Compare: Sony BRAVIA 5 (XR5) vs Sony BRAVIA 2 II (S25M2)

Sony Bravia 5 is the continuation of the iconic X90L model, and it's clear that the manufacturer aimed to take a step forward. A greater number of backlighting zones have been implemented, which makes the contrast seem better in many scenes, with deeper blacks than its predecessor. The 120 Hz panel and MotionFlow system allow you to tailor the fluidity of the image to your own preferences – from a slight cinematic texture to crystal smooth motion in sports and games. This is a device that is unafraid of any content, because regardless of whether we're watching a match, an action film, or a concert, the image maintains clarity and character. However, the true strength of the Bravia 5 remains its XR processor. It's what makes older materials look better than they should – upscaling works like magic here, smoothing out noise, improving gradation, and providing coherence even to content of lower quality. As a result, in everyday use, the Bravia 5 can surprise, because instead of battling with signal imperfections, it extracts the maximum from them. Additionally, there's excellent colour reproduction once calibrated, as well as dynamic tone mapping with Dolby Vision mode, allowing you to enjoy details even in challenging, high-contrast scenes. However, it cannot be hidden that at several moments, the Bravia 5 has let us down significantly. Despite the greater number of zones, brightness and contrast are not always better than in the X90L – sometimes they even perform worse. This raises a sense of wasted potential, as we were hoping for a greater qualitative leap. After all, we are talking about a true MINI-LED television here. Nevertheless, the Bravia 5 remains an excellent TV for those who want to enjoy quality image above all. If you're looking for a model that can impress with smooth motion, extracts details from difficult scenes, and works wonders with older materials, the Bravia 5 will easily meet these expectations. It's a television that sometimes cannot quite match the competition in certain respects, but still defends itself with what Sony does best – cinematic imagery.

The Sony Bravia 2 II is a TV that’s best suited to simple, everyday use. And we suspect many people will pick it mainly for Google TV. The system gives access to a huge number of apps and streaming services, and you also get Chromecast, AirPlay and convenient voice search. The TV itself may not run as fast as pricier Sony models, but in terms of functionality there’s little to complain about. Importantly, for regular viewing the picture quality is quite decent. The Bravia 2 II handles SDR material especially well — ordinary broadcast TV, YouTube and a lot of older films and series. The out-of-the-box Cinema mode is sensibly tuned, colours look natural and, without much fiddling with the settings, you can just start watching. And that’s where the Bravia 2 II shows its strengths — as a simple smart TV for daily use, rather than a set that aims to dazzle with panel performance.

However, you have to remember that the “Bravia” badge on the case doesn’t automatically mean great picture quality. The Bravia 2 II uses an IPS panel with very low contrast, and that’s its biggest problem. In daylight it’s not so noticeable, but turn the lights off in the evening and black starts to look more like dark grey. Of course, in return you get good viewing angles, so if the TV sits in a large living room and several people watch from different spots, IPS has an advantage. But that comes at the cost of weak blacks. This TV isn’t designed for HDR impact or for more demanding gamers either. Around 300 nits of brightness and a narrow colour gamut mean HDR content doesn’t show much more than SDR. A 60 Hz panel and the lack of broader gaming features also make it clear that gaming isn’t a priority for this model.

And that wouldn’t be a major issue, because we expected that from an entry-level Sony. The biggest problem for the Bravia 2 II, though, is the price. For similar money you can easily find competitor TVs, especially Korean and Chinese brands, that already offer a lot more, ranging from 120 Hz panels to Mini-LED backlights with local dimming. So the Bravia 2 II isn’t a bad TV in itself. It’s simply too expensive for what it offers. If its price were noticeably lower, it would make much more sense as a basic TV for everyday viewing.

