Sony's five-star A80L is getting a cheaper (and very similar) sibling

The Sony A80L is easily one of the best TVs we've tested all year. Earning five stars back in April, the Sony XR-55A80L thoroughly impressed us with its excellent detail, subtlety and dynamism. Sony seems to have realised that it's struck gold with the A80L, as it has announced a very similar model that cuts a few features in order to shrink the price tag. Consider us intrigued. 

The Sony A75L will carry the same LG Display 4K OLED, HDR support in the HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG varieties and Sony's Cognitive Processor XR; this could hint towards a very similar picture performance on the A75L. 

Features-wise, it's also nearly identical. Gamers remain well-serviced as it retains the two HDMI 2.1 connections, VRR and ALLM support and Sony's newly added Game Menu from the A80L. It also uses the same Google TV operating system meaning native app compatibility will be excellent, as well as support AirPlay 2 for wirelessly streaming from Apple phones and tablets. 

So where do the compromises come in – after all, it's cheaper for a reason. Well, thankfully, they seem to be minimal. The stand seems to be slightly different in design and functionality, meaning it can only be set in one position, whereas the A80L could be set with the feet angled inwards or outwards depending on your preference. It also loses the built-in microphone for interacting with the Google Assistant, which is no great loss.

The biggest downgrade comes in the form of the speaker system, which drops from three actuators on the A80L down to two on the A75L. Considering the A80L sounded quite impressive by built-in TV speaker standards, this could be the biggest compromise you'll make if you opt for this cheaper model.

On the subject of "cheaper", we should probably discuss the price of the A75L, but before we do so, it's worth noting that currently this is a US-exclusive model. Sony has priced the A75L at $1600 (around £1325 / AU$2535) for the 55-inch model and $2000 (around £1660 / AU$3170) for the 65-inch model. 

While that is undeniably cheaper than the A80, it's unfortunately not as big of a bargain as we'd hoped. Due to the fact that the A80L has been on the market for over six months, its price has decreased drastically, in fact, the 55-inch A80L is the exact same price currently. Even more confusingly, the 65-inch A80L is actually $200 cheaper than the new A75L. We're confused too. 

There are a couple of possibilities to explain this; either the A80L is about to return to its pre-discount price or the A75L might be subject to immediate heavy discounts as part of the impending Black Friday sales. We hope that either of these possibilities is the case, otherwise, you might be better off going with the tried and tested A80L. 

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