Sony A80J OLED Review (XR-55A80J, XR-65A80J, XR-77A80J) (2024)

Curved No

The design is similar to the Sony A90J OLED, except for the back panel, which features a grid-like pattern. It's a sleek TV that'll stand out in any living room.

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After ten months, the Sony Bravia XR A80J has permanent image retention that is visible with every color, and most visible on a 50% gray screen. You can even make out the CNN horizontal news ticker bar at the bottom.

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Wall Mount VESA 300x300

The panel and feet are made of metal, while the rest of the back is textured plastic with diagonal grooves in a grid pattern. It looks good, but aside from the cable tie included in the box, which we didn't use, there's no cable management. Some of the inputs face to the side, and they're easy to access, but most of them face down and aren't easy to reach if you wall-mount the TV.

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Borders 0.35" (0.9 cm)

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Max Thickness 2.09" (5.3 cm)

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The Sony Bravia XR A80J feels superbly well-built. The materials feel premium, and it's very sturdy with no wobble. There's a bit of flex to the plastic back, mostly on the sides, but overall, it feels very solidly put together.

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Contrast

Native Contrast

Thanks to its self-lit pixels, the Sony A80J has a near-infinite contrast ratio with perfect black levels. It's ideal for watching movies in dark rooms.

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Since the TV uses self-emissive OLED technology, there's absolutely no blooming around bright highlights or subtitles in otherwise dark scenes.

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Local Dimming

Backlight

Dimming Zones Count Of Tested TV

The panel doesn't have a backlight, but thanks to its nearly infinite contrast ratio, it has the equivalent of a perfect local dimming feature with no zone transitions. We still film the zone transition video on the TV so you can see how the screen performs and compare it with a TV that has local dimming.

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There's no difference in dark scene behavior between the calibrated picture modes and Game Mode.

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Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)

Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)

Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)

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Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)

Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)

Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)

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Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

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Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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600 Nit Tracking Delta

1000 Nit Tracking Delta

4000 Nit Tracking Delta

Like most Sony TVs, the Sony Bravia XR A80J has incredible PQ EOTF tracking. The vast majority of content is displayed at the exact brightness level the content creator intended. There's a very smooth roll-off near the TV's peak brightness, preserving fine details in bright areas of the screen.

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Real Scene Peak Brightness

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

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Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

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Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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Wide Color Gamut

DCI P3 xy

DCI P3 uv

Rec 2020 xy

Rec 2020 uv

The Sony A80J has an excellent color gamut. It has full coverage of the DCI-P3 color space used in most HDR content and decent coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space. It tone maps well in both color spaces, ensuring fine details are preserved in saturated scenes.

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1,000 cd/m² DCI P3 Coverage ITP

10,000 cd/m² Rec 2020 Coverage ITP

White Luminance

Red Luminance

Green Luminance

Blue Luminance

Cyan Luminance

Magenta Luminance

Yellow Luminance

The color volume is good. It has trouble with colors at higher luminance levels due to its limited brightness, but it displays dark saturated colors well, thanks to its near-infinite contrast ratio.

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White Balance dE

Color dE

Gamma

Color Temperature

Picture Mode

Color Temp Setting

Gamma Setting

With just a few quick settings changes out-of-the-box, the Sony A80J OLED has excellent accuracy. The white balance and color inaccuracies are minor and are hard to spot with the naked eye. Gamma is great, but it doesn't quite follow the 2.2 target, so a few scenes are either over-brightened or too dark. Also, its color temperature is on the cold side, giving the image a slightly blue tint.

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White Balance dE

Color dE

Gamma

Color Temperature

White Balance Calibration

Color Calibration

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50% Std. Dev.

50% DSE

5% Std. Dev.

5% DSE

The Sony A80J has excellent gray uniformity. The screen is very uniform, with practically no dirty screen effect. Near-dark scenes look fantastic, with no noticeable issues.

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Std. Dev.

Native Std. Dev.

Like all OLEDs, the Sony A80J can completely turn off individual pixels to achieve perfect black uniformity, with no cloudiness present at all.

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Color Washout

Color Shift

Brightness Loss

Black Level Raise

Gamma Shift

The Sony Bravia XR A80J has a great viewing angle. The image looks consistent when viewed from the sides, which is great for accommodating more people or wide seating arrangements.