Bravia 5 is the entry-level TV in Sony's Mini-LED series for 2025, so naturally we start with the most important thing – how it performs with blacks and contrast. After all, the term "Mini-LED" today sounds almost like a magic spell. In theory, this means thousands of tiny diodes arranged in zones that are meant to work in harmony, dimming and brightening the image so that the viewer's eye perceives more depth than with a classic LCD. In practice, in the 65-inch Bravia 5, we counted around 200 backlight zones. Is that a lot? Definitely more than its predecessor, the legendary X90L model, but when you look at Chinese manufacturers who can pack in hundreds, sometimes even thousands of zones – it comes off as rather modest.

One might expect that combining a greater number of zones with the refined dimming algorithms that Sony has accustomed us to over the years would result in a qualitative leap compared to the X90L. Meanwhile – and this is where a slight disappointment arises – tests showed that the results are surprisingly similar to last year's model. Don't take this the wrong way: the contrast, for an LCD TV with local dimming, is really solid. In most scenes, bright elements are separated from dark ones with surgical precision, and the effect can be breathtaking. But when more demanding shots appear on screen – those that mercilessly test the capabilities of the backlight – it becomes clear that the hardware has its limitations.

Therefore, one could say that in terms of blacks and contrast, the Bravia 5 doesn't so much disappoint as rather fails to meet the hopes that the initial announcements ignited. We were hoping for at least a slightly better performance than its predecessor, and we got "only" good contrast. And that “only” is the key word here – because good contrast in Sony’s rendition still means a level that most competitors would be proud of.

When it comes to black levels, the Bravia 2 II unfortunately doesn't have much going for it. Sony has used an IPS panel here, which offers one of the lowest native contrasts among LCD panels. In our measurements we saw figures around 1,100:1 to 1,450:1, and unfortunately that's very noticeable when watching. Additionally, the TV lacks any local dimming, so it can't darken only the parts of the screen that should remain dark. In practice, this means that once the lights go out, blacks very quickly shift toward grey and navy. In scenes such as Oblivion or Sicario 2, instead of a deep background we get a noticeably brightened image, which takes away a lot of the atmosphere from evening viewing. Of course an IPS panel also has the advantage of better viewing angles, but in this respect it's hard to call that sufficient compensation. If you're looking for a TV primarily for watching films at night, the Bravia 2 II simply isn't a model we could recommend.

Looking at similar results in terms of black levels and contrast, we expected the same stable performance as last year's model when it comes to HDR content. Unfortunately – and this must be said plainly – there has been a regression here that is hard to miss. The paradox is that the peak brightness of the Bravia 5 can be impressive: in our synthetic tests, the TV reached around 1000 nits in HDR. Sounds great, right? The problem is that this power doesn't always have a real impact on all movie scenes. When small, pinpoint elements appear on the screen, something that in Sony's case was usually fine-tuned with surgical precision, this time it clearly falters. The algorithms try to maintain deep blacks around small objects, but the side effect is that details can be dimmed to the point of becoming barely visible. One only needs to bring up the example of the movie Sicario 2 – there, in some scenes, small light sources practically vanished as if someone had covered them with dark film.

Of course, not everything looks so dramatic. In simpler, brighter scenes, where the image is filled with more light, the Bravia 5 shows that it can shine: literally and figuratively. At those times, the TV achieves values in the range of 600–800 nits, which we saw both in synthetic tests and during movie screenings. The impression is really positive; the brightness adds dynamism, and the colours look vibrant and fresh. However, there remains a certain dissonance. We feel a slight confusion because it is evident that something has gone in the wrong direction. Technological progress – more zones, more backlight power – has not been supported by the kind of refined image management that we usually associate with Sony. Fortunately, there are elements that have not been compromised and are actually at a very high level. We are talking about colour reproduction. Thanks to the use of the PFS filter, the colour palette coverage is excellent – about 97% DCI-P3 and 75% BT.2020. These values allow for a truly wide colour reproduction, giving films a natural and cinematic character.

Sony Bravia 2 II isn't a particularly bright TV and unfortunately that's immediately obvious in HDR. In our measurements brightness stayed around 300 to 330 nits, which is far too low for the brightest parts of the image to look truly impactful. In practice HDR here doesn't differ that much from regular SDR. Bright highlights, the sun or lamps are of course visible, but they lack the intensity you'd expect from HDR content. The Bravia 2 II is therefore much better suited to standard SDR material, where its limited brightness will be least noticeable.

