Sony Bravia A9S Review: What You Need To Know

Our review of the Sony Bravia A9S shows that it is a great TV that delivers stunning picture quality in almost any form of material. It can generate inky blacks, just like all OLEDs, providing you with a wonderful darkroom viewing experience. It boasts an ultra-fast response time and an optional Black Frame Insertion feature, which delivers smooth motion in fast-moving scenarios.

Although input lag is greatly reduced compared to its predecessors, it still lacks support for changing refresh rates. It also lacks HDMI 2.1 connectors and is unable to display a 4k at 120Hz. This may disappoint some of you who are searching for a TV to complement their next-gen consoles like the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X.

With that being said, if you’d like to find out more, just keep scrolling to read our in-depth review of the Sony Bravia A9s.

See Where The Sony Bravia A9S Ranks In Our List Of The Best OLED TVs For Gaming This 2021.

Overview Of The Sony Bravia A9S

Because of its amazing picture quality, class-leading Acoustic Surface Audio system, and beautifully slim bezel design, the Sony Bravia A9s OLED TV is the only 48-inch model that can genuinely compete with LG’s smallest CX TV. However, if you’re interested in bigger screens, this particular OLED TV is also available in bigger size variants of up to 77 inches.

Image clarity is excellent because of the brand’s acclaimed X1 Ultimate picture processor, which is known for its realistic HDR images. In addition, a Pixel Contrast Booster is employed to boost color and contrast in bright areas. Sony’s excellent X-Motion Clarity picture interpolation technique handles motion, which we believe makes the screen a good pick for sports fans as well.

All of the HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision formats are supported. While there’s no Dolby Vision IQ or Filmmaker mode aboard, Sony’s Ambient Optimization technology comes close in terms of performance.

A built-in sensor additionally improves picture and sound quality by automatically altering picture brightness in reaction to the room’s ambient light levels. It can also detect sound-absorbing or sound-reflecting objects in your room.

Speaking of the A9S’ sound quality, the Acoustic Surface Audio feature turns the screen into a speaker by vibrating it softly with stereo actuators. Plus, a subwoofer built into the back of the television provides you with deep bass. Overall, the sound system is excellent, offering crisp, clear, and powerful audio. If you pick this one up, you won’t need to purchase a separate soundbar to amplify the sounds.

Features & Specifications

• Brand: Sony
• Sizes Available: 48, 55, 66, and 77 inches.
• Resolution: 4K
• Display Type: OLED
• Input Lag: 18.5ms (1080/60)
• Refresh Rate: 60Hz
• HDR Compatibility: Dolby Vision , HDR10, HLG
• Inputs: HDMI 2.1
• VRR: No

Check Out Sony’s Unboxing Video Of The A9S Below.

Looking For Other OLED TVs? Check Out Our Top Picks For The Best OLED TVs For Gaming In 2021 Here.

What We Love About The Sony Bravia A9S

Design

Just like any premium OLED TV, the Sony Bravia A9s is stunning when viewed from the front. It looks sleek, minimalistic, and would certainly look gorgeous in any part of your house. The screen’s frame is extraordinarily thin and rests in the same plane as the picture, giving the impression of an almost bezel-less panel.

Apart from that, the screen lies so low on its heavy-duty, centrally mounted stand that it looks to keep itself upright without the assistance of a stand from any normal viewing distance. The screen’s outer edges are also only a millimeter deep and this exterior trim contrasts sharply. However, the centerpiece of the back seems to protrude more than the backsides of most recently released televisions.

The hefty pieces of the A9 don’t detract much from the overall incredibly exquisite aesthetic unless the set is going to be displayed on a wall.

At first glance, you might think that there aren’t any forward-facing speakers on the A9S. Except for the fact that it actually does. Despite the 48-inch variant being Sony’s smallest OLED TV to date, the A9S nevertheless employs the company’s patented Acoustic Screen technology, which uses perfectly placed actuators to transform the screen into a speaker.

