Sony’s flagship RGB LED TV is amazing

The Sony Bravia 9 II is the most anticipated new TV in years. It is an amazing RGB LED TV. I looked Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on the new Bravia with my son, who has been playing the game but had never seen the video. The scenery of Faerûn looked natural and real, while the magic created by the Red Wizards of Thay was vivid and beautiful. The best scenes in HDR are very popular. I saw Xenk’s shining sword as he fought in the Underdark Honor Among Thievesand an explosion as Furiosa flees through the desert Mad Max: Fury Road with the sun shining through the waves The Me.

The Bravia 7 II I reviewed in May it was already an impressive RGB LED TV. The Bravia 9 II has a smaller display area and screen, and is 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 the Sony Bravia 9 II flagship worth the extra money?

Sony has shown the first demonstration of its RGB LED backlight technology at their headquarters in Tokyo in early 2025, and even then, it was impressive. Every time there’s new display technology, Sony’s flagship TVs are the best, thanks in part to the company’s pioneering development and upgrades. The Bravia 8 II is the latest in Sony’s high-end QD-OLED TV series, and the original Bravia 9 was great mini-LED when it was launched in 2024. So with RGB LED TVs the main TV story of 2026, expectations are high for Bravia 9 II.

Like the Bravia 7 II (and many other high-end TVs this year), the Bravia 9 II uses RGB LEDs for its lighting. Instead of the blue light that LED TVs have used for years, they have groups of red, green, and blue LEDs that combine their light to produce more colors than blue LED TVs can.

The Bravia 9 II has the same processor as the 7 II. Both have the same lenticular shape – the coolest TV stand I’ve seen in a long time – and both have HDMI 2.1 on their four ports alone. Maybe next year Sony will catch up and finally offer four HDMI 2.1 ports.

The Bravia 9 II is also as good or better than the 7 II in grayscale and color reproduction (although it has the same problem in SDR mode with reds that are more saturated and not as bright as they should be). In Professional mode, the TV’s gamma tracking and EOTF are better than the 7 II, so shadows are detailed and images have decent depth. Colors like sky blue, leaves, and especially skin look great. And even though the grays try (and look) a little blue, I haven’t had a problem with it in anything I’ve watched.

Bravia 9 II can get light: I tested the brightness in HDR at 3,800 nits, with a full-field white screen at 885. The Bravia 7 II topped out at 2,200 nits for brightness, though it has the same brightness at 848 nits. So in all but the most obvious ways, the two Sony RGB LED TVs have virtually identical brightness. There are TVs that are bright – such as the TCL X11L – but with most of them out there, the 9 II is very bright with HDR and SDR (if you change it from its default in Professional mode, which is designed for viewing in a dark room, or change to Cinema mode for a little more accuracy).

Image processing algorithms also improve the use of light and color and help differentiate Sony’s picture quality from other TVs. With the curtains open and sunlight streaming through the windows, I watched a few World Cup games from the ATSC 3.0 antenna, and the Bravia 9 II’s image was easy to see.

In addition to photography, there are other things that distinguish the Bravia 9 II from the 7 II.

The most obvious upgrade is the anti-reflection screen, which is the best I’ve seen. Bright lights or windows are reduced to such a dim light that it is very difficult to see anything when playing on the TV. Even when the TV is turned off, the lighting fixtures do not attract my attention. The effect affects your posture, but it doesn’t bother you until you are about 70 degrees off-axis, which is the best angle for watching TV, even with a large group of friends.

It also has fewer parts than the 7 II. The smaller sections allow better control of the transition of the backlight from the light to the dark areas of the screen, and often result in less flare (where the bright light comes out of the darkness next to it). This is especially true of the Bravia 9 II. From a straight, or slightly wider angle, the 9 II performs very well. There is a slight glow around the small voices or a very thin fog around the fireworks. The spread was a bit too bright at the end of my 8-foot couch, but it’s better than the Bravia 7 II or other RGB LED TVs (though not better than TCL X11L mini-LED TV). It’s still LED TV, and there will always be blooms.

As I stood a little closer to my couch, the coverage grew — and not just around the base. I saw whites and coloreds coming out of adjacent colors. Apple TV has a Peanuts screen saver, which usually features Snoopy doing things around his house. On the other hand, I could see the white from his body reaching behind the yellow. I wouldn’t say that the Bravia 9 II is especially for large groups, since friends on one side look different than those in the middle. This is not something I remember seeing on the Bravia 7 II, and since the power distribution is from the axis, I wonder if it has to do with the anti-glare coating on the screen.

Despite these minor issues, there is no question that the Sony Bravia 9 II is the best RGB LED TV available. Its color accuracy, high brightness output, and anti-glare screen make this TV perfect for a bright room. But the 65-inch model I had for review, which is the smallest size available, is $3,600, while the Bravia 7 II is $2,600 for 65 inches, and is available in sizes as small as 50 inches. Even the 65-inch Sony Bravia 8 II OLED is $3,000.

I loved my time with the Sony Bravia 9 II, and I’m sure everyone will enjoy having it in their home. Even so, there are some TVs that I like, even within the Sony line. The Bravia 8 II, which gives you the pixel-level control that only OLED can bring, would be my first choice. Contrast is still king in our eyes, and OLED still leads in that category. If you really want an RGB LED TV and don’t want to splurge on the 9 II, the Bravia 7 II gives you a lot of options (without the cringe-worthy screen). One use case where the Bravia 9 II excels is in areas where lighting is a major concern. There is no denying that the Bravia 9 II is the ultimate in LED TV performance. But I still recommend OLED for most people.

Photography by John Higgins/The Verge