Colour gamut coverage

The Sony Bravia 2 II also doesn't impress when it comes to colour. The TV doesn't use any extra gamut-expanding filter, such as the quantum dots found in QLED sets or a PFS phosphor layer. In our measurements it covered about 78% of the DCI-P3 gamut and roughly 57% of the very wide BT.2020. That's definitely too little to deliver truly saturated colours in HDR material. More intense reds, greens or turquoises will simply be less striking than on TVs with an expanded colour gamut. The Bravia 2 II is much better matched to the standard Rec.709 gamut used for films, series and SDR broadcast.

Sony Bravia 5 was obviously tested in the best possible mode, which is the Movie mode. Right out of the box, it delivers the most natural colours, definitely better than anything offered by the "eco" or "dynamic" modes, which are more suited for a store display than a living room. However, the Movie mode alone does not guarantee that we can always expect cinematic picture quality. In SDR content, we had no significant complaints – the slightly warmed white balance gave the scenes a golden hue, but it was nothing that was glaring. However, a problem arose with HDR materials. Here, the colour reproduction simply looked bad. The white balance was heavily skewed – with an excess of blue and a clear lack of red. At times, it resembled the store mode of "super vivid picture," where everything is blown out and artificially boosted.

This situation made brightness management seem too aggressive as well. The EOTF graph clearly showed that the television has trouble with overexposing many scenes right out of the box. And while we know what Sony televisions are usually capable of, it was hard to remain indifferent here – that’s why we quickly decided to go for calibration.

The out-of-the-box colour reproduction in Kino mode was really quite good, at least for ordinary SDR material. The Bravia 2 II had a slight tendency to boost reds, which made some colours lean a bit warmer, at times with a faint pinkish tint. That wasn't a major fault and during normal viewing the picture still looked fairly natural. There was a bit more going on with image brightness. Looking at the gamma curve, Sony doesn't stick perfectly to the reference value. The darkest areas are slightly lifted, while as brightness increases the gamma gradually rises and a large part of the image becomes darker than it should. However, the difference isn't big enough to seriously bother during everyday watching. Overall, SDR straight out of the box performs quite decently.

The situation is much worse in HDR. We've already mentioned the limited colour gamut, but on top of that the Bravia 2 II quite aggressively manipulates image brightness. The EOTF curve sits below the reference for much of the range, which means the TV renders most mid and brighter parts of the scene darker than the source material intends. Only towards the very end of the range does the curve flatten out, as the panel reaches the limits of its capabilities. Combined with a peak brightness of around 300 nits, this gives HDR that not only lacks much punch but can simply look too dark.

After calibration, the situation changed dramatically. We managed to tune the white balance so that entire scenes began to look more natural, and the image gained coherence and elegance. In HDR, we finally got rid of that unwanted clipping effect that had previously spoiled some shots. Suddenly, it turned out that the Bravia 5 can extract much more from films than the first contact "straight out of the box" suggested. Indeed, if we look at the graphs and compare them with the standards, we can see that the beginning of the EOTF curve slightly strays beyond the reference line. However, this is not so much a calibration error as it is a natural limitation of the Mini-LED technology that cannot be bypassed. Sony, rather than clinging tightly to perfect black, prefers to prioritise the visibility of details – and in practice, it’s hard to disagree with that. We prefer to see the texture of the material on the screen rather than a pitch-black spot where all nuances disappear.

The calibration itself was really beneficial. After about an hour spent on settings, we felt that the image resembled that of the best cinema halls – of course on a home scale, but with the same sense of quality and refinement. And in such moments, we remember why we love Sony televisions: because once we fine-tune them, they reward us with a picture that captivates for long hours.

