Televisions

The colour- and contrast-rich visuals of Elvis are great for identifying the XR-55A95K's strengths. The spectacle of the performer's shows in Las Vegas, and the outrageously vibrant closing credits, benefit in jaw-dropping fashion from the extra colour purity and range made possible by QD OLED technology (where bright RGB colours can be crafted without needing to introduce the desaturating white element used in regular OLED TVs). So the XR55A95K underlines how it's arguably this colour purity that's the big selling point of Quantum Dot OLED ahead of any brightness advantage.

Crucially, the set delivers its gorgeous, pure colours with a level of control and balance that goes beyond that of its QD OLED rival. Not a single tone throughout Elvis felt even slightly out of place, misbalanced, or over-egged, and not a single subtle blend appeared noisy or short of gradation steps. I've watched Baz Luhrmann's new movie on a number of different high-end screens, and none have delivered it with as much consistent purity, balance and three-dimensional depth as the XR-55A95K. This is truly next-gen stuff.

Doing no harm to this headline-grabbing colour performance is the fact the TV benefits from both the local contrast skills associated with OLED's self-emissive pixels, and the increase in brightness associated with a Quantum Dot colour system, as opposed to OLED's usual organic green and red sub-pixels.

Shine A Light
As noted earlier, the XR-55A95K doesn't push brightness as hard as you might expect. It is, however, still significantly punchier for both fullscreen bright content and bright HDR highlights than Sony's conventional OLED models, and measured just over 1,000 nits on a 10 per cent white HDR window test. This extra brightness works wonders on the shimmering and sparkling of Elvis's outfits and, again, the gloriously stylised closing credits. Small peaks of light are presented with tangible intensity, and obviously without the accompaniment of any backlight blooming. Dark image areas appear every bit as rich, deep and inviting as they do on the best regular OLED models, and the handling of shadow detailing is exceptional, especially with films which, like Elvis on 4K BD, are available in Dolby Vision. Sony's processing feels balanced here, avoiding any extra push for a contrast hit that might crush out subtle near-black information. Meanwhile, the XR-55A95K's stellar control of light and colour helps it deliver native 4K sources with immaculate clarity and texture. Hi-def material is efficiently upscaled to 4K, and SDR content retains a naturalistic colour balance. The XR-55A95K's superior motion processing also manages to take the edge off judder without generating any unwanted side effects. Put another way, whatever source you're watching, you always feel in safe hands.

Oh-So Fine
So: aside from Sony's XR-55A95K not providing as much of an improvement to peak brightness over traditional OLED models as we might have hoped, the only real negative thing to report is that if the screen is hit by quite strong direct light, the usually immaculate black levels suddenly look much more flat and grey. If that criticism sounds like me clutching at straws, I wouldn't argue. Make sure your serious movie watching isn't hampered by any stray ambient light and the XR-55A95K is arguably the finest all-round 55in TV we've seen – which makes its relatively steep price tag a heck of a lot easier to swallow.

HCC Verdict

Sony XR-55A95K

Price: £2,399
www.sony.co.uk

We say: Adding a little extra refinement and balance to the unprecedented colour and contrast charms of QD OLED technology has resulted in an absolutely superb 4K TV.

Overall: 5/5

Specifications

4K: Yes. 3,840 x 2,160 HDR: Yes. HDR10; HLG; Dolby Vision TUNER: Yes. Freeview HD; satellite HD CONNECTIONS: 4 x HDMI inputs; 2 x USB; optical digital audio output; headphone jack 4K/120 PLAYBACK: Yes (on 2 x HDMIs) SOUND (CLAIMED): 60W Acoustic Surface system BRIGHTNESS (CLAIMED): N/A CONTRAST RATIO (CLAIMED): N/A DIMENSIONS (OFF STAND): 1,230(w) x 730(h) x 56(d)mm WEIGHT (OFF STAND): 21.2kg

Features: QD OLED panel; Cognitive XR picture processor with Triluminos colour system; VRR gaming support; auto low latency mode; built-in Wi-Fi; Bluetooth; PS5 optimisation features; Netflix Calibrated mode; IMAX Enhanced support; Dynamic Contrast Enhancer; Google TV smart system with Bravia Core