The new Sony A95L is finally rolling out and is replacing Sony’s first-ever QD-OLED TV from 2022, the A95K. The Quantum Dot Technology in the A95K made it brighter with better viewing angles and color performance than a traditional OLED TV. Naturally, we were excited when we heard that the new A95L would be even brighter with more processing features and now have a 77” version available. In fact, many have already named the A95L the current “King of TVs.” In this article, we’ll walk you through the features and technology of the A95L and then put it to the test to see if it can live up to the hype.

Design & Build

The A95L is a minimalist, premium-looking TV with Sony’s One Slate panel design that makes the screen look like it's part of the extremely thin bezel, allowing you to focus on what’s most important: the picture. When we were setting up the A95L, we were really impressed with all the rear covers and cable management sections on the back, making the TV  look extremely sleek from any angle you see it. They’ve updated the stand from a large baseplate style to two individual feet that stand can be placed on the edges for a low profile look or raised up a few inches so you can easily fit a soundbar in front of it, and if you go with the 77” version, there is also the option to use them towards the center of the TV for it to fit on narrow furniture pieces.

On the back, there are four HDMI inputs. Only two of these are HDMI 2.1, capable of a full 48Gbps, allowing you to get up to 4K/120Hz for gaming. One of the HDMI 2.1 inputs is also eARC compatible, leaving you with only one HDMI 2.1 to hook up your PS5, Xbox, or gaming PC. While this can be solved with a Sony soundbar or receiver that has HDMI 2.1 passthrough, allowing you to use more than one or two devices on the HDMI 2.1 inputs, many purists will not enjoy this option as they will prefer to connect directly to the TV and skip having another extra piece between their device and the TV.

If you wish to mount your TV, check out our TV mount options.

QD-OLED vs OLED vs LED

Next, let’s discuss what makes a QD-OLED TV different from a regular OLED TV. Conventional OLED panels rely on filters to produce the red, green, and blue colors in the picture, which inherently end up reducing brightness. This is why, on a basic level, it’s recommended that if you have a bright environment, you will want to use an LED TV instead of an OLED because LED TVs can get so much brighter. However, with an LED TV, you sacrifice those deep, accurate colors that an OLED can produce. This is where QD-OLED comes in to give you the best of both worlds. Quantum Dot OLED panels rely on Quantum Dot layers to produce colors instead of the conventional filters in an OLED panel. This allows a high-brightness screen like an LED panel but is also capable of producing deep, inky blacks like an OLED panel. In addition, the Quantum Dot technology doesn’t have any of the additional drawbacks an LED panel may have, like motion blur, ghosting, viewing angle distortions, and other abnormalities. Better yet, the Quantum Dot layer has the benefit of having the widest palette of color shades and hues, making the picture extremely lifelike.

Learn more about OLED vs LED

Features & Technology

XR Cognitive Processor

To make this extremely powerful QD-OLED technology function, you will need a ton of processing power. Luckily, Sony has arguably the best processors in any TV on the market today. While many people may blame a TV panel for any abnormalities or issues, oftentimes, it’s the TV's processing power that is lacking and causing the panel not to function the best it can. Sony’s Cognitive Processor XR is their best processor to date, and it handles all the heavy lifting with ease to make the A95L perform flawlessly. It’s the same model as the previous A95K but is now in its third generation with a new feature called XR Clear Image, exclusive to the new models.

This XR processor is a step above most because it actually looks at the color, contrast, motion, and clarity of every frame, breaks it down into thousands of elements, and processes them all at the same time. We oftentimes compare the processor of a TV to a conductor of an orchestra. Just like a conductor, the processor must ensure all of the elements and processes are in sync and working to the best of their ability to produce a great product. To make the many elements work more efficiently, Sony utilizes AI and Cognitive Intelligence to look at the image and determine what parts a human brain would focus on more and enhance them to give the picture more depth and reality to look more lifelike to your eyes.

Learn more about the entire Sony 2023 TV Lineup

XR Clear Image

One of the exclusive additions to the processor that you won’t find on the previous Sony models is the addition of XR Clear Image, which essentially improves the image sharpness and noise suppression. It utilizes zone division and dynamic frame analysis to help lower-quality broadcasts look cleaner and easier to view by reducing the amount of noise in the image and minimizing blur in action scenes.

Double Peak Brightness!

The other huge upgrade from the A95K to the A95L is its increase in peak brightness. Sony really made a breakthrough with the A95K having around 1000 nits, but the new A95L has double the amount at around 2000 nits! While we did not test the nits, keep in mind that this is the peak brightness of what the TV can reach if you push it to the max. Either way, this is a massive improvement, and combined with the fact that the panel naturally reduces glares and reflections, you can confidently place this TV in a media room even without full light control. The extra brightness helps improve the overall dynamic range so your HDR content looks even more lifelike. Sony has also even made sure the panel keeps the same luminance from all viewing angles for consistent colors no matter where you sit in the room. In addition, the high luminance panel and heat diffusion sheet dissipate the heat and precisely control the light to deliver that extra brightness.