On top of that, the 48-inch A9 has plenty of ports as well. There are four HDMI ports, three USB ports, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless communication compatibility.

Picture Quality

When it comes to picture quality, Sony certainly doesn’t disappoint. Even if you’re planning to get the smallest 48-inch variant, you’ll still get the same high-end X1 Ultimate processor you’ll find in its larger OLED siblings, along with all of its well-known advantages.

Sony’s Pixel Booster technology is included in the system, which improves contrast by better sharing power between individual pixels in the A9S’ OLED panel, while Sony’s famed MotionFlow processor helps smoothen movements in certain scenarios. If that’s not enough, there’s also a new option that inserts partial black frames into the image to give a more authentic-looking 24 frames per second movie experience without the brightness loss that black frame insertion generally causes in other TV models.

Furthermore, it can convert sub-4K inputs to 4K using a massive dual database of image analysis to provide you with pleasing results in real-time. A Super Bitmap method for smoothing striping out of HDR color blends is also an available feature, as is a Triluminos color system that uses precise color mapping to deliver a wider spectrum of color tones more accurately.

Lastly, the A9S supports three HDR formats: the regular HDR10 system, the HLG format, and the premium Dolby Vision format, which adds more scene-by-scene picture information to compatible TVs so that they can offer more realistic images. Unfortunately, there is no support for HDR10+ technology, but I don’t really see this as a necessity if you already have Dolby Vision.

Smart Features

Unlike its predecessors, the Android TV interface on the A9S is now developing to the point where you can appreciate the amount of content available on this particular TV.

Sony’s implementation includes Apple TV in addition to the usual streaming services and apps like Netflix, Google Play, Amazon Prime, Rakuten, and others. If you’re in the UK, you’re in luck as major UK broadcasters are covered by the excellent YouView app, which is included on the A9. This software combines all of the UK streaming providers into a single, well-designed, easy-to-navigate umbrella app.

Although there is still some fine-tuning to be done with the A9S interface, it is now something that isn’t actually a chore to use, which is a big step forward! It’s also worth noting that Android TV comes pre-loaded with Chromecast functionality, as well as Google Assistant speech recognition and voice control.

Our Least Favorite Things

Gaming Features Could Be Better

Despite the Sony Bravia A9S’ wonderful qualities, it has its shortcomings too. The casual consumer might not see this as a problem. But if you’re a gamer who is planning to get your hands on the next-gen consoles or already have them sitting in your living room, you might be disappointed with the fact that none of the HDMIs can handle enough data to support 4K streaming at 120Hz or variable frame rates (VRR).

It’s totally disappointing, to say the least. To put it in simpler terms the A9S is unable to handle the two most essential new features of the latest gaming consoles like the PS5 and the Xbox Series X as well as PC graphics cards.

Which I find a little funny, given that Sony produces one of those game consoles. You’d think that they would make sure that their latest OLED TVs will be pretty compatible running their other products without a fuss.

In A Nutshell

Now that we have discussed the things we liked and disliked about the Sony Bravia A9S, here’s a narrowed-down list of the good and the bad with this particular OLED TV.

Our Final Verdict

Overall, the Sony Bravia A9S is a fantastic OLED TV. Its OLED display has a near-infinite contrast ratio along with great black uniformity, making it an excellent choice for movie watching especially in a dark room setting. It’s also ideal for watching TV shows or any fast-paced content because it can upscale lower-resolutions and provides wide viewing angles as well.

However, if you’re a gaming enthusiast, keep in mind that this TV lacks VRR support and the refresh rate is limited to 60Hz at 4k. If you’re aiming for something higher than that, you might want to look for other OLED TV options.

Have you already bought the Sony Bravia A9S? Was our review helpful? Let me know in the comments section below if you have any suggestions, insights, or questions to ask. I would love to hear all your thoughts!

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