Sony's latest flagship OLED TV out-muscles its rivals in an often overlooked area

After weeks of comparative, in-depth testing, our team of home cinema aficionados have finally delivered their verdict on one of 2025’s biggest OLED TVs, the Sony Bravia 8 II.

And after all that effort, we’re pleased to say it is a fantastic five-star set that will delight premium shoppers who insist on getting the best of the best and don’t mind paying for it.

So much so that we just added it to our best OLED TV buying guide – where our editors detail the top sets they’ve tested and personally recommend.

And while there’s plenty to like about the Bravia 8 II, and it should be celebrated for breaking into the list of just five top recommendations, the main reason we like it has nothing to do with picture quality or value for money.

While the Bravia 8 II’s QD-OLED panel can deliver a bright but balanced image with a three-dimensionality missing on many rival models, its current high price means it falls short in our hallowed performance-per pound / dollar metric. This is why it's not currently our overall, premium or even new recommended OLED.

It was its audio that earned the Bravia 8 II a place in our buying guide.

The Bravia 8 II is the latest OLED to come with Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology. This is an atypical feature that uses under-screen actuators, rather than traditional speakers, to generate sound.

The specific set-up on the Bravia 8 II is unchanged from its predecessor the A95L, at least in hardware terms, with two actuators and two subwoofers. In comparison, its step down sibling, the Bravia 8, has two lesser actuators and one sub.

Putting the set through its paces, it outright smoked the competition, including the LG G5, when it came to audio performance. So much so that, while it isn’t the last word on low-end heft, it even managed to contend with our Blade Runner 2049, Chapter Two stress test surprisingly well.

As we said in our Sony Bravia 8 II review:

“It’s weightier than many rivals and, more importantly, is very controlled in the low frequencies, with only the faintest hint of fuzz creeping into the uniquely deep notes of the soundtrack.”

Does that mean you don’t need a soundbar? If you're a true cinephile, no – you still will want one.

But it does mean the Bravia 8 II is one of the only TVs out there with audio good enough that you’ll have to invest in a price comparative soundbar to properly complement it and notice significant improvements.

Our TV and AV editor, Tom Parsons, personally recommends the Sonos Arc Ultra as a baseline to work from. That is a rare achievement. Nearly every one we’ve tested in the past 12 months has been easily outperformed by the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), which is also significantly cheaper.

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