If you're looking for a great all-round television, you've come to the right place with this Sony KD-65XG9505 TV. The color reproduction will appeal to movie fans, while the sharpness of motion is nice for those who watch a lot of sports or play games.
Sony KD-65XG9505
Price € 1.799,-Website www.sony.nl 9 Score 90
- Pros
- Color rendering and contrast
- Movement speed
- Android TV with Chromecast
- Renewed remote control and interface
- Negatives
- Viewing angle
- No HDR10+
- audio
- X-Viewing Angle technology only available on 75 and 85 inch
Design & Connections
This Sony has a narrow dark metal frame, with a light accent line at the bottom and two light metal-colored feet. The arched back conceals its somewhat thicker profile well.
The XG95 is equipped with four HDMI connections, one on the side, and three on the back. They are all ready for Ultra HD HDR signals. A connection also supports eARC, but features such as ALLM (Auto low Latency Mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and HFR (High Frame Rate) are missing. That is remarkable since they are intended for gamers and Sony also sells a game console. A headphone output is provided, but you can also connect wireless Bluetooth headphones.
Image quality
The XG95 combines a VA panel with a Full Array backlight that is divided into 60 segments for local dimming. This creates a very strong contrast, and the control avoids seeing the segment boundaries as much as possible. However, due to the limited number of zones, it is possible that you will still see the segment boundaries in extreme cases. This is noticeable, for example, with subtitles in dark scenes.
The X1 Ultimate processor removes noise and annoying color bands very well. The upscaling creates razor-sharp images from all your sources, and beautifully preserves all the detail. The XG95 also uses its segmented backlight to display fast-moving images beautifully sharp and detailed. By switching them off briefly only in places in the image where there is a lot of movement (X-motion Clarity), you get a sharp action image, without it getting darker like on other models.
The 'User' mode is very clear and well calibrated. It shows a lot of black detail, and combines excellent contrast with very natural colors for a particularly pleasant image. In a lot of daylight you can use the Cinema image mode.
HDR
With a maximum peak brightness of 1180 nits and a wide color gamut, the XG95 puts impressive HDR images on the screen. The calibration in the 'User' image mode is excellent. All shadow nuances are visible and the television analyzes every image and makes all white detail visible. The excellent color reproduction creates beautiful, realistic images. Only in dark images with very bright accents it is possible that you are at the segment boundaries of the backlight. This Sony supports HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, but no HDR10+.
Smart TV
Sony uses the new interface of Google's Android TV (version 8 Oreo). All content is presented in horizontal channels, so that you can more easily browse through your offer. Thanks to the built-in Chromecast, you can easily play video or music from your smartphone on TV.
Sony also made a number of significant improvements. For example, it opted for a more powerful chipset than in previous years, so that you can browse through the menus a lot more smoothly. In addition, the entries now appear in a ribbon at the bottom of the screen, which you can customize based on your presets. You can also add apps there. Your own menus also appear in this way and you can also adjust these. Choosing a new source or quickly adjusting a picture or sound setting has become super easy.
remote
Sony has adjusted its remote in 2019. It is a bit slimmer, finished in nicer materials and has pleasant keys. In addition, it now works with Bluetooth and IR, so you don't always have to aim. The layout has also changed slightly, but the new choices are excellent. For example, the buttons for the inputs, microphone and settings are now just above the D-pad, so that you can reach them quickly. We still think the play keys at the bottom are a bit too small. Together with the new menus, this remote provides a much improved ease of use.
Sound quality
With 'Acoustic Multi Audio', Sony wants to ensure that the sound really seems to come out of the picture. For that, it has two extra tweeters mounted on the side but just behind the screen. They are facing diagonally into the room. That works relatively well, but the audio quality simply falls short to really leave an impression. A real bass line is missing and the music sometimes sounds very shrill. Tweaking in the settings did not bring a solution, so for a good soundtrack it is best to provide an external solution. If you choose an Atmos-compatible soundbar, the Sony will forward all Atmos signals via the HDMI eARC function.
Conclusion
This Sony is an excellent all-rounder that is an excellent choice for many viewers. Its good contrast and natural colors are ideal for movie fans, while the high brightness and excellent motion sharpness are important for sports and games.
The KD-65XG9505 uses a segmented backlight with a limited number of segments, but it uses them excellently to provide deep contrast. The viewing angle is somewhat limited, so it is best to sit as centrally as possible in front of the screen. Excellent image processing, natural colors, many shadow nuances, very good motion sharpness and good HDR images make it a pleasure to watch for any content. Only the mediocre audio performance is a bit disappointing. The new user interface and remote provide improved ease of use. It can also be found at a competitive price.
