As someone who uses both a Sonos Beam and Beam Gen 2 at home, I’m probably more excited than most about the announcement of the new Beam Ultra.

And, I have to say, I think it broadly looks excellent, delivering pretty much everything that Beam owners like me have been asking for.

But ‘pretty much everything’ and ‘everything’ aren’t the same thing, and we always want more.

So, here are the five features of the Beam Ultra about which I’m most excited, and the three elements that I find slightly disappointing.

Good: up-firing drivers

This is the big one: the thing Sonos Beam owners have been clamouring for since the launch of the original model back in 2018 – dedicated up-firing drivers.

In fairness, the Beam Gen 2 does an excellent job of creating a Dolby Atmos effect with its front-firing drivers and clever virtualisation tech, but the Beam Ultra should be significantly better in this regard. I find that very exciting indeed.

Good: more drivers in general

The Beam Ultra actually features nine drivers, which is four more than the existing Beam Gen 2.

As well as the two up-firers, the new soundbar features a forward-firing driver, two side-firing drivers, and four woofers, arranged into what Sonos says is a 7.1.2-channel configuration.

This should bring improvements to spaciousness and directness as well as Dolby Atmos delivery – assuming Sonos has nailed the tuning, that is.

Good: compact dimensions

It might feature four more drivers than the Beam Gen 2, but the Beam Ultra is still impressively compact, measuring 6.5 x 75 x 10.5cm.

In other words, it’s only 10cm wider than the diminutive Beam Gen 2, which means it will still fit neatly below or in front of most TVs – even smaller models – and it won't visually dominate a typical living room.

Good: upgradability

As with Sonos’s previous soundbars, the Beam Ultra can be upgraded through the addition of a subwoofer and/or wireless surrounds, and the new model’s launch is coinciding neatly with a new feature called ‘Portable Surround’.

This, as the name suggests, will allow you to use two portable speakers – the Play and Move 2 are compatible – as surrounds with one of Sonos’s soundbars.

Why does that matter? If you use a pair of non-portable speakers (Era 300s or Era 100s, for example) as surrounds, that's likely all they’ll ever be. Use portable speakers, though, and they can be picked up and used as music speakers anywhere in or out of the house. That’s much better value for money.

Good: new app

The launch of the Beam Ultra is also coinciding neatly with the launch of the new Sonos app, called Sonos 27.

Sonos is promising fancy features such as integration with any and all AI chatbots, so you can control your system via ChatGPT if you like, but, frankly, I’m just excited for the promised usability overhaul.

I still find the current Sonos app a real pig to operate, so I can’t wait to see how Sonos has (hopefully) improved things.

Disappointing: no HDMI passthrough

Look, I wasn’t expecting Sonos to add HDMI passthrough – I don’t think this is a feature that Sonos will ever support – but that doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed that it’s not been added.

I own a TV with just two HDMI 2.1 inputs, and one of those doubles as the eARC port. Once that’s taken up by a soundbar, I have just the one left. Seeing as I have both a PS5 and an Xbox Series X, that’s a bit of a pain in the bum, and it wouldn’t be if the soundbar just had a dedicated HDMI input and 4K/120Hz passthrough.

For Sonos, though, simplicity is key, so I think the single HDMI socket is here to stay.

Disappointing: no DTS:X

Again, this isn’t something I was expecting, and I don’t actually think a lack of DTS:X in the context of a mid-range soundbar is actually that big a deal, but it would still be better to have than not, especially as there are rivals that offer both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

That said, Sonos hasn't completely ruled out adding DTS:X support in the future.

Disappointing: a fairly high price

Whether the Beam Ultra is good value will ultimately depend on how it sounds, but at £699 / $699 / AU$1099, it certainly looks expensive on paper.

There are rivals from the likes of JBL and Harman Kardon that offer up-firing drivers and similar driver configurations for around the same money as the Beam Gen 2. If the Beam Ultra had simply replaced the Beam Gen 2 at its £449 / $449 / AU$649 price, it would be exceptionally tempting.

At £699 / $699 / AU$1099, though, Sonos is asking us to pay a significant premium, and the new soundbar is going to have to deliver some seriously impressive performance to justify it.

In fairness, this is nothing new for Sonos, which typically prioritises performance over specs – let's see if it's got the formula right again when we get the Beam Ultra in for review.

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Here are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars you can buy right now

Sonos has just taken the wraps off the Beam Ultra, a new Dolby Atmos soundbar that sits between the entry-level Beam Gen 2 and premium Arc Ultra.

One of the coolest things about the Beam Ultra is that, unlike the Beam Gen 2, it has dedicated up-firing speakers for a more involving Dolby Atmos delivery.

Dolby Atmos isn't the only 3D audio format in town, though. DTS:X is a serious alternative, and one that's particularly popular with home cinema enthusiasts, yet Sonos has resolutely refused to support it on any of its speakers.

Given the chance to speak with Brandon Holley, Sonos’s Senior Director of Product, ahead of the Beam Ultra’s launch, we asked about that.

“Beam Ultra doesn’t support DTS:X at this time”, he said.

But could it (and other Sonos speakers) do so one day?

“It’s definitely a question that we ask ourselves, and it’s one of the many features, codecs and partnerships that we’re constantly entertaining. The door isn’t closed to any of those particular things”.

I realise that all seems a bit "nothing to see here", but I actually took some encouragement from the way Holley said it, and I genuinely believe this is a discussion that Sonos is having regularly.

It’s always seemed slightly odd to me that Sonos – a brand that has had format and service agnosticism at its core from its inception – would support Dolby Atmos and not DTS:X.

Sure, DTS:X is comparatively niche, but so are a large number of the streaming services that the Sonos ecosystem supports.

I wouldn't be surprised if DTS:X eventually found its way onto Sonos speakers. The more pressing question, though, is whether the Sonos Beam Ultra is any good in its own right.

We intend to answer that question by putting it through our comparative review process just as soon as possible.

MORE:

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Here are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars you can buy right now

Hands up; we’re pretty late to this one.

In fact, if Apple does as expected, the iPhone 17 Pro we have before us today will be replaced in just a couple of weeks.

So, why bother reviewing the iPhone 17 Pro at this late stage? There are two main reasons: it will likely be available to buy for a little while yet, and probably at a discount; and it gives us a good benchmark to judge the new model against.

As ever, we’re interested in the iPhone 17 Pro not for its rocket ship power or fancy camera array (though those are interesting), but for its picture and sound quality. We want to know if this is the best phone for taking movies and music with you on the move.

And it is – for the next couple of weeks, at least.

Price

The iPhone 17 Pro launched with a starting price of £1099 / $1099 / AU$1999, but it is now possible to get discounts of around £100 in the UK if you shop around.

That price gets you the entry-level 256GB version (Apple is no longer offering a 128GB Pro model), but 512GB and 1TB versions are also available, at a premium of £200 / $200 / AU$400 and £400 / $400 / AU$800 respectively.

If the 17 Pro’s 6.3-inch display isn’t large enough for you, an upgrade to the 6.9-inch Max will incur an additional premium of £100 / $100 / AU$200.

Design

The iPhone 17 Pro represents Apple's biggest design change to its Pro phones in several years, and it's one that took a little getting used to.

The most obvious change is the enormous new camera plateau, which now stretches almost the entire width of the phone. It looked rather shocking when we first saw it, but after spending time with the phone, we've come to think it gives the 17 Pro a more natural and balanced appearance than the asymmetrically placed square camera bump of its predecessor.

The move from titanium to aluminium also sounds like a step backwards for a phone at this level, but in practice it brings some advantages. The edges are smoother and more rounded than those of the 16 Pro, making the 17 Pro feel more comfortable in the hand, while Apple's new anodised finishes give it a character that's been missing from some of the more sober recent Pro models.

Our Deep Blue review sample is particularly lovely, with a rich, almost pearlescent finish that changes subtly as it catches the light. We're also rather taken with the Cosmic Orange option, although its unapologetically bold appearance inevitably divides opinion.

In fact, while the iPhone 17 Pro's design doesn't necessarily come across as dramatically different in photographs, this is an absolutely beautiful phone in the flesh, and one that feels every bit as premium as its price suggests. It's the most appealing-looking and nicest-feeling iPhone we've used in several years.

The physical controls remain unchanged from the 16 Pro, with volume controls and the Action button on one side, and the power/Siri and Camera Control buttons on the other.

The bottom edge has also been subtly revised, with both speaker grilles now appearing to be the same size rather than one being noticeably smaller than the other on the previous model.

The 17 Pro retains the same IP68 water and dust resistance as its predecessor, too; we even put that to a fairly vigorous test at Bude's Monster Slip And Slide, where it continued recording video while getting thoroughly soaked without any adverse effects.

Apple's new Tech Woven case is a particularly nice companion to the phone. Its woven finish feels more tactile and premium than many conventional cases, while the understated design complements rather than obscures the 17 Pro's new appearance.

The result is a Pro iPhone that feels both familiar and substantially refreshed. The camera plateau may take some getting used to, but the smoother shape, tactile finishes and excellent in-hand feel have made us rather fond of Apple's latest design.

Features

The iPhone 17 Pro's headline display specifications don’t look radically different to those of its predecessor. It's still a 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR OLED with a 2622 x 1206 resolution, 460ppi pixel density, ProMotion up to 120Hz and an Always-On display. The big changes are to what's happening on top of that excellent OLED panel.

Apple has introduced a new anti-reflective coating that it claims reduces reflections by 33 per cent, while outdoor peak brightness has increased from 2000 nits on the iPhone 16 Pro to a huge-sounding 3000 nits.

Apple says these two changes combine to deliver up to twice the outdoor contrast of the previous model. We'll examine what that means in practice in the Picture Quality section, but the ability to maintain a convincing picture when you're watching in bright sunlight is particularly relevant to a phone intended to carry your movies everywhere.

For AV consumption, the format support is excellent, too. The iPhone 17 Pro can play HDR content in the HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision formats, and Dolby Atmos is supported on the audio side.

What’s perhaps most interesting from our point of view is that all of the above also applies to the standard iPhone 17, which boasts the same OLED display with the same specs and the same anti-reflection tech. It will be fascinating to see if this is borne out in our picture testing.

The other major upgrade for the iPhone 17 Pro over the 16 Pro is Apple's A19 Pro chip and new thermal management system. The new chip retains a six-core CPU and 16-core Neural Engine, but the new six-core GPU now has a Neural Accelerator in each core, improving its ability to handle demanding graphics and AI-based tasks.

Just as important, though, is the new thermal management system. The 17 Pro's aluminium unibody is more than 20 times more thermally conductive than the titanium used previously, according to Apple, and it incorporates a vapour chamber that moves heat away from the A19 Pro and into the aluminium chassis. Apple claims this allows up to 40 per cent better sustained performance than the previous generation.

For most content consumers, such as us, this level of power is essentially overkill – the 17 Pro operates with the sort of slickness you'd expect from a flagship phone and can handle graphically intensive games without breaking a sweat.

The more important benefit is the sheer amount of headroom it provides, and the ability to maintain high performance over longer periods without thermal throttling. In practical terms, that means higher frame rates during long gaming sessions and a better chance of the phone still feeling effortlessly quick several years from now. Of course, if you are going to use your phone for content creation as well as consumption, all of this extra power becomes considerably more useful.

