Sony A95L vs Dreame S100

Sony A95L offers an incredible HDR effect, achieving an impressive brightness level of 1500 nits in scenes such as those from Life of Pi and Sicario 2. These results are truly remarkable – the bright elements in these films practically come alive on the screen, providing the viewer with immersive visual experiences. The only thing to note is minor issues with maintaining brightness in the scene from The Meg, where the entire scene is flooded with light. However, this is a natural effect associated with OLED technology. A big plus also goes to the wide coverage of the BT.2020 colour palette at 89%, which places A95L Sony among the top TVs in terms of colour reproduction. All of this is made possible by the QD-OLED panel from Samsung Displays.

The Dreame S100 is a relatively bright television. In movie mode, the brightness we measured reached around 600 nits. This is a really good result, although not the highest considering the competition in this price range. In full-screen scenes, it's clear that the television can generate an image that hits the mark in terms of brightness. Unfortunately, when more complex scenes appeared on the screen, the local dimming algorithm in this model tried above all to maintain the deepest blacks. However, this came at the expense of the HDR effect – and in a drastic way. In such scenes, the brightness of the bright elements fell below 100 nits, which is a downright tragic result, far from any HDR effect. This aspect can be improved, but there are caveats. You just need to change the local dimming setting in the television's menu; however, then the blacks in such scenes simply turn grey. It's a pity that Dreame wasn't able to refine the local dimming algorithms better, and the S100 is another example that the number of local dimming zones doesn't always translate into a better picture. As a consolation, it's worth noting that the Dreame S100 is marketed as a 'QLED' type television, although it actually uses a PFS LED filter. As a result, the colours are appropriately saturated, and our measured DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage exceeded 94%.

The best factory mode for colour reproduction on the Sony A95L is IMAX Enhanced. This mode seems well-calibrated at first glance, but upon closer analysis, several areas for improvement become apparent. Firstly, the white balance for both SDR and 4K HDR content is marred by an excess of blue and red hues, leading to a subtle pink tint, particularly noticeable on neutral tones. As a result, skin tones are skewed, affecting the realism of the displayed image. This is clearly visible in the comparison photo below. Additionally, the Colour Checker test confirms the presence of these errors – the colour samples often deviate from their reference values, indicating some inaccuracies in the factory colour reproduction of the A95L Sony. The maximum deltaE error values reach up to 5.8, which is a clear indicator that colours are not always reproduced as accurately as they should be.

Regarding brightness characteristics, the gamma for HD/SDR content is generally quite good, maintaining an appropriate balance between brightness and contrast. Unfortunately, a significant jump is visible at the end of the graph, leading to a strong brightening of the image when the screen is fully flooded with white. This can make scenes with very bright backgrounds, such as snowy landscapes or intense daylight, appear too glaring and lose detail. For HDR content, the EOTF curve, which controls luminance, is slightly elevated compared to reference values. This, in turn, causes the image to be somewhat brighter than it should be, which can affect the perception of more subtle details in the darker areas of the frame.

We tested the Dreame S100 in "movie" mode and definitely recommend using this setting for watching all kinds of content. Interestingly, in the deeper settings of the TV, we also find a dedicated "Filmmaker" mode, which is now available from almost every manufacturer. However, in the case of the Dreame S100, we do not recommend using it – it blocks all settings related to the picture and does not allow for any configuration in the menu - not even a motion smoother. So how do the factory colours fare in the S100? Not too bad, but not great either. The TV itself had a noticeable blue tint, which is clearly evident in our white balance measurements. As a result, the picture was artificially brightened, and the colours had a slight bluish tint. This is also confirmed by the Color Checker palette, which showed how the colour samples leaned towards blue, generating quite significant colour errors. On the other hand, the picture looked definitely better in HDR mode, where the colour errors were not as prominent, although they were still far from ideal. Here, the white balance was also too heavily skewed towards blue, causing quite significant errors in color reproduction.