Calibration did a lot for the Bravia 2 II, especially with SDR content. Above all, we managed to even out the white balance and tidy up the gamma, which now stays much closer to the reference value. As a result, the image no longer has the earlier pink cast, and the brightness across different areas is much better organised. You can also see it in the colour errors, which after calibration dropped to a very low level (with only minor issues in the most saturated reds).

We also partly managed to rein in the Bravia 2 II in HDR, especially in the way the TV handles image brightness. However, there is one thing no calibration can fix: the panel's capabilities. A narrow colour gamut means the TV physically can't reproduce the most saturated colours recorded in HDR content. On top of that, the low contrast of the IPS panel causes darker scenes to be covered in a grey haze, which robs colours of some of their depth. So we can improve how the Bravia 2 II uses its capabilities, but we can't overcome the panel's inherent limitations.

Tonality transitions are nothing more than the way a television handles blending colours and shades – from light to dark, from saturated to pastel. If the device struggles with this, you see characteristic "stairs" instead of smooth transitions, and the image loses its naturalness. It's those moments when instead of getting immersed in the film, we start glancing at the screen thinking, "hey, something's off here." Fortunately, in the Sony Bravia 5, such situations are practically non-existent. This is a huge advantage because nothing distracts our attention from the plot or the excitement of sports. The television performs best in bright scenes, where the colour transitions are smooth, and the blending of colours is nearly invisible. The effect is so good that sometimes it can feel like the image was painted in one brush stroke. Of course, there have been a few minor missteps. In darker scenes, certain imperfections can be noticed – slight banding or minimal gradation issues. For that reason, the Bravia 5 received a few negative points from us. Nevertheless, in the vast majority of situations, the television performs excellently and comes through this test with flying colours.

The smoothness of tonal transitions on the Bravia 2 II is pretty good, though it depends a lot on the scene. In brighter parts of the picture the gradation is smooth and it's hard to spot any major issues. It gets worse in very dark shots. In scenes with many dark tones you can already see distinct banding between successive shades. So it's not perfect, but with most everyday content the issue shouldn't be particularly noticeable.

Bravia 5 carries the genes of Sony, which remain intact – and thank goodness for that, because we're talking about absolutely exceptional digital image processing. It's no coincidence that for years, it's been considered that TVs from this brand set the standard for how a screen should handle lower quality materials. If someone still watches classic television, old films, or YouTube in lower resolutions, here they get equipment that can turn such content into a surprisingly enjoyable experience. On board, we find several tools worth activating. The first of these is "digital noise reduction." Set to a medium level, it works superbly – smoothing out tonal transitions that usually cause the most trouble in low-quality materials while introducing no artificial artifacts. Importantly, it also doesn't remove the cinematic character, which is the natural grain that is intentionally present in many productions. Another advantage of the Bravia 5 is the upscaling capabilities of the XR processor. The image presented after scaling is soft, yet sharp and clear. The outlines of characters are well-defined, and backgrounds maintain their texture without excessive artificial sharpening. It's hard to find a better TV for watching lower quality materials – Bravia 5 only confirms why Sony is considered the benchmark in this area.

Upscaling on the Bravia 2 II performs quite well and the TV maintains the standard we've come to expect from Sony. Lower-resolution material is sensibly upscaled to 4K, and the image is slightly smoothed without excessive edge sharpening. It's less successful at dealing with content that shows visible compression artefacts. That's down to the "Digital Noise Reduction" function, which on the "High" setting can smooth some ugly banding. The problem is it does so quite aggressively and, along with the imperfections, removes a lot of fine detail, including natural film grain. What's more, when there's more motion on screen its effectiveness drops considerably and the improvement is minimal. For that reason we generally didn't use this feature for everyday viewing.