Apple has also substantially upgraded the camera system. The 48MP Fusion Main camera remains, but the Ultra Wide and Telephoto cameras are now 48MP Fusion models, too.

The Fusion branding refers to Apple's image-processing architecture as much as the sensors themselves, with computational processing combining multiple sources of image data to produce a final shot.

The camera system is also more flexible when it comes to zoom. Alongside the 0.5x ultra-wide and 1x main views, you can now choose 2x, 4x or 8x optical zoom, giving you more options for getting close to a subject without resorting to the potentially softer digital zoom.

The new 4x Telephoto is particularly useful as a middle ground between the standard camera and the long-range 8x option, while its larger sensor helps it capture more light and detail.

If that’s all Dutch to you, the upshot for casual photographers is brilliantly detailed, dynamic and balanced shots at various levels of zoom. This is a supremely talented camera system that’s a doddle for amateurs to use and an absolute beast in the hands of a professional.

The front-facing camera is an even more obvious upgrade for everyday users. It moves from 12MP to 18MP and, more importantly, introduces a new square sensor that gives you much greater flexibility over framing. You can tap to expand the field of view, switch between portrait and landscape framing without rotating the phone, and automatically widen the shot when other people join a selfie.

Centre Stage can also keep you centred during video calls, while Dual Capture lets you record from the front and rear cameras simultaneously – useful for vloggers, but also for anyone who wants to capture their own reaction alongside whatever they're filming. There's also ultra-stabilised 4K HDR video for smoother handheld footage.

Battery life has improved, too. Apple rates the 17 Pro for up to 31 hours of video playback, compared with 27 hours for the 16 Pro. A sufficiently powerful charger can also take the phone to 50 per cent in just 20 minutes.

Bluetooth has been upgraded from version 5.3 to Bluetooth 6. That doesn't bring any meaningful benefit right now, but Bluetooth 6’s improved efficiency, reliability and potential for lower-latency connections could make it more useful as compatible headphones and other devices catch up.

Picture quality

The iPhone 17 Pro doesn't reinvent Apple's approach to picture quality, and nor does it need to. The iPhone 16 Pro already produces one of the finest pictures we've seen from a phone, combining excellent detail and contrast with Apple's typically impressive commitment to colour accuracy and consistency.

The 17 Pro takes that formula and makes some subtle but worthwhile refinements.

Put the two phones side by side and the colour balance is remarkably similar. There is, however, a smidge more richness to the 17 Pro's presentation, which is particularly evident in skin tones.

Subtle variations have a little more depth and life, but there's no sense that Apple has achieved this by simply turning up the saturation. The overall balance remains remarkably natural, and that combination of richness and restraint is one of the things that is so appealing about the picture.

There's a similarly subtle improvement to black depth. The 17 Pro's blacks are just a little deeper and denser than those of the 16 Pro, and while the difference is small, it lends the whole image a little more solidity and lustre. It's not simply a case of dark areas having been made darker, either: shadow detail remains excellent.

The dark scenes of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey provide a good demonstration. As Bilbo, Fili and Kili track their missing ponies through the darkness, the 17 Pro delivers an excellent combination of insight and solidity, with fine details remaining visible while the deepest parts of the image look impressively dense.

The 16 Pro is also excellent here, but its slightly lighter blacks give the picture a little less depth, while the 17 Pro's richer colours and deeper contrast combine to create a more three-dimensional image.

The same characteristics repeat across everything we watch. The dimly lit opening of Conclave benefits from the 17 Pro's extra depth and richness without sacrificing any shadow detail. The brighter scenes of The Creator, meanwhile, absolutely pop, with the vivid greens of the terraced rice paddies contrasting beautifully with the blue of the police ships and the red of “the weapon's” jumpsuit.

In fact, we find ourselves repeatedly drawn towards the 17 Pro's picture when switching back and forth between the two phones. The differences aren't dramatic, but the newer model has a little more of that lusciousness that makes an image particularly enjoyable to watch.

In normal indoor lighting, there's little to separate the two phones in terms of outright brightness. Both produce wonderfully dynamic pictures with plenty of pop, and neither is crying out for more light. Move into really bright ambient conditions, though, and the 17 Pro's new display technology makes a much more obvious difference.

The new anti-reflective coating significantly reduces glare bouncing back at you from the screen, while the display can automatically unlock its additional outdoor brightness in very bright conditions. The combination makes the picture noticeably easier to see and enjoy when the environment would otherwise be fighting against it.

It's worth stressing that this isn't a matte screen in the manner of Samsung's latest flagship OLED TVs. Those displays are exceptionally resistant to reflections, but their matte finishes can also sap some of the depth and richness from black areas. Apple's approach is closer to the treatment used by LG's G6: reflections are reduced significantly without turning the glossy OLED surface into something visibly matte, so you retain those deep, lush blacks while gaining a useful degree of protection from glare.

Motion, meanwhile, remains very good, as we'd expect from the 120Hz ProMotion OLED. There is, however, still some judder inherent in 24fps movie content, and the sheer responsiveness of an OLED display can make this more obvious than it might be on an LCD screen. It’s far from a major problem, and certainly not unique to iPhones, but it would be nice if in future phones Apple could offer an option for some very gentle motion processing to smooth this out without introducing the artificial, soap-opera-like quality of aggressive interpolation.

Finally, we have to mention the Dynamic Island. In the default letterboxed presentation, it's essentially a non-issue for movie watching because the picture doesn't extend far enough up the display for the Island to overlap it. Zoom the content to fill the entire screen, though, and it's obviously there.

But what's remarkable is how quickly you stop seeing it. Once you're engrossed in a film, your brain seems to erase it from your awareness. We'd still love a phone with a genuinely uninterrupted screen for movie watching, but in practice, the Dynamic Island proves far less distracting than you might expect.

Ultimately, the iPhone 17 Pro doesn't deliver a night-and-day improvement over the 16 Pro. Instead, it takes an already exceptional picture and gives it a little more richness, depth and lustre, while making it more usable in the brightest viewing conditions.

A comparison with the standard iPhone 17 is also revealing. Despite the two phones having the same headline display specifications, the 17 Pro has a little more pop and vibrancy.

In F1: The Movie, for example, the fluorescent tubes lighting the laundromat are a brighter, purer white, while Brad Pitt's race suit is a touch crisper and more detailed in texture. Skin tones are also very slightly more naturally saturated.

The differences are small, but they give the Pro a marginally more dynamic and three-dimensional presentation.

Sound quality

As with the picture, the iPhone 17 Pro doesn't represent a radical change to Apple's already excellent approach to sound.

That said, the built-in speakers are a little fuller and richer than those of the 16 Pro, with more weight and a smoother, more rounded presentation. The difference is subtle, but the older model sounds just a touch thin and hard by comparison.

The standard iPhone 17's speakers are broadly similar, but the Pro has the edge here, too. The 17 sounds a touch more aggressive and less fluidly rounded, and it seems to lean more heavily on its bottom speakers, resulting in a slightly left-sided balance when watching in landscape. The 17 Pro sounds a little richer, smoother and more spatially consistent.

It's with Spatial Audio movies that the iPhone 17 Pro’s tiny speakers really impress. The opening sequence of F1: The Movie is reproduced with a surprisingly wide soundstage, with cars sweeping from deep on the right to far over on the left, while the commentary and fireworks have a reasonable sense of height.

Effects, music and dialogue are also given enough space to breathe that the busy soundtrack remains surprisingly clear. You're certainly not surrounded by sound in the way you would be with a proper home cinema system, but the scale and spatial precision are remarkable for a tiny device such as a phone.

Stereo music is less impressive through the speakers. While they produce a decent amount of bass for their size, depth remains paltry by absolute standards, and tracks sound much thinner than they should. It’s a more congested delivery, too, with Sleep Token's The Summoning, for example, losing much of its spaciousness and scale.

That's hardly surprising given the physical limitations, though, and the 17 Pro is still very capable by the admittedly rather low standards of smartphone speaker audio.

Connect a good pair of headphones, meanwhile, and we no longer need caveats. Using a pair of AirPods Max 2 via USB-C, the 17 Pro delivers superb clarity, rhythmic drive and tonal balance, with enough composure to make complex recordings genuinely engaging.

Tool's Invincible is reproduced with absolute confidence, the steady dynamic build of the percussion gathering momentum without losing its precision, while Maynard James Keenan's vocals remain focused without sacrificing their deliberately airy, ethereal quality.

The differences between the 17 Pro and 16 Pro are smaller through headphones than they are through the built-in speakers, but as we switch between the two with Rosalia's Divinize, the new model sounds just a little tighter, particularly in the fluttering bass notes of the chorus, which have terrific punch and control. Rosalia's vocals are a touch cleaner and smoother, too, especially when listening at high volumes.

The standard iPhone 17 gets unsurprisingly close through headphones, but the Pro still has a small advantage. Playing Architects' Animals, the 17 Pro sounds just a little fuller and smoother without sacrificing any of the track's punch or dynamics. It's an overall meatier, more mature delivery, though the difference is subtle.

Verdict

The iPhone 17 Pro is an outstanding portable movie and music player, with a superb screen, excellent sound and small but meaningful improvements over its predecessor.

The picture is the real star. It retains the beautiful balance and authenticity we’ve come to expect from Apple’s phones, but gains a little extra richness, depth and lustre. At the same time, the improved anti-reflection performance makes it considerably more practical in bright conditions.

Sound is similarly refined, with a small but worthwhile improvement to the built-in speakers and outstanding performance through headphones.

The key thing is that none of these improvements is transformative. If you already own an iPhone 16 Pro, there isn't a compelling AV reason to upgrade, particularly if you mostly watch indoors and listen through headphones.

For someone buying a new phone, though, the equation is different. The standard iPhone 17 gets surprisingly close, but the Pro has a small but discernible advantage for both picture and sound, as well as its much more capable camera system and greater processing headroom.

Admittedly, those advantages are small enough that the standard iPhone 17 remains the most sensible performance-per-pound option if you only care about movie and music performance, but if you also feel like you might take advantage of the more advanced camera system and/or processing power, the extra money for the Pro model becomes easier to justify.

Ultimately, the iPhone 17 Pro is probably the best phone we've tested for taking movies and music on the move. The (presumably) impending iPhone 18 Pro might push things on even further, but that won't change the fact that the 17 Pro is an exceptional AV machine – and one that could become even more tempting with end-of-life discounts.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 5
• Features 5

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The only certain things in life are death, taxes, and an annual iPhone event in September.

Sure enough, Apple has just announced an event for 9th September. I wonder what that could be about?

Actually, I’m doing Apple a disservice there, because this event, which has the tagline ‘Surprise And Shine’, is expected to be a little different to previous years.

That’s because rumours suggest that it won’t feature the ‘standard’ iPhone 18, which most in-the-know types currently think is set for a launch in spring next year.

Instead, the 9th September event is tipped to focus on the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and [drumroll] Apple’s first foldable phone.

As AV nerds, we are of course very excited to see the foldable iPhone, which rumours suggest could be called the iPhone Ultra.

