Sony KD-65X9305C – 3D Picture Quality

The KD-65X9305C puts its large 65-inch screen, potent colours and high levels of brightness to good use with 3D sources, making them look almost as punchy and vibrant as 2D images – despite the shuttering effect of the active 3D glasses.

Detail levels in the 3D image are high – using an active, rather than passive, 3D system requires HD 3D Blu-rays to be upscaled to the screen’s 4K resolution – and sharpness isn’t reduced much or often by crosstalk ghosting noise.

Related: Best 4K TVs 2015

The merely solid black level performance means that dark 3D scenes don’t enjoy quite the sense of depth they do on the very best LCD TVs. Overall, however, the KD-65X9305C remains a good advert for just how far 3D at home has come in recent times.

Sony KD-65X9305C – Sound Quality

A single word is all that’s needed to sum up how the KD-65X9305C performs here – and that word is “wow”.

The amount of chassis space Sony has devoted to fitting in those magnetic fluid speakers is more than justified by an audio performance of peerless class and power. The dynamic range achieved by the KD-65X9305C’s speakers is far beyond anything you’ll hear from a “normal” LCD TV. So much so that, with the depth of bass, treble clarity and mid-range space it has at its disposal, it’s able to shame some separates systems.

The TV produces a huge soundstage too, boosting the sense of scale already created by the large size of the TV’s images. Perhaps the best way to sum up just how good the KD-65X9305C sounds is that you can even use its speakers to replace a high-quality hi-fi system.

Other Things to Consider

If you’re likely to use the KD-65X9305C as a gaming monitor on occasion, you’ll be
pleased to hear that it suffers with barely 30ms of input lag with all
of its most heavy-duty picture-processing tools turned off. Precious few
TVs get any lower than that, and it means the time it takes the screen
to render images shouldn’t cost you many lives in even the most
reaction-based games.

Should I buy a Sony KD-65X9305C?

If you spend the vast majority of your time watching TV in a fairly bright room then you certainly should consider the KD-65X9305C. Its pictures are dazzlingly detailed and exceptionally vibrant with native 4K sources – and, provided you tame its slight over-enthusiasm out of the box, it’s also exceptionally good at upscaling high-definition sources.

However, even in bright rooms you may sometimes notice light and colour inconsistencies at the picture’s edges.
 
This, and other backlight flaws, may add up to a few distractions too many for AV fans fond of dimming the lights for serious movie watching or gaming sessions.
 
If you’re keen on getting into HDR you need to be aware that, while Sony’s set is capable of revealing HDR’s glories, those glories also emphasise the TV’s backlight limitations.

Verdict

The 65X9305C joins other high-end Sony TVs from this year in advancing the brand’s picture quality cause in some areas – especially colour response, fine detailing and HD upscaling. It also does a good job unlocking the colour and brightness potential of the new HDR format, and sounds better than any other mainstream brand of TV.
 
However, Android TV needs refinement and the TV’s backlight system causes just enough distractions to give serious AV enthusiasts pause for thought.

Trusted Score