Sony A95L offers excellent tools for professional screen calibration, allowing you to maximise the potential of the IMAX Enhanced mode. We used them to achieve an image quality that satisfies even the most demanding viewers. After calibration, the white balance for both 4K HDR and SDR content looks simply fantastic – nearly perfect. The Colour Checker test confirmed that deltaE errors do not exceed a value of "2", which means that colour reproduction is extremely accurate, and any deviations are practically imperceptible to the human eye.

The calibration also brought a significant improvement in brightness – gamma is now perfectly balanced, eliminating the previous problem of excessive brightening in scenes with very bright backgrounds. Thanks to this, even the brightest moments, such as snowy landscapes or intense daytime scenes, appear natural, without the risk of blown-out highlights. The EOTF curve, responsible for controlling luminance in HDR content, has also been improved – it now reaches reference levels in both synthetic tests and practical movie watching.

As a result of the calibration, A95L Sony provides an excellent experience, whether you are watching regular TV content or your favourite films. Every detail is reproduced exactly as the creators intended – without unnecessary brightenings, with perfectly rendered colours and appropriate depth. This shows that this television, after professional tuning, can compete with the best screens on the market, offering an image that truly impresses.

The Dreame S100 has proven to be a device very amenable to professional calibration. In its menu, we found a plethora of advanced options that allowed us to effectively correct factory errors. Thanks to the advanced white balance correction – both in SDR and HDR content – we completely eliminated excess blue components. The image instantly became much more natural and pleasant to view. After fully tuning the colours, the errors in the Color Checker test dropped below a Delta E value of 2-3. For the average viewer, this means that any colour distortions became almost impossible to see with the naked eye. It's really a nice surprise, as often new brands in the TV market have significant problems with the correct implementation and functioning of sliders in the calibration menu. Here, everything worked as it should. The only thing we need to criticise is the way the TV manages its brightness in HDR. Due to the specific nature of the local dimming algorithms, our measured EOTF curve shows anomalies. In places where high highlights should appear, there is a slight bump in the curve above the reference line. In practice, this results in unnatural brightening of certain, the brightest elements in movies or games. Despite this minor flaw, professional calibration brings a huge, very positive change to this model.

The tonal transition smoothing function in Sony A95L works really well and is worth noting. We recommend setting it to "Medium" level, as this value achieves an ideal compromise – no artifacts appear, and the image looks incredibly natural and pleasing to the eye. This ensures that transitions between different shades are smooth while maintaining scene detail, which further enhances viewing comfort.

When it comes to upscaling, you can see the full power of the XR processor here. Sony A95L handled our test material featuring a model exceptionally well – the image is remarkably clear, there are no excessive jagged edges, and the background details are perfectly preserved. The XR processor effectively improves low resolution, providing very good results that allow you to enjoy content in nearly high quality, even if its source is not perfect.

For scaling and digital processing in the Dreame S100, the technology used is proudly called Dreamind™ Pro AI by the manufacturer. However, it must be clearly stated that this is not a proprietary processor but rather a marketing term for a chip from MediaTek – specifically, the model MT5889. Unfortunately, we are talking about a rather outdated unit from a time when MediaTek lagged significantly behind the competition in terms of performance. This, unfortunately, has a direct impact on the image, as this chip also handles that. The upscaling in the S100 is fairly average, and the processor has a tendency to artificially over-sharpen edges (fortunately, this can be somewhat tempered with the sharpness slider in the menu). In the options, we also find a feature called "Contour Smoothing," which theoretically is supposed to improve tonal transitions. In practice, it contributes almost no improvement – setting it to any level rarely eliminates visible colour banding, but it can unnecessarily blur elements of the image that should remain sharp.

Another issue is the phenomenon of overscan (cropping the edges of the frame), which is practically visible all the time. Although there is the possibility to set the screen to display the full frame in low-resolution materials, it requires activating the aforementioned Filmmaker mode. And as you may know, this mode completely blocks any changes to other sliders in the picture menu. In our test tables, we noted that the television offers an option to disable overscan, as such a function technically exists in the system – however, in everyday use, while maintaining reasonable picture settings, you will not be able to take advantage of it.

