Sony Bravia 9 II Review

Sony's flagship answer to the OLED question is to refuse it: the Bravia 9 II doubles down on LCD with what Sony christens "True RGB" backlighting — and the lab verdict crowns it the best LCD television in the current rankings: a "very good" (1.3), 4th of 57 televisions tested, with only OLEDs above it.

The measurements are emphatic. Peak brightness in the brightest mode reached a mighty 3,940 cd/m² — for context, our review of the current overall test winner, LG's OLED G6, measured 3,597 — with the accuracy-first cinema mode still delivering a strong 2,105 cd/m². Anti-reflective coating is excellent, keeping the screen legible even in daylight.

Colour is where "True RGB" earns its name: 99.8 per cent of DCI-P3 — effectively complete — and 90.5 per cent of the wider BT.2020 gamut, a figure the test called immense. Bright content such as snowscapes and murky scenes alike render with fine gradation, and the black level is astonishingly deep for LCD.

Even the classic LCD weakness is unusually tamed. The viewing-angle measurement records the angle at which contrast strength halves — a strict, comparable yardstick — and the Bravia 9 II held to 73 degrees horizontal and 60 vertical: surprisingly wide and stable for the technology, and a world away from the 40/31 degrees of its cheaper sibling, the Bravia 7 II. The honest ceiling remains: it does not quite reach OLED quality — which is precisely why it sits 4th rather than 1st.

The 120 Hz panel and a measured 10 ms game-mode latency (1080p60) serve heavy gamers well. The deduction is the port list: only two of the four HDMI inputs support HDMI 2.1 — a decision the test found frankly disappointing at this price. Two current consoles plus an HDMI 2.1 AV receiver won't fit.

Traditional TV viewing gets rare generosity: two integrated triple-tuners allow recording one programme while watching another, and USB recording — increasingly uncommon — is on board. Sony ships two remote controls: a classic numeric-keypad model for traditionalists and a smarter streaming-button variant with backlit keys.

Google TV supplies the smart platform with its enormous app selection. HDR covers HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG — no HDR10+ — and the format list includes DTS, AC3 and Dolby Atmos.

Six 10 W speakers plus a subwoofer produce genuinely fine television sound — the test's judgement was that you get excellent audio without a soundbar, and even at very high volume the cabinet never drones. In a market of thin-panel squawkers, that is worth real money.

The 65-inch test unit drew a measured 87.8 W in SDR and 166.3 W in HDR (0.3 W standby; EU label E/F) — genuinely frugal for a screen this bright, and the test filed it as a clear plus.

Picture quality carries 60 per cent of the total grade — built from measured peak brightness, contrast, maximum displayable colour space, gamma, white rendering and illumination uniformity, plus those viewing-angle measurements. Equipment counts 25 per cent, judged on inputs and outputs, format support, functionality, operability and remote quality, with bonus points for extras such as a light sensor. Power draw contributes 10 per cent, measured under a standardised protocol — every set calibrated to show a 10 per cent white field at around 250 cd/m² for comparable SDR figures, with the same scene re-measured in HDR at the panels' habitual maximum. Sound, a deliberately subjective 5 per cent, rounds it off.

That weighting suits a set whose panel is its argument. The ranking is dynamic; tested on 17 June 2026, the Bravia 9 II entered 4th of 56 and holds 4th of 57 today. The price assessment is a blunt "expensive" (4.5) — flagship LCD costs flagship money.

UK retail availability is early-days at the time of writing. The 65-inch K-65XR95M2 was not yet listed at the retailers we verify against, and John Lewis's listing for the 85-inch sibling (K85XR95M2PB, £5,499) showed no stock. No price is quoted for the tested 65-inch model for that reason — check current listings before setting your heart on a delivery date. For the wider field, our best TVs guide covers the alternatives.

The Bravia 9 II is the strongest case yet that LCD's ceiling keeps rising: nearly 4,000 cd/m² of peak brightness, effectively complete DCI-P3 with an immense 90.5 per cent of BT.2020, astonishingly deep blacks, wide stable angles, proper sound, dual tuners and two remotes. The deductions are specific — two HDMI 2.1 ports at this price is stingy, HDR10+ is absent, and OLED still holds the final word on contrast, which is why three OLEDs sit above it. As the best LCD in the rankings, it is exactly what Sony built it to be.