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Screen Finish

Total Reflections

Indirect Reflections

Calculated Direct Reflections

The Sony A80J has a slightly matte finish, unlike the Sony A90J OLED. The reflections are duller but more widely diffused than on a typical glossy screen. The reflection handling is still superb overall, meaning glare is not an issue in most rooms, but placing it directly opposite a window or light source isn't a good idea because it doesn't get bright enough to fight off intense light. The 77-inch version has a glossy finish, which handles light differently, resulting in less indirect reflections as bright lights aren't diffused across the screen as much.

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100% Black to 50% Gray

50% Gray to 100% White

100% Black to 50% Red

50% Red to 100% Red

100% Black to 50% Green

50% Green to 100% Green

100% Black to 50% Blue

50% Blue to 100% Blue

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Smoothing

Detail Preservation

The Sony A80J has excellent low-quality content processing. It's very effective at smoothing out macro-blocking and pixelization when streaming content, with very little loss of fine details.

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Subpixel Layout

Type OLED

Sub-Type

The Sony Bravia XR A80J uses a WRGB sub-pixel layout, where all four subpixels are never lit simultaneously. You can see some of the blue sub-pixels lit up in this photo.

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80% Response Time

100% Response Time

The Sony A80J has a near-instantaneous response time, so motion looks exceptionally clear with minimal blur trail behind fast-moving objects. Unfortunately, due to the sample-and-hold nature of OLED technology, there's still some noticeable persistence blur.

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Flicker-Free

PWM Dimming Frequency

The Sony A80J isn't completely flicker-free; the slight dip in brightness you see in the chart every 8ms is due to the TV's 120Hz refresh rate, which isn't noticeable.

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Optional BFI

Min Flicker For 60 fps

60Hz For 60 fps

120Hz For 120 fps

Min Flicker for 60 fps in Game Mode

The Sony A80CJ has a black frame insertion feature to try to improve the appearance of motion. It can flicker at 60Hz or 120Hz; the photo above is with the 60Hz flicker, and you can see the 120Hz flicker here.

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Motion Interpolation (30 fps)

Motion Interpolation (60 fps)

The TV can interpolate lower frame rate content up to 120fps to make motion look smoother, which is also known as the 'Soap Opera Effect'. It performs fine during slower scenes, but there's a fair number of artifacts in busier scenes or panning shots.

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Frame Hold Time @ 24 fps

Frame Hold Time @ 60 fps

As the TV has a near-instantaneous response time, lower-frame-rate content appears to stutter because each frame is static on the screen for a long period.

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Judder-Free 24p

Judder-Free 24p via 60p

Judder-Free 24p via 60i

Judder-Free 24p via Native Apps

The Sony A80CJ removes 24p judder from any source, which helps with the appearance of motion in movies. There are different settings needed for native apps and 60p/i sources, which you can learn about here.

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Native Refresh Rate

Variable Refresh Rate

HDMI Forum VRR

FreeSync

G-SYNC Compatible

4k VRR Maximum

4k VRR Minimum

1080p VRR Maximum

1080p VRR Minimum

1440p VRR Maximum

1440p VRR Minimum

VRR + Local Dimming No Local Dimming

The Sony A80J supports variable refresh rate technology to reduce screen tearing. It works without issue on the Xbox Series X and PS5 for a tear-free gaming experience. It's also G-SYNC compatible, but there are some issues with it. It's tear-free with 4k @ 120Hz signals from the NVIDIA RTX 3060 graphics card, but the screen flickered black at times like the Sony A90J OLED. Still, there wasn't any screen tearing in Destiny 2 with a 4k @ 120Hz signal, so it does its job at reducing screen tearing when it works properly.

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1080p @ 60Hz

1080p @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode

1080p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 144Hz

1440p @ 60Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1440p @ 144Hz

4k @ 60Hz

4k @ 60Hz + 10-Bit HDR

4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode

4k @ 60Hz With Interpolation

4k @ 120Hz

4k @ 144Hz

8k @ 60Hz

The Sony A80J has a low input lag, although it's slightly higher than competing high-end models, and it's much higher at 60Hz than it is at 120Hz.

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Resolution 4k

480p @ 59.94Hz (Widescreen)

720p @ 59.94Hz

1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

1080p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 144Hz

1440p @ 60Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1440p @ 144Hz

4k @ 60Hz

4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 120Hz

4k @ 120Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 144Hz

8k @ 30Hz or 24Hz

8k @ 60Hz

The Sony A80CJ supports most resolutions, including proper 4k @ 120Hz. Unfortunately, the TV can't do 1440p @ 120Hz. Chroma 4:4:4 is displayed properly with 1080p and 4k resolutions, which is important for clear text from a PC.