If it can combine the awesomely cinematic picture tuning of Apple’s existing iPhones with a near-tablet-sized screen and a movie-friendly aspect ratio, it could well be the ultimate phone for movies on the move.

What about AirPods, HomePods and the Apple TV?

But what else might we see at the event? August has been chock-full of rumours about new Apple devices, including the AirPods 5 (one version with ANC, the other without), the controversial AirPods with camera, a new HomePod Mini and HomePod 3, and even the long-overdue Apple TV 4K replacement.

Will any of those appear on 9th September? Personally, I’m not convinced.

To me, it feels like the wrong time to launch the AirPods with a camera, given the current controversy around camera-enabled glasses. I can’t see Apple wading into those murky waters at this stage.

The AirPods 5 look very much ready to go, but they also look like a fairly iterative update to the AirPods 4, which would likely leave them a bit forgotten if they were announced at the same event as the fancy new Pro and Ultra iPhones.

The rumoured new HomePod and HomePod Mini, on the other hand, feel like announcements that are too big to risk being overshadowed by the foldable phone.

My guess is that the new AirPods and HomePods will be announced at a dedicated event in October, where we might also finally see the new Apple TV 4K, which could have some clever new synergy with the HomePods.

As ever with Apple, though, this is really just rumour-fuelled guesswork. Thankfully, we don't have long to wait to find out what's actually coming, as 9th September isn't far away.

Apple will be streaming the event live at Apple.com. Kick-off time is 6pm in the UK, 10am in the US (PT), and 3am on 10th September in Australia.

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These days, I very rarely get to go to football matches.

I'm an avid Spurs fan (yes, still), but between the costs involved and family life obligations, I make it to the glorious Tottenham Hotspur Stadium just once or twice a season at best.

I therefore do the vast majority of my football watching at home, and I'm lucky enough to do so with a system capable of taking advantage of the excellent picture and sound formats now available.

Pretty much every match that Sky broadcasts is available in 4K with HDR, and the crispness and vibrancy are generally lovely to behold. But while 4K and HDR undoubtedly make a match look better, they don't fundamentally change the feeling of watching one. No degree of sharpness or punch gets around the fact that you're still viewing the game through a screen.

The accompanying Dolby Atmos sound, though, is a different story.

With Dolby Atmos, I can turn the volume up and be transported to the stadium. I can hear the crowd all around me, audibly pick out individuals yelling abuse at the ref, and the theatrical yells of pain as yet another player takes a dive come through with a realistic sense of distance.

If I could turn off the commentary (something Sky doesn't currently offer) and find a candle with a stale beer and body odour scent, I could well forget I was in my living room.

The impact of Atmos is far more pronounced with football than with my other sporting passion, Formula 1.

Don't get me wrong, noise is a big part of the F1 experience, from the neeeeeee-OW of the cars racing down the straight to the fizzing whirr of the wheel guns. But F1 broadcasts aren't designed to put you in the stands in the way that football broadcasts are, so the addition of Atmos adds relatively little compared with the 5.1 and even stereo delivery.

For me, with F1, the joy of the UHD broadcast comes in the form of the extra definition and detail in the cars, the gorgeous vibrancy of the gleaming paintwork and the searing brightness of the sunlight sparkling off the surface of the yacht-packed Monaco marina. It's a real feast for the eyes and ears, but I never feel like I'm there.

With football, though, Atmos can make me feel like I'm in the crowd at the stadium, and that's a far bigger change to the viewing experience than simply making the picture sharper or brighter.

Now, if only Sky would let us turn off the commentary. Especially when Spurs are playing badly.

Not that that's going to happen so often this season, you understand...

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The Premier League and Formula 1 are both back this weekend, and that means my sports-watching calendar has gone from completely empty to chock-a-block.

On Sunday, at the very same time that the red lights will be going out at the Dutch GP, the refs will be blowing their whistles to kick off two Premier League matches: Brighton vs Aston Villa and Man City vs Bournemouth.

Previously, I would have set up a complex multi-screen system involving the TV, an iPad and a phone, but Sky has just announced a simple (some might say “overdue”) solution, in the form of ‘Your Multiview’.

As the ‘Multiview’ part of the name suggests, this is a new split-screen feature for Sky Glass, Sky Stream and Sky Q.

And, as the ‘Your’ element hints, it allows you to customise the sports shown in each of the windows.

In fact, the level of customisation goes beyond that: up to four events can be shown at once, and users can edit the layout to change which is spotlighted, as well as switch the audio feed at their leisure.

This Sunday, then, I’ll be able to watch the F1 and both football matches at the same time, on a single screen. Neat.

While it’s not confirmed in Sky’s announcement, it looks as though You Multiview will only support live sporting events broadcast on Sky’s own channels, so you won’t be able to include a match broadcast by TNT alongside the cricket from Sky, for example.

It doesn’t appear that you will be able to use any of the windows for non-sports content either, so no watching The Simpsons and the golf at the same time.

I have asked Sky for clarification on these points [edit to add that I have now had this confirmed by a Sky representative], and I will be testing Your Multiview myself over the weekend. On paper, though, it looks like a big win for sports-obsessed Sky subscribers such as me.

MORE:

Check out our Sky Glass Gen 2 review and our Sky Glass Air review

Don’t want to change your TV? Check out our Sky Stream review

I recently wrote about problems I’m having with my Sony system since the latest software update, and I’ve been inundated with emails and messages from fellow sufferers ever since.

The offending software is 114.602.080.1, which was released to various Sony TV models towards the end of June.

The issues reported range from audio dropout (which is what I’m experiencing) and lip-sync issues to Dolby Vision content refusing to play, and it appears to be related to the way the TVs handle HDMI sources and passthrough.

Needless to say, affected owners are pretty frustrated, but I do have some good news – at least for some of them.

Sony has just released a new update, 114.602.170.1, and, according to some owners, including reader David Simmonds, who alerted me to the release of the new software, the Dolby Vision issue, which caused some users to see a black screen instead of their content, has seemingly been fixed.

[Edit to add: I've since been informed that a secondary Dolby Vision issue, which involves scan lines being visible in content, has not been resolved]

I wasn’t experiencing this problem, so I only have the reports of others to go on regarding the fix.

However, having now installed and done some testing of the new software, I can confirm that it unfortunately doesn’t fix the audio dropout issues for me, and David has confirmed it’s the same for him.

In fairness, this latest software update specifically mentions that it “resolves an issue where a black screen could be observed when starting playback of specific content from external HDMI devices”, but makes no mention of fixing any audio issues – it seems it was always intended to fix one problem but not the other.

I have contacted Sony with these findings and a request for information on a fix for the audio issues, and will report back with any information I get.

MORE:

Even brighter OLED TVs could be on the way thanks to a new “dream” panel technology – and super-large models might get cheaper

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

Thought we had finally hit the upper limit of OLED? Think again!

LG Display, which produces the OLED panels used in all OLED TVs sold by LG Electronics and in many TVs sold by brands such as Samsung, Sony and Panasonic, has just announced a new “dream” panel technology called ‘FLiPP’.

That funky name stands for the decidedly less funky ‘FMM-Less innovative Pixel Patterning’, which actually explains how this new technology works.

For the past decade or so, OLEDs have been manufactured using fine metal masks (FMMs). These are essentially sheets covered with microscopic holes, through which the red, green and blue OLED materials are placed.

The problem with these FMMs is that they add cost and they are hard to manufacture, particularly at very large screen sizes.

Now, “after a year of concentrated R&D”, LG Display says it has managed to develop a manufacturing method that eradicates the need for these FMMs.

More affordable super-sized OLED TVs?

Why should you care? First up, LG Display claims that because FLiPP improves the aperture ratio of OLED, it can “increase display brightness by 1.6 times, extend lifespan by 2.4 times, and reduce power consumption by 13 per cent”.

But I think there is potentially a more interesting point here. FLiPP apparently reduces material costs and significantly improves the efficiency of using large OLED sheets to produce panels for different products, and that means that manufacturing costs should decrease, potentially resulting in cheaper OLED TVs.

This could be particularly beneficial where very large OLED TVs are concerned. Big OLED panels are difficult and expensive to produce, so very large OLED TVs tend to be disproportionately expensive. FLiPP could change that.

LG Display flags that FLiPP is “free from panel size and resolution constraints”, and can be used for producing panels from 1-inch in size (for AR/VR headsets, for example) right up to 100 inches.

But when will we start to see FLiPP-based OLED TVs in shops? Not for a while, it seems: the tech is being officially unveiled at the International Meeting on Information Display (IMID) this week, and LG Display says it will first be used in “IT applications such as tablets and monitors”.

Rollout for “ultra-large TVs” is explicitly promised in the press release, though.

We have contacted LG Display for more information, and have reached out to TV manufacturers for their thoughts on the announcement.

We’ll follow up with more on FLiPP as we get it. In the meantime, those who want more of an explanation of how it works should check out LG Display’s own video explainer:

MORE:

Here are the best OLED TVs you can buy right now

Check out our LG C6 review and LG G6 review

There are plenty of reasons you might want to connect your phone to your TV.

Perhaps you’re watching something on your handset and want to transfer it to the bigger screen in your living room; maybe you want a big display to show off the snaps from your latest holiday; or you might want to play some music via your TV.

Whatever you’re trying to achieve, there’s generally a way to do it. Allow us to show you how.

Cast video from your phone

If you want to watch a video from your phone on the big screen, casting is usually the easiest and best way to do it.

Rather than sending everything on your phone's screen to the TV, casting tells the TV to play the content itself, with your phone essentially acting like a remote control. That means you can usually carry on using your phone without interrupting playback, and in many cases you can even turn its screen off while the video continues playing.

Google's technology is now called Google Cast, although you might still see it referred to as Chromecast.

Google Cast is built into Chromecast devices, the Google TV Streamer and TVs running Google TV or Android TV. In the UK, that includes compatible TVs from brands such as Sony, Philips and TCL.

Other manufacturers have also added Google Cast to some models: newer LG TVs support it, for example, while compatible Panasonic Android TVs do, too.

But don't assume that every TV from a particular brand supports Google Cast: Samsung’s Tizen TVs, Hisense's VIDAA TVs and Panasonic's Fire TV models, for example, use different systems.

If your TV doesn't support Google Cast, don't worry: you may still be able to send content to it using AirPlay or the manufacturer's own casting/mirroring system.

How to cast a video

First, make sure your phone and TV are connected to the same wi-fi network. Then open the app containing the video you want to watch and look for the Cast icon – it's a little rectangle with three curved lines in the corner.

Tap it, select your TV from the list of available devices, and the video should start playing on the TV.

Once you're connected, your phone becomes a convenient remote control: you can pause, skip and adjust playback from the app, while the TV does the actual streaming.

The catch is that the app needs to support casting. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, YouTube, BBC iPlayer and many other popular streaming services do, but you won't necessarily find a Cast button in every app.

If there isn't one, you might be able to use screen mirroring instead, but some apps restrict this, too. Sky Go, for example, doesn't support casting of any kind, so you can't simply send its live football or other content from your phone to a Cast-equipped TV.

