastering a fair number of its old catalogue titles in 4K too.

Sony Pictures has also been the most enthusiastic embracer of the IMAX Enhanced home video system. Full details about this can be found in our IMAX Enhanced explainer, but briefly, IMAX Enhanced involves three key features. First, titles are scanned and mastered in 4K HDR using a special IMAX system that’s designed to enhance the clarity and colour of the resulting home video presentations, as well as remove excess noise and grain.

Second, where a film features sections shot in IMAX’s relatively tall 1.9:1 aspect ratio, those sections will appear in that ratio, even if the rest of the film is shown in a wider aspect ratio.

Finally, IMAX Enhanced titles are accompanied by special ‘signature’ DTS audio mixes that are apparently designed to deliver more of the full dynamism of an IMAX theatrical release’s audio track. These IMAX Enhanced DTS:X tracks can now be output from Sony TVs to compatible AV receivers and soundbars using HDMI’s eARC functionality.

At the time of writing, Sony Pictures Core carries 157 IMAX Enhanced titles – including, surprisingly, a few golden oldies such as Easy Rider and Gandhi alongside the more expected modern releases and classics.

As well as all the IMAX Enhanced titles on Sony Pictures Core adding DTS soundtracks to their specially mastered pictures, many of the other recent and semi-recent non-IMAX films the service carries are accompanied by Dolby Atmos sound mixes.

Is Sony Pictures Core any good?

So does all of this impressive technical spec really add up to a superior streaming experience? We’d say it really does, actually. Provided you have the broadband speed for it and remember to activate the PureStream technology via the app’s Settings (it’s off by default), a full 80Mbps Sony Pictures Core 4K HDR experience really does look cleaner (especially in dark areas), crisper, more detailed and more dynamic than the streams of any other service. Though Apple TV can get quite close with some of its best-looking shows.

We wouldn’t say Sony Pictures Core’s performance is quite up there with good 4K Blu-ray image quality, but it delivers some supremely engaging images by streaming standards – especially with many of its IMAX Enhanced titles.

So if you’re the proud owner of one of the best Sony TVs and haven’t yet explored what Sony Pictures Core has to offer, you really owe it to yourself to check it out. Especially as the tokens you earned when you bought your TV mean you can check out the service’s quality across a decent number of films without having to spend a single extra penny.

MORE:

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Here are our reviews of the Award-winning Sony A80L and the flagship Sony A95L

Rewind: Audiolab’s 9000N streamer tested, hands-on with Marantz’s M1 amplifier, Sony 2024 TVs and more

andy.madden@futurenet.com (Andy Madden) — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 09:16:52 +0000

Welcome to the latest entry of our weekly Rewind column, where our team of experts gives you the perfect way to start the week with our hi-fi and home cinema news digest.

As always, we detail the top headlines and developments in the world of hi-fi and home cinema over the past seven days. Last week was another strong showing, with the team delivering its verdict on a talented standalone music streamer from Audiolab, and getting to spend some time with a new streaming all-in-one from Marantz. And the streaming theme continued with a new model from NAD also breaking cover.

We also took you through all the key models in Sony’s 2024 TV line-up in full and found a couple of outstanding deals including one on a five-star Dolby Atmos soundbar.

Here’s what you need to know.

Audiolab hit the spot with a superb music streamer

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

We have plenty of time for Audiolab when it comes to music streamers at affordable prices, but the brand has gone up a few gears with the range-topping 9000N. We put the streamer through its paces and let’s just say this impressive unit did not disappoint. Powered by a streaming platform from high-end experts Lumin, it delivers a strong enough performance to trouble the established class leaders.

Read our full Audiolab 9000N review

Sony’s 2024 TV line-up was laid out in full

(Image credit: Sony)

It can be a hard job deciphering a TV manufacturer’s line-up but we took the hard work out of the equation by drawing up a comprehensive guide to Sony’s 2024 TVs, splitting them up by model range and explaining the key differences. If you want to know what distinguishes a Bravia 9 from an 8 and 7, this is the page for you!

Read the full feature: Sony 2024 TV lineup: everything you need to know

We went hands-on with Marantz’s do-it-all M1 streaming amplifier

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

We've been itching to get our hands on the Maratnz M1 ever since the petite all-in-one was revealed back in May. Well, our Hi-Fi and Audio Editor Kashfia Kabir finally had that chance and her first impressions are extremely positive. As she notes, there’s been an explosion of streaming products around this size and shape and we are excited to see how the M1 performs when we get one into our test rooms to review.

Read the full feature: The Marantz Model M1 could be the hi-fi streaming amplifier I've been waiting for

NAD joined the streaming party with the C 700 V2

(Image credit: NAD)

You wait around for one music streamer and three come along at once. That was the theme for last week, as NAD dropped the news that it was launching a new music streaming amplifier in the shape of the C 700 V2.

Read the full story: NAD's latest streaming amp adds a better DAC and advanced vinyl skills

Testing a premium JVC projector got us thinking

(Image credit: Future)

Our Staff Writer Lewis Empson spent some time in the presence of a premium JVC projector which impressed him enough to write an article about why he thinks if you want to experience a proper cinema experience at home, you need very deep pockets. Click the link to read how watching Oppenheimer on the JVC compared to his IMAX experience.

Read the full story: I've figured out how much you need to spend on a projector for it to be better than the cinema – and it's a lot

We spotted a great deal on a Sony Dolby Atmos soundbar

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Not only did we spot a great saving on some excellent noise-cancelling earbuds from Bose, we also found a great saving on a Dolby Atmos soundbar from Sony. Proving you don’t have to spend a small fortune to get a big improvement on your TV’s sound, we thought this £50 drop was sufficient to shout about and the deal is still available at the time of writing.

Read the full story: Sony's affordable, five-star Dolby Atmos soundbar is even cheaper thanks to this deal

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Sony 2024 TV lineup: everything you need to know

Lewis Empson — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 15:44:54 +0000

Sony's 2024 range has caused a considerable stir thanks to the company's unconventional approach. While nearly every other manufacturer reserves the top spot of their respective lineup for a flagship OLED TV, Sony is using that position to show off its advanced Mini LED backlighting system.

In fact it is releasing only three new TVs (four if you live in the US or Australia) this year, with the remainder of its 2024 lineup comprising models carried across from last year. On paper, that sounds like an issue. Sony, however, enjoyed a practically flawless 2023 where TV reviews were concerned – so this risky strategy might well pay off.

That being said, 2024 has already been a strong year for Samsung and LG, while early looks at Philips and Panasonic sets promise strong competition to come. So can Sony fend off the competition to reign supreme for another year?

What's new

Before we answer that question, we should look into what Sony has implemented across its 2024 TV line up.