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Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)

4k @ 120Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 120Hz

HDR

VRR

The Sony A80J OLED has good compatibility with the PS5. 1440p doesn't work, but other than that, it's a great choice for PS5 gamers.

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Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)

4k @ 120Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 120Hz

HDR

VRR

The Sony A80J supports most resolutions on the Xbox Series X. It can't do 4k @ 120Hz on the Xbox while 'Enhanced Format (Dolby Vision)' is enabled, so you either have to choose between 4k @ 120Hz games without Dolby Vision or 4k @ 60Hz with it.

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HDR10

HDR10+

Dolby Vision

HLG

HDMI 2.0 Full Bandwidth

HDMI 2.1 Class Bandwidth

CEC Yes

HDCP 2.2 Yes (HDMI 1,2,3,4)

ATSC Tuner

USB 3.0

Variable Analog Audio Out Yes

Wi-Fi Support Yes (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz)

HDMI ports 3 and 4 support the full 48 Gbps bandwidth of HDMI 2.1, while HDMI 1 and 2 are limited to HDMI 2.0 bandwidth. However, because HDMI 3 is also the eARC port, you lose an HDMI 2.1 slot if you connect a receiver, so you can't use HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on multiple devices simultaneously.

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HDMI 4

USB 3

Digital Optical Audio Out 1

Analog Audio Out 3.5mm 1

Analog Audio Out RCA 0

Component In 0

Composite In 1 (adapter required, not incl.)

Tuner (Cable/Ant) 1

Ethernet 1

DisplayPort 0

IR In 1

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ARC/eARC Port

eARC: Dolby Atmos Over Dolby Digital Plus

eARC: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1

eARC: LPCM 7.1 Over Dolby MAT

eARC: Dolby TrueHD 7.1

eARC: DTS:X Over DTS-HD MA

eARC: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1

eARC: LPCM Channels (Bitstream)

ARC: Dolby Digital 5.1

ARC: DTS 5.1

Optical: Dolby Digital 5.1

Optical: DTS 5.1

This Sony A80J supports enhanced audio return, or eARC, which allows you to pass high quality, lossless audio formats from connected devices through to your home theater receiver or soundbar.

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Low-Frequency Extension

Std. Dev. @ 70

Std. Dev. @ 80

Std. Dev. @ Max

Max

Dynamic Range Compression

The Sony A80J has good built-in speakers, noticeably better than the Sony A90J OLED, especially concerning bass, which sounds significantly punchier. Overall, the sound profile is well-balanced at moderate volume levels. At max volume, the sound loses its balance because bass and midrange frequencies overpower treble, which makes dialogue difficult to understand

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Weighted THD @ 80

Weighted THD @ Max

IMD @ 80

IMD @ Max

There's a lot of distortion at the TV's max volume, but it's much better at moderate volume levels.

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Smart OS Google TV

Version 10

Ease of Use

Smoothness

Time Taken to Select YouTube

Time Taken to Change Backlight

Advanced Options

Like the Sony A90J OLED and other 2021 Sony TVs, the A80J runs on Google TV, which replaces Android TV. It's a little more streamlined than Android and runs smoothly.

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Ads

Opt-out

Suggested Content in Home

Opt-out of Suggested Content

Google TV includes ads on the home page and app store. While you can opt out of ad personalization, you can't opt out of getting ads or suggested content.

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App Selection

App Smoothness

Cast Capable

USB Drive Playback

USB Drive HDR Playback

HDR in Netflix

HDR in YouTube

The Google Play Store has tons of apps available to download, and they run very smoothly. It has Google Chromecast built-in, meaning you can cast content from your phone.

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Size

Voice Control

CEC Menu Control

Other Smart Features

Remote App Android TV

The Sony A80J comes with a similar remote to the Sony A90J OLED, but it doesn't have backlighting and comes in a black finish instead of silver. It has shortcut keys, and you can use it as a universal remote.

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There's a single button on the back left side of the TV, which you can use to change channels and inputs, adjust volume, and power the TV On/Off.

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Power Consumption 99 W

Power Consumption (Max) 172 W

Firmware PKG6.3628.0454NAA

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