Bravia 5 has a 120 Hz panel, which in itself sounds like an invitation to watch sports, fast matches or spectacular action films. However, the real magic begins when MotionFlow – Sony's proprietary motion smoother – comes into play. Thanks to this feature, we can adjust the character of the picture to our own preferences. The "smoothness" slider allows us to transition from a cinematic feel with a slight "judder" to a theatrical fluidity, where every ball in the match glides across the screen as if on a string. The higher the value, the smoother and more fluid it is; the lower it is, the more film-like and natural it becomes. In the options, we also find an additional setting that Sony calls "clarity". This is nothing more than the BFI function (which inserts black frames) aimed at improving motion sharpness. It sounds great in theory, but in practice, it must be used with caution. Why? Because all higher settings cause brightness drops of up to half, and in some cases, contour doubling also appears. So if we want to use it, we recommend setting it to the lowest level – "1" out of the available ten. That way, we gain a bit better motion sharpness without risking losing half the brightness of the picture.

Bravia 2 II uses a 60 Hz panel and, for what it is, handles motion quite well. However, bear in mind it’s an entry-level panel and its limitations are especially noticeable with sports. The TV can’t interpolate 50/60 fps material to a higher refresh rate, so it can’t further improve the sharpness of fast-moving objects. For films and series there’s a conventional motion-smoothing feature that can reduce the judder typical of 24 fps material.

In the Bravia 5, there is a significant improvement compared to the X90L model from two years ago. The television offers literally everything its predecessor had, but this time the issues that could frustrate gamers have been addressed. Problems with setting the variable refresh rate (VRR) have disappeared, and there are no longer issues with configuring HDR content in HGiG mode. In short: we get a device that simply works as it should, without any hassles. So, the Bravia 5 has everything you can expect from a modern gaming TV – and it can be confidently advertised with the slogan "ready for PS5." That's something we couldn't say about the X90L model. Well done, Sony!

It's just a shame that this relatively high-priced model lacks a full set of four HDMI 2.1 ports. In everyday use, this won’t be an issue for most people, but if someone has a console, soundbar, and additional equipment connected via HDMI, at some point they'll have to choose or juggle cables.

The Bravia 2 II isn’t a TV that’s particularly suited to gaming, and the feature list makes that clear pretty quickly. You basically only get automatic low-latency ALLM and a simple Game Bar where you can view basic signal info and change a few settings. That’s where the positives end. The TV doesn’t support VRR or 120 Hz (not even at lower resolutions) and on top of that it has problems correctly implementing HDR HGIG. It’s fine for occasional console play and, thanks to low input lag, the controls remain responsive, but if you’re after a TV primarily for gaming the Bravia 2 II is a significantly limited choice.

When it comes to input lag, the Bravia 5 deserves a round of applause. Results of around 7 ms at 120 Hz content are nothing short of phenomenal – it's hard to imagine a gamer complaining about such responsiveness. Even at 60 Hz, where the lag increases to around 15 ms, we're still talking about values that absolutely don't spoil the fun and are practically unnoticeable. Moreover, Sony has finally tamed the Dolby Vision mode. In the X90L, it was practically unplayable – the delays rose to levels of even 150 ms. Meanwhile, the input lag on the Bravia 5 remains at the same low level as with other content. This is a huge improvement and further proof that this television can truly be called "gamer-friendly."

Here the Bravia 2 II performs considerably better. The input lag is only about 11 ms, low enough that you’ll hardly notice any delay while gaming. So even with a modest set of gaming features, the TV will handle regular console gaming without any major issues.

In this category, the Bravia 5 deserves an exemplary rating. The ideal readability of fonts thanks to 4:4:4 chroma support makes working on this TV a pure pleasure. Whether we are opening Excel, browsing documents, or simply surfing the web – the text is sharp, clear, and free from that characteristic “haze” which can effectively take away the joy of use in many TVs. The letters look as they should: distinct, sharp, and readable even up close.

We also have good news for PC gamers. The Bravia 5 has no problems at all with handling 120 Hz, working with both Nvidia and AMD cards, supporting G-Sync and FreeSync Premium Pro technologies. The result is that the image is not only smooth but also free from tears or micro-cuts that can ruin the experience even in the best-optimised games. You can easily connect a powerful PC and enjoy gaming on the big screen – without compromises, without frustration, and with full comfort. The only thing we could complain about is the lack of additional modes for gamers with higher refresh rates.