Bravia is back

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Sony's Bravia moniker is making a comeback for 2024; well, technically it never left, but this year it's becoming a lot more prominent. The naming convention for Sony TVs has been necessarily complex – you have to be fairly knowledgeable of TVs to differentiate your A95L from your X95L – so we are pleased to see that the new models are using a refined naming convention.

In the new range, we have the Bravia 9, Bravia 8 and Bravia 7, as well as the Bravia 3 which remains exclusive for the US and Australian markets. We'll dig a bit deeper into what each of those models includes later, but each will reportedly "bring the cinema home", according to Sony.

OLED takes a back seat for Mini LED

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

As we have already mentioned, Sony's big focus for this year is Mini LED. It has developed an advanced, more precise and brighter backlighting system which will reportedly deliver OLED-like blacks and vivid brightness. As a consequence, OLED has had to settle for second place on the lineup.

In fact, there is only one new OLED TV in Sony's 2024 lineup: the Bravia 8. This is a follow-up to the Product of the Year winning A80L, so expectations are high for this new model. The other OLED TVs on the lineup are the A95L and A90K; the former is no surprise, as it has been on the market for less than a year, but the latter is about to embark on its third year on sale. Surely it's time for a new small OLED TV Sony?

Nevertheless, the new Mini LED-powered Bravia 9 is shaping up to be a mighty interesting set, thanks to Sony's new backlighting system that promises to be more precise than any backlighting system to have come before it. Sony has taken inspiration from its mastering monitors found in Hollywood editing bays, calling this system the XR Master Backlight Drive. Claimed benefits include better local dimming and reduced risk of blooming on dark backgrounds.

Frustratingly, Sony will launch this set in the UK only at 75 inches upwards, meaning those who only have space for a 55- or 65-inch set will need to look elsewhere.

The new XR Processor runs the show

(Image credit: Sony)

The new Bravia XR Processor is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this new lineup according to Sony. It's the brain behind the new XR Master Backlight Drive system, controlling the LED driver and Micro LEDs on the flagship Bravia 9 model, while delivering picture enhancements to the Bravia 8, 7 and 3 in various ways.

The biggest news is a new picture-recognition engine that can recognise foliage and faces, and enhance them to look sharper and more detailed. Sony claims that the facial recognition system works on a variety of content including live-action and animated movies and TV shows.

Furthermore, Sony is expanding its relationships with content providers in order to create special calibration modes for a variety of streaming services. When watching content on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix or Sony Pictures Core, the TV will access picture information stored in the cloud and calibrate the picture automatically to best suit the content. This is reportedly coming to some older models including the A95L, but for the most part, it will be exclusive to the 2024 models to our knowledge.

Sony 2024 TV lineup breakdown

Sony Bravia 9 Mini LED TV

(Image credit: Sony)

In a shocking twist, the flagship model in Sony's 2024 lineup is not an OLED TV. Instead, Sony has developed an advanced Mini LED backlight instead, and it thinks it can take on the high standards set by its own A95L QD-OLED TV. It replaces the X95L from last year and will reportedly be 50 per cent brighter and feature more than three times the number of dimming zones, resulting in "OLED level blacks" according to Sony.

It's also set to include an advanced LED Acoustic Multi-Audio+ sound system, with a 70W 2.2.2 channel audio featuring on this TV. It includes drivers that vibrate the frame of the TV in order to create sound, which emulates the actuator-based system on Sony's OLED models which instead vibrate the screen.

The set has four HDMI sockets in total, but only two are HDMI 2.1 which will be disappointing for hardcore gamers. Those ports will support 4K/120Hz gaming, VRR and ALLM though – to be expected considering Sony also manufactures the PlayStation 5. The Bravia 9 also features the Google TV operating system, meaning app compatibility shouldn't be an issue.

We round things off with the most controversial aspect of this TV: the sizes. Sony is bringing only two sizes of the Bravia 9 to the UK; 75- and 85-inches. That's quite large and, as a result, the Bravia 9 is expensive. A 65-inch version of this TV does exist, but it appears that it will launch only in the US.

Read our Sony Bravia 9 hands on review

Sony Bravia 9 pricing
	UK	US	Australia
65in	No such model	$3300	No such model
75in	£4499	$4000	AU$6995
85in	£4999	$5500	AU$7995

Sony Bravia 8 OLED TV

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Is this the most anticipated TV of 2024? This is the sequel to the Product of the Year Award-winning Sony A80L so it has astronomically big shoes to fill; no pressure…

This is the only new OLED TV from Sony this year (more on that later), and it is the regular WOLED flavour, not any sort of special QD-OLED or MLA OLED. That's not to discredit the Bravia 8, as underneath a mostly familiar exterior, there are a handful of reported upgrades.

Sony is claiming a nearly 10 per cent increase in brightness compared to the A80L, as well as the upgraded Bravia XR processor which can also be found on the Bravia 9. It also features the OLED Acoustic Surface Audio+ audio system, which vibrates the screen to create a lifelike centralised sound that comes directly from the centre of the screen.

One thing we are glad the Bravia 8 doesn't share with the 9 is the range of available sizes. This OLED set comes in a much more conventional range of screen sizes. You'll be able to buy the Bravia 8 in 55-, 65- and 77-inch versions.

Read our Sony Bravia 8 hands on review

Sony Bravia 8 pricing
	UK	US	Australia
55in	£2199	$2000	AU$2995
65in	£2699	$2800	AU$3995
77in	£3999	$3900	AU$6995

Sony Bravia 7 Mini LED TV

(Image credit: Sony)

The Sony Bravia 7 is the cheapest new model from Sony if you live in the UK, and Sony considers it to be a spiritual successor to the X90L, which will confusingly also continue in Sony's lineup for the year. The big news is that this model is going from a full-array local dimming backlight to a Mini LED with quantum dots – albeit not the same advanced backlight found on the Bravia 9.

Sony is attributing this upgrade in screen technology with a claimed 30 per cent increase in brightness and eight times more dimming zones. Paired with the XR Processor also found in the other two models, this should be a step up over the existing X90L in terms of picture quality. It also features a slightly trimmed-down version of the Bravia 9's Acoustic Multi Audio system that cuts out the upward-firing beam tweeters.

It also inherits an identical gaming specification to its more expensive siblings, with two HDMI 2.1 sockets with 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM gaming support.

Available in four screen sizes, the Bravia 7 is available in a wide selection of markets at the following prices:

Sony Bravia 7 pricing
	UK	US	Australia
55in	£1899	$1900	AU$2935
65in	£2199	$2300	AU$2875
77in	£2799	$2800	AU$3775
85in	£3499	$3500	AU$4295

Sony Bravia 3 LED TV

(Image credit: Sony)

Sony's cheapest 2024 will unfortunately not be making its way to the UK. We have spotted it on US and Australian retail sites, and it looks to be a new entry-level option for Sony's new Bravia range.

