- Lawrence Ng
Sony Bravia X95L Review - Stunning Mini-LED Display Meets Minimalist Design
Updated: Dec 18, 2023
The Sony Bravia X95L sets a new benchmark for picture quality and next-gen Mini LED display technology. Powered by a Mini-LED backlight with precision local dimming, this TV delivers amazing contrast with consistent blacks and intensely bright highlights. Paired with Sony's renowned XR image processor, the X95L also impresses with its colour accuracy, motion clarity, and upscaling capabilities.
What is Mini-LED?
Mini LED and OLED use different technologies to produce colour - OLED uses larger individual organic diodes per pixel to either show Red, Green or Blue, while Mini LED uses many small LEDs per sub-pixel for more vivid colours. The key differences are that OLED has higher contrast ratios, wider viewing angles, and faster response times, but Mini LED provides better black uniformity and more vivid colours than typical OLED displays.
Design & Build
The X95L has an elegant, minimalist design with slim, nearly bezel-less borders on three sides of the screen. The clean rear panel hides all ports and inputs when not in use, contributing to its modern aesthetic. The included stand allows flexible setup - you can position the stands wider apart or closer together in the middle for smaller TV consoles. Centering the stands provides less clearance underneath, which could be an issue if using a soundbar. Overall, the TV has a premium fit and finish, with metal accents on the stand and back, although we wish the remote control could have the same high-end feel.
Picture Performance
With a full-array Mini-LED backlight and XR Contrast Booster technology, the X95L achieves an incredible 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio with inky rich blacks and intensely bright specular highlights up to 1600 nits based on real world tests. Advanced dimming algorithms and 20% more local dimming zones minimise blooming to near OLED levels.
Out-of-the-box colour accuracy is superb, covering 95% of the wide DCI-P3 colour gamut. Sony's XR processor enables incredibly detailed, upscaled 4K images from HD/SDR sources. Intelligent auto ambient optimisation adjusts picture settings based on room conditions. Brightness and colours are insanely rich, even in a brighter room.
Gaming
Gamers should appreciate the new dedicated Game Menu on the X95L, which allows you to toggle options like Motion blur reduction, Black equaliser and even allows you to overlay a crosshair on your screen. You can even choose the type of crosshair pattern.
Although it claims to support 4K/120Hz signals, we were only able to configure our Xbox Series X to output 4K/60Hz. We can set it to 120Hz, but it will only be at 1080p. We are not sure of the reason or if this issue won't happen with the PlayStation 5, but it does seem like it can be fixed by a software update. It also doesn’t have the Multi-View option like the A95L OLED, which allows you to watch two sources simultaneously side-by-side.
Audio
The built-in speakers produce highly clear dialogue thanks to special frame tweeters. We pair it with the Sony HT-A7000 soundbar, a powerful and immersive Dolby Atmos sound bar that offers exceptional audio performance. It features a single, high-quality design that eliminates the need for multiple speakers. The soundbar includes two up-firing speakers, two beam tweeters, five front-facing drivers, and a built-in dual subwoofer, all packed into a sturdy chassis. It delivers excellent Atmos performance and a feature-rich experience. You can also pair it with additional subwoofers and surround speakers to create an expansive cinematic audio experience.
Pricing
The X95L comes in 3 sizes of 85”, 75", and 65", and at the time of writing, they are priced at a discount of S$9,999, S$7,499, and S$4,899 on Sony’s website. The price is definitely up there, but for discerning home theatre lovers seeking new 4K LED TV technology and an amazing movie viewing experience, the X95L is definitely worthy of its flagship status and has set a new standard for Mini-LED performance.