What about iPhone?

iPhone users can also use Google Cast with compatible apps and TVs, but Apple's own AirPlay system is also an option if you have an AirPlay-compatible TV or an Apple TV 4K streamer.

The principle is much the same: start playing a video, tap the AirPlay button (a rectangle with a triangle pointing into it) and select your TV. Your iPhone and TV generally need to be on the same wi-fi network.

So, as a rule of thumb: if the app has a Cast or AirPlay button, use it. It's generally a better option for watching video on your TV than mirroring your entire phone screen.

Mirror your phone screen

If the app you want to use doesn't support casting, or you simply want to show something that's on your phone rather than stream a particular video, screen mirroring is the next option.

As the name suggests, mirroring shows what's happening on your phone's screen on your TV. Open a website, look through your photos or start an app on your phone, and you'll see the same thing on the big screen. It's particularly useful for things that don't have a dedicated TV app or don't offer a Cast button.

The exact method depends on your phone and TV. iPhone uses Apple's AirPlay system, while Android phones can use different systems depending on the manufacturer. Samsung calls its version Smart View, for example, while LG uses Screen Share on compatible models.

How to mirror your phone

On an iPhone, make sure your phone and TV are connected to the same wi-fi network, then open Control Centre, tap Screen Mirroring (the icon with two rectangles, one in front of the other) and select your AirPlay-compatible TV or Apple TV 4K. If a passcode appears on the TV, enter it on your phone.

On Android, look for a screen-mirroring option in your phone's quick settings. The name varies: Samsung phones use Smart View, while other manufacturers may call it Screen Share, Cast, Wireless Display or something similar. Select your TV from the list of available devices and accept the connection on the TV if prompted.

You'll generally need the phone and TV to be connected to the same wi-fi network, although the exact requirements vary between devices.

Mirroring generally isn't the best option for video

There's a reason we recommend casting where possible. With mirroring, everything on your phone is replicated on the TV, so a notification, incoming call or change of app can appear on the big screen.

And some streaming services restrict mirroring of protected video content, so don't assume that an app without a Cast button will necessarily work when mirrored.

For watching Netflix, YouTube, iPlayer and other supported services, casting or using the app directly on your TV is generally the better solution. Use mirroring when you want to show something that's actually on your phone, such as your photos or a presentation.

Play music through your TV

If you're listening to music, you're generally better off sending it directly to a wireless speaker, soundbar or AV system than using your TV. But there can be good reasons to put your music on the big screen, particularly when you're listening with other people.

The simplest option is to use your music service's TV app, if it has one.

Spotify, for example, has apps for many smart TVs, and you can use Spotify Connect on your phone to control what's playing. The TV can then display album artwork, track information and the playback queue, while everyone can see what's playing and take part in choosing the music.

But you don't necessarily need a TV app. Services including Spotify, Tidal and Qobuz can send music from their phone apps to compatible TVs using Google Cast, while AirPlay provides a similar option for iPhone users with a compatible TV.

So if your TV doesn't have a native app for the music service you use, check whether its phone app supports Google Cast or AirPlay before assuming you're out of luck. You may still be able to get your music onto the big screen.

Connect your phone with a cable

If a wireless connection isn’t an option, you can always connect your phone to your TV with a cable.

It's not as convenient as casting or mirroring, but a wired connection can be useful if you want a direct connection between your phone and TV, particularly if low latency is important – for example, when playing games.

Most modern phones use USB-C, so you'll generally need a USB-C-to-HDMI adaptor or cable, with the HDMI end connected to an HDMI input on your TV. Older iPhones with a Lightning connector require a suitable Lightning-to-HDMI adaptor instead.

Just bear in mind that not every USB-C phone supports video output, so check your phone's specifications before buying an adaptor.

Once connected, your phone will usually mirror its display on the TV, although the exact behaviour depends on the phone and adaptor.

And while a cable removes some of the potential complications of a wireless connection, it doesn't necessarily get around content restrictions: some streaming services can still block video output, or require the adaptor and TV to support the appropriate copy-protection standards (which they often don’t).

MORE:

Here are the best TVs you can buy right now

How far away should you sit from your TV?

In many ways, software updates are a blessing of modern technology.

They can add features, fix bugs and even improve the performance of a product that's weeks, months or even years old. At their best, they can breathe new life into a device that you've owned for ages.

But they can also go wrong.

It's why many TV owners, particularly those who've been stung by unwanted changes or problems after previous updates, have long promoted a 'turn off automatic updates' mantra.

I wish I had listened.

My philosophy has always been that software updates do far more good than harm, and that the frequency with which they create problems is overblown. Honestly, that's probably still the case. But now that I've been stung by a dodgy update myself, I'm feeling far less philosophical about the whole thing.

For the last few weeks, I've been experiencing audio dropouts from my Sony system. After hours of research and experimentation with different settings and cables, I've finally established that the blame lies with the most recent update to my Bravia 8 II OLED TV.

The problem is frustratingly specific. When I'm watching something through an external source connected to the TV, such as my Apple TV 4K or Sky Stream puck, I can no longer use my external sound system without suffering audio dropouts.

The TV's internal apps work perfectly, but that has only reminded me how much higher the quality is from the Apple TV 4K than from Google TV.

Sony is aware of the issue, and my contacts assure me that a fix is in the works. There's no date for it yet, though, and it's already been almost two months since the problematic software was released.

That's a long time to have a significant part of an expensive home cinema system effectively out of action.

And this is where I've changed my mind about automatic updates.

I've now turned them off on my TV and several of my other devices. From now on, when one tells me that a software update is available, unless it's flagged as a critical security update, I'm going to wait a week or so before installing it.

I'll then search for the release number online, see whether other owners have reported problems, and only if all looks safe will I then download and apply it manually.

I'm not saying that software updates are bad. They're not. I've benefited from plenty of them over the years, and I'd still much rather have a TV that receives regular updates than one that's abandoned by its manufacturer.

But there's very little downside to waiting a few days before installing one. If an update is working perfectly for everyone else, I'll happily install it. If it turns out to be causing problems, I'll be very glad that I wasn't one of the first to find out.

So I'm now firmly in the 'turn automatic updates off' camp. Not because I'm suddenly convinced that every software update is a ticking time bomb, but because I've learned the hard way that there's no need to be an early adopter of firmware.

A few days of caution could save you weeks of frustration.

MORE:

Here are the best TVs you can buy right now

Some may remember that for our special Vinyl Week in April, I finally set aside two decades of hesitance and decided to try out a turntable at home.

This wasn't a straightforward experiment, though (as most who know me will tell you, nothing is ever straightforward with me), because my living room is really dedicated to home cinema rather than hi-fi.

Not traditional home cinema, either, but a fairly minimalist, lifestyle-first home cinema featuring Sony's HT-A9 wireless speaker system which, it transpired, has no physical audio inputs.

The solution, much to my concern, was a Bluetooth turntable – the very capable Pro-Ject T1 Evo BT. Why the concern? I simply assumed that the richly layered charm of analogue vinyl would somehow be lost in the calculated ones and zeros of wireless Bluetooth transmission.

It turns out I was wrong about that – at least in a broad, conceptual way. Bluetooth carries across the little pops and crackles that help make the vinyl listening experience unique, and none of the hardness I had expected was evident in the delivery.

There was a problem, though: my Sony system's lack of aptX support meant I was limited to a relatively low 327kbps Bluetooth bitrate.

Given that limitation and the general nature of the speaker system itself, the sound was surprisingly decent; but I was clearly leaving detail, dynamics and texture on the platter.

That simply wouldn't do, particularly as my family and I had been instantly bitten by the vinyl bug.

A capable, compact solution

Rather than return the turntable, then, it was time to source an alternative system to partner the Pro-Ject. I didn't want to replace the Sony HT-A9, which has served me well as a home cinema system, and I didn't want to move the turntable from its approved position at the back of our living room.

In other words, I was going to have to stick with Bluetooth, and whatever I added was going to have to be minimalist enough to fit in with my existing AV kit.

After much research, the solution I settled on was the five-star KEF Coda W speakers.

To my eyes, the angular Coda W aren't quite as pretty as KEF's smoothly sculpted LSX models, which have always appealed to me, but they prioritise Bluetooth over wi-fi streaming and have built-in aptX HD support. A perfect match, then, for the Pro-Ject turntable.

They are also quite a lot larger than the LSX II LT, producing a bigger sound that would potentially work well in my decently sized living room, while still being compact enough to fit into the nooks of my existing bookshelf-cum-TV-stand. No furniture upheaval required.

Sure enough, the unpacking and installation of the new Coda W speakers took all of five minutes, and connecting them to the turntable was simply a matter of putting the KEFs into Bluetooth pairing mode and switching the Pro-Ject on. Bingo-bango, I was ready to rock.

Analogue charm with wireless convenience

As a nascent vinyl collector, I had been listening to more or less the same few records since I first took the turntable home in April, so I was intimately familiar with how they sounded through my Sony speaker system. The upgrade provided by the KEFs was vast and instantly apparent.

Playing my much-spun copy of On Circles by Caspian, the huge improvement to dynamics was what struck me first. The Coda W are capable of creating a large, spacious sound, but within that, they deftly handle dynamic shifts both grand and small-scale.

Detail levels, too, were clearly massively improved, thanks to the combination of the revealing nature of the KEF speakers and the upgrade to aptX HD Bluetooth.

In fact, the sound-quality improvements were across the board, as you might expect with a switch from a lifestyle-oriented home cinema system to a pair of powered hi-fi speakers. Greater punch, rhythmic drive and tonal balance – it was all there, along with those subtle imperfections that for many people represent a big part of vinyl's character.

In other words, I'm hugely impressed – and surprised – by the performance that a minimalist, Bluetooth-based turntable system can clearly offer.

I'm not saying that going wired wouldn't be better – it no doubt would, and I may well look into a switch to cables in the near future. But I am saying that the need to go wireless and generally build a system around your lifestyle no longer precludes you from enjoying an excellent vinyl experience in the way that it would have done just a few short years ago.

Back then, a turntable system simply wasn't an option for me. Now, it is, and I’m loving how much less compromised it is than I was expecting.

MORE:

Here are the best Bluetooth turntables and the best active speakers you can buy right now

Welcome to the first edition of What Hi-Fi?’s resurrected Sound Advice feature!

This used to be something we ran in the magazine, where we answered reader questions, and now it’s back, in new, improved website form.

This is your opportunity to ask us those burning hi-fi, home cinema and TV questions. We can help you decide on your next purchase, give you our opinions on new formats, and answer questions about our reviewing process.

Aside from diagnosing faults with your kit (which the manufacturer is better placed to handle), if your question relates to hi-fi or AV, we can almost certainly help.

There are, in fact, two components to this reborn Sound Advice feature.

First up, we’re running a live Q&A between 1pm and 3pm today. You can go ahead and pop your questions into the box below now, if you want to get ahead of the game, or wait for us to be actively manning the page from 1pm.

We have also collated reader questions that have been sent to us via the website, our socials and the whathifi@futurenet.com email address. Simply scroll down or use the quick links to see these.

Live Q&A

Time to upgrade a 30-year-old hi-fi?

LSX II LT vs Wiim Ultra + speakers

OLED vs RGB Mini LED

Sony SW9 review?