Bravia 2 II handles a computer very well, at least if you think of it as a screen for work. Thanks to its IPS panel and accurate 4:4:4 chroma reproduction, fonts are sharp and readable regardless of their size, shape or colour. That’s particularly good news for people considering the smaller variant and placing it on a desk instead of a classic monitor. It looks much worse, however, from a gaming perspective. The TV doesn’t offer 120 Hz, VRR or other features that would interest more demanding PC gamers. So it’s very good for office work or watching content from a computer, but as a gaming screen it has quite a few limitations.

Bravia 5 uses a classic VA panel, and that means one thing – the viewing angles are not one of its strong points. For those with smaller screen sizes, this won’t be a problem, as sitting directly in front, the picture looks fantastic. However, with larger sizes, especially 85 inches, the situation becomes less comfortable. It’s enough to sit slightly off-centre on the couch to notice minor imperfections: the image begins to lose saturation, contrast weakens, and black takes on unwanted greys. It’s a shame that Sony did not opt for additional coatings, which in the case of VA panels can bring their capabilities closer to IPS levels. Such solutions exist, and some competitors make use of them. Here, they are missing, so one has to reckon with the fact that Bravia 5 best showcases its strengths when viewed head-on.

Viewing angles are one of the Bravia 2 II's stronger points. Thanks to the IPS panel, colours and brightness remain accurate for quite a while even when we’re not sitting directly in front of the TV. In this area Sony regains some of the points it lost earlier on black levels and contrast. As a result, the Bravia 2 II may be better suited to a larger living room or a room where some people watch the TV from the side, especially if it will mainly be used for everyday TV.

Bravia 5 is a piece of equipment that really performs well in challenging lighting conditions. Its high brightness ensures that even in the middle of the day, with the blinds wide open and sunlight streaming through the windows, the picture remains clear and sharp. There’s no feeling that we're watching a "washed-out" screen. The satin finish of the panel also plays a significant role in effectively reducing light reflections. Yes, some reflections do appear, but they are not strong enough to interfere with viewing. They are more like subtle glows that can be noticed when we consciously look for them, rather than a real problem day-to-day. Because of this, the Bravia 5 works well not just in the evening in a dimmed room, but also in bright living areas, where other TVs can falter. One could say that it's a "universally bright" model – suitable for both evening screenings and for watching news or sports in full sunlight.

In daylight the Bravia 2 II performs rather average. Brightness of around 320 nits doesn’t leave much headroom, but in a typical, moderately bright living room it’s still enough to keep the picture readable. The screen’s matte coating does a decent job of reducing reflections, though it can’t eliminate them entirely. With strong light falling directly on the screen, there’s simply not enough brightness to effectively cut through the glare. So it will be fine for ordinary daytime viewing, but in a very bright room with lots of windows you may start to notice the limitations of this model.

GoogleTV and SmartTV features

Sony Bravia 5 runs on Google TV, and it must be said that this is one of the best-optimised systems in this brand's offering. The interface works smoothly, with no annoying bugs or bizarre translations, and navigating the menu doesn’t feel like walking through a minefield. Admittedly, there are moments when the whole system catches a slight breath – as if it has its “weaker moments” – but these are rare enough not to spoil the overall impression. We have full AirPlay support, voice search with Google AI assistance, and the ability to download practically any app that comes to mind. The only drawback in tests turned out to be the screen mirroring function, which theoretically should work with laptops and phones, but in practice proved almost useless – there was no stable image on Windows and Android.

User features

From the perspective of classic functionality, the Bravia 5 performs solidly and practically. A big plus is the presence of two remotes – one is a slim, modern smart remote, while the other, although operating via infrared, has a classic numeric keypad. This way, we can always choose which one suits the situation better. The EPG, or electronic programme guide, is clear and allows you to programme recordings to a USB drive – a seemingly simple solution, but incredibly useful. Additionally, the TV supports connecting a variety of devices: from an amplifier or soundbar via HDMI eARC, to headphones and other wireless accessories via Bluetooth. This is a set that makes the TV not just a screen, but a well-thought-out home entertainment centre.

