Sony introduces high-end ZD9 TV series with HDR

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by MechaGodzilla

It's unfortunate that, after things were looking promising initially, the X95K ended up a bit of a letdown from the sounds of it.

The crazy thing is that there seems to be something of a screen size disparity going on. All the claims of "second coming of the Z9D", "as close as I've seen any LCD get to an emissive display in terms of black level and minimizing blooming", etc. are from people who've spent time with the 85". On the other hand, there are all these reports of pretty bad blooming on the 65" and 75" models.

That is great re: the 85" if true, but it's too bad re: the smaller sizes. They should perform the same, since they share the same model number and everything. It's meant to be the same TV, so what's that about?

There are noticable differences between the 65" and 75" ZD9 models (I own both) – apparently because of different panels being used.

The 75" completely lacks the occassional smearing that the 65" sometimes exhibit when it has just been turned on. Also, the 3D on the 65" is not that good to be honest; it's very depending on which title is being watched, but it sometimes has severe crosstalk issues. The 75", however, provides a much better 3D experience: crosstalk is not a big issue (in part due to the "Motionflow trick", which cannot be used on the 65" because it makes crosstalk even worse). Finally, the 75" has even better blooming control than the 65". I use both tvs for dark room viewing, and the 75" definitely has the upper hand on this with HDR content.

[Robert Zohn]

Sony's Z9K is an exceptional TV in every element of picture quality and although far less important the Z9K's built-in audio is the best of any TV I've ever heard.

[RalphoR]

So if one should be in the market for a Z9D successor: a 75" Z9K or a 65" A95K for a well lit family room that can go very dark for night time viewing?

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

So if one should be in the market for a Z9D successor: a 75" Z9K or a 65" A95K for a well lit family room that can go very dark for night time viewing?

The Z9K sounds more appealing for its immersive size and HDR impact in a family multi use environment.

[Robert Zohn]

I would agree that the 75" Z9K is the best choice for a more immersive experience.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Sony's Z9K is an exceptional TV in every element of picture quality and although far less important the Z9K's built-in audio is the best of any TV I've ever heard.

Interesting - because my X900B's sound at the time was the best I'd ever heard from a tv (some TV shows I didn't bother turning on my surround system because the set was more than good enough) and when I upgraded to the Z9D it was such a bitter disappointment.

[PaulGo]

My son has the X940C with the wing speakers. The sound from those speakers are exceptional.

[Auditor55]

Originally Posted by DJR662

There are noticable differences between the 65" and 75" ZD9 models (I own both) – apparently because of different panels being used.

The 75" completely lacks the occassional smearing that the 65" sometimes exhibit when it has just been turned on. Also, the 3D on the 65" is not that good to be honest; it's very depending on which title is being watched, but it sometimes has severe crosstalk issues. The 75", however, provides a much better 3D experience: crosstalk is not a big issue (in part due to the "Motionflow trick", which cannot be used on the 65" because it makes crosstalk even worse). Finally, the 75" has even better blooming control than the 65". I use both tvs for dark room viewing, and the 75" definitely has the upper hand on this with HDR content.

I don't believe that's true, more to do with the panel lottery. The 3D was just poorly implemented by Sony. I had a Panasonic Plasma VT60 and the 3D was rock solid. I just didn't like active 3D because it gave me eye fatigue/strain.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by PaulGo

My son has the X940C with the wing speakers. The sound from those speakers are exceptional.

I miss those dumbo ears. They’re awesome.

[MechaGodzilla]

Originally Posted by DJR662

There are noticable differences between the 65" and 75" ZD9 models (I own both) – apparently because of different panels being used.

The 75" completely lacks the occassional smearing that the 65" sometimes exhibit when it has just been turned on. Also, the 3D on the 65" is not that good to be honest; it's very depending on which title is being watched, but it sometimes has severe crosstalk issues. The 75", however, provides a much better 3D experience: crosstalk is not a big issue (in part due to the "Motionflow trick", which cannot be used on the 65" because it makes crosstalk even worse). Finally, the 75" has even better blooming control than the 65". I use both tvs for dark room viewing, and the 75" definitely has the upper hand on this with HDR content.

Oh yeah, I was aware of some of those differences between the 65" and 75" Z9D models. Of course I understand that there can be some inherent differences in the panels used for different screen sizes, but the alleged significant improvement in blooming control on the 85" X95K vs. the smaller models confused me. However, Geoff's explanation about it being a literal "bigger is better" in this regard makes sense.

