The Sony A80K is a 4K OLED TV that was released in 2022. This model offers excellent picture quality with perfect blacks and no blooming, making it ideal for dark room viewing. It has a near-infinite contrast ratio, providing a great cinematic experience. The TV covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, ensuring vibrant and accurate colors for HDR content. However, its peak brightness in SDR is only average, so highlights in HDR may not stand out as vividly.
The A80K has a wide viewing angle, allowing everyone in the room to enjoy the same image quality. It also has excellent reflection handling, making it suitable for well-lit rooms. The TV's gradient performance is excellent, with smooth transitions between colors. The Sony A80K supports eARC, allowing lossless audio transmission to compatible devices. It also has low input lag in Game Mode, making it a good choice for gamers. Overall, the Sony A80K is an impressive OLED TV with advanced features and high-quality performance.
Exploring the hardware specs
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Blooming Control | Excellent |
| Color Gamut (DCI-P3) | 100% |
| HDR Peak Brightness (SDR) | ~400 cd/m² |
| Viewing Angle | ~45° |
| Reflections | Excellent |
| Gradient | Excellent |
| Overall | 8.9 |
| Dolby Atmos Over Dolby Digital+ | Yes |
| eARC: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 | Yes |
| eARC: LPCM 7.1 Over Dolby MAT | Yes |
| eARC: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 | N/A |
| eARC: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 | N/A |
| Picture Quality | Excellent |
| Sound Quality | Decent |
| Smart Features | Google TV |
| Remote | Voice control with Google Assistant |
| Included Accessories | 2x AAA batteries, VESA adapters, power cable, user manual |
An overview of what to expect from this model
The most important key feature of the Sony A80K TV is its excellent picture quality with perfect blacks and wide color gamut.
Other advantages and benefits of purchasing this TV include:
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Wide viewing angle: The TV has a wide viewing angle, ensuring that everyone in the room can enjoy the same high-quality image, even when viewing from the sides.
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Excellent reflection handling: The TV has incredible reflection handling, making it a great choice for well-lit rooms where glare can be an issue.
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Low input lag for gaming: The TV has low input lag when in Game Mode, making it ideal for gamers who want a responsive gaming experience.
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Smooth motion performance: The TV has near-instantaneous response time, resulting in minimal motion blur behind fast-moving objects. It also features motion interpolation and judder removal for smoother playback of movies and other content.
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Smart features with Google TV: The TV comes with Google TV as its smart platform, providing a user-friendly interface and access to a wide range of apps through the Google Play Store. It also has Chromecast built-in for easy content casting from your phone, and voice control with Google Assistant for convenient navigation and control.
Examining the downsides of Sony A80K OLED TV
The main problem with purchasing the Sony A80K TV is its limited peak brightness, which affects its HDR performance. Here are the potential downsides of purchasing this TV:
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Limited HDR peak brightness: The Sony A80K has a peak brightness of only around 400 cd/m² in SDR, which means it may not be able to make HDR highlights stand out vividly. If you want a TV with a brighter HDR image, you may want to consider other models like the Sony X90J OLED or Samsung Q90T QLED.
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Lack of 8K support: The Sony A80K does not support 8K resolution, which may be disappointing if you want a TV that is more future-proof. If you are looking for an 8K TV, you will need to consider other options.
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Purple tint in bright light: While the Sony A80K has good reflection handling, there may be a bit of a purple tint present on the screen in bright light sources. This may not be too noticeable, but it is worth considering if you are sensitive to color accuracy.
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Slightly higher input lag: While the Sony A80K has low input lag in game mode, it does have slightly higher input lag compared to other OLED models like the LG A2 OLED. This may not be a significant issue for most gamers, but it is worth noting if you prioritize low input lag.
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No FreeSync support: The Sony A80K does not support FreeSync, which may be disappointing if you have an AMD graphics card and want to take advantage of variable refresh rate technology. However, it does support HDMI Forum VRR and G-SYNC compatibility for reduced screen tearing.
Our verdict for Sony A80K OLED TV
The Sony A80K is an excellent OLED TV that offers impressive picture quality and a wide range of colors. Its perfect black uniformity and near-infinite contrast ratio make it ideal for dark room viewing, especially for movies. The wide viewing angle ensures that everyone can enjoy the same image, even from the sides. Additionally, its excellent reflection handling makes it suitable for well-lit rooms without distracting glare. While it may not have the brightest highlights for HDR content, its low input lag and gaming features make it a great choice for gamers. Overall, the Sony A80K is a top-tier TV that delivers on performance and features, making it a worthwhile investment.