It appears to be fairly basic in design and functionality, with a 4K resolution, HDR support and a 60Hz panel. It has four HDMI 2.0 sockets, which rules out a majority of gaming features, meaning PS5 and Xbox Series X gamers may wish to steer clear. This also means it carries the basic ARC standard, and not the more advanced eARC standard; so audio quality over HDMI may not be as crisp as the other sets on this list.

It does come in a wide range of sizes though, all with the following prices.

Sony Bravia 3 pricing
	US	Australia
43in	$600	AU$864
50in	$700	AU$954
55in	$850	AU$1144
65in	$1000	AU$1464
75in	$1300	AU$1935
85in	$1800	AU$2850

Sony A95L QD-OLED TV

(Image credit: Future / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Here we reach the familiar sets in Sony's unconventional lineup as, unlike LG and Samsung, it has decided to carry across a fair few of its older models into 2024, unless you live in Australia where this TV seems to have been unceremoniously axed. The A95L makes the most sense though, as it is less than a year old thanks to a delayed launch last year, meaning there is no real need to to replace it.

It's still one of the best TVs that money can buy, in our opinion, thanks to its dazzling brightness and deep contrast, all while remaining both authentic and balanced in its presentation. In direct comparison with all of the major rivals last year including the LG G3, Samsung S95C and Panasonic MZ2000, the A95L stood head and shoulders above the competition, making it a clear picture champion in the TV realm.

It also happens to sound quite good, with an actuator-based 2.2-channel system which vibrates the screen, backed with two woofers that add a touch of bass. It's one of the very few TVs to earn the full five-star rating in the sound department, thanks to its spacious, crisp and impactful performance, while solid low-level dynamics ensure that voices have the necessary texture and nuance to dialogue.

Features-wise, the A95L runs Google TV, as well as having the expected two HDMI 2.1 sockets (plus an additional two HDMI 2.0 sockets) for the full list of current gaming features. It also supports Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos for enhanced picture performance and immersive audio.

If there's one area in which we could critique the A95L, it would be the price. It was expensive when it launched last year, although that price looks to be dropping fairly consistently.

Read our full Sony XR-65A95L review

Sony A95L pricing
	UK	US	Australia
55in	£2499	$2800	Discontinued
65in	£2999	$3500	Discontinued
77in	£5499	$5000	Discontinued

Sony A90K OLED TV

(Image credit: Future)

The Sony A90K launched back in 2022, but that hasn't stopped Sony from squeezing yet another year out of it. This TV soldiers on for 2024 in both the 42- and 48-inch sizes, serving as Sony's "small" OLED TV for this year.

It's a standard WOLED panel with a 4K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate on both sizes. Once again we have four total HDMI sockets, with two rated to support the full 48GB bandwidth of HDMI 2.1, one of which doubles as HDMI eARC. Sound is achieved via the Acoustic Surface Audio+ system and we considered it to be a strong, if not game-changing performer in this regard.

What truly won us over with this TV is its excellent picture performance, as it bears the usual marks of a Sony OLED TV, including crisp details and deep contrast that results in a stunningly natural image. While competition from LG in the small OLED TV category is tough, this is still a solid TV, even if it is ageing at this point.

Read our full Sony XR-48A90K review

Sony A90K pricing
	UK	US	Australia
42in	£1349	$1300	AU$1799
48in	£1399	$1400	Discontinued

Sony X90L LED TV

(Image credit: Future / Our Planet II, Netflix)

Another returning model is Sony's mid-range backlit TV from 2023 which will also serve in the 2024 lineup. It's another strong performer, so we don't have concerns with it sticking around for another year; it feels different enough from the Bravia 7 to justify its spot on the lineup.

We complimented its bright and impactful picture in our review, as well as its impressive balance and backlight control. It also scores an admirable four in the sound department thanks to its solid performance where dynamics, volume and spaciousness are concerned.

We did have minor concerns regarding viewing angles and the inferior gaming specs compared with sets from Samsung and LG, but considering that this TV has dropped in price since it launched last year, it could be the one to go for if you are balancing value and performance.

Read our full Sony XR-55X90L review

Sony X90L pricing
	UK	US	Australia
55in	£999	$1200	AU$1795
65in	£1199	$1300	AU$2125
75in	£1699	$1800	AU$2664
85in	£2499	$2300	AU$3665
98in	£4999	$8000	AU$7495

Sony X85L LED TV

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

This is a further step down in Sony's backlit lineup and a continuing model from 2023. We awarded it five stars last year thanks to its excellent contrast and backlight control, balanced colours and excellent motion handling. It's a winner in the picture category, despite the fact it uses a full array LED backlight. It does feature local dimming which accounts for the enhanced contrast and HDR performance.

Sound-wise, we found that the X85L plays it too safe at times, but we appreciated that it knows its limitations to avoid distortion. It sounded clear, detailed and fairly well-refined for built-in TV speakers, although we wish it had a touch more bass. That all being said, we find it to be a solid performer by TV speaker standards.

The X85L is also specified very similarly to the other TVs on this list, with two HDMI 2.1 sockets for 4K/120Hz gaming with VRR and ALLM. It also supports Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos immersive audio over HDMI eARC.

Read our full Sony XR-55X85L review

Sony X85L pricing
	UK	US	Australia
55in	£999	Discontinued	AU$1471
65in	£1099	Discontinued	AU$1773
75in	£1499	Discontinued	AU$3799

MORE:

Check out the full Samsung 2024 TV lineup

As well as the Hisense 2024 TV lineup

And our picks for the best TVs for 2024

Sony KD-32W800

John Archer — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 14:22:06 +0000

While Sony refreshes most of its TVs every year, the 32-inch KD-32W800 has remarkably stuck around since 2021. Presumably either because it keeps selling well enough to make an upgrade unnecessary, or because Sony just isn’t putting any effort into the 32-inch TV world anymore.

Whatever the reason for its longevity, though, the simple fact is that the W800 is still widely available all around the world at a relatively premium price by today’s 32-inch TV standards. Does it really deserve such an enduring run, though, or is it actually past its sell-by date?

Price

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

With a UK price of £299, the Sony KD-32W800 is pretty expensive by today’s 32-inch TV standards. This holds true, too, in the US, where the equivalent 32W830K model goes for $298, and especially in Australia, where it costs AU$729.

With Android TV and Sony’s Bravia Engine processor on board, though, it certainly has the on-paper potential to justify its price, despite the fact that it’s been around longer than any of its current 32-inch rivals.

Design

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

The W800’s screen is mounted within a fairly chunky frame by modern TV standards, but it makes this work for rather than against it by dressing the frame in an unusual brushed matte grey finish.

While setting the TV up, it becomes obvious that this frame is made of pretty lightweight plastic, but at least Sony has tried to disguise this fact when you’re looking at the TV from a regular watching distance.