Sony A95L is a television that should satisfy both gamers and movie enthusiasts. When it comes to watching films, this model is equipped with Motionflow technology, which allows you to precisely adjust whether you want the image to be more "framey," like in traditional cinema, or exceptionally smooth, like in cinema TVs. The "Smoothness" slider allows you to control the level of fluidity – from subtle changes to more noticeable effects, while the "Clarity" slider reduces flicker and artifacts, helping to achieve more natural and clear movement. When it comes to gaming and watching sports, the A95L Sony offers a refresh rate of 120 Hz, making every dynamic action look incredibly smooth. Gamers will appreciate the lack of blur, and sports fans will see every movement in full clarity. Overall, the television performs excellently – both with fast-paced gameplay and emotionally charged film sequences.

When it comes to motion fluidity, the Dreame S100 performs really well. It features a 144 Hz refresh rate panel, although in reality, the vast majority of people using it in a conventional way will still be limited to 120 Hz (as this is what today's hardware allows aside from PCs). Thanks to the high refresh rate, the image in motion remains really sharp, largely due to the well-functioning MEMC motion smoother. In the menu, we find predefined modes that enable the TV to efficiently generate artificial frames, which effectively enhances the fluidity of dynamic sports shots, but also helps eliminate motion judder in film and TV series material recorded at 24 frames.

Sony A95L is a television that will truly satisfy gamers, thanks to several key features that set it apart from the competition. To begin with, the 120 Hz refresh rate – this is something that anyone who loves fast-paced action games, racing, or dynamic shooters will appreciate. This makes the image exceptionally smooth, and gameplay more satisfying, without annoying stutters. The A95L Sony also has an ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) feature, which automatically activates low-latency mode when we start up a console. What does this mean? Primarily, faster reactions on screen, which in games where every second counts, is simply invaluable. Added to that is VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), which ensures that the image refresh rate adapts to the number of frames generated by the console. The effect? No tearing of the image, and everything looks smooth and cohesive – even with varying FPS.

It's worth mentioning the support for Dolby Vision with low input lag in games – something we don't often see in televisions, but here it is included. As a result, the image in HDR-compatible games is incredibly vibrant, with vivid colors and excellent contrast. Both the brightest and darkest details are visible, making everything look just as the game developers intended. And there's also the "Game Bar" – a small but very practical convenience. It gives us all the essential gaming-related settings at our fingertips, such as VRR and lag information. There's no need to interrupt gameplay to adjust settings – everything is at hand.

However, it's important to note that the A95L offers only two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is allocated for eARC. This could be somewhat limiting if we plan to connect multiple devices – for example, a next-gen console and a soundbar simultaneously. In such cases, eARC occupying one of those ports may be a bit problematic, blocking the option to connect a second console.

The Dreame S100 seems almost like the ideal screen for gamers. The television is equipped with 2 HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 40 Gbps, allowing features such as automatic game mode (ALLM) or VRR frame synchronization in the range of 48-144 Hz to work seamlessly on consoles. On board, we also find a well-designed gaming panel (Game Bar). It allows you to continuously preview the most important parameters - from the activated picture modes, to the number of frames rendered by the console, right through to the option of adding a crosshair in the centre of the screen. All of this looks great on paper; however, the biggest issue with the S100 is its implementation of HDR in games. The television does not have a correctly implemented HGiG format. This means a clueless user may misconfigure the console during the initial setup of the screen. Poor configuration can result in an image that is too dark or overexposed (as a guideline: we suggest setting the brightness in the Xbox console menu to around 600 nits, and in the PS5 to 12 clicks). The Dolby Vision format also proves problematic, as it often did not activate at all on the XBOX – Dreame S100 line. And when it was eventually activated, playing was impossible due to the very high input lag often exceeding 100ms. If the manufacturer manages to improve the HDR gaming experience with an update, the S100 will be truly outstanding hardware for gamers. For now, however, compromises must be accepted.