Dedicated home cinema projector

Recap vintage speakers?

MORE:

Here are all of the best speakers, best TVs and best projectors you can buy right now

Are you after some personalised buying advice? Or is there a burning question you've always wanted to ask the What Hi-Fi? team? Well, now is your chance!

This Friday, 31st July, we're going to be hosting a live Q&A right here on whathifi.com.

Ketan Bharadia (Technical Editor), Kashfia Kabir (Hi-Fi & Audio Editor) and I (TV & AV Editor) will be on hand between 1pm and 3pm to answer any hi-fi, home cinema and TV questions you might have.

Whether it's which turntable you should buy, a question of whether an OLED or Mini LED TV is right for your room, or which speakers will perfectly complement your amp, we're poised and ready to help.

We can also offer opinions on new and upcoming formats, let you know whether a deal you've found is really as great as it seems, and answer questions about our reviewing process.

Aside from diagnosing faults with your kit (which the manufacturer is better placed to handle), if your question relates to hi-fi or AV (we're not great at relationship advice), we can almost certainly help.

The Q&A page will be live on Friday morning, so you won't have to wait until 1pm to get your questions in.

If you can't wait until then, though, you can ask them in the comments below or email them to whathifi@futurenet.com, and we'll do our best to answer as many as possible in Friday's 'Sound Advice' section.

So, whether you've got a buying dilemma, a technical question or you're simply curious about the world of hi-fi and home cinema, we'd love to hear from you. Join us on Friday – and feel free to get your questions in nice and early!

MORE:

Want immediate buying advice? Here are the best turntables, best headphones, best speakers, best TVs and best soundbars you can buy right now

And here's the lowdown on how we test products at What Hi-Fi?

Anyone can put together an expensive surround sound system. Buy five great speakers, add a capable subwoofer and a suitably muscular AV amplifier, and you're well on your way.

Building a genuinely cohesive home cinema system, though, is much harder.

The best packages don't constantly remind you which speaker is producing which effect or draw attention to individual sonic fireworks. Instead, they disappear entirely, transporting you into the world of the movie with such convincing scale and cohesion that you stop thinking about the equipment and simply enjoy what you're watching.

On paper, KEF's R Meta 5.1 speaker system certainly has all the ingredients required to achieve that lofty goal. The question is whether, together, they amount to something even greater than the sum of their already rather impressive parts.

Price

Those ‘ingredients’ are a pair of R7 Meta floorstanders on front left and right duties, two (five-star) R3 Meta standmounters as surrounds, an R6 centre speaker, and the unusually compact KC92 subwoofer.

At the time of writing, these speakers aren’t available as a pre-packaged system, though that may soon change. In the meantime, the cost of building the system with the separate speakers is £10,499 / $13,200 / AU$19,400.

That’s a hefty chunk of change, no doubt, and you can take things further by adding R8 Meta Dolby Atmos ‘toppers’, should you so wish, at £1500 / $1800 / AU$2800 per pair.

Design

This is an unapologetically substantial package. Even before you've wrestled the hefty R7 Meta floorstanders into position, it's clear that this isn't a surround system designed to disappear into your living room.

The R3 Meta are generously proportioned by standmounter standards, too, while the R6 Meta is a particularly large centre speaker – one clearly designed to prioritise acoustic performance over blending discreetly beneath your TV.

Despite the varying sizes, there's an aesthetically pleasing sense of consistency across the range. The speakers all share the same understated, clean-lined design language, with KEF's distinctive Uni-Q driver array taking pride of place on each model.

Rather than feeling like a collection of separate products assembled into a surround package, the R Meta speakers immediately look like members of the same family, giving the impression of a system that has been designed as a whole rather than assembled from individual parts.

The KC92 subwoofer, though, initially looks like the odd one out. It's a surprisingly compact cube sitting alongside such substantial floorstanders, and its neatly integrated side-firing drivers make it appear smaller than a high-end subwoofer has any right to.

That compactness is entirely deliberate, however. The force-cancelling driver arrangement allows KEF to keep the cabinet remarkably small while apparently reducing unwanted vibrations, and those wanting even greater low-frequency output can simply add more KC92s. KEF will even sell you a bracket that lets you stack them into a rather awesome-looking tower of bass.

Our review package arrived in a high-gloss black finish that looks suitably Darth Vader-like but quickly attracts fingerprints. The speakers are also available in white and walnut, but the KC92 doesn’t get the walnut finish. Slightly disappointingly, the gorgeous indigo gloss in which you can buy the R3 Meta standmounters isn’t available for the rest of the system.

Whichever finish you choose, though, build quality throughout is excellent. From the reassuring solidity of the cabinets to the immaculate fit and finish, every component feels worthy of a package costing comfortably north of £10,000.

Features

Much of the technology underpinning the R Meta series has trickled down from KEF's flagship Reference range, but perhaps the cleverest aspect of KEF's R Meta package is that, despite the differing sizes and roles of the individual speakers, the R7 Meta floorstanders, R3 Meta surrounds and R6 Meta centre all share exactly the same drive units.

Each speaker features KEF's 12th-generation Uni-Q array, combining a 25mm aluminium dome tweeter and 125mm midrange driver into a single point-source unit, alongside identical 165mm hybrid aluminium bass drivers. The only real difference is how many bass drivers each speaker employs – two in the centre and each of the floorstanders, and one in each of the standmounters.

The Uni-Q array has long been one of KEF's defining technologies. By placing the tweeter at the acoustic centre of the midrange driver, the company aims to create more even sound dispersion and improve the integration between frequencies.

It's also impossible to ignore the distinctive Tangerine waveguide sitting proudly in front of the tweeter. While it gives KEF’s speakers their instantly recognisable appearance, it's there for more than cosmetic reasons, helping to control the tweeter's dispersion for a more consistent high-frequency response across a wider listening area.

Backing up the Uni-Q array is KEF's Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT). Mounted behind the tweeter, this maze-like absorber is designed to eliminate almost all of the unwanted sound radiating from the rear of the driver before it has a chance to colour the performance, helping to produce cleaner, more natural treble.

The KC92 subwoofer, meanwhile, takes a similarly clever approach to solving a different problem.

Rather than relying on a large cabinet to produce serious low-frequency output, it packs two opposing 9-inch drivers into a remarkably compact enclosure, with each driven by its own 500W Class D amplifier. The force-cancelling arrangement is designed to reduce unwanted cabinet vibrations while allowing the subwoofer to remain unusually discreet.

Practicality has clearly been a consideration, too. All three main speakers feature twin sets of binding posts for those wanting to bi-wire or bi-amp, but KEF has dispensed with the fiddly metal bridging plates traditionally used to connect terminals for single-wire use. Instead, a pair of rotary links simply twists to join the terminals inside the speakers. Neat.

The R7 Meta and R3 Meta also feature rear-firing bass reflex ports, with KEF supplying foam bungs should you need to position them close to a rear wall. It’s still worth avoiding the bungs and giving the speakers a bit of breathing space away from walls if you can, but they’re otherwise very forgiving over placement, not least thanks to the Uni-Q driver array’s dispersion characteristics.

Sound

We already know what accomplished musical performers the R3 Meta standmounters are, but how do the fronts of this system, the R7 Meta floorstanders, handle hi-fi duties? With effortless sophistication, that’s how.

Fed track after track, they sound clean, composed and wonderfully controlled, with an expansive soundstage and an ability to unpick complex recordings without ever becoming analytical. Tori Amos' Cornflake Girl for example, is reproduced with impressive subtlety, her voice locked firmly between the speakers while the piano, percussion and bass each occupy their own clearly defined space.

It is possible for that polished presentation to become almost too civilised, though. During our initial listening with our Marantz Cinema 30, Tool's The Pot lacks a little of the visceral snap and attack we'd hoped for, while John Williams' Jurassic Park theme feels fractionally more restrained than it should.

However, swapping to the Denon AVC-A1H transforms matters, bringing greater drive and energy without sacrificing the refinement that makes these speakers so easy to listen to. Prospective buyers would do well to partner them with an amplifier that shares their considerable talents without doubling down on their composure.

Once we turn our attention to movies, it quickly becomes apparent that this isn't merely an excellent collection of speakers; it's a genuinely cohesive surround package. As effects move around the room, you're rarely conscious of which individual speaker is producing them. Instead, sounds travel with remarkable continuity, each cabinet handing seamlessly to the next until the speakers themselves almost disappear from the experience.

That cohesion is accompanied by an immense sense of scale. The opening race sequence in F1: The Movie fills our listening room with the deafening roar of engines and screeching tyres, yet never descends into chaos. The R6 Meta centre anchors dialogue securely amid the mayhem, while the front soundstage stretches confidently beyond the physical positions of the speakers.

Ambient effects spread throughout the room with such conviction that, despite this being a conventional 5.1 package, we rarely find ourselves wishing for dedicated height channels. It can't produce truly discrete overhead effects in the manner of a Dolby Atmos system, of course, but it creates such an enveloping, three-dimensional soundfield that the absence of ceiling or up-firing speakers rarely feels like a compromise.

That ability to immerse without drawing attention to itself proves equally captivating in Blade Runner 2049. The haunting ambience of the abandoned Las Vegas sequences extends effortlessly into every corner of the room, while the thunderous score is delivered with breathtaking scale and authority.

Despite the sheer size of the presentation, however, subtle details are never drowned out. The package remains wonderfully composed, allowing tiny atmospheric cues to coexist naturally alongside seismic low-frequency effects.

The KC92 deserves special praise. If your priority is sheer low frequency extension, there are physically larger subwoofers that will dig deeper, but what the compact KEF lacks in outright depth, it more than compensates for with speed, precision and tonal sophistication.

Bass notes start and stop with remarkable precision, textures remain easy to discern and, perhaps most importantly, the KC92 never sounds like a separate component. Whether underpinning the rumble of an F1 car, the immense organ notes of Interstellar or the ominous low-frequency pulses of Blade Runner 2049, it simply feels like an extension of the main speakers.

Compared with our reference PMC Twenty5.23 speaker package, the KEFs make for a fascinating contrast.

The PMCs remain the more energetic and revealing performers, extracting the finest details from recordings and delivering dynamic shifts with greater urgency and attack, but the KEFs counter with a presentation that's more effortless, more spacious and ultimately more cohesive. They don't simply place effects accurately around the room; they create an enormous, unified soundstage that encourages you to forget about the individual speakers altogether and become absorbed in the performance.

And that's ultimately this package's greatest achievement. Plenty of surround systems impress by throwing effects around the room or bombarding you with bass, but the KEFs never feel as though they're trying to show off.

Instead, they rather dissolve into the background, leaving only the sonic world of the movie you’re watching. That’s why we find ourselves still watching films long after our official testing is complete.

Verdict

The R Meta 5.1 package is beautifully engineered, immaculately built and packed with clever technology, but it's the effortless cohesion with which those individual elements come together that makes it so special.

Whether it's the seamless handover of effects between speakers, the KC92's astonishingly well-integrated bass or the vast, enveloping soundstage, every aspect of the system works towards a single goal: drawing you deeper into whatever you’re watching.