Less easy to disguise is the fact that the 32W800’s rear sticks out a country mile by today’s usually fairly svelte standards. While this may be an issue for anyone thinking of mounting their TV on a wall, though, it’s not really a problem for anyone setting the TV on its provided feet. The chunky rear could even prove to be a strength if it turns out that it’s given Sony room to equip the TV with a decent set of speakers.

In fact, the uninspiring black plastic finish and clumsy ‘clown’s shoes’ look of the black desktop feet are more of an eyesore than the bulky back.

The 32W800 ships with a single long and button-heavy remote control that looks a bit complicated at first but turns out to be reasonably easy to learn your way around. Happily, its button roster includes dedicated Freeview Play, Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video keys.

Features

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The Sony 32W800 fits a native 1366x768 resolution into its 32-inch screen and lights all those pixels with a direct LED lighting system, where the LEDs sit right behind the screen rather than around its edges. It uses an IPS type of LCD panel – a fact that instantly sets alarm bells ringing since, while IPS screens can deliver slightly wider effective viewing angles than the alternative VA types of panel, they struggle to produce the sort of contrast required for a convincing TV picture.

There’s HDR support on board, in the HDR10 and HLG flavours, and in what may arguably be the best explanation for the 32W800’s relatively high price, it also carries Sony’s Bravia Engine image processing system. This is actually a pretty ageing processing system compared with the Cognitive XR systems found on Sony’s other TVs these days, but it still promises richer colours, enhanced realism and reduced picture noise.

Sony KD-32W800 tech specs

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Screen size 32 inches

Type LCD (IPS)

Backlight Direct LED

Resolution 1366 x 768

HDR formats HLG, HDR10

Operating system Android TV

HDMI inputs x3

Gaming features None

ARC/eARC ARC

Optical output? Yes

Dimensions (hwd, without stand) 44 x 73 x 7.8cm

Smart features on the W800 are provided by Android TV. This isn’t an altogether good thing, as it’s a little clunky, buggy and more dictatorial than helpful with the content it recommends. It does, though, carry a huge amount of content (more than 7000 apps) that includes most of the main global video streaming services. It also supports Chromecast right out of the box. Sony has also helpfully added Freeview Play in the UK, to ensure that Android’s blind spots when it comes to a few of the UK’s popular catch-up TV services are covered.

Connections comprise a trio of HDMI 2.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports (one of which can be used for recording live TV to USB storage drives if you’re still into that), a headphone jack, a digital audio output, and an ethernet port. Plus there’s support for both Bluetooth and wi-fi.

This connectivity together with the fact that, as you’d expect, the panel only supports 60Hz refresh rates means gaming support is limited to 1080p 60Hz HDR. The set does sport a Game preset, though, in which input lag drops to a pretty respectable 33.7ms.

Beyond the claimed presence of the Bravia Engine processor, picture adjustments are fairly limited. There are separate Adaptive Luma Control and Local Contrast Control options, one of which adjusts brightness in response to changes in the image content to try and improve contrast, the other of which breaks the image down into small areas to help the auto brightness adjustment achieve better results. Neither of these features really makes much of a difference, though.

In fact, the only picture option that does make a significant difference is a Gamma adjustment, which lets you see more shadow detail if you set it to its Bright rather than Middle level. As we’re about to discover, though, that’s nowhere near enough to save the W800’s pictures from relative ignominy by Sony’s usual standards.

Picture

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

While the 32W800’s picture has a few things going for it if you can be bothered to look hard enough, the good bits are all depressingly secondary to a single massive Achilles Heel: black levels so bad that they make dark scenes all but unwatchable.

Parts of the picture that should look black don’t just look grey, as they might with a typical low-contrast TV, they actually seem to glow.

As well as looking horribly unnatural in itself, the W800’s inability to deliver anything remotely resembling a black tone means that dark scenes also have no sense of depth or three-dimensionality, and are painfully lacking in subtle detail. As noted at the end of the Features section, switching the Gamma setting up to Bright can bring a little more detail into play in dark scenes. The degree of improvement is far more marginal, though, than it needs to be to turn the TV’s fortunes around.

The 32W800’s innate lack of contrast together with fairly limited brightness by today’s LCD TV standards knocks on into its colour performance during dark scenes. While there’s an agreeable warmth to colour tones that isn’t commonly seen with rival small-screen TVs, the set’s dark scene limitations see this warmth tip over into looking quite unnatural and jaundiced.

It doesn’t help, either, that the W800 suffers with very limited viewing angles despite its use of an IPS type of panel. If you’re as little as 15 degrees off-axis, the already poor contrast performance becomes even worse.

The 32W800’s fundamentally warm tones work much more effectively with bright scenes. Aside from the screen not being bright enough to really get much value from its HDR capabilities, bright scenes can look quite vibrant and engaging. So long as they don’t contain any substantial dark bits, that is.

The 32W800’s pictures look sharp and detailed too, despite the screen only being HD Ready rather than Full HD. And the sharpness remains high even during action scenes or sport thanks to impressively judder- and blur-free motion handling.

The 32W800’s good picture qualities are often evident in its gaming performance, too. But so too, of course, are its problems with dark images, putting you at a huge disadvantage if you find yourself trying to play through a dark area of a game.

Sound

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The Sony 32W800’s audio is much more satisfying than its pictures. The good news starts with a long list of helpful audio settings, including an audio delay option, an equaliser, a pseudo surround mode, and a long list of themed audio presets.

Concerns about the 32W800 only carrying a pair of 5W bass reflex speakers are quickly allayed, too, by a surprisingly well-rounded and polished tone to its sound that remains intact even when a sound mix piles on the pressure. Voices are always clear and well contextualised, too, while the sound projects well enough to create an authentic sense of space well beyond the confines of the TV’s bodywork.

Audio detail levels are high, contributing to a strong and accurate sense of left and right separation but with dialogue always locked in the middle where it should be. Despite its limited power it additionally manages to expand its output well to meet the rising challenges of potent action scenes.

The most extreme treble and bass moments from the epic Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack can cause a little distortion from the 32W800’s speakers, but the same can be said of many much bigger and more expensive TVs – and audio moments that expose this weakness are few and far between.

Verdict

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi? / Netflix, Our Planet II)

Sony’s 32W800 32-inch TV has been around so long that we’d kind of expected it to be some sort of timeless classic performer. Unfortunately, though, while it sounds good and offers a decent bounty of features, its picture quality would have been hard to live with even back in 2021 when the TV first appeared. So by 2024 standards, it just doesn’t cut it at all.

SCORES

Picture 2
Sound 4
Features 4

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Also consider the Toshiba 24WK3C63DB

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Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and affordable flatscreens tried and tested

Hisense vs TCL: which is the best cheap TV brand?

