The best Sony TVs bring with them fantastic quality and reliability for your home entertainment – and although the manufacturer likes to keep everything simple, it caters to a variety of budgets to appeal to a broad range of users.
You’ll find that Sony offer some of the best OLED TVs right now in particular, so you're not going to be disappointed by the pixels staring back at you from any of these sets. We also think they work well as some of the best gaming TVs for all budgets, and you’ll be able to find Sony represented in our guides to the best TVs under £1000 too.
In this list you'll find we’ve picked out some of the best models from Sony, based on performance, picture quality, integrated technology and price. However, just like many others, sound isn’t always the best feature. And so, the best soundbars can easily complete your Sony TV set up. Check out our comprehensive round up of the best Sony TVs below.
The best Sony TVs of 2023: the top 3
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At the moment, we think the best Sony TV for most people is the Sony A80L. There are lots of reasons why, including the quality of the OLED picture, the HDMI 2.1 support, and the capable upscaling with lower-resolution sources.
The next TV in our list is the best value-for-money Sony TV, the Sony A90J. While it doesn't offer the very top-end specs you can get in an OLED Sony television right now, it certainly gives you a lot of bang for your buck.
Then there's the best mid-range Sony TV on the market, the Sony X90J. In our testing we found that it offered excellent HDR processing, and there's support for 4K 120Hz gaming on the latest consoles. It's available at a very reasonable price too.
In our Sony A80L review you'll notice that we were hugely impressed with what this set had to offer, from the quality of its 4K pictures, to the fantastic job it does with upscaling older content, to the HDMI 2.1 ports that means gaming enthusiasts will be able to get the most out of their consoles (though note that only two out of the four HDMI ports here support 2.1).
While there are some weaknesses – it's not a particularly thin television, and the integrated sound could be better – we still think it's the best Sony TV around for most people at the moment. That's primarily down to the most important factor, which is the quality and vibrancy and smoothness of the actual 4K pictures.
In that regard, this is a real stunner. The on-board Cognitive Processor XR does a fine job of keeping everything balanced and vivid on screen, and the HDR performance is difficult to fault. We also like the new Game Mode function that lets you quickly bring up TV settings relevant to gamers.
The Sony A90J is an excellent 4K model, despite being a little bit older now. It remains one of the best TVs Sony has ever made, and because there are now newer sets out there, you can pick it up for a very decent price as well.
Sony redesigned its OLED panel for this set, and it delivers images that excel in their sharpness and brightness. The proprietary Cognitive Processor XR ensures top end image processing in real time, while the exceptional contrast performance of this TV means inky blacks are perfectly combined with brighter highlights. Best-in-class motion handling and eye-popping colours are other highlights.
There's also a clever Acoustic Surface Audio+ feature that turns the entire screen into a speaker, ensuring sounds match the action, while Dolby Atmos and surround processing create a suitably immersive sonic experience. A gorgeous design, superior build quality and Google TV smart platform round out a near-perfect package that includes HDMI 2.1 for next-gen gaming. Check out our full Sony A90J review for more.
The Sony X90J is barnstorming all-rounder that does just about everything, does it well, and won't break the bank either. This cracking LED model is the best mid-range TV that Sony has to offer, with a full array backlight and local dimming that ensures deep blacks and punchy highlights to deliver convincing HDR that's free of distracting halos or other artefacts.
Sony's Cognitive Processor XR delivers class-leading upscaling, image processing, and motion handling, so whatever you watch you'll know it'll look great. The Triluminos Pro panel also ensures plenty of rich colours, allowing you to get the most out of HDR's wider palette. Viewing angles could be better, and the screen is a bit reflective, but otherwise this picture is hard to fault.
The sound is equally as impressive thanks to Acoustic Multi-Audio and spatial processing that delivers a wonderfully immersive Dolby Atmos experience. There's HDMI 2.1 support for 4K 120Hz gaming (and it's one of Sony's 'Perfect for PlayStation' TVs). Get the full picture with our Sony X90J review.
The best Sony TVs 2023: the best of the rest
In our detailed Sony A95K review, we described this TV as representing "a new era for OLED", and that's because it's a QD-OLED or Quantum Dot OLED: without getting too technical, the extra layer of technology is designed to provide additional brightness and a richer colour palette, and we'd say that it works spectacularly well.
Combined with Sony's excellent on-board processor, you're going to get a picture that looks superb, whatever it happens to be showing. The sound performance is good too, so you might not need to hook up a separate soundbar or speaker system to get the most from your TV purchase.
From motion judder to light processing, everything about the image that the Sony A95K produces is impressive. There's Google TV on board as well, which offers some significant improvements over Android TV, and is great for getting all of your streaming services together in one place.
