Sony XBR – 85X950G Review: A TV with Brilliant Picture Quality

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Sony XBR – 85X950G: At First Glance

Sony’s televisions are increasingly targeted towards a dedicated, passionate, and well-informed fan base. A few years back, Sony decided to go premium in its production of home entertainment electronics, including televisions. 

Sony may not produce as many television models as Samsung and LG, two of its competitors. However, Sony can rightfully boast that the few televisions it does produce are all excellent.

One of the brilliant televisions from Sony is the Sony XBR – 85X950G. The Sony XBR – 85X950G is a stunning 4k television with excellent visual quality.

Furthermore, the television’s display is extremely bright, therefore; it can deliver excellent HDR performance with bright, vivid details. Interestingly, the Sony XBR – 85X950G isn’t too expensive.

As of the time of publishing this review (October 2021), the Sony XBR – 85X950G has a price tag of $500.00. Read through this review to learn more about the features of the Sony XBR – 85X950G.

Sony XBR – 85X950G: Design, Dimension & Weight

Speaking of design, the Sony XBR – 85X950G is adorned with an impressive design. This television is sleek, attractive, and it doesn’t require too much effort to stand out.

The Sony XBR – 85X950G has dark metallic bezels bordering its display screen. These bezels are really nice, slim, and have a matte texture.

However, the bottom bezel is slightly thicker, and there is a line of silver running through it. Moreover, the bottom bezel also features a Sony logo in the center.

Moving on, the back of the Sony XBR – 85X950G is mainly made of plastic. Additionally, the television’s back features a VESA 300×300 hole pattern for wall-mounting.

My only little issue with the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s design is the legs. The legs are made of a mix of metal and plastic with a silver finish.

Additionally, they are attached from the back of the television. Also, the legs have a small channel on the back, which serves as cable management.

However, the legs are thick and fairly long, so they extend to the front of the television. Therefore, you will need a very large surface or table to place the Sony XBR – 85X950G on if not wall-mounted.

However, the Sony XBR – 85X950G isn’t particularly thick. Therefore, it won’t bulge out of the wall much if wall-mounted.

Furthermore, the build quality of the Sony XBR – 85X950G is really great. The television is very solid, robust, and sturdy, without any gaps or loose ends around its body.

As an 85-inch television, the Sony XBR – 85X950G is fairly large, it measures 1910 x 73 x 1099 mm. Additionally, it weighs a massive 46000 g.

However, when compared to the Samsung QN85QN90AAFXZA, the Sony XBR – 85X950G weighs less. Specifically, the Samsung QN85QN90AAFXZA weighs 56200 g and measures 365.76 x 1892.3 x 1148.08 mm.

In summary, the Sony XBR – 85X950G boasts a sleek design. However, its legs are very long, which I believe is a noticeable flaw.

Therefore, I believe an eight is a fair score to rate the Sony XBR – 85X950G in this design review section.

Sony XBR – 85X950G: Display Features

As mentioned earlier, the Sony XBR – 85X950G is an 85-inch television. Therefore, it features an 85-inch LCD display with a screen resolution of 4K UHD (3840 x 2160).

One of the most essential factors in defining a display’s picture quality is the contrast ratio. Thankfully, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s display excels in that aspect with a contrast ratio of 4,421:1.

However, what do I mean by contrast ratio? Contrast ratio is the proportion between the brightest white and darkest black on a display screen.

Additionally, a display’s contrast ratio solely determines the black level of the display. In other words, how dark or bright the display can produce blacks.

Therefore, blacks on the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s display will be really deep and sharp, thanks to its 4,421: 1 contrast ratio. As a result, movies with plenty of dark scenes will be pleasant to watch on the Sony XBR – 85X950G.

This display review section will be incomplete if I don’t mention the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s picture processing. After all, it’s the picture processing that primarily determines the picture quality of a display.

Specifically, just like Sony’s OLED televisions, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s LCD display uses Sony’s X1 Ultimate Picture Processor.

What is the significance of picture processing, though? Take a laptop for example. 

To display great graphics on a laptop or computer, you will need a powerful graphics card, right? The more powerful the graphics card is, the sharper and better the graphics or image the laptop will display.