Joe Svetlik — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 14:58:10 +0000

Hisense and TCL are two of the best cheap TV brands because they both offer a wide range of affordable 4K TVs with modern features, strong picture quality and competitive pricing. This includes Mini LED and QLED models that undercut more expensive brands like Samsung and LG.

Both brands use popular smart TV platforms and support HDR and gaming features, but our recent reviews have found TCL’s budget TVs generally perform better than Hisense’s, making TCL the more compelling choice overall in the cheap TV category.

But, as always, the devil is in the detail.

A TV is a big purchase, but it doesn't have to be that expensive. Thanks to fierce competition and the falling price of more advanced technology, there are more budget models around than ever. Don't write them off just because they're cheap – you'd be amazed at how some of the more affordable sets perform.

If you are looking for a relatively cheap TV, TCL and Hisense are a great place to start. They're two of the biggest TV manufacturers at this end of the market, though their ranges do reach into the high end as well. They also make very big TVs for very reasonable prices, so are a great choice for a big screen experience on the cheap.

But which brand would be better for you? And which model should you choose? Let's see what's on offer...

Check out Hisense's 2025 TV range
And TCL's 2025 TV lineup
Should you buy a TCL TV? Find out here

Hisense vs TCL: overview

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Hisense and TCL are both Chinese companies
Both Hisense and TCL are best known for their TVs
Hisense is the largest TV manufacturer in China
Some of TCL's TVs are Roku-branded in the US

Both Hisense and TCL are Chinese companies, and both make home appliances such as air conditioners and fridges alongside TVs. But they're best known for their TVs.

Hisense is headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong Province, and was founded in 1969. It initially manufactured radios, but within a decade it had branched out into TVs. Since 2004, it has been the largest TV manufacturer in China by market share. Its current range spans from 32 inches up to over 100 inches, and includes OLED, QLED and Mini LED.

Founded in 1981, TCL actually started out making cassette tapes under the name TTK before being sued by rival tape maker TDK for intellectual property violation and changing its name to TCL (which originally stood for Telephone Communication Limited). As well as selling TVs under its own name, it makes some Roku-branded models in the US.

Hisense vs TCL: screen technology

(Image credit: Future)

Both Hisense and TCL make Mini LED and QLED TVs
Hisense makes OLED TVs and Laser TVs as well
Hisense's Laser TVs are niche due to their high prices

As if there weren't enough similarities between the two companies already, both also offer TV ranges with much the same screen technologies. But there are some differences: both brands make and sell a wide range of Mini LED and QLED models, while Hisense also offers OLED models and 'Laser TVs'.

Mini LED is a backlit technology that features on both brands' more expensive TVs. It's an evolution of the classic LED tech that used to be all the rage, but improves contrast control and black levels. Mini LED is leading a resurgence in backlit TVs at the moment – Sony chose it over OLED for its flagship 2024 TV, the Bravia 9.

QLED is another premium screen technology that you'll find in some of both brands' higher-end TVs. This involves the light emitted by an LED or Mini LED backlight being shone through Quantum Dots rather than LCDs. The result is more vibrant and potentially more accurate colours, though the results depend on the quality of the implementation.

OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) panels aren't backlit, but allow the TV to emit light on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Because each pixel can be controlled individually, it allows for stunningly precise contrast with little-to-no light bleeding, making for a richer, more natural-looking picture. OLED was previously the preserve of pricier TVs, but it's now available in much more affordable sets.

Hisense's Laser TVs are essentially ultra short throw projectors that come with screens. Hisense has previously declared these "the future of TV", but because of their high price and unconventional arrangement, they remain a niche proposition.

Hisense vs TCL: operating system

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Hisense and TCL TVs run Google TV, Android TV, Fire OS or VIDAA
Some Hisense models run Google TV in the US, but VIDAA in the UK
Hisense founded the VIDAA TV operating system

Google powers plenty of both brands' TVs, through its Google TV and Android TV platforms. But Amazon's Fire OS and the Roku OS also feature on some models.

There is some regional variation. Hisense favours Google TV in the US, but VIDAA in the UK. Hisense founded the company VIDAA, whose main product is the VIDAA TV operating system. VIDAA is a little better than Google TV, but not quite on a par with Samsung's Tizen or LG's webOS.

Which OS you prefer will be a matter of personal choice, but they all offer a broadly similar range of features and apps such as BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video. Most support HDR and Dolby Vision/Atmos, and most play nice with various voice assistants. Some operating systems will prioritise their own content though (Amazon Fire OS, we're looking at you), and Google's supports Chromecast for wirelessly mirroring content from your phone on the big screen.

Some incarnations of Google's operating system lack the UK terrestrial catch-up apps (like BBC iPlayer). But TVs often come with the Freeview Play app, which does include them. Check before you buy!

If you have Alexa speakers dotted around your house, a TV running Amazon's Fire TV OS makes perfect sense, whereas if you're deep in Google's ecosystem (and want to cast content from your phone to your TV), a Google TV/Android TV set will be a smart choice.

Hisense vs TCL: gaming

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Gaming features like VRR and ALLM are common on Hisense and TCL TVs
Some models support 144Hz refresh rates for PC gaming
Not all TVs' HDMI 2.1 ports are fully equipped for all gaming features

Generally speaking, pricier TVs are better equipped for gaming, but the following features do appear on some cut-price models.

Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and 4K/120Hz are all part of the HDMI 2.1 spec. But, confusingly, not all TVs with HDMI 2.1 ports support them. And some TVs support these features even if they only offer HDMI 2.0 sockets.

VRR matches the TV's refresh rate to the frame being outputted by the console, making games run smoother. ALLM detects when a console is plugged in and automatically switches on the TV's game mode to reduce lag. And it knows if you're running a streaming app like Netflix on your console, and switches off game mode.

4K/120Hz lets the TV display 4K games at up to 120 frames per second (the maximum that consoles output). (Some 60Hz TVs are also able to support this using clever processing.) Some TVs support frame rates up to 144fps, matching the output of some gaming PCs. Dolby Vision gaming is also available at up to 4K/120Hz, but not many TVs support this. HGiG will also tailor each game to the exact specs of your TV without you having to adjust any settings, but again, it's mostly reserved for more expensive TVs.

You should also look out for a low input lag (the time it takes for your button press to register). Anything below 40ms is pretty great.

Obviously the TV's picture quality plays a big part in how your games will look too. You need punch and vibrancy alongside a natural balance and plenty of dark detail.

A few Hisense models support refresh rates up to 144Hz. The E7NQ Pro has Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, as well as Game Mode Pro which brings together all the relevant gaming features. All four of its HDMI ports are certified 2.1 for ALLM, but only two are equipped for VRR up to 144Hz. It only scored three stars in our review.