One thing we did notice is that this second-generation QD-OLED panel looks slightly grey compared to a dark black when you turn the TV completely off and turn on overhead lights. It’s likely the matte, anti-reflective material they have used to reduce the reflections. This won’t be a huge deal to most people; however, it makes the black bezels stand out a bit more in bright light, so when it’s turned off, it loses a bit of that “seamless” look.

XR Triluminos Max

Sony is involved in every step of movie production, from having their own movie studios to creating cameras, lenses, projectors, and everything in between; they certainly have the knowledge of many filmmaking aspects and what to look for in good image quality. One of the major aspects of any image is the color science.  Instead of the XR Triluminos Pro that you see on some of the other models, the millions of self-illuminating pixels in the A95L are enhanced by Sony’s XR Triluminos Max, which provides even more vivid colors, shades, hues, and realistic textures at all brightness levels.

4K Upscaling

The A95L also includes its XR 4K Upscaling that intelligently upscales your content to bring back lost detail and texture. What we found really interesting is that it’s able to understand what resolution the source material is in, even if it’s being upscaled from an external source like a 4K Blu-Ray Player, before it’s ultimately sent to the TV. It’s not only looking for the resolution, but it’s also analyzing the bit rate and encoding parameters to be able to apply Adaptive Noise Reduction and Adaptive Super Resolution as needed. So, no matter what content you plan to watch, the A95L will adapt its processing and make the image look beautiful.

XR OLED Motion, Bravia Cam, & Multi-View

In addition, the A95L has Sony’s XR OLED Motion tech that detects and analyzes key visual elements and inserts frames between the original ones to make sports and action sequences in movies look smoother and clearer. It’s also the only model that includes the Bravia Cam, which includes some really cool features. The cam can detect your position in the room and optimize the brightness and sound, allow you to use hand gestures to control the TV, adjust the microphone volume for video calls, and give proximity alerts if you get too close to the TV. The A95L is the only one to also come with the Multi-View feature, which lets you open two apps at once and have a picture and picture view. This can be super helpful if you are playing a video game and want to watch a YouTube tutorial about the game simultaneously.

Calibration

Calibrating your TV can be a really good idea if you have the right equipment and want to take the time to do so. However, we’d argue that the majority of people want their TV to look great right out of the box and only have to make a few easy tweaks themselves in the settings without professional calibration equipment. This is where the A95L truly shines due to the fact that Sony has invested greatly in their color science and processing to make it look accurate and beautiful right out of the box for everyone. To get the brightest image possible, the “Vivid” picture mode will provide an extremely bright image. The “Cinema” mode will adjust brightness and contrast to make up for the fact that you may not be watching a movie in the most ideal conditions and make up for it by adjusting some colors. However, for the most technically accurate color out of the box, go with the “Professional” mode, which was created in collaboration with Sony Pictures engineers to represent the content closest to the creator's intent.

Of course, you can always calibrate the TV yourself, but just know that if you don’t, you’ll still have a great picture compared to it being professionally calibrated. The A95L also supports Dolby Vision Dark and Bright, IMAX Enhanced, and Netflix Calibrated Mode. One big pro of using the built-in apps is Sony’s Calibrated for Netflix mode, which brings studio-quality picture & sound. Sony and Netflix engineers worked together to develop a system that delivers content closer to the original source. This does work fantastically using the built-in apps on a Sony TV that supports the Calibrated for Netflix mode. For 2023, Sony has improved this mode one step further with a new Adaptive Netflix Calibrated mode that also adjusts for lighter/darker rooms along with picture color tone based on the color temperature of the room lighting.

Gaming

And for you gamers out there, this TV is a dream come true. The HDMI 2.1 inputs provide 4K/120fps, a low input lag of 8.5ms, Variable Refresh Rate, and Auto Low Latency Mode for the best gaming performance. With Game Menu, all of your game settings and assist functions are put in one easy-to-reach menu for quick changes so that the gaming continues uninterrupted. This is Sony’s first TV to include Dolby Vision at 120hz for gaming, which increases color accuracy, lifelike contrast, and the intense brightness that today’s high-definition games deserve. You’ll also get separate game modes for first-person shooters and real-time strategy games. In addition, PS5 users will get Auto HDR Tone Mapping to optimize HDR settings during gameplay and Auto Genre Picture Mode that automatically adjusts the picture quality during gaming or streaming.

Sound

The A95L has some very solid sound from just the TV speakers. They utilize Acoustic Surface Audio+, which is a technology that uses actuators built into the panel that vibrates the screen much like speaker drivers, so the on-screen action has a more tactile feel that seems to come from the exact area of the screen where the action is. There is also XR Surround Sound, Voice Zoom 2, and Acoustic Center Sync. When you connect a Sony-compatible soundbar, the settings automatically appear on the television's menu, making settings much easier to navigate. With all that said, the sound coming from the A95L is impressive. However, we hope if you’re investing in a high-quality TV, that you will also invest in a proper sound system to improve your overall experience. Reach out to our experts if you need further advice on what speakers to pair your TV with.