It's not entirely perfect. The R7 Meta floorstanders reward careful amplifier matching if you don't want them to sound a little too easy-going, and there are larger subwoofers capable of plumbing even greater depths. Neither ‘flaw’ significantly detracts from the overall experience, though.

Instead, the KEFs deliver one of the most immersive, refined and convincing surround performances we've heard at this level. This is a package that consistently prioritises the film over the fireworks, and that's precisely why it succeeds so brilliantly.

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Design 5
• Compatibility 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Fyne Audio F8SP AV

Also consider the PMC Twenty5.23 5.1

Read our KEF Q Concerto Meta 5.1 Speaker System review

Best surround sound systems: home cinema speakers and soundbars put to the test

What is home cinema?

It sounds like a simple question, but it’s one that I think is worth considering during our Home Cinema Week, and I suspect you'd get wildly different answers depending on who you asked.

For some, it's impossible without an AV receiver, a projector and at least seven speakers. For others, it's a big TV and a Dolby Atmos soundbar. I'd even argue that, in the right circumstances, it can be a pair of headphones connected to a streaming box.

Perhaps that's controversial, but I genuinely think home cinema is pretty much anything you want it to be.

Now, before anyone thinks I'm trying to rewrite the rules, let me be clear: if your goal is the very best home cinema performance possible, the traditional route is still the right one. A quality AV receiver paired with a carefully matched speaker package and, if your room allows, a projector, remains the pinnacle of what's possible.

I'm fortunate enough to experience setups like that regularly. We evaluate AV receivers, Atmos speaker packages and projectors in a dedicated home cinema test room, and when everything comes together, there's simply nothing else quite like it. I've also owned a traditional 7.1.4-channel system myself, so I know exactly what that experience is capable of delivering.

But here's the thing: somewhere along the way, I think we've started to confuse the best home cinema with the only home cinema.

My own current setup is proof that those aren't the same thing.

When I moved house, I swapped my traditional separates system for Sony's HT-A9 wireless speaker system and a subwoofer. Is it as accomplished as the 7.1.4-channel system I had before? No. But it suits my living room far better, it took minutes rather than days to install, and it still produces a wonderfully immersive Dolby Atmos performance that regularly reminds me why I love this hobby.

And when everyone else has gone to bed, my favourite way to watch a film is with AirPods Max connected to an Apple TV 4K. Is that better than listening through a room full of speakers? Of course not. But it's very immersive in its own right, and it lets me enjoy late-night movies without disturbing the rest of the house.

That's still home cinema to me.

In fact, I'd argue that if you've deliberately chosen a setup because it helps you become more immersed in the films, TV shows or games you love, you're already part of the home cinema community.

Whether that's a flagship projector and a 7.1.4-channel speaker package, a premium Atmos soundbar, a wireless surround system or even a tablet paired with headphones capable of reproducing Dolby Atmos through spatial audio technologies, the goal is the same: to bring the magic of the cinema into your home.

The equipment is simply the means of getting there.

None of this is meant to diminish traditional home cinema. Quite the opposite. If you have the space, budget and enthusiasm to build an AVR-powered surround system, I wholeheartedly encourage you to do so.

But I don't think owning that sort of system should be the entry requirement for calling yourself a home cinema enthusiast.

After all, very few of us started there.

Most enthusiasts build their systems over time, upgrading piece by piece as budgets, homes and family life allow. Others discover that a high-quality soundbar or wireless speaker system gives them the balance of performance and practicality they're looking for. Neither approach is more legitimate than the other – they're simply different stages of the same journey.

One day, I still hope to convert my garage into a dedicated home cinema room featuring an AV receiver, a projector and at least 12 speakers.

Until then, I'll continue enjoying films through my wireless Atmos system. I'll continue watching late-night movies through my AirPods Max, too, and I'll continue recommending traditional separates systems to anyone who wants the very best performance money can buy.

Because I don't think those things are contradictory.

The best home cinema I've experienced has been in dedicated cinema rooms filled with high-end equipment. The home cinema I use most is in my living room. And some of my favourite movie nights have happened when wearing a pair of headphones.

They're all different. One is objectively capable of higher performance than the others. But all of them remind me why I fell in love with home cinema in the first place.

To my mind, that's what really matters.

MORE:

Check out all of our Home Cinema Week coverage

Here are the best projectors, best AV receivers and best surround sound systems

And here are the best TVs and best soundbars

Ever felt that you’d like a direct link to the mind of a What Hi-Fi? writer? Well now you can get just that, by joining us on Substack!

Okay, so perhaps we’re not talking about a ‘direct link’ to our minds, but my inimitable colleague Kashfia Kabir and I have launched What Hi-Fi?’s Substack as a way for us to discuss the things that are on our minds, give you more of an idea of our thoughts on specific products and topics, and deliver insights into our processes.

So far, we have written about the unlikely new hero of OLED tech, what it’s really like covering a hi-fi trade show, why we review as a team, and why, of all the amazing products we get to test, a dinky DAC is the one Kash is most excited about.

To be clear, these are articles that you won’t find anywhere else – even on whathifi.com.

But what is Substack? Great question.

Substack is essentially a very cool blogging platform where writers such as us can deliver articles directly to their readers. Subscribe to us on Substack, and you can receive our weekly articles as emails in your inbox.

It’s free to sign up, and we send our articles on a Saturday morning, giving you a lovely extra dose of What Hi-Fi? to enjoy over a weekend cup of tea and some buttery toast.

If that sounds like your sort of thing, head over to the What Hi-Fi? Substack, or simply whack your email address into the box below. Easy-peasy.

And if you have a burning question about how we work, or a topic you’d love to get our thoughts on in a future Substack article, let us know in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!

It’s finally here. After roughly 18 months of teases, demos and hands-on sessions, Sony’s flagship RGB Mini LED is in shops and in our test rooms.

The Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II are what Sony refers to as ‘True RGB’ TVs – an attempt by the brand to elevate its RGB Mini LED models above the flood of rivals they're facing, while suggesting that those competing implementations aren't quite as sophisticated.

Sony’s ambitions here are huge. The Bravia 9 II sits above the exceptional, Award-winning Bravia 8 II in the brand’s range, with an even higher price than the non-RGB Mini LED Bravia 9 it replaces. It’s also more expensive – at least in 65-inch guise – than the new flagship OLEDs recently launched by Sony’s rivals.

In other words, while Sony might skirt around the term “OLED-killer” when describing the Bravia 9 II, the pricing makes that claim loud and clear.

Can a backlit TV – even a ‘True RGB’ one – really match or surpass the best OLED TVs ever made?

Price

The 65-inch version of the Bravia 9 II that we’re testing is priced at £3499 / $3600 / AU$5999.

That’s a full £500 / $300 more expensive than the 65-inch version of the Bravia 9 (which didn’t make it to Australia) was at launch.

It’s also £500 more expensive than the Bravia 8 II QD-OLED was when that launched last year, and more expensive than brand-new flagship OLEDs such as the LG G6 and Samsung S99H.

While much has been made of the potential of RGB Mini LED technology to offer larger TVs at lower prices than prohibitively expensive, hard-to-manufacture super-sized OLEDs, even the 85-inch Bravia 9 II is either quite similarly priced, or the same price, as the 83-inch versions of those Samsung and LG OLEDs.

The new technology has, though, enabled Sony to also offer the Bravia 9 II in an astonishingly huge 115 inches. Unsurprisingly, this gigantic TV has an equally gigantic price tag – £22,999 / $31,000 / AU$44,999.

Of course, launch prices are just a snapshot in time. The Bravia 9 II’s aforementioned rivals have already received their first discounts, and it probably won’t be full price itself for long. Still, the launch pricing tells us a lot about where Sony is pitching its True RGB flagship.

Design

Sony hasn't played it safe with the Bravia 9 II's design, which is unlike that of any other TV currently available.

Its defining feature is a new Mirage Stand, which at first sounds rather gimmicky but proves remarkably effective in practice. A subtly tinted transparent panel connects two slim metal uprights to a broad rectangular base, but from your normal viewing position, that panel is so inconspicuous that the TV almost appears to float just above your furniture.

Better still, while you can still see the surface beneath the TV and the wall behind it through the panel, the cables routed through the stand somehow disappear from view entirely. Clever stuff.

On the other hand, though, the Mirage Stand can be installed in just one position, which leaves space for a soundbar. There’s no option to lower the TV if you’re not using a soundbar.

The stand largely defines the Bravia 9 II's appearance, too. Unlike the understated elegance of the Bravia 8 II, Sony's flagship RGB Mini LED set makes much more of a statement. Combined with the chunky cabinet that's necessary to house its advanced backlight and speaker system, it has a substantial visual presence that won't appeal to everyone, but there's no doubting the quality of the execution.

Thick though the Bravia 9 II is, the rear panel is completely flat, making wall-mounting pleasingly neat, while the overall build quality is excellent. This is every bit the premium product you'd expect from a flagship Sony TV.

Another interesting design choice is the anti-reflective screen coating. It's among the most effective we've encountered, dramatically reducing reflections and making the Bravia 9 II particularly well suited to bright living rooms.

The trade-off is that the panel has a noticeably more matte finish than the Bravia 8 II, which itself has a matte coating. When switched off – or when displaying very dark scenes in a typically lit room – it doesn't look quite as deep black as its OLED sibling, instead taking on a slightly greyer appearance.

Whether that's a worthwhile compromise will depend largely on your viewing environment and which side you’ve picked in the matte vs glossy war, but our reviewers broadly feel that the LG G6’s anti-reflection coating – which reduces reflections a little less effectively than the Bravia 9 II but has a black-preserving, glossy finish – is the current leader in this area.

Sony has also introduced a new premium remote control. It's slightly larger and more ergonomically shaped than the one supplied with other Bravias of the last few years, and it features automatic backlighting. The layout remains intuitive, too, with the Sony Pictures Core shortcut moved above the navigation pad and the old Menu button replaced by a shortcut to Sony's new My Cinema interface.

Ultimately, the Bravia 9 II is a TV whose practicality is every bit as impressive as its styling is distinctive. The Mirage Stand won't be to everyone's taste, but it's one of the cleverest and most effective pieces of industrial design we've seen in quite some time.

Features

The Bravia 9 II's headline feature is, of course, its RGB Mini LED backlight.

Unlike conventional Mini LED TVs, which use a white backlight shining through a colour filter layer, the Bravia 9 II instead uses independently controlled red, green and blue Mini LEDs to generate colour directly.

Sony argues that this is only half of the story, though. Equally important is the sophisticated Backlight Master Drive system that controls those LEDs. After all, a Mini LED TV is only as good as its backlight processing – and history tells us that Sony knows a thing or two about that.

The 65-inch model we're testing here features 1530 local dimming zones, and Sony claims significant gains in both peak brightness and colour volume over the Bravia 9 that it replaces – and even more so over the Bravia 8 II QD-OLED.

In fact, Sony goes as far as claiming that True RGB is a “best of both worlds technology”, and that the Bravia 9 II is designed to match the “intent and peak brightness of the BVM-HX3110” mastering monitor.

This comparison with the mastering monitor is crucial to the Bravia 9 II’s very existence. According to Sony, its aim is to deliver a home viewing experience that matches what the content creators signed off in the studio. The brand feels that the brightness offered by Mini LED over OLED is vital to this, and that the RGB element is essential to deliver the colour range and accuracy that neither standard Mini LED nor OLED can match.