The Award-winning TCL C805K matches the E7NQ Pro at 144Hz, with Dolby Vision, ALLM and VRR, as well as Nvidia Freesync Premium Pro. But it only has two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which doubles as the eARC port for a soundbar, which only leaves one socket free for the full-fat games experience from a console or gaming PC.

Hisense vs TCL: best TVs

(Image credit: Future / David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet, Netflix)

TCL TVs have scored a string of five-star reviews in recent months
The TCL 85C805K won a What Hi-Fi? Award in 2024
We haven't reviewed as many Hisense TVs in 2025
The Hisense U7N scored four stars

Both brands have had some well-reviewed TVs in recent years, but TCL clearly has the edge.

It's had a string of five-star reviews in recent months: the C7K (in both 65-inch and 98-inch sizes), C6KS and C8K all picked up maximum marks. And before that, the TCL 85C805K earned five stars and a What Hi-Fi? Award.

The C7K offers improved LED backlighting and expansive Quantum Dot colour that, at the price, make it an outstanding option at 65 inches. Beef it up to 98 inches, and you have a "surprisingly affordable slice of home cinema heaven" that costs less than some 65-inch TVs. Phenomenal.

The C6KS at 50 inches fared equally well, earning plaudits for its excellent brightness and contrast and comprehensive HDR support. Plus, of course, it represents excellent value for money.

And the C8KS does more of the same, with an added sound system by Bang & Olufsen to boot (though this was surprisingly lacking in bass).

The TCL 85C805K is older, but still on sale, and is a surprisingly accomplished performer. Not for nothing did we bestow it a What Hi-Fi? Award as well as the title of home theatre bargain of the year.

Hisense hasn't impressed us quite as much of late. Its Canvas TV (basically a rival to Samsung's The Frame art TV) only scored two stars recently, though the U7N fared much better with four stars. We liked the U7N's solid picture performance and decent gaming specs, not to mention its affordable price, though it did have some issues with upscaling and backlight blooming.

The E7NQ Pro only earned three stars when we reviewed it. It looks good on paper, but the picture quality lets it down, with substandard black levels and too much backlight blooming.

The 43-inch A6 fared a little better, with four stars, thanks to its surprisingly balanced and consistent picture.

It has to be said that we haven't reviewed nearly as many Hisense TVs as those made by TCL in 2025. More Hisense reviews are in the pipeline though – look out for the U7Q Pro and U8Q soon.

But we can only review what we can get hold of, and going on our recent reviews, TCL's TVs have scored consistently higher.

Hisense vs TCL: verdict

Hisense and TCL TVs cover a range of sizes and budgets
Their models usually undercut the better-known TV brands
TCL's recent TVs have reviewed better than Hisense's

Both Hisense and TCL make a wide variety of TVs at different sizes, and while they're best known as budget TV brands, they do make premium models, too. Both brands excel at offering a variety of panel technologies and fancy gaming specs at prices that are usually lower than the best Samsung TVs, best LG TVs and best Sony TVs.

There's really not much to choose between the two in terms of operating systems, as both offer a broad spread of platforms.

But given TCL's recent run of reviews, we would say it's the more compelling TV maker right now. But the Hisense TVs that we've reviewed are heavily discounted right now, and given that some were already quite cheap to begin with, they could represent absolute bargains, especially if they're discounted from their original price.

Ultimately which is best for you will depend on your budget, your needs and your priorities. Whichever you're considering, make sure you read our reviews to see what we make of it first.

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Should you buy a Hisense TV? Or a TCL TV?

Our pick of the best cheap TVs and overall best TVs

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Netflix is set to expire on older Sony TVs by the end of next month – is your TV affected? And what are your options?

Lewis Empson — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 10:12:49 +0000

If you have a Sony TV that's nearing 10 years old and you happen to watch Netflix on it, we unfortunately have to be the bearer of bad news. Sony has announced that it will no longer support Netflix on its 2014 TV range, and the deadline for support to end is fast approaching.

This comes after the company announced that it would drop support for the streaming service on TVs and Blu-ray players released between 2011 and 2013 back in December, and just six months later that bracket is expanding to 2014 models too. Sony attributes this decision to Netflix no longer supporting the app on its 2014 hardware due to technical limitations.

You have until the 23rd of July 2024 to stream Netflix on your TV, after that date, the icon will be removed from the app menu. So which models will be affected? There are a total of 42 affected models across various sizes and ranges; this includes a couple of Award-winning models, such as the KDL-32W706B and KDL-40W605B. TVs in the S9, W5, W6, W7, W70, W8, W85, W95, X85, X9 and X95 ranges will lose Netflix privileges, so if you own one of these TVs, we have a few suggestions.

You can, of course, still stream Netflix to your TV via an external media streamer if you wish; we recommend the Google Chromecast with Google TV or Apple TV 4K, or you can find more suggestions on our best media streamers page. However, Sony has been on a hot streak regarding five-star TVs in the last year, so you could upgrade to a new Sony TV if you so desire.

Don't feel pressured to upgrade, as a media streamer is a lot cheaper and more convenient, but if you feel like a picture and sound upgrade is due (and you happen to watch a lot of Netflix), then this could be the ideal time.

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Sony unveils two new Xperia smartphones with a controversial display change for movie fans

Lewis Empson — Wed, 15 May 2024 07:01:00 +0000

Sony has unleashed its latest pair of Xperia smartphones for 2024. It is continuing the Roman numeral naming convention with the Xperia 1 VI and Xperia 10 VI – however, there's a controversial change on one of these devices that is sure to upset movie fans.

Starting with the Xperia 1 VI, this handset is a follow-up to the excellent Xperia 1 V from last year. This is Sony's flagship device in the new Xperia lineup. It has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset inside and 12GB RAM, with either 256GB or 512GB of internal storage. This is the same specification as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra which was a mighty powerful device crammed full of features; so expectations are high for this new handset.

The camera has also received an upgrade over last year's model. The Exmoor T module that made its debut on the Xperia 1 V returns, with a new 7.1 times optical zoom lens alongside it, and a new telephoto macro mode for capturing subjects up close. The Pro Camera and Pro Video apps have also been consolidated into a single app, meaning you can access professional shooting modes in one convenient place.

Sony is also touting the power of its AI integration, with new human pose estimation technology, which will track a subject with points attached to each part of their body and allow for smoother tracked video, as well as more accurate focus. Much like the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the Xperia 1 VI will now apply HDR to your viewfinder within the camera apps, meaning you will be able to preview exactly what your camera will capture.

It is with the display that things get controversial. As the rumours foreshadowed, two iconic aspects of the Xperia 1 series smartphones have been removed from this generation. First is the 4K resolution, which isn't immediately a problem – very few apps support 4K streaming on mobile. However, Sony has instead opted for a Full HD+ (2220 x 1080) display, which makes this downgrade feel especially jarring; many other handsets use a Quad HD display (2560 x 1440). Sony highlights a few benefits of dropping this display resolution down to 1080p though – namely better battery performance and display brightness.

