Here at What Hi-Fi?, we love TVs with brand-new, innovative features that promise to push the industry forward.
We also love it when these TVs have great discounts.
And that’s exactly what we have with the Sony Bravia 9 II. The Japanese giant’s flagship RGB Mini LED TV is now available for £2974 at Richer Sounds with the code SONY15PERCENT.
The Bravia 9 II is one of the first RGB Mini LED TVs available. These TVs use independently controlled red, green and blue Mini LEDs, rather than a colour filter over white LEDs, for higher peak brightness, better colour volume and better contrast.
The catch? Well, the TV is not actually available to buy until the end of July; but you can lock in your pre-order now while there’s a nice £500 discount.
The headline feature is, of course, that RGB Mini LED backlight.
The technology works together with Sony’s sophisticated Backlight Master Drive system and 1530 local dimming zones to produce an impressively immersive picture for a backlit TV.
On one aspect, in fact, the Bravia 9 II surpasses every other TV we’ve tested: colour.
“Quite simply, the Bravia 9 II produces the finest colours we've ever seen from any TV,” our Sony Bravia 9 II review reads. “Richly saturated scenes burst with vibrancy, but never at the expense of authenticity.
“Sony has combined extraordinary colour volume with its traditional restraint, so even the boldest hues remain beautifully balanced and believable. It’s a wonderfully cinematic presentation that constantly impresses without ever shouting for attention.”
Brightness too is exceptional – unlike OLEDs, the Bravia 9 II can maintain its extraordinary brightness across the whole screen, and not just small highlights.
Black levels are also superb for a backlit TV, but we found even the Bravia 9 II’s exceptional dimming system can’t quite replicate the pixel-level precision of OLED.
Sound is also impressively large, spacious and immersive by TV standards, with the Acoustic Multi-Audio+ system offering a genuine sense of height and plenty of subtle detail.
The premium smart TV experience we have come to expect from Sony is present and correct, with the Google TV OS offering all the usual apps as well as YouView and PS Remote Play for PlayStation users.
All the apps that should support HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision and/or Dolby Atmos do so correctly, and Sony’s Studio Calibrated modes also provide optimised picture settings for services such as Netflix, Prime Video and Sony Pictures Core.
If you regularly watch in an exceptionally bright room or simply prefer not to buy an OLED, the Bravia 9 II should sit right at the top of your shortlist. Sony’s flagship RGB Mini LED model delivers the finest colours we have seen from a television, breathtaking brightness, and a highly accomplished backlight system. And it is now available to pre-order with £525 off at Richer Sounds.
MORE:
Read our review of the Sony Bravia 8 II
Also consider the Samsung S99H
Read our Hisense UR9 review
