SONY Bravia 9 II XR95M2 Review

Contrary to appearances and high expectations, the Bravia 9 II we tested showed some issues with its factory calibration straight out of the box. Looking at the white balance charts, it’s clear it wasn’t perfect. In SDR content the red component was noticeably lacking, so the image leaned toward cooler, bluish tones. In HDR, however, the white balance in that respect was considerably better. So where do the visible errors in image reproduction come from? They result from unexpected tuning of the gamma and the EOTF curve. In both cases the Bravia 9 II straight from the factory showed a marked deviation from reference standards. In SDR material the gamma was significantly too high — at extremes it hovered very close to 2.8 instead of the target 2.4. In practice this meant the image looked artificially darkened and seemed washed of colour, with details in darker areas (the shadows) disappearing entirely. The opposite happened with HDR material, where brightness reproduction is governed by the EOTF. That curve was pushed too high above the correct value, causing the image to be artificially brightened across most luminance ranges. As with every TV we test, we subjected this unit to professional calibration. You can see the results and how we managed to correct these factory errors below.

Fortunately, with professional calibration, most of the Bravia 9 II’s factory missteps can be effectively eliminated. We managed to precisely correct, above all, the white balance and the gamma curve and EOTF. After these procedures, in everyday use and during film viewings the television looks worlds better. The picture gained proper depth and modelling, the cool tint to whites disappeared, and shadow detail that previously vanished because of an overly high gamma finally became perfectly visible. Although we ultimately rate colour accuracy as very good, as specialists we must point out one fairly serious design flaw in this model. The Bravia 9 II could look even better if it were not for the complete lack of an advanced colour management system in the television’s menu.

While a basic white balance correction can be carried out here without difficulty, the settings lack options for adjusting specific colours. We tried to tackle this issue in every possible way, both with the traditional method from the remote and via dedicated calibration software for Bravia televisions. Unfortunately, that function has been completely locked. We suspect this may stem from the specifics of the new RGB architecture, which imposes its own limitations. It’s a great shame, because without it you cannot push colour reproduction to perfection. A skewed red still catches the eye. One can only hope that Sony will fix this shortcoming in time via an update.