Sony BRAVIA 9 K85XR90 85"

The brightest, most glare-defying Mini-LED we've tested, now at a friendlier price. Junk speakers are still the main buzzkill, but reliability fears have faded and owner love is loud.

What surprised us most wasn't just the eye-searing peak brightness—it's how Sony's XR processor handles upscaling. Streaming a compressed 1080p feed from an old Blu-ray felt crisp and nearly native, something budget brands fumble. On the flip side, the built-in 2.2.2-channel speakers are a letdown; they sound thin and hollow, which feels odd given that audio score lands in the 97th percentile in our database. You'll definitely want at least a soundbar.

The field has gotten crowded, and that's great for you. Samsung's Neo QLED QN900F pushes 8K resolution and matches the BRAVIA 9's brightness, but Sony's anti-glare and motion processing still win for sports. The LG OLED evo G5 is the dark-room king with perfect blacks and a new AI processor that upscales brilliantly—if you control your light, go LG. On the budget side, the TCL QM7K and Hisense U8 now deliver shockingly good Mini-LED performance for half the price, though their processing and off-angle viewing can't touch Sony's polish. The BRAVIA 9 sits in a sweet spot: premium enough to outclass the value brands, bright enough to make OLED owners jealous during daytime viewing.

Pricing has finally started to make sense. You'll spot this set anywhere from $2,005 to an absurd $60,000—so no, that second number isn't a typo, it's just some seller smoking something. The real sweet spot is now around $2,800 from reputable retailers, which is a solid drop from launch. At that price, you're getting an elite bright-room warrior that's far cheaper than a high-end 83-inch OLED. Is it worth it? If you need a massive screen and battle harsh daylight daily, absolutely. Just don't pay a cent over $3,200.

The Sony BRAVIA 9 is the Mini-LED TV you buy when sunlight is winning the war against your screen. This 85-inch beast cranks brightness to levels that make HDR pop even in a sun-drenched living room, and its anti-reflection coating is no joke. The one thing to know? It's the closest a non-OLED has come to stealing OLED's crown for overall picture punch, but that flagship price and a few reliability question marks mean you should read the fine print before swiping your card.

If you watch in a pitch-black room and crave infinite contrast, this isn't your set—LG's OLED evo G5 will give you deeper blacks and better shadow detail for a similar price. And if you're just after a big, bright Mini-LED on a budget, the TCL QM7K or Hisense U8 get you 85% of the performance for half the cost.

The Sony BRAVIA 9 is the undisputed champ of bright-room TVs right now, and dropping prices make it easier to recommend than ever. It fixes the biggest Mini-LED weaknesses—blooming and off-angle washing out—with class, and the Google TV experience is slick. Early reliability concerns seem to have quieted down as firmware updates rolled out, and current owner sentiment is strong. That said, buy from a store with a no-hassle return policy just in case. And seriously, set aside a couple hundred bucks for a soundbar. If you do that, you'll own one of the most impressive home theater displays money can buy.