The Sony X85J is a step down from some of the higher-end Sony models, but keeps a lot of the crucial specs – so it's excellent value overall. The really key thing that's still here is HDMI 2.1 support on two of its HDMI ports, including 4K 120Hz, making it great for gamers. Beyond that, you've got Dolby Vision HDR, strong colours and brightness, and the competent Google TV.
This set is excellent with detail and upscaling for its price, while an impressive contrast ratio means that HDR performance is strong as well. Sure, the audio isn't up to soundbar-level quality but it won't let you down.
Some sacrifices are typical at this price, but the general image quality of the X85J is really strong, and it's available in smaller sizes than many TVs as well, if that's what you're after. If you want to get as much bang for your buck as possible and don't mind a few compromises, consider this as the best Sony TV for you.
The Sony X94K (or X90K, depending on where you're shopping) is one of the best TVs around in terms of hitting that sweet spot between price and performance. All TVs attempt to find a certain balance in this regard, but for most of us value for money is more important than the very latest, cutting-edge specs.
That's why our Sony X94K review describes this set as a "mainstream stunner" – one that's going to appeal to a vast number of people because of the quality of the images it produces, no matter what source you've got hooked up to it.
Speaking of sources, there are four HDMI 2.1 ports here, so full compatibility for the latest games consoles and the features that gamers are going to need. There are some weaknesses, including audio that could be improved and viewing angles that aren't the best, but overall this is a fantastic package.
The Sony A80J proves that you don’t need deep pockets to enjoy the company’s high-end OLED tech, with this panel outperforming many competitors at similar prices and delivering impressive performance. While the OLED screen isn't as bright as more expensive options , it's still got a deep contrast performance in dark areas far in excess of any LED TV in Sony's range.
There are also punchy highlights delivered with pixel precision to go with the deep blacks, and overall colours are deep and rich. As ever, Sony's Cognitive Processor XR chip produces high-end image handling that gets the best out of any source, even older ones – and Sony's usual best-in-class morion handling also makes this an ideal TV if you're a sports fan.
The Acoustic Surface Audio+ tech here uses the entire screen as a speaker, while 3D surround upscaling and Dolby Atmos add greater dimensionality to the sonics. An elegant and minimalist design ensures maximum immersion with minimum distraction, and Google TV delivers a comprehensive smart experience too. You've also got all the latest gaming features courtesy of the HDMI 2.1 inputs.
When it comes to mid-range OLED TV sets in Sony's catalogue, this is one of the best around – as is clear if you take the time to read through our full Sony A80K review. It scores highly in terms of the picture that it produces, its style and design, and its ease-of-use, and there's the usual excellent OLED contrast and colour reproduction.
High Dynamic Range performance is very good – HLG, HDR10 and Dolby Vision are all supported – and of the four HDMI ports here, two of them support HDMI 2.1 to satisfy owners of a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series X/S. Four HDMI 2.1 ports would be better of course, but then this is a mid-range set after all.
Some compromises have to be made to keep the price down, and we think that the brightness levels and the audio performance could both be improved. In terms of the on-board software interface, Google TV continues to get better and better, negating the need for a streaming dongle or box.
If you want to get the most pixels possible packed into your television set, then consider the 8K resolution offered by the Sony Z9K. Of course it's going to cost you an awful lot, but if you've got the budget then you can't fail to be impressed by this. Though there isn't a whole lot of 8K content around now, that will change, and this is a fantastic set in terms of upscaling.
Sony is pushing the high-end brightness and contrast capabilities of the Z9K, and in terms of HDR there's support for HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision. There's also the HDMI 2.1 spec built into two of the four HDMI ports, which also covers useful gaming extras such as variable refresh rate (VRR) and auto low latency mode (ALLM).
With excellent image processing in real time, a better-than-average sound system, and extras such as an integrated Ethernet port, it's not just the 8K resolution that makes this worth considering as the best Sony TV for you. Given the costs involved though, make sure that you're going to make full use of all those pixels and all that screen space before buying.
In the market for a top-quality Sony TV that's not going to break the budget? The Sony X80K may well fit the bill: it's not super-cheap, especially as you get up to the larger sizes, but it certainly gives you a lot back in return for your money. The Mini LED tech works really well, in terms of brightness and colour especially.
As is the case with a lot of the best Sony TVs in this list, the set offers visuals that are easy on the eyes and audio that will negate the need for a soundbar or separate speakers in a lot of cases. It's great for sports, movies and streaming video, although serious gamers are going to want more than this particular set can offer.
That said, there are two HDMI 2.1 ports to make use of here, including support for an auto low latency mode (ALLM). Add in the ever-improving Google TV, which ties in well with multiple streaming apps and other Google services (such as Google Assistant), and it's a superb overall package.
