Sony BRAVIA 9 II K85XR90M2 84.6"

The Sony BRAVIA 9 II is an 85-inch Mini-LED powerhouse with best-in-class built-in audio and excellent reflection handling. Its True RGB backlight delivers rich, accurate color that holds up in bright rooms. Prices range from $4,225 to $6,500, so shop around. It's the ideal living room flagship for cinephiles who don't want a separate sound system, but dark-room purists should look at OLED instead.

The picture quality here is driven by that Backlight Master Drive Pro. By controlling red, green, and blue LEDs independently, the TV achieves a color volume that's hard to beat. Our display score puts it in the 83rd percentile, which translates to a leading performance in a well-lit room. The anti-glare screen does heavy lifting, keeping reflections at bay during daytime sports. HDR performance is solid, landing in the 76th percentile. Dolby Vision content looks punchy and nuanced, though it doesn't quite hit the absolute peak brightness of some competing Mini-LED sets from Samsung.

Where this TV really flexes is audio. Scoring in the 99th percentile is no joke. The Acoustic Multi-Audio+ system uses frame tweeters to position sound vertically, so dialogue feels anchored to the actors' mouths. It supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and the low-end has actual weight to it. For a living room setup where a full surround system isn't practical, this is about as good as built-in TV sound gets. The Cognitive Processor XR also does a nice job upmixing stereo content, making older shows feel more spacious without sounding artificial.

The Samsung Neo QLED QN900F is the most direct rival. Samsung's Mini-LEDs tend to push higher peak brightness, which makes HDR highlights pop more aggressively. But Samsung stubbornly refuses to support Dolby Vision, sticking with HDR10+. If you watch a lot of Dolby Vision content on Netflix or Apple TV, the Sony has a clear advantage. Samsung also packs more gaming features, including a 144Hz panel on some models, so twitchy gamers might lean that way.

Then there's the LG G5 Series OLED. It's a completely different technology. You get perfect blacks and pixel-level contrast that no Mini-LED can match, but you sacrifice brightness and risk burn-in over time. The LG is a better choice for a dedicated, light-controlled theater room. The Sony is the better living room TV. Further down the price ladder, the TCL QM7K and Hisense U7 offer shockingly good Mini-LED performance for less than half the price. You lose the Sony's processing finesse and that incredible audio, but the value proposition from TCL and Hisense is getting harder to ignore every year.

Value is a tricky conversation with the BRAVIA 9 II because the price spread is massive. We're seeing it listed anywhere from $4,225 to $6,500 across vendors. At the lower end of that range, you're getting a genuinely premium Mini-LED experience with audio that saves you a few hundred bucks on a soundbar. That starts to look like a reasonable deal for an 85-inch flagship. At the upper end, you're creeping into territory where you could buy a high-end OLED from LG and still have cash left over for a proper surround system.

Compared to the competition, the Samsung Neo QLED QN900F will likely beat it on peak brightness and gaming features, often at a similar price. The LG G5 OLED will offer perfect blacks and better viewing angles, though it won't get as bright. If you're shopping this set, hunt for the lower end of that price range. Paying $6,500 for this TV is a tough sell when the same money buys a lot more screen or a much better audio setup elsewhere.

Sony's BRAVIA 9 II is the kind of TV that makes you want to rewatch your entire movie collection. This 85-inch monster uses a True RGB Mini-LED backlight, which is a fancy way of saying it has individual red, green, and blue LEDs behind the screen instead of just white ones. The result is color that feels richer and more accurate right out of the box, without the usual processing tricks. It's clearly aimed at the home theater enthusiast who wants something that rivals OLED in a bright room, and our database shows it absolutely crushes it for corporate presentations and sports, scoring 83.2 and 82.4 respectively.

This set is built around Sony's Cognitive Processor XR, which tries to mimic how your eyes and ears focus on a scene. It's not just marketing fluff. The audio system is a standout, landing in the 99th percentile of all TVs we've tracked. With 80 watts pumping through eight channels, including beam tweeters, the sound actually seems to come from the right place on screen. You could skip a soundbar for casual viewing, which is rare for a flat panel. The connectivity is also top-tier, with Wi-Fi 6E and four HDMI ports, two of which are full-fat HDMI 2.1.

But let's be real about who this is for. This is a flagship TV with a flagship price, ranging from $4,225 to $6,500 depending on where you look. It's not for the casual streamer who just wants a big screen for Netflix. This is for someone who notices crushed blacks, who tweaks motion settings, and who wants a TV that makes a PS5 sing. The 120Hz native panel with VRR and ALLM puts it in the 75th percentile for gaming, which is strong, though hardcore competitive gamers might still prefer a dedicated monitor.

If you're a competitive gamer chasing the lowest input lag and highest refresh rates, this isn't your TV. The 120Hz panel is fine, but some Samsung sets offer 144Hz and more aggressive gaming modes. You'd be paying a premium for audio and processing features you won't use. Look at a Samsung Neo QLED or a dedicated gaming monitor instead.

Also, if you're on a tighter budget, skip this. The TCL QM7K and Hisense U7 Series deliver shockingly good Mini-LED performance for well under $2,000. You lose the Sony's refined processing and that incredible audio, but you keep the big screen and most of the HDR punch. The BRAVIA 9 II is a luxury purchase, and there's no shame in admitting it's overkill for a lot of living rooms.

If you want a massive, bright TV for a family room where lights are on and windows are open, the BRAVIA 9 II is one of the best options on the market. The anti-glare screen and punchy Mini-LED backlight mean you're not squinting during daytime sports or losing shadow detail in a bright room. And the audio is genuinely good enough that you can hold off on a soundbar, which simplifies your setup and saves money. It's a premium, all-in-one solution that just works.

But if you have a dedicated dark theater room, go OLED. The LG G5 will give you better contrast and a more cinematic image in controlled lighting. And if you're just looking for a big screen at a good price, the TCL QM7K gets you 80% of the way there for less than half the cost. The Sony is for people who want the best processing, the best built-in sound, and a TV that fights glare without breaking a sweat. Just make sure you find it at the lower end of that price range.