The Bravia 9 II also introduces Sony's new My Cinema interface, which is designed to simplify picture and sound settings without taking meaningful control away from enthusiasts.

Accessed via the dedicated three-dot button on the remote, My Cinema offers three viewing profiles: Director's Cut, Daytime and Dialogue. As their names suggest, these prioritise faithful reproduction, improved daytime visibility and clearer speech, respectively.

Perhaps the cleverest thing about My Cinema is that it deliberately limits some of the available picture adjustments. In Director's Cut mode, for example, non-Dolby Vision content (which is delivered in Dolby Vision Dark) is automatically presented in the Professional picture preset, preventing users from accidentally drifting away from Sony's intended reference settings.

We do, however, have one small criticism. While the Daytime profile defaults to the Standard Bright picture preset, it also allows you to switch to Standard, Professional or IMAX Enhanced. The Cinema preset isn't available within the Daytime profile at all, though, despite being the obvious choice for anyone wanting a slightly brighter but still authentic presentation. Hopefully, Sony will rectify this in a future software update.

Elsewhere, the Bravia 9 II offers the premium smart TV experience we've come to expect from Sony.

Google TV still isn’t quite as slick as LG’s webOS or Samsung’s Tizen, but it remains a very capable smart platform. Set-up via the Google Home app is refreshingly quick and straightforward, and the TV has Google Gemini built in, complete with far-field microphones for hands-free voice control.

App support is excellent, too. Of the 34 streaming and media apps on our usual checklist, only Apple Music and the Xbox and Amazon Luna game-streaming services are absent. Sony includes YouView, too, to overcome Google TV’s usual blind spot where UK catch-up apps are concerned, and there’s a PS Remote Play app so you can play PlayStation games via the TV even if your console is in another room.

Just as importantly, every app that should support HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision and/or Dolby Atmos does so correctly, and Sony's Studio Calibrated modes continue to provide optimised picture settings for services such as Netflix, Prime Video and Sony Pictures Core. The TV is IMAX Enhanced-certified, too.

The Bravia 9 II’s audio hardware is unusually ambitious. Rather than hiding its speakers along the bottom edge as most TVs do, Sony arranges almost the entire speaker array in a horizontal line around the middle of the rear of the chassis, with only the Beam Tweeters positioned higher up. The idea is to anchor dialogue and effects closer to the centre of the screen, making the sound appear to come more naturally from the picture itself.

The Acoustic Multi-Audio+ system comprises eight speaker units in total, including two full-range drivers, twin subwoofers, two tweeters and a pair of Beam Tweeters, driven by a claimed 80W of power. Those Beam Tweeters are designed to create a greater sense of height and improve the placement of effects.

Pair the TV with one of Sony's latest Bravia sound systems and the integration becomes even slicker, with audio settings incorporated directly into the TV's interface and full control available through the Bravia Connect app.

Acoustic Centre Sync is also supported, allowing the TV's speakers to work alongside those of compatible Sony sound systems, though our experience with the feature has been mixed enough over the years that we'd recommend experimenting rather than simply assuming it's the best option for your particular set-up.

Picture

One of the highest compliments we can pay Sony's flagship RGB Mini LED is that, for the vast majority of the time, you simply stop thinking about how it's producing its picture and instead become immersed in what you're watching. For a backlit TV, that in itself is a deeply impressive trait.

But there’s also one particular way in which the Bravia 9 II surpasses every other TV we’ve tested: colour.

Quite simply, the Bravia 9 II produces the finest colours we've ever seen from any TV. Richly saturated scenes burst with vibrancy, but never at the expense of authenticity. Sony has combined extraordinary colour volume with its traditional restraint, so even the boldest hues remain beautifully balanced and believable. It's a wonderfully cinematic presentation that constantly impresses without ever shouting for attention.

That balance is particularly evident in Pan, where the dazzling fantasy palette of Neverland looks gloriously rich while still feeling entirely natural. Likewise, the vivid oranges and blues of Captain Marvel have exceptional intensity without ever becoming gaudy or oversaturated.

Bright colours retain their richness where many TVs begin to wash them out, too, and there’s impressive vibrancy right down into the deepest shadows. This top-to-bottom consistency is one of the Bravia 9 II’s greatest strengths.

Brightness, too, is undeniably exceptional.

During our early preview of the Bravia 9 II in Tokyo, Sony demonstrated the TV reaching around 4000 nits in its Professional picture preset, and in action, this is clearly one of the brightest TVs we've ever tested.

Crucially, unlike an OLED, Sony’s RGB Mini LED flagship’s immense brightness isn’t limited to small highlights. Where OLED technology inevitably has to reduce brightness during large, bright scenes, the Bravia 9 II can maintain its extraordinary light output across the entire screen if required.

The white room scenes in The Matrix provide a perfect demonstration. While the Bravia 8 II inevitably has to reduce its overall brightness as the dazzling white fills the screen, the Bravia 9 II simply keeps pouring out light. It's one of the clearest examples of RGB Mini LED's tangible advantage over OLED.

That brightness also gives the TV impressive versatility. Those seeking faithful movie reproduction will be best served by Professional mode, but Standard takes greater advantage of the Bravia 9 II's immense light output without straying too far into artificiality. Vivid, meanwhile, is best avoided altogether, pushing colours and brightness so far that the resulting picture bears little resemblance to the director's intent.

The additional brightness also makes the Bravia 9 II particularly appealing for bright-room viewing. Modern flagship OLEDs such as the Bravia 8 II are already bright enough for the vast majority of living rooms, but those with especially sunlit spaces will appreciate the RGB Mini LED's enormous brightness headroom and superb anti-reflective screen.

Colours and brightness aren’t the Bravia 9 II’s only qualities, though.

The Batman demonstrates just how accomplished Sony's local dimming system has become. Black levels are superbly deep for a backlit TV, blooming around white and coloured highlights is virtually non-existent and, perhaps most impressively of all, the backlight goes quietly about its work while almost never drawing attention to itself through obvious brightness shifts or flickering.

Civil War showcases Sony's typically exceptional processing, combining natural skin tones, outstanding detail and wonderfully controlled motion into a picture that's both cinematic and effortlessly watchable.

All of this adds up to what is, quite simply, the best picture we've ever seen from a backlit TV.

And yet...

Comparisons with Sony's own Bravia 8 II reveal that even this exceptional implementation of RGB Mini LED still can't quite match the fundamental strengths of OLED.

The Bravia 9 II's local dimming system is extraordinarily accomplished, yet it still can't quite replicate the pixel-level precision of OLED. The result is a picture that looks just a touch flatter than the Bravia 8 II's. Objects don't separate from their backgrounds with quite the same solidity, and scenes lack just a little of the three-dimensional depth and effortless dynamism that OLED consistently delivers.

Perhaps counterintuitively, OLED also retains an advantage with bright highlights against very dark or black backgrounds. Sony's Mini LED TV is understandably cautious in these situations, preserving its exemplary blooming control by stopping short of the intensity that the Bravia 8 II produces with bright white logos or isolated highlights.

Viewing angles remain another clear OLED advantage, too. The Bravia 9 II performs better off-axis than most backlit rivals, but colours and contrast still fade as you move away from the centre of the screen, and the otherwise well-hidden blooming is revealed.

There are, however, occasional moments that remind you the Bravia 9 II is still, ultimately, a backlit TV.

The opening text of Blade Runner 2049 remains its most obvious stumbling block. When the first word, “Replicants”, initially appears, it’s closer to grey than it is to the intended red, and as each new paragraph of white text fades in, the whole block briefly flashes a pale pink before settling down. Even then, the text never looks quite right: the white words near “Replicants” retain a faint pink cast, while the final red “Blade Runner” fades to grey as the rest of the words disappear, whereas it should remain a vivid red against the pitch-black background.

This is a highly unusual clip that challenges a TV in a way that 99 per cent of footage never will, but it proves that while the Bravia 9 II’s backlighting system is very impressive, it’s not infallible.

We also encountered one issue with the Bravia 9 II that warranted rather more investigation. During our testing, we consistently observed faint horizontal lines in a handful of Dolby Vision scenes, including parts of Sinners, across both UHD Blu-ray and streaming sources. The artefacts weren't visible when viewing the HDR10 versions of the same material, strongly suggesting an issue specific to the Bravia 9 II's Dolby Vision processing.

The lines are subtle enough that many viewers may never notice them, but once spotted, they can be difficult to ignore. Given their very specific behaviour, we'd hope this is the sort of issue Sony can resolve via a software update. It's important to stress, though, that this isn't the reason the Bravia 9 II misses out on five stars.

Gaming largely reinforces the conclusions we've already reached with movies. HDR titles such as Uncharted: The Lost Legacy look spectacular, with the Bravia 9 II delivering richer colours and greater brightness than the Bravia 8 II. Once again, though, the OLED's superior contrast gives the image greater solidity and depth, making buildings in the opening city sequence look more three-dimensional while revealing finer details, such as the freckles of the young shopkeeper, more readily.

The differences become more pronounced with SDR games. Call Of The Sea looks strikingly vibrant from the Bravia 9 II, but it's also a touch overbearing, with colours skewing richer and redder than we'd like and small white interaction prompts proving less distinct than they are on the Bravia 8 II. The OLED's more balanced presentation ultimately proves easier on the eye over longer sessions, despite looking a touch less immediately spectacular.

Motion, too, reveals one final weakness. There’s a slight smearing to fast-moving action and camera pans that's only occasionally visible with films but becomes much more noticeable in games, where higher frame rates and player-controlled movement make the effect more obvious, especially in comparison with the crisp responsiveness of OLED.

Ultimately, Sony has produced the finest backlit TV we've ever tested, and one that comes close to delivering OLED-like consistency while comfortably surpassing even the best OLEDs for brightness and colour volume. That said, a handful of flaws and relative deficiencies, while individually minor, collectively cost the Bravia 9 II its fifth star.

Sound

Sony has long been one of the few TV manufacturers to treat sound quality as more than an afterthought, and the Bravia 9 II continues that tradition with a presentation that's impressively large, spacious and immersive by TV standards.

The first thing that strikes you is the scale of the soundstage. Audio extends well beyond the physical boundaries of the TV, while Dolby Atmos soundtracks benefit from a genuine sense of height that's still rare from integrated speakers.

Watching Civil War, effects are placed with impressive precision around the TV, while the chaotic soundscape retains plenty of subtle detail rather than collapsing into a wall of noise.

It's an involving listen, too. The Bravia 9 II produces more weight than the Bravia 8 II, helping action scenes feel satisfyingly substantial.

That extra bass comes at a small cost, though. The deep synth notes at the start of chapter two of Blade Runner 2049 have plenty of depth, but they lack the tautness we'd ideally like. Rather than each note starting and stopping with real authority, the bass flaps somewhat, robbing those bassy effects of some of their intended impact.

The Bravia 9 II also falls just short of the Bravia 8 II when it comes to refinement. Dialogue remains consistently clear, but voices aren't projected with quite the same focus or solidity as they are by Sony's flagship OLED. There's also a slight hardness to the presentation that occasionally makes speech sound a touch brash, softening some of the subtle emotional nuances in performances.

