Sony A80J OLED – Natural OLED picture quality with Bravia XR

The design of the Sony A80J is, in line with the modern equipment, very high-quality and yet kept simple. The TV is well positioned in every room thanks to the 3-fold multi-position stand, and the TV doesn’t even wobble. You can switch between the standard, narrow or soundbar setting at will. This makes the TV suitable for small storage spaces or for an external soundbar. If you prefer wall mounting, that is also possible without any problems thanks to the low depth and the narrow design. The only complaint is that not all cable inputs face sideways, which means you can’t get to all the connections optimally when wall-mounted, and speaking of cables, the A80J doesn’t offer any extras to simplify cable management.

The 10-bit OLED panel, with its perfect black level and accompanying contrast of infinity: 1, offers little room for criticism. Even the viewing angle is very wide, which means that the color accuracy remains in great quality even in different sitting positions. Reflections are also not a problem. Thanks to built-in light sensors, it adapts to the existing light conditions and regulates the picture accordingly. One criticism would be that it can have problems overcoming glare in extremely sunny or very bright rooms, but positioning it correctly in the room can prevent this problem, which admittedly only occurs in the rarest of cases. HDRHigh Dynamic Range – image/video with more dynamic range (contrast range) content looks fantastic due to the OLED panel and wide color gamut, and Dolby VisionDynamic HDR-format with a color depth of up to 12 Bits and Mastering of up to 10,000 Nits is also supported, so the A80J has no shortcomings in this area either.

With a response time of 1ms and a 120Hz panel, the Sony A80J has first-class motion handling with hardly any motion blur visible. The Black Frame InsertionProcess that inserts black “blank images” as intermediate images. This makes movements appear finer and clearer. feature, which packs black frames between the images, minimizes this motion blur even more. The Cognitive Processor XR with XR Motion Clarity also evaluates content and ensures clear images. Even judder can be removed from all sources. However, such a low response time also has a certain disadvantage. Stutters can occur when the camera moves slowly.

The two HDMI 2.1 interfaces available and also Dolby VisionDynamic HDR-format with a color depth of up to 12 Bits and Mastering of up to 10,000 Nits, coupled with the superbly low input lag of less than 9 ms for 4k @ 120Hz content, which is even lower than that of the spotlighted A90J, makes the A80J an excellent choice for gaming on the latest consoles, namely Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Apart from that, the picture quality is so good that even the aforementioned latest consoles can be used to their full potential. Add to that the almost instantaneous response time and the excellent contrast ratio, and you have a great choice for gaming. In addition, there is an analog video input on the A80J that allows you to connect and enjoy retro consoles like the Nintendo 64.

The A80J’s sound is excellent, making it one of the few TVs that can produce good sound without a soundbar. The screen of the Sony A80J also functions as a speaker and can imitate 3D surround sound that you feel is all around you, without ceiling speakers. However, Sony goes one step further with Acoustic Auto Calibration, which allows the TV to recognize where the viewer is sitting and then adjusts the sound to the room. Furthermore, the OLED TV has the almost usual features like Dolby AtmosObject-based surround sound format with 3D-Sound from any direction, DTSMulti-channel-sound-system (Surround Sound) competing with Dolby Digital or the HDMI eARC interface, which are of course available here.

The Sony A80J also offers everything the heart desires in terms of smart TV. The operating system this year is Google TV, which replaces Android TV, although this is more of a rebranding. The usual large app store is still available, and you can choose from a variety of apps. The remote control can be used to control several devices at the same time, which facilitates the handling of the smart home. The voice control via the integrated Google Voice Assistant can be extended with an external Amazon Alexa device. In addition, the Sony A80J is compatible with Apple AirPlay 2 and Apple HomeKit. Furthermore, a Tripple Twin tuner has been implemented, which allows you to record and watch your favorite movie at the same time.