The best Sony TVs offer great quality and reliability in your entertainment. While Sony likes to keep things simple, they cater to a variety if budgets and give you everything you need to create the optimal viewing experience for you.
You’ll find that Sony offer some of the best OLED TVs and one of the best 8K TVs – so you can get some of the highest quality pixels around from Sony.
We also think they work well as some of the best gaming TVs for all budgets, and you’ll be able to find Sony in our guides to the best TVs under £1000 and best TVs under $1000 too.
We’ve picked out some of the best models from Sony, based on performance, picture quality, tech 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 full round up of the best Sony TVs below.
Best Sony TVs 2023: the list
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The Sony A90J is the flagship 4K model for this year, and thus it shouldn’t come as a surprise to discover it’s the best Sony TV of 2021. In fact, it’s one of the best TVs Sony has ever made, bringing together all the primary attributes of the OLED display technology and the company’s proprietary image processing.
A newly designed OLED panel delivers the brightest images to date, while Sony’s proprietary Cognitive Processor XR ensures unparalleled image processing. The exceptional contrast performance combines inky blacks with brighter highlights, while best-in-class motion handling and eye-popping colours ensure impactful SDR and HDR pictures.
Sony’s clever Acoustic Surface Audio+ 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. Here our full Sony A90J review.
The Sony X90J is barnstorming all-rounder that does just about everything, does it well, and won’t break the bank. As a result this cracking LED model is the best mid-range TV that Sony has to offer this year, 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 new 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. Since this is a Sony TV, the design is also eye-catching, with the kind of build quality you’d expect from a high-end model. Finally there’s HDMI 2.1 support for 4K 120Hz gaming, which helps keep this TV up to date. It's even one of Sony's 'Perfect for PlayStation' TVs, which means the PS5 will auto-adjust its HDR output to better match what the TV can do. Read our full Sony X90J review for more.
The Sony X85J is a step down from the X90J, as the name implies, but still keeps a lot of the crucial specs, making it 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 futureproofed for gamers.
But beyond that, you've got Dolby Vision HDR and strong colours from a Triluminos panel, plus great brightness that makes every pop, and is ideal for rooms with strong light. Google TV still powers the smart TV software, making it easy to use, and to find anything you could want to watch.
The difference from the X90J is that you don't get the BRAVIA XR Cognitive Intelligence processing trickery, you don't get local dimming, and you don't get the Acoustic Multi Audio sound. That basically means that while it's excellent with detail and upscaling for its price, it's not as good as the X90J. And while a great contrast ratio means HDR is strong, no local dimming means the X90J offers even more realism. And you'll probably want to attach a soundbar for audio really worthy of the images.
But these sacrifices are typical at this price, and the general image quality of the X85J is really strong. And it's available in a smaller size than the X90J – if you want an affordable 43-inch TV that has the latest and greatest gaming features, this is the best option on the market. Here's our full Sony X85J vs Sony X90J guide if you want to dig deeper into the differences between these two.
The Sony A80J proves that you don’t need deep pockets to enjoy the company’s cutting-edge tech, with this OLED outperforming many competitors at similar prices and delivering impressive performance.
The OLED panel isn’t as bright as the more expensive A90J , but it’s still got a deep contrast performance in dark areas far in excess of any LED TV in Sony's range, and punchy highlights delivered with pixel precision. The colours are deep and rich, while the inclusion of Sony’s new Cognitive Processor XR produces high-end image processing that gets the best out of any source. Sony’s usual best-in-class morion handling also makes this an ideal TV for sports fans.
The Acoustic Surface Audio+ sound system uses the screen as a speaker, while 3D surround upscaling and Dolby Atmos add greater dimensionality to the TV’s sonics. An elegant and minimalist design ensures maximum immersion with minimum distraction, while Google TV delivers a comprehensive smart experience. The HDMI 2.1 inputs support all the latest gaming features, and there’s IMAX Enhanced, so aside from a lack of HDR10+, this TV has the lot.
If you want to read more on how it differs from the A90J due to its cheaper price, here's our Sony A80J vs Sony A90J guide.
The Sony Z9J brings together all of the company’s hottest technologies, combines them with an 8K panel and produces the best LED TV that the Japanese giant has ever produced. This high-end statement offers two huge screen sizes with direct LED backlights and local dimming to create super-bright images. In conjunction with the wider palette of the Triluminos Pro panel, the result is colour-rich and and impactful HDR.
The new Cognitive Processor XR is able to apply its class-leading image processing to all 33 million pixels in the 8K panel, producing upscaled images of exceptional texture and clarity. There might be a dearth of native 8K content at the moment, but everything looks good on the Z9J, regardless of its resolution. The motion handling is also second to none, so whether its TV shows, movies, sports or gaming, this 8K master is sure to please.
As a flagship model, the Z9J also enjoys a minimalist design with a flush metal bezel, superior finish, and three-way multi-position stand for versatile placement. The Acoustic Multi-Audio sound system is enhanced by 3D surround upscaling to generate overhead effects with Dolby Atmos soundtracks. There’s also IMAX Enhanced, Google TV, and all the latest next-gen gaming features, so the Z9J isn’t just the best 8K TV but also future-proofed and competitively priced compared other elite 8K sets.
The Sony X80J is the most affordable 4K TV in its current range, and while it still offers realistic and rich colours, plus wide viewing angles that make it great for a family living room, it doesn't have the same brightness or contrast levels to really pop in the same way as the other models here.
You still get Dolby Vision HDR and strong processing for motion and upscaling from HD to 4K, so in the right conditions it has a lot to recommend it – particularly those where you have control over the light levels, since it's not too bright, and won't fare well against direct sunlight.
You don't get any HDMI 2.1 gaming features here, though it does offer a very low response time, so it's still a solid choice for gaming.
The Sony X80J is not a bad TV at all, and if you want the cheapest Sony TV, then it will do a good job for you – but considering how close they are for price at certain sizes, we'd recommend the Sony X85J over it for most people. Here's our full Sony X80J vs Sony X85J guide if you want to read about all the differences. Alternatively, at this price level we'd recommend the Samsung Q70A (or Samsung Q80A is even better if you can find a killer deal), as long as these sets come in the size you want.