Next to go is the 21:9 aspect ratio. Sony is now using a more conventional 19.5:9 display on the 1 VI. The 21:9 display was a unique feature on the Xperia phones which made them ideal for watching movies, as content would fill the screen without any black letterboxing bars. The more commonly used aspect ratio (also used on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, once again) will probably make day-to-day usability better, as the tall and skinny screen wasn't without its flaws.

Thankfully, it's by no means all bad news when it comes to the display. The 6.5-inch screen is a "new and smarter OLED display" according to Sony, and it has Bravia pedigree to back it up. Sony claims that the display on this smartphone is "powered by Bravia", meaning Sony's TV division may well have had a hand in tweaking the performance. Sony claims that the built-in AI remastering feature will improve colour, contrast and clarity on both your own videos and on streaming services.

It is also 50 per cent brighter than the Xperia 1 V for enhanced outdoor viewing and it has a variable refresh rate from 1Hz to 120Hz; that's quite the step up, so we look forward to seeing how this new model compares with its predecessor.

Thankfully, there are far fewer compromises where sound features are concerned. The Xperia 1 VI has a new full-stage stereo speaker system, which pairs a symmetrically placed loudspeaker and earpiece for a more balanced performance and less distortion at higher volumes. And we are delighted to see that Sony is keeping the headphone jack alive for yet another year, although Bluetooth audio with LDAC is also supported if you prefer to use wireless headphones. Dolby Atmos is also on board if you want to take advantage of the immersive format for watching movies or streaming music from Tidal, Apple Music or Amazon Music Unlimited.

Design-wise, Sony is keeping things familiar, as the Xperia 1 VI looks nearly identical to the model it's replacing. Internally it has the same 5000mAh battery which Sony claims will last for two days, and on the outside, the textured back panel and ribbed side rails return which is a plus in our books. It even comes in the same three colours as the Xperia 1 V – Black, Platinum Silver and Khaki.

The Sony Xperia 1 VI goes on sale in early June, and it will cost around £1299 – which is the same price the Xperia 1 V launched at. As is the case with its predecessor, there are no plans to launch it in Australia or the US.

(Image credit: Sony)

Moving away from the flagship space and looking at Sony's new budget offering, the Xperia 10 VI has rather large shoes to fill. The last two iterations of this device earned themselves What Hi-Fi? Awards for best smartphone under £500, so all eyes are on the Xperia 10 VI to deliver an equally good, or ideally an even better, AV experience.

A fair few features are cut back from the Xperia 1 VI, including the metal and glass construction. Instead, the new Xperia 10 features an all-plastic build, with a translucent back panel and smoothed-out camera module. It's also a touch heavier than its predecessor, weighing 164g up from the Xperia 10 V's 159g weight. It will launch in three finishes: Black, White or Blue.

As expected, camera upgrades are at the forefront of this new model. Sony has included three new focal lengths to the dual camera, meaning one lens has been dropped from last year's model. There are a few new software features to compensate though, including automatic camera modes and colour settings, as well as a clever video editing app that allows you to tweak a video for social media in around a minute – both tools here are powered by Sony AI.

Sony has opted for a particular strategy for the Xperia 10 VI's display. While the 21:9 has been dropped on the Xperia 1 (arguably the more enthusiast-focused device), the aspect ratio has been retained on the cheaper handset. The Xperia 10 VI has a 21:9 OLED screen, which Sony says is brighter this year, although it's still tipped to be 1080p and 60Hz. It is a Triluminous Display for mobile, which Sony claims will leverage "technology cultivated for Bravia TVs", so picture performance expectations for this budget handset is high.

The improved stereo speakers from the last model return, although Sony claims they are louder this year. We hope Sony has addressed the issue that means the Xperia 10's frame rattles and vibrates when the speakers are in use, although most people should stick to headphone audio on this device anyway. Once again the headphone jack returns, and wireless audio is supported over Bluetooth with LDAC support.

Internally, the Xperia 10 VI has a few surprises too. Thankfully, Sony has upgraded the processor, using the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip inside the Xperia 10. This won't be a life-changing update over the Snapdragon 695 5G from the previous two generations, but the underpowered internals of the Xperia 10 V were an issue so we are glad to see it addressed. Sony is once again touting a two-day battery life on this phone much like its more expensive counterpart.

The Xperia 10 VI launches in mid-June, and it will cost £349 – the same price as its predecessor. Unfortunately, it will not launch in the US or Australia, much like nearly all of the recent Xperia handsets.

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Read our full Sony Xperia 5 V review

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Panasonic has finally unveiled its new LG C4 and B4 rivals: say hello to the Z90A, Z85A and Z80A OLED TVs

alastair.stevenson@futurenet.com (Alastair Stevenson) — Tue, 14 May 2024 13:33:34 +0000

Panasonic has unveiled a trio of new OLED TVs, launching its Z90A, Z85A and Z80 sets at a press launch in Dusseldorf Germany.

The Z90A and Z85A are the step-down models in the brand's 2024 line, sitting below the flagship Panasonic Z95A and Z93A we saw at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

Here’s what you need to know about them.

Panasonic Z90A

The Panasonic Z90A looks set to replace the Panasonic MZ1500B we tested last year.

We await full specifications and pricing, but what we do know suggests a direct rival to the LG C4, which we awarded five stars mere weeks ago, and Sony's Bravia 8, which is set to arrive later this year.

The Z90A will be available in 65, 55, 48 and 42-inch sizes. Sadly, like its LG counterpart, the new TV doesn’t feature the brightness boosting Micro Lens Array (MLA) tech seen on the Z95A and other flagship sets, such as the LG G4 and Philips OLED+959.

Each will run using a regular OLED panel featuring the brand’s Master OLED Pro branding however, and run using the company’s latest HCX Pro AI MKII CPU. Panasonic claims the new chipset and advanced Master OLED Pro tuning helps the set further boost the sets maximum brightness, HDR performance and accuracy.

Panasonic has also complemented it with a Dynamic Theatre Surround sound system which features a built-in subwoofer and front-firing speakers. We didn’t get a detailed breakdown of the exact configuration, but there was no word of up firing speakers being included, so Atmos support will probably be limited to the Z95A – as was was the case with these sets' MZ1500 and MZ2000 forebears.

Unlike last year’s model, the newer Z90A will be powered by Amazon Fire OS. We haven’t had a chance to give the OS a proper test drive on the new Panasonic sets, but its applications support and content library has been significantly more developed than the My Home Screen software used on previous Panasonic OLEDs.

For gamers, unlike the LG C4, the set is still limited to featuring only two HDMI 2.1 inputs, one of which doubles as an eARC input. So if you have more than one next-generation games console, modern gaming PC and a Dolby Atmos sound system, you will find yourself having to deal with a fair amount of cable swapping.

