I spent a week with Sony’s $3,500 Bravia TV – the True RGB display is the real deal

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Sony is known for high-quality TVs, and it should come as no surprise that the latest update to the Bravia lineup continues that tradition. After entering into a new partnership with TCL to own the Bravia brand, Sony has taken a moment to refine its more established OLED and Mini LED TVs to embrace new Micro RGB display technology and AI integration – the first of which is a very welcome development, from our tests.

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New Bravia 9 II it uses Sony’s version of multi-color display technology, branded as True RGB, to produce an image that surpasses OLED in color accuracy and contrast. But like all new technology, the Bravia 9 II comes with a premium for early adopters. Here’s how it fared in our lab tests, and what you should know before you buy.

Revised and circulated

While the previous Bravia 9 delivered a really good picture, it was held back by the brightness limitations of the OLED panel. The new Micro RGB panel has no such problems, offering an almost blinding image in comparison. I expected to lose at least a little visual appeal in return, with some colors looking oversaturated, but the Bravia 9 II handled all of my test videos well.

You still get a touch of oversaturation with warm colors like bright reds, yellows, and oranges, but that’s easily fixed by switching to any of the seven photo modes or manually adjusting the settings. I highly recommend turning off the Cinema Motion setting to prevent the TV from creating a weird motion blur effect with old movies and shows.

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You won’t find any preset sound modes, but you can manually adjust many sound settings, such as speaker balance, dialogue boost, and treble/bass balance. You can also switch to Dolby or DTS audio processing for realistic surround sound and rich, full sound for streaming music.

There’s also a fully customizable equalizer for audiophiles (and control freaks) to get the most out of the Bravia 9 II’s built-in speakers. The speakers themselves sound great, even at the highest volume, delivering crisp dialogue and balanced music.

They also work with Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology, which uses tiny actuators behind the display to turn the entire screen into a speaker. This means you’ll get object-tracking audio for a more immersive streaming and gaming experience.

Technicolor really shines

I put the Bravia 9 II through the testing gauntlet: Calman’s verification of color accuracy, contrast, and brightness, upper refresh rate limits, and a battery of real-world scenarios. Because if I’ve learned one thing in nearly ten years of testing TVs, it’s that a screen can give you perfect scores, but that doesn’t always translate to a picture with visual appeal.

I The Wizard of Oz (1939) it has my favorite visual transition in the film as Dorothy opens the door to her sepia-toned house and enters the vibrant Technicolor world of Munchkin Land.

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And on the Bravia 9 II, it’s easy to appreciate how the film is full of color and detail that even lifelong fans might miss on smaller TVs. The Cult of Chucky (2017) and let the Micro RGB panel stretch its legs, with the stark white of a hospital interior showing just how bright the screen can be without feeling overpowered or losing detail.

Game features need to be upgraded

ZDNET’s lab has a PlayStation 5 set up for TV testing, giving me a good chance to see if Sony’s “special” VRR support is well respected. One of my favorite games to use for testing is Person 5: Dancing on Starlight because it’s a real and visual cacophony and it’s great for pushing VRR and reducing input lag.

I had a very difficult time getting the TV and game to interact, with notes on the screen always sounding a touch out of sync with the music. I tend to chalk most of this up to the fact that the in-game lag measurement menu isn’t very accurate. However, I would like to see a future firmware update that adds the ability to fine-tune audio/video sync for both gaming and streaming.

Bravia 9 II also managed stunning vistas and moving night scenes of The wind of Tsushima easily. From the bright, vivid yellows and reds of the birch and maple forests of Japan to the gray grasslands and snowy mountains, every frame proved why Micro RGB can surpass OLED in the future.

ZDNET shopping advice

I Sony Bravia 9 II is a worthy successor to the flagship line, offering one of the most impressive images you can buy outside of an OLED TV. The Micro RGB panel delivers a brighter image than the previous Bravia 9, without washing out details or over-saturated colors.

Movie lovers can use IMAX’s enhanced picture mode to enjoy classics and new blockbusters alike. The new display technology also delivers the most impressive color accuracy and contrast I’ve seen in a long time, and, given enough time, Micro RGB may dethrone OLED as the best choice for premium TVs. Sadly, all of this comes at a steep price for beginners.

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I Bravia 9 II it starts at $3,500 for the 65-inch model, compared to $1,800 for the 65-inch. Bravia 8 II again XR8B OLED TVs. The price only goes up from there, with the 85-inch version selling for $6,500. And if you’ve got your eye on the 115-inch model slated for release later this year, be prepared to take out a small loan of $31,000.

Personally, I would have given Sony more time to resolve firmware update issues and have more experience as a manufacturer before jumping on the bandwagon. But if you have money to burn, you can get in on the ground floor for some truly impressive TV technology.