That’s exactly how television works. A television’s display requires a lot of picture processing power to evaluate pictures in real-time and enhance their quality digitally. 

In addition to that, it also needs picture processing power to achieve the right color saturation. Thankfully, the X1 Ultimate Picture Processor is up for the task.

Moreover, the X1 Ultimate Picture Processor is still the best picture processor Sony has to offer. Also, Sony mostly offers this picture processor to its OLED televisions.

Therefore, considering the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s price and LCD display, it featuring the X1 Ultimate Picture Processor is really impressive. Thus, picture quality on the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s display will be excellent.

Moving on, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s display is impressively bright. It recorded a peak brightness of 701 cd/m².

Impressive right?

Furthermore, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s display supports HDR. HDR is a technique for improving the dynamic range of HDR content displayed on a display screen.

To put it simpler, HDR content on HDR-compatible TVs like the Sony XBR – 85X950G can get brighter, darker, and colorful. Moreover, HDR content or movies are mostly found on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Furthermore, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s display supports local dimming features. Local dimming is a technique for improving the contrast ratio in dark scenes on LCD/LED displays by dimming backlight zones.

This makes blacks appear darker than they would be without local dimming features. Therefore, improving the overall picture quality of the display.

Moving on, the Sony XBR – 85X950G comes with Sony’s new X-Wide Angle technology for impressive viewing angles. X-Wide Angle is a panel layer that retains color saturation and contrasts when the TV is viewed off-center.

Furthermore, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s display has excellent reflection handling. Therefore, you shouldn’t have any issues using the Sony XBR – 85X950G in a very bright room.

Moreover, this is all thanks to the display’s semi-gloss coating, which retracts reflection effectively.

Moving on, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s display has an exceptional response time of 9.7 milliseconds. The response time of a display refers to how quickly it switches from one image to another.

Therefore, resulting in clean images with little to no blur trail behind fast motion content.

However, if you are a hardcore gamer looking for the best display for gaming, the Sony XBR – 85X950G may not be your best choice. This is because the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s display doesn’t offer a low input lag.

The Sony XBR – 85X950G’s display records an input lag of 19.7 milliseconds, which I believe is high. Moreover, a display’s input lag is the quantity of time it takes for a display to register a signaled input.

However, except for the fact that it isn’t suitable for gaming, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s display is great overall. Therefore, I will rate the Sony XBR – 85X950G a nine out of ten for its impressive display performance.

Sony XBR – 85X950G: Sound Features

In terms of sound, Sony equipped the Sony XBR – 85X950G with a pair of tweeters mounted behind its back. What does a tweeter mean?

Chill, I got you covered!

A tweeter, also known as a treble speaker is a unique type of loudspeaker that produces high audio frequencies. This type of speaker usually delivers high frequencies up to 100 kHz.

Additionally, the name “tweeter” is gotten from the high-pitched sounds generated by some birds, called tweets. Furthermore, Sony says the tweeters increase audio depth compared to typical down-firing speakers, which the Sony XBR – 85X950G also has.

The combination of the pair of tweeters and the standard down-firing speakers is what Sony calls Acoustic Multi-Audio sound system. The Acoustic Multi-Audio doesn’t sound like Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio+, which uses two actuators to generate sounds directly from the television screen.

However, it does a similar job. Specifically, the tweeters behind the Sony XBR – 85X950G create the illusion of generating sound from the center of the screen.

Surprisingly, the tweeters work well. They do a great job of bringing the sound closer to the listener.

However, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s Acoustic Multi-Audio sound system lacks bass. The sound system records a 101 Hz low-frequency extension.

Low-frequency extension is a frequency response test that measures how much bass a sound system or speaker is capable of producing. Therefore, with a 101 Hz low-frequency extension, you won’t enjoy bass-heavy movies on the Sony XBR – 85X950G.

On a positive note, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s sound system produces clear and accurate dialogue sounds. Dialogue sound is the sound produced when two or more characters are having a conversation in a movie.

Furthermore, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s sound system can also get decently loud without generating too much pressure or pumping audio. Unfortunately, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s sound system produces a lot of distortion.