The set will feature the same 144Hz maximum refresh rate with VRR and Dolby Vision Gaming and True Game Mode, as the Z95A.

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Panasonic Z85A and Z80A

The Panasonic Z85A and Z80A are more stripped down than the Z90A and Z95A. The Z85A will be available only in 65 and 55-inch sizes. It also doesn’t feature Panasonic’s Master OLED Pro tuning/branding and has a lower 120HZ refresh rate. The same is true of the Z80A which also runs using an older HCX processor. The Z80A will be available in 65, 55 and 48-inch sizes. This makes the two look like rivals to the cheaper LG B4 and A-series OLEDs.

We will update this page when we get final pricing on the sets and all three OLEDs' release date.

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Sony Theatre Bar 9 vs Sony HT-A7000: what are the differences?

ainsley.walker@futurenet.com (Ainsley Walker) — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 11:41:59 +0000

Alongside its latest TV lineup, Sony has announced a new range of home cinema products – including a new top-of-the-line Dolby Atmos soundbar.

The latest bar, the Bravia Theatre Bar 9, is a direct replacement for the HT-A7000, to which we gave a five-star review and a 2023 Award for Product of the Year. Can it compete with such a strong predecessor?

Of course, we plan to get Sony's latest soundbar in our testing room for a full rundown so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, let's take a look at some of the key similarities and differences between the new and former flagship Sony soundbars.

Sony Theatre Bar 9 vs Sony HT-A7000: price

Sony’s HT-A7000’s soundbar cost roughly £1300 / $1300 / AU$1699 when it launched at the end of 2021 and is currently priced around the same price. It has, however, seen its price fall to between £999-1099 on occasion, so keep an eye out for any future discounts, especially now a new flagship Sony bar to replace it has been announced...

The new Sony Theatre 9 Bar is available for pre-order at £1400 / $1400. Considering the slightly higher price tag, we hope the new Theatre Bar 9 can match, if not surpass, the quality offered by the A7000 model, but only time will tell.

Sony Theatre Bar 9 vs Sony HT-A7000: design

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9 with HT-A7000 (Image credit: Future)

Sony’s HT-A7000 is a heavy soundbar, weighing in at 8.7kg. It’s also longer than most bars – even the Sonos Arc – measuring 130cm in width and 140mm in depth.

The bar packs 11 drivers: two up-firing speakers, two beam tweeters, five front-facing drivers, and a built-in dual subwoofer into its chassis. It's quite a blocky design, with a shiny panel on its surface which detracts a little from the overall aesthetic.

The Theatre Bar 9 weighs notably less, weighing 5.5kg. The bar measures 130cm in width, like the A7000. However, it only measures 113mm in depth and has a 36 per cent more compact design overall when compared with its predecessor. It sports a sleeker, more minimalist look and could be easier to match visually with most set-ups or furniture.

The Theatre Bar 9 features 13 speakers, including four X-Balanced woofers across the front of the bar which do most of the work. There are also four passive radiators on the surface of the bar (which are said to provide good bass performance paired with the woofers), two beam tweeters, a 'side' X-balanced speaker on each end of the bar, and two up-firing X-balanced speakers.

Due to their size, both bars are better suited to TVs measuring 55 inches and up. The Theatre Bar 9 should sit nicely under most TVs, especially the new Bravia 8 and Bravia 9, and the continuing A95L, which can all be raised on their legs to create some additional space.

Sony Theatre Bar 9 vs Sony HT-A7000: features

HT-A7000 (Image credit: Sony)

Sony’s HT-A7000 bar supports Dolby Atmos and features built-in microphones for use in ‘Sound Field Optimization’ which adapts and optimises the sound to your listening space. It can also measure the position of any additional speakers, such as optional surrounds, and adjust balance if the speakers are not precisely placed.

The HT-A7000 features two HDMI 2.1 pass-through sockets capable of handling 8K 60Hz and 4K 120Hz refresh rates, as well as Dolby Vision HDR. There is also one HDMI port designated for eARC connections. When this bar launched, we noted that the absence of certain gaming features was an issue, however, thanks to updates since launch the bar now supports VRR and ALLM.

The Bar 9 also supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and IMAX Enhanced is said to be coming later in the year. We know that Sony's new Theatre Bar 9 will support 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology, which uses the bar's built-in Atmos capabilities to create the effect of multiple phantom speakers playing around the room. It can also be paired with continuing Sony models of rear surround speakers (SA-R5S and SA-R3S) and subwoofers (SA-SW5 and SA-SW3), to create this effect.

Both soundbars offer Bluetooth connectivity, with the A7000 supporting Bluetooth 5.0 whereas the Theatre Bar 9 supports 5.2. They also support Sony’s Acoustic Centre Sync, which allows compatible Bravia TVs to become part of the soundbar’s centre channel. This feature is said to have been upgraded with the Theatre Bar 9 to improve the integration of the TV and the soundbar. Sony also says users get better synchronisation of the two components than before, providing a more natural, accurate sound location.

Sony Theatre Bar 9 vs Sony HT-A7000: sound

(Image credit: Sony)

We gave the Sony HT-A7000 a glowing five-star review and awarded Product of the Year at our 2023 Awards, so we think highly of the soundbar.

The HT-A7000 provides a convincing sense of height and precision, creating a wide soundstage with plenty of forward projection. Sony combined careful driver placement and psychoacoustic techniques to enhance the width and height of the sound the bar creates.

The bar’s wide-space beam tweeters are especially impressive. These tweeters are so effective at creating a great sense of space around the listener that, during testing, we had to check that there weren't actually speakers off to our sides

The A7000 features an integrated sub which impressed us with a taut, controlled and powerful performance. At the time of testing, we had not heard this level of bass performance from a single soundbar outside of pricier options.

The new Theatre Bar 9 does not have the same kind of sub built in, however, it does feature four passive radiators which Sony says pair well with the main woofers to provide a good bass response. It contains more drivers than the A7000 but this does not guarantee a better sound.

When we get the Theatre Bar 9 into our test room for a full review, we will determine how the design changes between models impact the sound and overall performance.

Sony Theatre Bar 9 vs Sony HT-A7000: early verdict

Sony's HT-A7000 has set a very high standard for the company and its follow-up flagship soundbars.

As a direct replacement with a slightly higher price tag, the Theatre Bar 9 has some big shoes to fill and will need to get a lot right to outdo its five-star, Award-winning predecessor. That price tag isn't small either, with many other top Dolby Atmos soundbars, such as the Sonos Arc, available for much less.

We can't wait to get the Theatre Bar 9 in our test rooms, and hopefully we can hear it in action up against the A7000 soon.

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Read our full Sony HT-A7000 review

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More info on the new Sony Bravia Theatre 9 and Theatre 8 soundbars