Sony Bravia XR A80J OLED review: The TV of the future is here
Our Verdict
The Sony Bravia XR A80J's many forwards-thinking features outcome in a TV that arrive as skilful-looking and -sounding as information technology is user-friendly and fun to utilise.
For
- Outstanding motion picture, audio quality
- Lots of dynamic and smart features that really work
- Google TV interface is powerful and friendly
Against
- Dynamic adjustments all merely required for best film
- Not all HDMI ports support HDMI ii.1 standard
- Bravia Core streaming service doesn't dazzle
Tom'southward Guide Verdict
The Sony Bravia XR A80J's many forward-thinking features result in a TV that make information technology every bit good-looking and -sounding as information technology is convenient and fun to use.
Pros
- +
Outstanding picture, audio quality
- +
Lots of dynamic and smart features that really work
- +
Google Television set interface is powerful and friendly
Cons
- -
Dynamic adjustments all just required for best flick
- -
Not all HDMI ports support HDMI ii.one standard
- -
Bravia Core streaming service doesn't dazzle
- -
Sony Bravia XR A80J: Specs
Price: $2,499.99
Model number: XR-65A80J
Screen size: 65 inches
Resolution: three,840x2,160
HDR: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision
Refresh rate: 120 Hz
Ports: four HDMI; 3 USB
Audio: ten watts x three=
Smart Tv software: Google TV
Size: 57.1 x 33 ten 2.1 inches [w/o stand]
Weight: 49.2 pounds [w/o stand]
Who says you can't have it all? The Sony Bravia XR A80J (from $1,899, $2,499 equally tested) is packed with features designed to enhance every attribute of your Television set viewing — and they well-nigh all achieve their goals. This 4K OLED TV has HDR, a 120 maximum refresh rate (along with Variable Refresh Rate, or VRR), an ATSC three.0 tuner, the sparkling new Google Television receiver entertainment platform, support for and connections with a wide range of other Google apps and services, and a raft of proprietary Sony smart technologies targeting everything you lot meet and hear on the screen at any given moment.
Most people won't demand (or be able to take in) everything Sony offers, and the dizzying number of complex settings, flick modes, and processing technologies may exist too much for people who just want an astonishing-looking and -sounding picture from their high-midrange ($ii,499.99) purchase. Only the Bravia XR A80J delivers on that so completely that it's worth the fuss — and is instantly ane of the best TVs you tin can buy.
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Price and availability
For our Sony Bravia XR A80J review, we assessed the 65-inch version of the Sony Bravia XR A80J, the XR-65A80J. Because the other two available models, the 55-inch XR-55A80J and the 77-inch XR-77A80J, share the same core features and underlying technologies, we wait the performance of all iii versions to be comparable, and our recommendations for the XR-65A80J may also utilise to the other sets.
- 55-inch (model XR-55A80J): $1,899.99
- 65-inch (model XR-65A80J): $2,499.99
- 77-inch (model XR-77A80J): $3,999.99
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Design
Sony hasn't strayed far from its usual OLED design scheme with the A80J — just that's non a bad thing.
The forepart is attractive, the sprawling expanse of the ultrasvelte, jet-black screen (57.1x33 inches) broken past narrow (0.25 inch) bezels on the top and sides, with marginally wider (0.33 inch) bezels and the metallic Sony logo bar (another 0.33 inch) on the bottom. In that location'south nothing to distract you from the movie.
All the components (and the balance of the set's bulk) go into the thick (41.3 ten 22.8 10 1.half dozen-inch) panel backside the screen, which, with its splash of textured squares and the iv-triangle Bravia field in the center, would be plenty appealing if y'all were ever intended to run into it. The connectors for the 300x300 mm VESA mountain are located there as well, in case you lot'd prefer your A80J hang on the wall.