Google TV OS

A smooth and easy-to-navigate built-in operating system for content can take an otherwise great television to new levels in finding content. The Sony XR A95L has Google TV OS built-in. This operating system gives you access to over 700,000 movies, TV episodes, and over 10,000 apps and games. It has all your favorite content from major subscription services like YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, AppleTV, Spotify, and more. Using the Google TV operating system allows users to use their Google assistant to ask questions or request content through all their applications, making finding your favorite movie or TV show a breeze.

BRAVIA CORE

Having divisions of their company making movies and TV shows, Sony knows how important picture and sound quality is to the experience. Bravia Core brings 4K streaming at up to 80Mbps for quality much closer to the 128Mbps maximum of Ultra HD Blu-Ray disks than the standard 25Mbps streaming services use. This gives you detail and a clean picture quality that is more comparable to the original source material. Bravia Core also has movies that are IMAX® Enhanced certified, which means IMAX ensures that the movies on Bravia Core are as close to the original source as possible. Bravia Core also takes the sound of its content seriously. Supporting DTS:X and Dolby Atmos, you will get the best sound experience from Bravia Core. To really get the full potential of this feature, you should make sure you connect to your internet via WiFi and not with ethernet as the WiFi connection is actually faster than the ethernet connection. Sony recommends download speeds of at least 115mbps.

Testing

We set up the A95L and ran through the straightforward setup guide on the TV. After running a software update, which we always recommend you do, we were up and running and immediately started testing all the features. The first thing we wanted to see was just how bright this TV really was. To access the picture settings, you have to click edit at the end of the settings on the screen and make sure you select “picture mode,” or else these settings are a little bit hidden and not easily accessible. We put it in its “Vivid” picture mode and watched some test material, and wow, the claims of it being twice as bright at the A95K definitely felt true to our eyes. However, we don’t recommend that setting for watching actual content as it will not be the most accurate colors and representation of most movies. We decided to do most of our testing in the “Professional” picture profile since it is the most accurate. And we didn’t touch any other settings on the TV, so it was truly an out-of-the-box test.

The first movie we tested was a Blu-ray version of Dune. The A95L presented colors with incredible accuracy while keeping the contrast at reference levels. It had all the detail, texture, and clarity that we’ve come to expect from Sony TVs. The blacks were a deep, inky black, and the shadows had plenty of detail in every scene. Colors were vibrant, and highlights were controlled extremely well, providing an image with a ton of dynamic range that made it look extremely lifelike. Even the skin tones and small details in the characters' faces were some of the best we’ve ever seen on a TV.

We also watched a few more movies on Netflix with the Netflix Calibrated Mode on. This mode was extremely powerful and made films on Netflix look extremely accurate to what the director intended. Colorful scenes were full of contrast, and dark scenes had detail even in the darkest shadows, and blacks looked pure black on screen. After watching Netflix on the A95L, you won’t want to watch Netflix on any other TV. We really can’t say enough about how well the A95L performed, and we aren’t surprised that many are calling it the King of TVs.

We then did some gaming and switched the content type from video to game, which unlocks different picture profiles for your games. We put it into FPS mode and played a few different games, and we can confidently say that it was the best TV we’ve ever seen for gaming. Its colors, contrast, and detail were outstanding, making every game we played really come to life. We love the fact that you can tweak these game mode picture settings to your liking and completely customize the look that you wish to have. The quick access Game Menu was super handy and let us turn on/off VRR, adjust motion blur reduction, adjust the black equalizer, add crosshairs to the TV, and even adjust the screen size. The screen size was very cool as many gamers will want to actually make the screen size a little smaller for competitive gameplay so it’s easier to see without moving your head. The black equalizer lets us adjust the shadows in the game to see our enemies in the shadows much more easily. If you want a TV to game on, the A95L will be a phenomenal choice.

Its overall contrast performance while watching other movies was equal to the best OLED panels but with the brightness very close to LED! This amazing performance shows what the combination of a high-quality processor matched with a top-quality QD-OLED panel can bring to the table. While not equaling a full home theater speaker system, the built-in speakers produced clear dialogue and movie effects that are satisfying while offering options when using Sony Soundbars, giving room for growth. There are some great televisions out there from great companies, but the A95L proves that Sony still has the design chops to bring the best out of the technology.

Overall Recommendation

The Sony XR A95L is a wonderful television that shows Sony is serious about being one of the frontrunners of today’s television technology. With all the connections anyone would need in any situation and software applications with all your streaming covered. The picture quality allows the A95L to be used in almost any room or situation, keeping the contrast high and bright enough without getting washed out. We think the Sony XR A95L is a great performer and could be the ticket for someone looking for a top-level performer for rooms that are a little too bright for a standard OLED panel. Having this television available in 55”,65”, and 77” sizes also allows options in room size and personal size preference.

If you’re planning your home theater or media room, you have to check out our Home Theater Design page where we have everything Home Theater related, including our FREE Home Theater Design Tool.

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