Google TV

Bravia 2 II runs Google TV, which is definitely one of this model's stronger points. First and foremost, you get a huge range of apps, so accessing popular streaming services is no problem. It also has Chromecast and AirPlay, making it easy to cast content from your phone or other devices. Voice search with Google Assistant/Gemini works very well, including in Polish. The system itself isn't the fastest version of Google TV we've used, and you sometimes have to wait a moment for a response, but overall it performs decently. In terms of features it's hard to complain — especially for one of Sony's more affordable TVs.

Funkcje telewizyjne

When it comes to traditional TV features, the Bravia 2 II is rather modest. For example, there's no recording to USB or other more advanced extras, so in that respect it's fairly basic. A plus is the inclusion of two remotes. One is modern and simpler, mainly for using the Smart TV, while the other is a classic remote with more buttons, which may be more convenient for people who often watch regular TV. The smaller one works via radio, so you don't have to point it directly at the screen, which is simply more convenient in everyday use.

Bravia 5 handles multimedia playback from USB quite efficiently. In practice, nearly everything works – movies, music, photos – although of course we encountered some minor issues. Some subtitles can be troublesome, as can exotic photo formats, which were not always correctly recognised. However, this is standard in the world of televisions, and it's hard to take it too seriously. A significant advantage, though, is that thanks to Android, we are not limited to the system player. It's enough to install an external app, like VLC, and all restrictions disappear. This is the strength of this system – the manufacturer does not confine us to their ecosystem, but rather gives us the freedom of choice.

The built-in file player performs very well. The Bravia 2 II opens almost everything you throw at it, from common video files and subtitles to photos and music. Importantly, it also handles more demanding 4K material encoded in HEVC or AV1. Of course, there are a few isolated formats the TV doesn’t support, such as VVC or some less common audio and image files. These are things few people will try to play directly on the TV.

Bravia 5 positively surprises in terms of audio. The sound is pleasant, with a slightly noticeable bass thanks to the proprietary Bass Reflex speakers. Overall, it plays loudly, clearly, and definitely above average for a television – 40 W power in a 2.2 setup is an impressive result in this class. The placement of the speakers on the sides of the casing also plays a significant role, as it allows the sound to fill the room and creates a sense of space. However, one should not get carried away with optimism. This is still not the level of even the simplest soundbar. The Bravia 5 performs excellently in everyday use, but for those who enjoy strong sound and a cinematic effect, additional audio equipment will be a must – as is the case with nine out of ten televisions available today on the market.

Sound in the Bravia 2 II is simply adequate for an entry-level TV. It’s more than enough for watching regular TV, like the news, but as with this type of design it mainly lacks bass. You notice it quite quickly with music and even more in action films, where explosions and other heavy effects lack real weight. Sony does deserve praise for its audio format support. When you connect a soundbar or a home theatre system, the TV will pass the key formats over eARC with no trouble, including Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS:X. It’s especially welcome to see DTS included, which can’t always be taken for granted on rival TVs, even the pricier models.

Sony BRAVIA 5 (XR5) vs Sony BRAVIA 2 II (S25M2)

Advantages

Disadvantages

Our verdict

TV appearance

Where to buy

Contrast and black detail

HDR effect quality

Colour gamut coverage

Factory color reproduction

Color reproduction after calibration

Smoothness of tonal transitions

Image scaling and smoothness of tonal transitions

Blur and motion smoothness

Console compatibility and gaming features

Input lag

Compatibility with PC

Viewing angles

Daytime performance

Panel details

TV features

Classic features:

Smart features:

Sound connection options

Supported audio formats (external HDMI eARC audio):

Senior accessibility

GoogleTV and SmartTV features

User features

Google TV

Funkcje telewizyjne

Apps

Playing files from USB

Sound

Sound Quality Test

Acoustic Measurements