If, on the other hand, the A80J is bound for a tabular array or entertainment middle, the included two-piece layer aluminum stand tin be installed three different means: In "standard" position, where the feet are about forty.viii inches apart; in "narrow" position (and a width of 27.3 inches), designed for smaller tables or stands; and in "soundbar" position, which is only a smidgen wider than the standard setup (40.9 inches) but offers most 2 additional inches beneath the TV for positioning a squat soundbar.
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Ports
The A80J's power input is located on the correct side of the rear panel, and all the other ports are on the left. Half dozen confront directly out the Boob tube's left edge: one Remote IR in, two for composite video, two USB (both with 500 mA max power output), and ane HDMI.
In a depression, facing towards the wall and requiring plugging upwardly into the panel expanse, are the coaxial cable connector, an Ethernet port, the optical audio out, a port for an RS-232C remote, three additional HDMI ports, and one more USB port with a maximum 900 mA power output.
Of the four HDMI ports, merely ii support the HDMI 2.1 standard: ports 3 (too for eARC/ARC) and 4, which are the two innermost on the back panel. The other ports use only HDMI 2.0b. This is a niggling inconvenient, and a shame because the higher standard'due south flashy, useful capabilities (among them: 4K at 120 Hz, VRR, and Machine Depression Latency Mode, or ALLM). All of the ports on the LG CX OLED and LG G1 OLED are HDMI 2.1, and that would be squeamish to see on a model such as this, too.
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Cerebral Processor XR
Similar all the TVs in Sony's 2021 lineup, the A80J is equipped with the Cognitive Processor XR. Sony claims that this chip "understands how humans see and hear" and is "designed to replicate the way our brains call back and respond" by simultaneously cross-analyzing the many dissimilar elements of the video and soundscape to figure out how to process them (in existent time) to the highest level of quality, providing "a whole new experience that immerses you completely in the scene."
The visual aspects of this engineering present themselves as XR OLED Contrast, which adjusts brightness on the fly to boost lights and deepen blacks without losing detail; XR Colour, for extending hue saturation and shading so every color has "the subtle differences seen in the real world"; XR Clarity, for improving 4K upscaling; and XR Move, for intelligent, blur-free movement processing.
As far as sound, XR Sound Position works with Acoustic Surface Sound+ (see the Audio section below) to create the illusion the audio is coming from the betoken on the screen where it occurs in your content. XR Surround purportedly "creates surroundings audio from the sides and vertically," fifty-fifty if all yous have are the Telly'southward integrated speakers. And Vocalization Zoom 2 detects and enhances dialogue so you lot tin hear information technology better, regardless of what else is happening on screen.
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Performance and picture quality
Whether yous get your content through streaming or via the ATSC 3.0 tuner (which enables 4K broadcasts and 3D audio back up, and combines broadcast and ISP and over-the-air content), the A80J's picture impresses across all viewing scenarios.
Whereas some TVs struggle with the early farmhouse scene in Bract Runner 2049, where chasms in contrast tin rob Ryan Gosling and Dave Bautista of their facial details (and thus the scene of its pungent immediacy), the A80J kept both the blackest and the whitest parts of the scene in balance, ensuring you never miss the subtleties of actors' expressions. Similarly, in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the set depicted the clandestine Exegol lair with all of its simmering, shadowy terror, and the jolting blue-white lightning strikes between Rey and Palpatine divers their interaction as exactly the titanic boxing between light and dark it is.
The A80J is but as adept at handling color. In The Rising of Skywalker, the festival on Pasaana looked rich and varied, with the rainbow of hues of its celebrants' robes surging (but not too much) against the bland sand and brown mountains of that desert globe. The mid-20th-century, palette-busting fantasia of the new Disney-Pixar film Luca really popped, in the aquamarine tidal waters and the lush above-waves Italian Riviera landscapes alike.
Some other movie looked tedious, drab, and unappealing, with the searing brightness of its special furnishings continuing in blazing distinction to the bewilderingly desaturated colors; luckily, this meant the A80J had flawlessly rendered the director's vision for Zack Snyder's Justice League.
