Sony X95K Review and Comparison to ZF9 Master Series

Is the Sony XR-75X95K worthy of a Master Series title?

Pros:

Very high peak brightness
Minimal blooming
Excellent build quality and classy design
Fantastic colours

Cons:

Does not support 1440p input
Having to switch HDMI signal formats
Centre speaker terminals would have been nice given the price

The Sony X95K is Sony’s flagship 4k LCD TV, and along with the Z9K, it is Sony’s first venture into mini LED. However, it does not come with the Master Series title which the Z9K has. Having lived with the ZF9 Master Series for four years, I have been blown away by Sony’s flagship image quality, and the X95K delivers on this and even surpasses my expectations in some areas.

Design and Build Quality 9/10:
I upgraded from a 65-inch ZF9 to a 75-inch X95K. The first thing I noticed when unboxing the ZF9 was its build quality, and the same was true for the X95K. Previously, I thought this level of build quality was reserved for the Master Series line, however, the X95K is very well made with metal accents and a nice grid pattern on the back. The feet are also heavy and can be placed in three positions. Overall, I would say the ZF9 is slightly better than the X95K, but the difference is marginal.

UI and Operating System 8/10:

The operating system is Google TV, which works well and is snappy. The main streaming apps can all be downloaded from the Google Play Store. The only annoying thing is the recommendations which can be turned off when you put the TV in app only mode.

Features 8/10:
The TV has 2x 2.1 HDMI outputs and 2x 2.0 outputs. The annoying thing is you have to set the signal formats to either Dolby Vision or 120hz/VRR. This is particularly irritating as even with a 120hz AV receiver, if you had a PS5 and a Dolby Vision Blu-ray player connected to your AV receiver, you would have to change the signal format depending on what you want to watch. My workaround was to connect the PS5 to HDMI 4 and the AV receiver with eARC and Blu-ray player to HDMI 3. The X95K comes with Bravia Core, a streaming service that rivals the quality of 4K Blu-ray. I can confirm the quality is excellent; however, you will need fast internet. Most TVs only come with 100mbps LAN ports; to get around this and use the full 550mbps I have, I used an Ethernet to USB adapter such as the one in the link. The TV comes with Google Assistant and built-in mics, which also have a manual off switch.

Picture Quality 10/10:
Coming from the ZF9, I was sceptical as to how much better the X95K could be, especially as I was amazed by the brightness and colour accuracy of the TV. However, in every way, the X95K blows the ZF9 out of the water. The first dramatic change is the image processor. The XR cognitive processor, in my opinion, is superior to anything else on the market, a huge upgrade to the already excellent X1 Ultimate in the ZF9. It gives a level of depth that has to be seen to be completely understood, but it almost makes the picture look 3D.
The next is the peak brightness; it’s almost blinding. I thought the ZF9 was bright, but the X95K easily hits 2000nit, and when watching HDR content with bright highlights, the X95K really shines. It’s perfect for gaming and sports in a bright room.

Sony’s Backlight Master Drive has returned with the X95K (and Z9K), and it is leaps and bounds better than the local dimming in the ZF9, which I thought was good anyway. There is only a small amount of blooming, and you really have to be looking for it to see it. I counted nearly 600 dimming zones on the X95K, but the way Sony implements them makes this TV a huge argument against OLED.

Colours are also excellent on this TV, accurate, bright, and vibrant. I was watching Dunkirk on 4K Blu-ray (a film I’ve seen many times on the ZF9), and I felt like I was watching it for the first time when I put it on the X95K. The details and colours really popped, not in an inaccurate way, but there was so much nuance to the image. The advantage over OLED is that the X95K has so much brightness available; it’s like looking out of a window. Dirty screen effect is non-existent on my particular panel, which was the same for the ZF9.
For gaming this TV is also excellent as local dimming works at 120Hz with VRR enabled. Colours were punchy and there was no black crush which some OLEDs suffer from in darker games. There is no support for Dolby Vision at 120hz but as I have a PS5 this is not something I care about. Input lag was unnoticeable.

Sound 8/10:
For TV speakers, the X95K sounds pretty good; however, picture quality this good deserves the sound to match. The TV does support a mode where the TV speaker can be used as a centre channel for a soundbar or AV receiver; however, this requires a compatible Sony receiver (such as the Sony TA-AN1000) or soundbar. Unfortunately, unlike the newer Master Series TVs, there are no speaker terminals. This would have been a welcomed addition as it would allow you to use the TV speaker as a centre channel with any AV receiver (such as my current Sony STR-DH790).

Conclusion 9/10:
Overall, the X95K is spectacular, and while it doesn’t get the title of Master Series, the picture quality certainly deserves that title. This would be my first pick in TV after the Sony Z9K or Z9J; however, both of those are considerably more expensive. The specs are very similar to the X93L (X95L in the UK); therefore, I would expect similar if not better image quality. The picture quality is the show stopper here and I would highly recommend this TV to anyone. I would argue it is one of if not the best TV I have ever seen.

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USB to ethernet adapter – https://amzn.to/3POCnuj

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Nvidia Shield TV Pro – https://amzn.to/46hTE4y

Sony X95K

Sony XR-65X95K – https://amzn.to/3ER1x5y

Sony XR-75X95K – https://amzn.to/48uNSOT

If X95K is unavailable, the newer version is Sony X95L

XR-65X95L – https://amzn.to/3Rz257E

XR-85X95L – https://amzn.to/3PupGUb