Sony’s flagship RGB LED TV is incredible

The Sony Bravia 9 II is the most anticipated new TV in years. This is a stunning RGB LED TV. I watched Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves In the new Bravia with my son, who started out in the role-playing game but had never seen the movie before. The landscapes of Faerûn looked natural and real, while the magic cast by the Red Wizards of Thay was vibrant and colorful. The highlights in HDR really stand out. I saw it with Zenk’s glowing sword while fighting in the Underdark Honor among thievesBut also in the explosions during Furiosa’s escape through the desert Mad Max: Fury Road The sun reflects off the waves Feature.

the Bravia 7 II I reviewed it back in May and it was already an impressive RGB LED TV. The Bravia 9 II has more dimming zones and an anti-reflective screen, and it gets brighter than the 7 II, but the 65-inch 9 II is also $1,000 more expensive, and the price difference increases as the screen size increases. So is Sony’s flagship Bravia 9 II worth the extra money?

Sony showed off An early prototype of RGB LED backlight technology at its Tokyo headquarters in early 2025, and even at that point, it was impressive. Every time a new display technology comes out, Sony’s flagship TVs tend to be the best, thanks in part to the company’s industry-leading processing and upscaling. the Bravia 8 II It is the latest in Sony’s high-end, original series of QD-OLED TVs Bravia 9 was the best mini-LED when it launches in 2024. So, with RGB LED TVs the big TV story of 2026, expectations are high for the Bravia 9 II.

Like the Bravia 7 II (and many new high-end TVs released this year), the Bravia 9 II uses RGB LEDs for its backlighting. Instead of the blue backlight that LED TVs have used for years, they have groups of individual red, green, and blue LEDs that blend their light to create a wider range of colors than blue LED TVs were ever able to provide.

The Bravia 9 II has the same processor as the 7 II. They both have the same gorgeous lenticular stand — the coolest TV stands I’ve seen in a long time — and both have HDMI 2.1 on just two of their four ports. Maybe next year Sony will catch up with the rest of the high-end devices and finally offer four HDMI 2.1 ports.

The Bravia 9 II is also as good or better than the 7 II at grayscale and color performance (although it suffers from the same problem in SDR mode where reds are oversaturated and not as bright as they should be). In Pro mode, the TV’s gamma and EOTF tracking are better than the 7 II’s, so shadows are adequately detailed and images have adequate depth. Colors like sky blue, foliage and especially skin tones look great. And although the grayscale scale is (and appears) a little blue, it didn’t bother me in anything I watched.

The Bravia 9 II can be had shining: I measured highlights in HDR at 3,800 nits, and a full-field white screen at 885. The Bravia 7 II maxed out at 2,200 nits for highlights, though it has almost the same full-field brightness at 848 nits. So, for everything except the brightest highlights, the two Sony RGB LED TVs have similar brightness in the real world. There are TVs that get brighter – like the TCL

Image processing algorithms also control how well its brightness and color are used and help set Sony’s picture quality apart from other TVs. With the curtains open and sunlight streaming through the windows, I watched a number of World Cup matches from the ATSC 3.0 antenna, and it was easy to see the details of the Bravia 9 II’s image.

In addition to image performance, there are a few features that set the Bravia 9 II apart from the 7 II.

The most obvious upgrade is the anti-reflective screen, which is the best I’ve ever seen. Bright lamps or windows are reduced to a dim glow that is incredibly difficult to see when anything is playing on the TV. Even when the TV is off, light reflections on the screen don’t catch my attention. The effect diminishes the further up the angle you get, but it wasn’t distracting until it was close to 70 degrees off-axis, which is a pretty extreme angle for watching TV, even with a large group of friends.

It also has more dimming zones than the 7 II. More dimming zones allow finer control of the backlight transition from light to dark parts of the screen, and usually result in less bloom (where bright light flows into a dark section next to it). This is mostly true on the Bravia 9 II. From an upright or slightly off angle, the 9 II handles boom very well. There is a slight glow around the subtitles or a very faint haze around the fireworks. Bloom was a bit more prominent at the far ends of my 8-foot sofa, but better than the Bravia 7 II or other RGB LED TVs (although not better than the Bravia 7 II). TCL X11L Mini LED TV). It is still an LED TV, and there will always be a certain degree of boom.

When I stood away from the corner next to my couch, the blooming became worse—and not just about the subtitles. I noticed white and color bleeding into adjacent colors. Apple TV has a Peanuts screensaver, which is often Snoopy doing things in or around his doghouse. From a distant angle, I could see the white of his body extending into the yellow background. I wouldn’t suggest using the Bravia 9 II primarily for large groups, as friends on one side will get a different viewing experience to those in the middle. This isn’t something I remember seeing on the Bravia 7 II, and since the obvious blooming occurs off-axis, I wonder if it’s related to the anti-reflective coating on the screen.

Even with minor issues out of the corner, there’s no doubt that the Sony Bravia 9 II is the best RGB LED TV available. Its great color accuracy, high light output, and anti-reflective screen make it the best TV available for a bright room. But the 65-inch sample I reviewed, the smallest size available, is $3,600, while the Bravia 7 II is $2,600 in the 65-inch size, and is available in sizes as small as 50 inches. Up to 65 inches Sony Bravia 8 II OLED for $3000.

I loved my time with the Sony Bravia 9 II, and I’m sure anyone will enjoy having it in their home. However, there are other TVs I prefer, even within Sony’s own line. The Bravia 8 II, which gives you the pixel-level control that only OLED can provide, would be my first choice. Contrast still belongs to our eyes, and OLED technology continues to lead the way in this category. If you really want an RGB LED TV and don’t want to splurge on the 9 II, the Bravia 7 II gets you all the way (without the anti-reflective screen). The only use case where the Bravia 9 II wins is in a setting where reflections are a major concern. There’s no denying that the Bravia 9 II is a remarkable achievement in LED TV performance. But I would still recommend OLED to most people.

Photography by John Higgins/The Verge