Stuff - UK (2021-08)

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TESTED SONY XR-55A90J

4

GOOD

MEH

EVIL

Bit chunky

for hanging

on a wall

Picture is

superb in

every way

Nice new

Google TV

interface...

Effective

sound

system

Not cheap

compared

to rivals

[^ W

or

ds

S

im

on

Lu

ca

s^ ]

The firm has given its 2021

flagship OLED some fancy

feet, a slick processor and

a new smart TV platform...

and priced it well above

most of the competition

There’s nothing groundbreaking

about what Sony’s trying to do

with its new XR-A90J range of

4K HDR OLED tellies.

Like every other TV maker

that takes things seriously, it’s

shooting for great picture quality,

an intuitive smart TV portal,

sound the right side of ugly,

a bit of style and a solid build.

Looks simple, doesn’t it?

But this is a competitive market

and getting more cut-throat all

the time. So can Sony possibly

meet all those criteria to the point

that the XR-55A90J justifies its

hefty asking price?

The 55in version we’re testing

can be yours for £2699. Yes, that

is expensive for a set this size.

But from the panel itself, via the

picture-processing engine to the

height-adjustable feet, this TV

is the result of rigorous thinking

and engineering.

Only problem is, they were

thinking so hard that somebody

forgot to add the UK catch-up

services. No, we’re not kidding.

£2699 / stuff.tv/A90J

The Sony way is up

70

Feet surrender

If the depth deters you from

hanging it on the wall, at least

its feet earn their keep. In their

first position (2), the bottom of

the screen is mere nanometres

from the surface it’s standing on,

while in position two they raise

it high enough to accommodate

a soundbar.

Screen and shout

Sony has tried hard to eradicate

the need for a soundbar, though.

Those rear-firing drivers support

its Acoustic Surface Audio+ tech,

which turns the screen surface

into a speaker (3). Sony has even

added speaker connections so it

can be used as a surround-sound

centre channel.

Bassline chunky

Physically, it’s one of those ‘slim

yet not slim’ OLEDs we’re still a

little disappointed by (1). There’s

a brief portion that’s 6mm deep,

but the majority of the chassis is

a much less exciting 41mm thick

in order to house the electronics,

the inputs and two rear-firing

low-frequency speakers.

...but no

catch-up

TV (yet)