Sony A95L vs Sony BRAVIA 7 II

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.

Sony Bravia 7 II handles HDR very well and, above all, is simply a bright television. In the correct viewing mode for watching, Professional, we measured about 2,000 nits of peak brightness, so the panel’s capabilities are truly large. Of course, in Mini-LED sets a test-pattern result is only part of the story, because much still depends on how the TV controls the backlight in real scenes. Here Sony’s algorithms perform really well. Depending on the scene, the brightness we measured in films ranged from about 1,100 to as much as 1,700 nits. That’s a level at which HDR has proper punch and bright highlights can be genuinely impressive. It’s not perfect in every situation. With small bright elements on a very dark background, the Bravia 7 II clearly prioritises maintaining good black levels, so their brightness can fall to around 500 nits. It still looks good, but it’s clear the TV doesn’t always manage this without compromise.

Colours

The second thing that has a huge impact on HDR is, of course, colour. And this is where True RGB was meant to deliver one of the biggest changes. Looking at the panel’s capabilities alone, the Bravia 7 II performs very well. We measured roughly 98% DCI-P3 coverage and 88% BT.2020, so the potential for showing highly saturated colours is substantial. In RGB TVs the matter is a bit more complex. When we repeated the same measurements with a film-like background applied, gamut coverage dropped to about 92% DCI-P3 and 78% BT.2020. Those are still good numbers, especially for an RGB Mini-LED TV, but they show that the final result largely depends on how the algorithms drive the three backlight colours. In most scenes the Bravia 7 II handles this well and colours retain strong saturation. The biggest differences are visible in blue shades, where samples start to deviate more noticeably from the reference values and coverage is weaker than for the other primaries. True RGB therefore offers genuinely greater potential, but, as with brightness, a lot depends on what’s actually happening on screen.

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.

To evaluate the factory colours we chose the Professional mode, because it performs best among the available presets. It's not perfect. In SDR the white balance is slightly biased toward magenta, so some scenes look a little warmer and less neutral than they should. A bigger issue is the gamma, which sits closer to 2.5 than 2.4. As a result the image is a bit too dark in places, especially in the mid-tones. In HDR the situation is better. As brightness increases there's a little too much red, but it isn't something that really jumps out while watching. Overall the Professional mode is a good starting point, though you can get a bit more out of it with calibration.

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.

After calibration the Bravia 7 II can look significantly better. First and foremost, we managed to set the white balance very well in both SDR and HDR. Gamma can also be improved, and after correction it runs very close to the reference value. For most users those changes will have the biggest impact on the picture. There is, however, a limitation with the colours themselves. On the Bravia 7 II Sony does not provide access to a traditional CMS that would let us adjust individual hues separately. Much is left to the algorithms controlling the True RGB backlight. If the TV reproduces a specific colour inaccurately, we are not always able to do anything about it. In our measurements this is most apparent in parts of the reds and blues, where errors can still be quite large. That does not, however, undermine the value of calibration. Correctly setting the white point and gamma strongly affects the whole picture, so even without the ability to precisely correct every colour the difference from the factory settings is noticeable.

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.

Scaling and digital processing are among the strongest points of the Bravia 7 II and one of Sony's biggest advantages over the competition. Sony has for years excelled at digital image processing, and it's clear here too. Above all, the 'Smooth Gradation' function works very well, smoothing weaker tonal transitions in poorer-quality content. The safest setting is low, but we'd comfortably recommend medium as well. The effect is stronger, and the TV still handles fine detail very delicately. Some minor details may be slightly smoothed, but Sony does it much more subtly than many other brands. Upscaling is also very good. Lower-resolution content is nicely upscaled to 4K; the image looks clean and retains a lot of detail. Of course the TV won't magically turn native HD into true 4K, but the Bravia 7 II does very well with what can be pulled from such a source.

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.

The Bravia 7 II uses a 120 Hz panel, so in terms of motion handling it delivers everything you'd expect from a TV of this class. With sport or games at 120 fps the picture is suitably smooth, and for films Sony provides an advanced motion interpolation system. You can therefore adjust the level of interpolation separately and choose whether to retain a more cinematic motion or achieve noticeably greater smoothness. Motion blur itself is a bit worse. The VA panel used isn't among the fastest, and moving objects can show a slight trailing, especially against darker backgrounds. It's not at a level that will seriously disturb normal viewing, but last year's Bravia 7 was better in this regard and had a noticeably faster panel.

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.

Bravia 7 II has pretty much everything you'd want from a good console TV today. It supports 4K at 120 Hz, VRR from 48 to 120 Hz and ALLM, so when you start a game the TV automatically switches to low-latency mode. HGiG works correctly, so once you configure HDR on the console the TV won't try to brighten the image on its own. Just remember to turn off tone mapping in the TV's menu. Another plus is Dolby Vision in game mode, which will be especially useful for Xbox owners. Sony also includes its own Game Menu, where you can quickly view key signal info, check VRR or change gaming settings without digging through the full TV menu. The only thing missing from the feature list is support for 1440p at 120 Hz. Our biggest complaint is not really about the features but the connectors. The Bravia 7 II has four HDMI ports, but only two of them support full HDMI 2.1 with 48 Gbps bandwidth. One of those is also the eARC port. So if you connect a soundbar or AV receiver via HDMI, in practice you only have one full HDMI 2.1 left for a console or PC. With a single console that's fine, but with a PS5, an Xbox and an audio setup it starts to feel cramped. That's hard to justify from Sony. In cheaper TVs two HDMI 2.1 ports can still be accepted, but in a model of this class, especially in 2026, we'd expect all four ports to be HDMI 2.1.