Though nearly of our test content is native 4K, the A80J easily upscaled the 1080p version of Mission: Impossible—Fallout, turning out a striking and vivid (if not quite razor-honed) picture, artifact-free even in that film'southward heavy, fast-moving action scenes.
The set'south flick also looked good at wide viewing angles, with none of the washing-out we sometimes observe. At particularly extreme angles relative to the middle of the screen, the display took on a slight scarlet cast, though this was more discernible in our full-screen pink, violet, and orangish test patterns than with any moving picture or TV show—and, with total-screen red, green, or blue, information technology wasn't noticeable at all. A defended 4K exam pattern revealed no overscan, no issues displaying crisp i- or 2-pixel lines, and deft handling of color saturation, brightness, and sharpness across its xviii graphical figures.
Our anecdotal tests were performed in Standard mode except when HDR kicked in, and the picture fashion defaulted to Dolby Vision Bright (with Bright and Dolby Vision Nighttime the only other ii available). These modes were merely fine and should suffice for everyday viewing; in HDR style, Bright gave a sickly, Technicolor-acrid-trip cast to everything, and Dolby Vision Night mostly just fabricated things look dim. The A80J offers ii unique motion-picture show modes aimed at special kinds of content: IMAX Enhanced and Netflix Calibrated, which both did well within their restricted lanes (though the latter only works in the set up'south Netflix app).
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Test Results
We test TVs using two design generators (an AccuPel DVG-5000 for SDR and a SpectraCal VideoForge Pro for HDR), an X-Rite i1 Pro spectrophotometer, and Portrait Displays' Calman scale software. Our typical modus operandi is to disable all dynamic display adjustment features so nosotros are evaluating all TVs on as level a playing field as possible. But it chop-chop became clear this approach would have some limitations with the A80J: Its movie quality is dependent on a lot of the settings we turned off.
Tested our usual manner, the prepare covered only 99.9916% of the Rec. 709 color gamut in Standard mode and maxed out at 145.two nits in its brightest flick manner (Bright) — well below the stellar functioning nosotros saw from LG's G1 and CX OLED televisions. Our contact at Sony recommended testing in Custom mode, with the dynamic adjustments off, and the set'south color gamut coverage skyrocketed to 111.3361%. When tested in Brilliant mode with the two nearly prominent dynamic settings disabled (Auto picture mode, which "automatically sets the motion-picture show mode based on the content from HDMI devices" and the lite sensor), the brightness was a dazzling 713.7 nits (though even the 237.iii nits was better than the kickoff time around).
In that location are a few key takeaways here. Kickoff, and nigh important, the A80J is a first-rate performer on a technical level in this price range, and has the capacity to please even the about demanding viewers. But its picture modes and individual settings bear more weight than on many sets, and so if you're not passionate about these nuances, y'all may better off leaving well enough lonely.
Finally, for about content, the curiously named Custom mode provides the closest thing to a tightly calibrated moving-picture show out of the box. In that location'south a lot of potential confusion here for the everyday TV heir-apparent, which is as well bad, only the more adventurous will observe it doesn't take much tweaking to reach a perfect picture.
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Gaming
We use ii Leo Bodnar Video Signal Lag Testers (an older 1080p version and a new one optimized for 4K) to measure the filibuster between a video signal passing from the input and displaying on the screen. In the A80J's Game Manner, the results were 16.5 ms and 15.8 ms respectively—both on the high side for a TV such as this, but well below our 20 ms threshold for solid gaming performance.
The A80J's 120 Hz maximum refresh charge per unit is platonic for gaming on newer consoles like the Xbox Series X or the PS5. As previously mentioned, though, to have advantage of this feature, you'll need to connect your panel to either HDMI port 3 or iv, which are the only ii that support HDMI 2.ane; otherwise, you lot're stuck with 60 Hz.
