Review: Sony A95L OLED

Sony’s A95K TV (9/10, WIRED Recommends) was a breakthrough in picture quality, becoming an instant hit with critics and videophiles everywhere. Part of the first generation of QD-OLED TVs, which marry a layer of quantum dots with a more traditional OLED display to boost brightness and color volume, the A95K and Samsung’s 2022 S95B both helped push OLED technology into a new era of performance.

The A95K’s success made for a pretty daunting follow-up, with TV fanatics everywhere wondering where Sony would take the A95 Master Series next. After spending several days with the A95L, all I can say is: Wow.

Like Samsung’s second-generation QD-OLED, the S95C (8/10, WIRED Recommends), Sony’s A95L raises the bar once again with a sizable punch up in brightness, while its Cognitive Processer XR helps to create unparalleled clarity, contrast, color accuracy, and realism. It’s not cheap, but investment rewards you with a stirring experience that amounts to the best picture performance I’ve encountered.

Sony wisely employs Google TV as its primary operating system, which has become my favorite system not named Roku. It serves as a simple and intuitive command center, starting with the Home app, which whips you through the setup for network connection and streaming apps in just minutes.

Like Roku’s system, things are all the simpler if you’ve used Google TV before, as it calls up the majority of your previous streaming apps and baseline settings. If you use any of Google’s other ubiquitous services, your account helps you do things like auto-sign into select apps or access Google Photos for a cheery ambient backdrop. Sure, Google’s a powerful overlord, but it’s an incredibly convenient one in this case.

You’ll still have to walk through some of Sony’s onboard options—setting up antenna channels was surprisingly slow—but it’s all straightforward, and the interface makes daily use a relative breeze. I did notice Google TV’s performance was laggy at the start, but it seemed to settle in over time as it compiled viewing data, which lets you easily step into movies and shows in progress from any of your apps via the home screen. It’s still a bit slow at loading live TV channels with my HD antenna but otherwise runs smoothly.

The TV supports handy streaming features like Google Cast and AirPlay 2 as well as Google Assistant voice search. The latter is accessible via a microphone on the remote or a built-in onboard microphone, muted by default with a physical switch.

Sony has its own software extras, including a gaming hub that lets you optimize features like VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) for next-gen gaming devices and make adjustments like adding crosshairs or optimizing black levels. The A95L also offers a special Auto Genre Picture Mode for PS5, designed to determine whether you’re gaming or watching a movie and optimize the picture accordingly.

As for picture adjustments, Sony’s unique blend of settings can be daunting at first, but one of the best parts of buying a flagship OLED TV of this caliber is that it doesn’t take much to get it to sing. After choosing the recommended Professional Mode in HDR and SDR, and the default Dolby Vision Bright mode, I made very few adjustments.

One setting to keep an eye on is Peak Luminance, which I left at its default High setting in HDR, and set to Low or Medium for SDR depending on ambient lighting.

For a TV with ambitions (and pricing) aimed at being the best in the business, the A95L looks relatively beefy when compared to the pencil-thin designs of OLED TVs from a few years back. Models like the S95C are marginally slimmer, but flagship OLEDs have generally bulked up in recent years as they add more tech to combat the brightness assault from LED TVs, as well as to dissipate the heat that comes with it.

The A95L’s plastic backside is plain, even compared to second-tier models like LG’s C3 OLED, but its hearty, uniform design makes it easier to move around without worrying about bending the display. It looks appropriately fancy from the front, and it’s refreshingly simple to attach the stand pieces and get the TV literally on its feet.

My one complaint there is that there’s no pedestal mount or narrow configuration, so if your console spans less than 60 inches, like mine, you’ll likely need to mount the TV. There is an alternative stand configuration, but it simply raises the display to accommodate a soundbar.

If you are adding a soundbar or audio device, there’s another complication to consider: Unlike rivals from Samsung and LG, the A95L includes only two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is also the eARC port. That means you’ve only got two options for accessing some next-gen gaming features—or if you connect an audio device directly, just one.

There is a saving grace here in that the A95L has easily the best sound I’ve heard in a flat-screen TV. In fact, it’s the first TV I’ve reviewed where I kept the TV sound on the entire time instead of subbing in my 2.1 setup. The secret is Sony’s actuator system, which uses the screen itself as a speaker, supplemented by two woofers in its hefty back panel.

One last intriguing design component is the A95L’s optional Bravia cam, which not only lets the TV adjust the picture for ambient light but also allows for some cool features like gesture controls or proximity monitoring to keep toddlers away from your showpiece. If you don’t need ambient light control (I never use it) or you’re nervous about a network camera on your TV, you can elect to just keep it in the box.

I started testing the A95L with a variety of HD/SDR (standard dynamic range) content like The Office, which made for something of a slow takeoff. It looks the part of a fantastic OLED TV, with the perfect black levels that come with OLED’s ability to turn off each pixel individually, impressive brightness, refined color reproduction, and so on. Still, after what I’d seen in my testing material during setup, I was waiting to be fully wowed.

Once I finally buckled in and dialed up some 4K HDR content, courtesy of Marvel’s Ant-Man, the TV seemed to step into a whole new dimension.

Within the first few seconds of Hank Pym walking into Howard Stark’s office, I was entranced. The reflective surfaces were pools of molten silver. Skin tones were deeply gradient and naturalistic. Shadow detail was accomplished, even in the darkest scenes, and every color popped without feeling revved up. A few minutes with my go-to scenes revealed the majority of what I needed to know. Much of the rest of my time was spent simply enjoying the ride.

Moving through various films and shows, like Netflix’s Our Planet, it was the A95L’s subtle greatness that continued to impress, like an athlete defying gravity without breaking a sweat. You get the same bursting colors and brilliant sparkle of the S95C (Samsung is the brand that developed these QD-OLED panels, after all), but with an air of restraint that makes things all the more realistic.

It’s hard to pick a favorite A95L feature; the deep contrast, the fabulous colors, and the superb motion response all come to mind. The specific trait I kept coming back to is the detail. My eyes were constantly drawn to nuances I’d missed in multiple previous viewings. From the threads of each business suit in Ant-Man to the spider-webbed wrinkles atop Ayeshia’s crown in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume II, it was all spectacular.

There’s also regular spectacle, of course, as the A95L gets as bright as (or brighter than) any OLED TV available. Putting on Moana in a well-lit room, I was almost squinting at the blazing Hawaiian sun bouncing off the water. I considered lowering the Peak Luminance, but I admit I got accustomed to the blaze as the TV recalled true Hawaiian sunbeams, azure water, and lavender sunsets with startling realism. When coupled with previously unseen details like the sparkles of sand on Moana’s skin in the shipwreck scene, I actually got chills.

If I had to raise a complaint about the A95L, it’s that with extra grainy content like Stranger Things’ “E Pluribus Unum” episode, the TV was almost too clear, bringing out a lot of extra particle noise. That said, it’s pretty hard to blame Sony for that one.

That minor point aside, it’s almost impossible not to gush about the A95L. Still, I don’t recommend everyone go out and buy one—it’s just too dang expensive. You can get a lot of what makes this TV great in the S95C, my favorite performer of the year up to now, or even the cheaper S90C, an unabashed redesign of Samsung’s previous flagship. While I’ve yet to test it, LG’s G3 is also a top-notch rival by all accounts, again for much less dough.

For those who demand the very best picture quality on the market, though, Sony’s A95L is hard to pass up. If you’re an ardent videophile or picture purist, it’s a splurge you won’t regret.