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Sony's Z9K is an exceptional TV in every element of picture quality and although far less important the Z9K's built-in audio is the best of any TV I've ever heard.

Lots of people were already impressed with the X95K, so that doesn't surprise me considering the Z9K has even more speaker elements to work with.

How would you rank Sony's 2022 OLEDs for sound? I mean, the A95K vs. the A80K and so on.

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Interesting - because my X900B's sound at the time was the best I'd ever heard from a tv (some TV shows I didn't bother turning on my surround system because the set was more than good enough) and when I upgraded to the Z9D it was such a bitter disappointment.

Originally Posted by PaulGo

My son has the X940C with the wing speakers. The sound from those speakers are exceptional.

Yeah, for a few years in the early-mid 2010s Sony's premium LCDs - such as the X900B and X940C you mention - had those speakers everyone speaks highly of.

With the 2016 'D' models and on, they put an end to that. Now, in the last couple of years, they've returned to putting more effort into the built-in audio again, and TVs like the X95K and Z9K are supposed to sound pretty damn good.

[Robert Zohn]

Sony has very nicely upgraded the TV's built-in audio for the 2022 A80K, A90K and A95K as well as the X95K and Z9K.

[HDMan72]

Originally Posted by PaulGo

My son has the X940C with the wing speakers. The sound from those speakers are exceptional.

Wow! My last Sony tv with dumbo ear speakers was the Sony KDS-R50XBR1 SXRD RPTV!

[MechaGodzilla]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Sony has very nicely upgraded the TV's built-in audio for the 2022 A80K, A90K and A95K as well as the X95K and Z9K.

Oh, I was just curious about your personal opinion on the audio performance of, primarily, the A80K vs. the A95K. How they compare to each other, which you feel sounds better - if there even is a perceptible difference.

[Robert Zohn]

We have all of the TVs set-up in our store breaking in to be calibrated this week. I'll pay a few audio clips tomorrow and post my findings.

From what I'm told the A95K has a better TV audio, but once I test and evaluate them side-by-side with the same content I'll be able to answer your question on the perceptible audio fidelity difference.

[MechaGodzilla]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

We have all of the TVs set-up in our store breaking in to be calibrated this week. I'll pay a few audio clips tomorrow and post my findings.

From what I'm told the A95K has a better TV audio, but once I test and evaluate them side-by-side with the same content I'll be able to answer your question on the perceptible audio fidelity difference.

Thanks. Again, it's your personal thoughts I want to hear.

Last year Rtings actually measured the A80J as having overall better sound than the A90J (most notably in terms of bass), somewhat surprising considering the A90J is the higher-end model and is claimed by Sony themselves to have the best sound.

[Robert Zohn]

I truly like Rtings and respect their testing and presentation style! But like all other reviewers I don't always agree with their findings.

In this case my experiences prove that Sony's A90J has better audio overall quality than the A80J and the A80K has a very nice audio enhancement over the very good built-in audio of the A80J.

[dontpokethebear3893]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Bigger screen will give you better control over blooming vis a vis the same size LEDs (whether normal or mini) as x specular highlight will literally be bigger. To properly regulate blooming the smaller sizes need is a return to the per-LED backlight control of the ZD9 rather than per-zone backlight control.

Shouldn't the mini-LED of the X95K and the Z9K do exactly that?

[unberechenbar]

Originally Posted by dontpokethebear3893

Shouldn't the mini-LED of the X95K and the Z9K do exactly that?

They don't have individual LED control like the Z9D. They just have a larger number of dimming zones than most previous models.

[Robert Zohn]

Originally Posted by unberechenbar

They don't have individual LED control like the Z9D. They just have a larger number of dimming zones than most previous models.

That sir is 100% correct. We do have more local dimming zones and excellent backlight control with Sony's Master Backlight drive, but the Z9D had individual LED control and the X95K's Backlight Master drive only controls the local dimming zones.

[MechaGodzilla]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

I truly like Rtings and respect their testing and presentation style! But like all other reviewers I don't always agree with their findings.

In this case my experiences prove that Sony's A90J has better audio overall quality than the A80J and the A80K has a very nice audio enhancement over the very good built-in audio of the A80J.

It's a pretty commonly held opinion that Rtings are generally most useful for their measurements, while the subjective opinion part of their reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. I tend to agree with that.

But re: the frequency response on the A80J vs. the A90J, they literally measured a low-frequency extension of 59.93 Hz on the A80J, 75.51 Hz on the A90J. Which would seem to back up what they say about the A80J having a bit more bass/"punch" than its bigger brother.