Sony Bravia 9 II review: Two-minute review
RGB TVs, called ‘True RGB LED’ here by Sony, are still in their infancy, with RGB regularly touted as the technology that will topple OLED at the top of the TV mountain — and of the few I’ve tested so far, the Sony Bravia 9 II is the one that comes closest to succeeding. It takes everything I liked about the step-down Sony Bravia 7 II (also True RGB LED) and levels it up, including picture quality, sound and gaming performance, all of which are up there with the best TVs of 2026.
The Bravia 9 II’s picture quality is its crowning achievement. It delivers vibrant yet accurate-looking colors which make movies pop, fluid motion that’s great for sports and, with its anti-glare matte screen, it’s perfect for bright-room viewing too. Its most impressive elements, though, are its contrast and reproduction of dark tones, which are arguably the best I’ve seen from a backlit TV — if this is what RGB is capable of now, then expect it to rival the very best OLED TVs. While viewing angles could still be better, and some blooming exists, this is an excellent backlit TV.
The Bravia 9 II’s built-in sound is strong overall. Its speakers deliver remarkable detail, with a good sense of space that fills a room more than most TV speakers, and it delivers clear speech. I did find its bass and low-end lacking however, and it didn’t deliver the power I expected; so while the speakers are good enough that you don’t necessarily need one of the best soundbars, cinephiles may want to invest.
Gaming is another of the Bravia 9 II’s strong suits. It comes with a comprehensive set of features, (though sadly only has two HDMI 2.1 ports out of its four HDMIs available), and delivers great overall performance that handles even the fastest-paced games well.
The Bravia 9 II’s major downside is its price. At $3,599 / £3,499 / AU$5,995 for the 65-inch model I tested, this is one of the most expensive TVs on the market, at around a full $500 / £500 / AU$750-1000 dollars more than both rival OLEDs and other RGB TVs. And prices are unlikely to drop, as Sony doesn’t often discount its TVs, so if you’re looking for the best value you may want to go elsewhere, despite this TV’s excellent performance.
Sony Bravia 9 II review: Prices & release date
- Release date: August 2026
- 65-inch: $3,599.99 / £3,499.99 / AU$5,995
- 75-inch: $4,599.99 / £4,299.99 / AU$7,495
- 85-inch: $6,499.99 / £5,499.99 / AU$9,995
- 115-inch: $30,999.99 / £22,999.99 / AU$44,995
The Bravia 9 II is Sony’s flagship RGB LED TV for 2026, sitting above the Sony Bravia 7 II. It’s available in 65, 75, 85 and 115-inch sizes. The 65-inch model I tested launched for $3,599.99 / £3,499.99 / AU$5,995, putting it at the premium end of the market.
At the time of writing (October 2026), the Bravia 9 II’s prices remain unchanged in the US and UK, but in Australia prices have dropped across the 65-85-inch sizes, with the 65-inch now available for AU$4,795.
Sony Bravia 9 II review: Specs
Screen type: | RGB LED |
Refresh rate: | 120Hz |
HDR support: | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG |
Audio support: | Dolby Atmos, DTS:X |
Smart TV: | Google TV |
HDMI ports: | 4 (2x HDMI 2.1) |
Built-in tuner: | ATSC 1.0 (US) |
Sony Bravia 9 II review: Benchmark results
Brightness Measurements
Taken using a colorimeter and test pattern generator. Click the test name for measurements and select the chosen test from the dropdown menu.
| Product | HDR Filmmaker Mode (10% window) (nits) | HDR Filmmaker Mode (Fullscreen) (nits) |
|---|---|---|
| Sony Bravia 9 II | 4416 | 974 |
| Samsung R95H | 1977 | 612 |
| Sony Bravia 7 II | 1114 | 829 |
Sony Bravia 9 II review: Features
- RGB LED panel
- XR processor with AI features
- Google TV interface
The Bravia 9 II uses an RGB mini-LED panel (dubbed True RGB LED by Sony), which uses red, green and blue mini-LEDs, rather than the standard white you’ll find in regular mini-LED panels, to boost color reproduction.
It uses Sony’s XR Processor, which powers several AI picture features such as XR Clear Image AI for upscaling, as well as XR Motion Clarity, which analyzes movement on screen to produce a clearer, judder-free image.
In terms of HDR support, the Bravia 9 II supports Dolby Vision, but there’s no support for HDR10+. If you’re looking for a TV that supports both you’ll need to look at Hisense, TCL and Philips models. The Bravia 9 II also supports IMAX Enhanced content.
For audio, the Bravia 9 II has an 80W speaker system, consisting of two tweeters, two full-range speakers, two subwoofers and two beam tweeters. Several audio features, such as Voice Zoom 3, Auto Calibration and Acoustic Multi-Audio+, are included. There’s support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X formats too.
The Bravia 9 II has two fully-specced HDMI 2.1 ports set for gaming, with 4K 120Hz, VRR and ALLM support. Perfect For PS5 features are also present, including Auto HDR Tone Mapping and Auto Genre Picture Mode.
Like all Sony TVs, the Bravia 9 II uses Google TV as its smart TV interface. This gives you access to all major apps such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney Plus, and, in the UK, BBC iPlayer and ITVX. Google TV with Gemini is included, which can be controlled hands-free and recommend content.
- Features score: 4.5 / 5
Sony Bravia 9 II review: Picture quality
- Excellent color reproduction
- Accurate, OLED-level blacks
- Some mild blooming off-axis
The Bravia 9 II’s measured brightness is fantastic. In Cinema and Professional mode (the latter is the closest to Filmmaker Mode) it hit 4,180 nits and 4,416 nits peak HDR brightness respectively. This puts it at double what rival flagship RGB TVs like the Samsung R95H hit (1,977 nits in its own Filmmaker Mode).
It also delivers superb fullscreen brightness, hitting 974 nits HDR brightness in Cinema and Professional modes. It even delivers big SDR numbers, hitting 703 nits fullscreen SDR brightness in Standard and 656 nits in Cinema, making it a great choice for broadcast TV in bright rooms.
Speaking of bright rooms, the Bravia 9 II demonstrates much better handling of mirror-like reflections than the step-down Sony Bravia 7 II, which I found quite reflective in our testing lab. When I viewed the Bravia 9 II and Samsung R95H side-by-side, the Bravia 9 II’s own matte screen was seriously effective.
The Bravia 9 II did a good job of upscaling SDR/HD content. Watching videos on YouTube, textures did look sharper, and although it wasn’t to a 4K-level, it was improved. Watching HD movies like Fight Club on Disney Plus, textures looked crisp and contrast was improved.
The Bravia 9 II, also demonstrated excellent picture quality with 4K Blu-ray reference discs. Its color reproduction during The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was gorgeous, with deep, rich colors that really popped on-screen. Any time the Lumas appeared, they had a sense of depth to them, thanks to how bold their colors were.
Colors in live-action content looked similarly great. In Speed Racer, the bold aesthetic of the Racer family home, with orange doors, green and purple walls and yellow furnishings, not only looked vivid to suit the movie’s cartoon-ish nature, but also had a nice accuracy to them.
The Bravia 9 II’s HDR color gamut results were fantastic overall. It clocked 98.6% UHDA-P3 coverage, a number consistent with other mini-LED and OLED TVs, but most impressive was its 86.7% BT.2020 coverage. While I’ve tested higher on some RGB TVs, this puts the Bravia 9 II in line with QD-OLED models.