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Audio
On the A80J, the 0.25-inch-thick screen becomes a speaker by way of Sony'south Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology, which uses two actuators and two subwoofers (now forward-firing, different the rear-firing subwoofer on the Bravia A8H) to plow the screen itself into the speaker while helping the TV maintain its (generally) slim contour. The other audio technologies that come past manner of the Cognitive Processor XR are more difficult to test definitively.
Though the hard-driving activeness scenes in Zack Snyder'southward Justice League tin can sometimes feel oppressive, the sound was crystalline.
I watched a number of different types of video, from activity movies to comedies to musicals, and had trouble detecting much of what Sony indicated I'd hear. When I closed my eyes, I was wrong at least as many times equally I was correct nearly where the audio "should accept" been coming from, and I'yard not positive I heard anything that could exist mistaken for total-room surround sound. At least the setup process, which the remote's microphone measuring sounds produced past the TV to allow it to optimize its performance, is simple and takes mere seconds to complete. If you cease up non liking what y'all hear from the TV, your all-time bet may be investing in one of the best soundbars.
But here's the matter: I never felt cheated well-nigh not making out the 3-dimensional, positional audio because everything I played sounded so good anyway. Soaring soprano lines cresting on loftier As and Bs came through with their piercing intensity intact, even in the uppermost reaches of the TV's volume range. Though the hard-driving action scenes in Zack Snyder's Justice League can sometimes feel oppressive, the sound was crystalline: Whether during the frenetic final fight or in (er, relatively) more intimate moments, the clarity was outstanding whether the set was set quiet or booming.
Bass was likewise satisfying, with the throbbing, staccato lows of The Pocketknife's "Silent Shout" declarative without overwhelming, no matter how loud. And in every sound mode I tested, the blend always had a delectable layering that plunged me into the center of the fabric'south audible universe. Certain, Standard was a fleck flatter and Movie theatre was a bit rounder, but information technology was never less than right.
Maybe die-hard audiophiles wouldn't be ecstatic, just to my ear, this was some of the best sound I've ever heard from an OLED—or a tv of any type.
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Google TV and smart features
Google TV represents a meaning step upwards from Android Tv set, with an interface that is notably cleaner, more than useful, and better at surfacing content you lot'll want to watch. A navigation bar at the top of the screen sports a Search bar and provides quick links to five well-organized collections: For Yous (your personalized "start" page), Movies, Shows, Apps, and your Library of saved content. I rarely needed to stray off of the For You lot page, however, as it and Search were more than than enough to satisfy my viewing habits.
Search is remarkably flexible and robust. You can either type in what you want, curl down to encounter general recommendations, or use Google Banana vocalisation controls. When I held downwardly the remote's Google Assistant button and spoke, the system understood all my requests (even, sadly, when I accidentally garbled "Tenet" as "tenant"), and information technology could either bring upward traditional-way search results ("bear witness me action movies") or take me directly to apps that could answer my questions ("What'due south new on Netflix?"). I ran into one temporary hiccup when I asked Google Boob tube to take me to Disney+, and information technology griped that the app wasn't installed (information technology was), merely bated from this, it's top-notch. These voice controls also work for accessing Google'southward myriad other features; yous can ask Google Assistant to display your calendar, play music via Spotify, and so on. (The lower-end Bravia X95J and the superlative-tier A90J are equipped with a hardware switch that allows hands-free use of Google Assistant, but the A80J requires the remote.)
You can also add content you lot run into during your day by adding them to your Watchlist, which lives nether the Library tab. This is handy for those times (many of them, if you're like me) when you lot don't want to forget to check out something interesting afterwards, but may not have the fourth dimension when you first think about it. The Watchlist option is prominently featured in Google searches, and is a existent fourth dimension saver.
