I'm obsessed with the pricing of this flagship Sony OLED, and I'm amazed it's dropped again

The 55-inch Sony Bravia 8 II QD-OLED TV photographed on a white table. On the screen is a nature documentary.

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

Yes, it's true: I'm obsessed with the Sony Bravia 8 II.

I've already gone on the record (several times) as saying it's the best TV I've ever tested – and I've been reviewing TVs for almost 20 years.

This new discount takes an extra £100 off the 55-inch Bravia 8 II, so you can now pick it up for just £1699 at Amazon (and other retailers, below).

This is a TV that launched at a price of £2499. That's also the price at which it achieved its five-star rating and won a What Hi-Fi? Product of the Year Award.

In other words, this is an amazing TV made even more amazing by this £800 overall discount.

The Bravia 8 II is the successor to the awesome A95L, which is the TV I use at home. That hopefully goes to show how highly I rate it – but, having tested the Bravia 8 II alongside it, my home TV looks a little less special these days.

The newer-generation QD-OLED panel is capable of going quite a bit brighter than the previous one, which makes highlights all the more impressive, but this extra brightness also brings with it increased contrast and colour volume.

This is such a vibrant TV that dazzles with colourful content, such as the Spider-verse movies, but it's also beautifully balanced, boasting Sony's trademark approach to cinematic authenticity.

You won't find a sharper, more solid TV, either. The Bravia 8 II has clever AI-based processing that subtly sharpens certain picture elements. You never see the processing in action – you just see an incredibly crisp and three-dimensional-feeling picture.

Sony has done amazing work on dark gradation, too, which simply means there's a great combination of perfect OLED blacks and spot-on shadow detail.

Best of all, you don't have to work at all hard to get this supreme performance out of the Bravia 8 II. As I wrote in my review:

"For a supremely authentic picture, simply pick Dolby Vision Dark for Dolby Vision content or Professional for everything else.

"Should you want a little more pop to proceedings, either because you’re watching in a room with ambient light or simply because you enjoy an even more thrilling delivery, simply switch to Dolby Vision Bright or the Cinema mode."

The Bravia 8 II is also one of the best-sounding TVs you can buy, thanks to an Acoustic Surface Audio+ system that combines excellent detail and directness with surprising spaciousness and atmosphere.

I still recommend adding a dedicated sound system (the Sonos Arc Ultra is a great starting point), but if you're determined to live with your TV's built-in speakers, this is another reason to choose the Sony over a rival such as the LG G5 or Samsung S95F.

My only real issue with the Bravia 8 II is that it has just two HDMI 2.1 sockets (as well as two 'standard' HDMIs), one of which is also the eARC port. The G5 and S95F, by comparison, each have four HDMI 2.1 sockets.

The Bravia 8 II's limitation here is a bit of a pain for someone like me who has a PS5, an Xbox Series X and a Dolby Atmos sound system, but if you have only one or two of those devices, it will not be a problem at all.

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Tom Parsons has been writing about TV, AV and hi-fi products (not to mention plenty of other 'gadgets' and even cars) for over 15 years. He began his career as What Hi-Fi?'s Staff Writer and is now the TV and AV Editor. In between, he worked as Reviews Editor and then Deputy Editor at Stuff, and over the years has had his work featured in publications such as T3, The Telegraph and Louder. He's also appeared on BBC News, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4 and Sky Swipe. In his spare time Tom is a runner and gamer.

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