As soon as you increase the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s volume up to 75%, distortion will be noticeable. Therefore, using the Sony XBR – 85X950G in a large setting or big room isn’t an advisable idea.  

In summary, the Sony XBR – 85X950G’s sound system isn’t particularly great, due to its lack of bass and lots of distortion. However, it is adequate for casual viewing.

Hence, I will be rating the Sony XBR – 85X950G a seven in this sound review section.

Sony XBR – 85X950G: Ports & Connectivity Features

The Sony XBR – 85X950G is loaded with lots of ports. Turn the television around to the back and you’ll find its ports.

However, these ports are divided into two compartments, some are left-facing, while the others are down-facing. The left-facing ports include an HDMI port, two 3.5 mm jacks (one for composite video input and the other for headphones).

Additionally, there is also a USB port and a remote IR In port among the left-facing ports. Moving on, the down-facing ports include three HDMI ports (one supports ARC/eARC for connecting soundbars), and an Ethernet port.

Also, there is another USB port, a digital optical audio out, and an RF port for connecting the antenna. In terms of wireless connectivity, the Sony XBR – 85X950G is equipped with 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WIFI, and Bluetooth 4.2.

Furthermore, the Sony XBR – 85X950G ships with a newly redesigned remote control. It is worth noting that this remote control is a Voice remote control.

Thus, it has an in-built microphone and supports voice command via Google Assistant. Using the voice command is very easy, you first have to connect the remote control to the television via Bluetooth.

After that, you then hold down the Google Assistant button on the remote and talk into the microphone. However, you can set the Google Assistant button to always-listening if you don’t like the hold-down-to-listen.

In terms of the remote’s design, it is made of plastic and has a brushed metal finish. However, the remote is quite long and pretty hefty.

Furthermore, on the remote, there are number buttons, playback controls, and a circular directional pad. Additionally, the remote feature two quick lunch buttons for Google Play and Netflix.

In conclusion, the Sony XBR – 85X950G comes with quite a large number of ports. Therefore, the Sony XBR – 85X950G is deserving of a nine out of ten rating in this port review section.

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Sony XBR – 85X950G: Smart Features

Just like most Sony smart television, the Sony XBR – 85X950G uses the Android TV smart TV operating system. However, this particular Android TV OS is the latest version – It is the Andriod TV version 9.0.

Additionally, this Android TV 9.0 is a great improvement to the previous version, Android TV 8.0. The most noticeable improvement to the latest Android TV OS version 9.0 is the new customizable quick menu.

Additionally, there are a few changes to the user interface of the Android TV 9.0. Also, the Android TV 9.0 now supports Apple AirPlay, which lets you stream content from your Apple devices to the television.

Furthermore, the interface of the Android TV 9.0 is fast, easy to understand and use. Moreover, the Android TV 9.0 comes with lots of streaming apps, just like the Android TV 8.0.

Major streaming apps that come pre-installed on the Android TV 9.0 include Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, HULU, and Spotify. Furthermore, the Sony XBR – 85X950G comes with a Chromecast Built-in.

This built-in Chromecast enables you to cast movies or TV shows from your smartphone to the Sony XBR – 85X950G.

In conclusion, the Sony XBR – 85X950G features the latest Android TV operating that comes with lots of new perks. Additionally, the Android TV now supports Apple AirPlay, which would be very beneficial to iPhone users.

Therefore, I will rate the Sony XBR – 85X950G a nine in this Smart Features review section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The Sony XBR – 85X950G is an impressive 4K UHD TV with X1 Ultimate Picture Processor for great picture quality. Moreover, the Sony XBR – 85X950G also comes with X-Wide Angle technology for impressive display viewing angles.

Additionally, the display supports HDR and full-array local dimming. Furthermore, the Sony XBR – 85X950G comes with a great port selection and an impressive Voice remote.

That’s not all, the Sony XBR – 85X950G also features the latest version of Android TV smart TV operating system. This OS provides seamless performance with lots of streaming apps to choose from.

On the downside, the Sony XBR – 85X950G isn’t suitable for gaming, and its sound system lack bass. Regardless, the Sony XBR – 85X950G is still one of Sony’s best television in the market today.

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