Google Boob tube's recommendations are surprisingly solid, also. The systems describe them from your Google activity (on whatsoever devices are set up with your Google Business relationship), as well as your streaming services and apps, so if yous've been feeding Google a lot of your personal data, Google Television receiver is probable to predict your tastes pretty well. It surfaced Babylon 5 for me, even though I oasis't watched information technology since information technology hit HBO Max earlier this year, and was skilful nigh nudging me to render to shows or movies I hadn't quite finished. A reminder to improve recommendations by rating videos was helpfully positioned almost the top of the screen.
Y'all tin can also stream content from your Apple devices with support for AirPlay, or from your Android phone or tablet thanks to the A80J'south Chromecast support, and there is support for Apple's HomeKit smart domicile platform and Amazon'southward Alexa.
Google TV profoundly simplifies the process of setting upwards the A80J. Afterwards opening the Google Home app on your Android phone, you browse a QR code that appears on the Television's screen to link the two devices. Connect to Wi-Fi, sign in with your Google Account, and you're already largely finished. This lets you use the expansive suite of Google Services; search across all your Television set apps; utilize voice controls (synced between devices with Google Voice Friction match) to open your agenda, contacts, reminders, and more; in some cases, link passwords to your streaming services; and display photos from your library when the set is in the screen-saving Ambience Mode.
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Bravia Core
Included with the A80J is membership in Sony's new streaming service, Bravia Cadre, and five "tokens" for redeeming videos from it. Using it, y'all can, of course, buy and spotter movies the usual way. Or you lot can select from a number of titles that offering unlimited streaming. It too provides a itemize of IMAX Enhanced movies, which are optimized for the Idiot box's Bravia XR technology. And the whole service offers as an option Pure Stream, which streams 4K video at upwardly to 80 Mbps (and you're warned about its likely increase of data usage when yous enable the feature).
Though there'south a fair amount to like almost Bravia Cadre, Pure Stream struck me as the best function of it (aside from the free movie credits), and movies I streamed using it looked quite good. That said, although there'southward zilch wrong with the service, and there's a decent amount there if you lot don't experience similar paying for one or more other streaming services, the selection is sparse, and chances are you won't need (or want to bother with) Bravia Core if y'all already subscribe to one or more than streaming services y'all love. Google TV is and so practiced at accumulation your current content and helping you detect more, Bravia Core seems an inapplicable, if amend-than-it-has-to-be, addition.
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Remote Control
Sony has not departed as well far from its recent designs for the A80J's remote control. It's long and narrow (about 9x1.8 inches), with soft-touch buttons for the number pad and well-nigh of the more than common controls (such as Book, Aqueduct, Back, and Home), and the keys arranged smartly and intuitively. The only light on the remote is ane in the upper-left corner that glows orangish to allow you know when Google Assistant is listening.
The but major change from previous iterations of this remote is the addition of two dedicated buttons for streaming services. Whereas previous models only had 2 (the A8H offered only Google Play and Netflix), this remote has iv: for Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, and Amazon Prime video. I tend non to employ these very much, as I prefer Google TV's more wide-ranging, on-screen functionality. Only they're prissy additions on a remote that's big plenty to arrange them, and equally these are among the biggest (and best) services out at that place, their inclusion offers little to complain about.
Sony Bravia XR A80J review: Verdict
As OLED TVs take gradually been notching downward in cost, and take even reached the bespeak where you can become some killer models for well under $two,000, it'due south go progressively more than challenging to make the instance that spending just a little more on something higher-end is worth information technology. But the Sony Bravia XR A80J does so handily — and crushes whatever other expectations you may have had along the way.
Yous may exist able to find sets with better colour or effulgence (such equally the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED, or the LG G1 and CX) or more than HDMI 2.1 ports (LG'due south sets over again), and there are even less expensive models out there (the Vizio H1 OLED) that volition satisfy. But when you await at the consummate package—which includes that killer sound; the abundant, finely tuned picture technologies, and Google TV with all the associated tie-ins—and the A80J is one tantalizing TV.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/sony-bravia-xr-a80j-oled
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