That slight lack of finesse extends to high-frequency effects, too. The rain falling onto the balcony in Blade Runner 2049 has a faint metallic edge that makes it sound a little more like static than falling water. It's a subtle trait that you'll rarely notice unless comparing TVs directly, but it does slightly reduce the sense of realism.

Ultimately, the Bravia 9 II delivers some of the most spacious and immersive sound we've heard from a TV, and many buyers will be perfectly happy relying on its integrated speaker system. It doesn't quite match the refinement of the Bravia 8 II, though, and a TV of this calibre still deserves to be partnered with a dedicated sound system if your budget allows.

Verdict

With the Bravia 9 II, Sony has pushed backlit TV technology further than ever before.

Sony's first flagship RGB Mini LED TV delivers the finest colours we've ever seen from a television, breathtaking brightness, and local dimming that's so accomplished you'll frequently forget you're watching a backlit display at all. Add excellent processing, immersive sound and a polished user experience, and this is probably the best backlit TV we've ever tested.

It's not perfect, though.

A handful of relatively minor issues – from the rare backlight hiccups and a peculiar Dolby Vision bug to slightly soft bass and some motion smearing with games – are disappointing in a flagship TV. More fundamentally, despite coming closer than any previous LCD set we've tested, the Bravia 9 II still can't quite replicate the solidity, consistency and pixel-level precision that make the very best OLED TVs so special.

That doesn't make the Bravia 9 II the wrong TV. In fact, if you regularly watch in an exceptionally bright room or simply prefer not to buy an OLED, Sony's flagship True RGB model should sit right at the top of your shortlist. For most buyers, though, the Bravia 8 II remains the more complete television. It's not quite as bright, but it's more consistently convincing, costs less, and ultimately delivers the better picture overall.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony Bravia 8 II

Also consider the Samsung S99H

Read our Hisense UR9 review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

After more than five years of daily use, my AirPods Max recently stopped working.

I can't really complain. Between commuting, international travel and a house move, they'd spent years being stuffed into backpacks and suitcases before emerging to soundtrack thousands of hours of music and movies. They'd had a pretty hard life.

Rather than rushing to repair them, though, I saw an opportunity.

In the five years since I'd bought the AirPods Max, loads of exciting new headphones had launched. This felt like the perfect excuse to break away from Apple's ecosystem and find out whether anything could finally replace them.

Over the next couple of months, I spent time with headphones from Sony, Bose, Sennheiser and Bowers & Wilkins. Their relative strengths varied, but all of them sounded very accomplished with music. In the case of Sony's superb WH-1000XM6, I'd even argue the overall musical performance is better than that of the AirPods Max.

But this period of headphone flirtation had a surprising effect: my movie-watching almost ground to a halt.

For years now, I've used my AirPods Max at least as much for movies as for music. In fact, they've quietly become an essential part of my home cinema setup.

Once the rest of my family had gone to bed and it was no longer neighbourly to keep my Dolby Atmos system rumbling away, I had a simple routine. Rather than switching on Night mode and flattening every explosion, gunshot and orchestral swell, I'd put on my AirPods Max, tap the pop-up on my Apple TV 4K and carry on watching exactly where I'd left off.

The combination of the AirPods Max and Apple TV 4K remains astonishingly good. Their Dolby Atmos implementation, delivered through Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking, creates an experience that's surprisingly easy to forget is coming from a pair of headphones. It doesn't simply sound spacious; it sounds uncannily natural.

And that's the bit I hadn't appreciated until the AirPods Max disappeared from my life. Every alternative I tried excelled with music, but none recreated that movie experience.

The closest I came was pairing Sony's WH-1000XM6 with the Bravia 8 II TV. It produced an impressively open and fairly cinematic presentation, but because the connection relied on standard Bluetooth, what I was hearing was ultimately a cleverly processed stereo signal rather than the sort of binaural Dolby Atmos experience that Apple's solution provides.

The difference wasn't night and day, but it was enough that I found myself missing the AirPods Max every time I settled down to watch a film, and that had a surprisingly big impact on my viewing habits.

If the family was asleep, I simply wasn't getting the experience I wanted. I wasn't about to hobble my main home cinema system with Night mode, but neither were the alternative headphones convincing enough to tempt me away from it.

Whether it's children, a partner or simply considerate neighbours, I suspect lots of people end up watching films after the house has gone quiet, and losing that window meant the number of films I watched absolutely tanked over the following weeks. I missed loads.

The good news is that I'm now making up for lost time, because I've managed to get hold of another pair of AirPods Max.

The whole experience taught me something I wasn't expecting, though: I'd quietly built my entire late-night movie-watching routine around one Apple feature.

That's not to say Apple has the only solution. Sony, for example, offers the little-known WLA-NS7 wireless transmitter, which promises a similar binaural Dolby Atmos experience with compatible headphones. I'll be testing that very soon.

But until something else can recreate what the AirPods Max and Apple TV 4K achieve together, they'll remain my favourite headphones for movies – even if some rivals have at least matched them when it comes to music.

MORE:

Here are the best wireless headphones you can buy right now

Check out our Apple AirPods Max review

When Sony officially unveiled its 2026 TV range, there was plenty of disappointment that it didn’t include a new OLED model – much of it from me.

These days, Sony tends to work on two-year lifecycles for its TVs, so I wasn’t expecting a successor to last year’s Bravia 8 II; but a replacement for 2024’s Bravia 8 seemed a fairly safe bet – as did a successor to the A90K, which is now an incredible four years old.

The omission prompted some (again, mostly me) to theorise that Sony had in fact turned its back on OLED entirely, and that the Bravia 8 II could be the brand’s last OLED model.

Last month, though, we reported on rumours that Sony was bracing to launch a brand-new OLED TV. And now, those rumours have been all but confirmed by the appearance of this new OLED set on several of Sony’s own websites.

The listings, first spotted by High Def News (thanks, The Walkman Blog), confirm that the new OLED is indeed the Bravia 6. And, if the name wasn’t a big enough hint, the TV’s tagline – “OLED essentials, now within reach” – also confirms that this is indeed an entry-level OLED TV.

Naturally, I’m disappointed that Sony isn’t launching a new flagship OLED at this stage, but if the Bravia 6 is indeed Sony’s most affordable OLED TV yet, as the tagline suggests, that’s rather exciting news in its own right.

Full tech specs are currently absent from the live pages (another suggestion that they have gone live earlier than planned), but there are some nuggets of information to be gleaned.

First, the TV is listed in sizes ranging from 48 inches to 83 inches. That’s a broader range than Sony typically offers for its OLED TVs, but it’s also highly suggestive of the Bravia 6 using LG Display’s new OLED SE panel, which is available in exactly those sizes and notably not in 42 inches.

While it’s not confirmed, we believe this is the panel that is already found in the LG B6, a set we will be reviewing very soon.

Another encouraging detail is that the Bravia 6 sports four HDMI 2.1 sockets. Gamers (myself included) have long lamented Sony’s models being limited to just two HDMI 2.1 sockets, with that limitation even being true of the new flagship Bravia 9 II, so this is very good news.

The listing also confirms that Dolby Vision is supported on the video side, and that Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are present on the audio side.

Unsurprisingly, like every other modern Bravia TV, the Bravia 6 also features the Google TV platform, which can be operated via voice control (though it’s not clear whether this is via a microphone built into the remote control or the TV itself).

We do know the TV includes ambient sensors, with the listing promising automatic picture adjustments based on room conditions.

None of the leaked listings includes pricing, so we don’t yet have any indication of where the Bravia 6 will sit in Sony’s range.

We don’t even know, in fact, whether the Bravia 6 will even come to the UK. Sony has a recent habit of releasing some models in certain regions but not others.

If it does launch the new model in the UK, there’s no guarantee that it will do so in all sizes: I note that Sony Hong Kong is listing the Bravia 6 in 48-, 55- and 65-inch sizes, while Sony Gabon is listing the 55-, 65-, 77- and 83-inch sizes.

We have approached Sony UK for comment. We don’t expect the company to confirm the Bravia 6 ahead of an official announcement, but with multiple regional Sony websites now listing the TV, that announcement surely can’t be far away.

Stay tuned for more on the Sony Bravia 6 as we get it.

MORE:

These are the best TVs you can buy right now

Will the Bravia 6 be good enough and cheap enough to hit our list of the best cheap TVs?

Above, you can see the Pro-Ject T1 Evo BT, sitting on a bookcase at the back of my living room. It's a fairly recent addition to my system, but one that I've quickly fallen in love with.

A big part of that is because it is, in fact, my very first turntable. I've been involved in lots of turntable reviews in my 19 years at What Hi-Fi?, but it's taken until this year for me to get a deck home.

Honestly, it's pretty much transformed my music-listening, taken me back to the pre-streaming years when I would buy an album and listen to it on repeat until its tracks had been absorbed at an almost molecular level.

My family has been loving it, too: the artwork, the process of placing a record on the platter and lowering the arm, the rich sound quality – it's all so tactile and rewarding.

As you can imagine, though, my vinyl collection is currently minuscule – just eight records – so I decided to add a fairly inexpensive streamer to my system, too.

The WiiM Pro Plus came highly recommended by my colleagues Kashfia Kabir and Harry McKerrell, and I now know why: its detailed, crisp and rhythmic delivery is great for the everyday streaming I'm doing between vinyl plays.

The good news is that both of these bits of kit, both of which I use at home and wholeheartedly recommend, are currently available with big discounts: the Pro-Ject T1 Evo BT is available for £399 at Richer Sounds, and the WiiM Pro Plus is down to just £175 at Richer Sounds.

The Pro-Ject T1 Evo BT is one of the best entry-level decks we've tested.

We awarded it five stars for its wonderfully balanced performance, praising its ability to sound detailed, insightful and rhythmic while remaining approachable for vinyl newcomers. It also helps that it's beautifully made, with a premium finish that makes it feel much more expensive than it actually is.

Bluetooth support is the icing on the cake, giving you the flexibility to pair it with compatible speakers or headphones if you want to – I've got it wireless connected to a pair of KEF Coda W Bluetooth speakers, as it happens.

The WiiM Pro Plus earned the same five-star verdict for very different reasons.

It's an astonishingly capable music streamer for the money, with support for just about every streaming service you could want while delivering a sound that's clean, expressive and engaging. It extracts an impressive amount of detail from recordings, with plenty of drive and precision to keep music sounding lively and entertaining.

What I particularly like about this pairing is that it means you don't have to choose between analogue and digital. When I want the ritual of putting on a record, the Pro-Ject is ready to go. When I just want instant access to millions of songs while I'm lazing on the sofa or working from home, the WiiM takes over seamlessly.

Of course, there are better turntables and better streamers available if you're prepared to spend significantly more. But if you're looking to build a hi-fi system that covers both vinyl and streaming without spending a fortune, this combination is hard to beat.

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Here are all of the best turntables and music streamers you can buy right now

I've been totally open about my love for the Sony Bravia 8 II. Not only is it the current What Hi-Fi? Awards TV of the year, it's also the TV I use at home.

Seeing as I've been reviewing TVs for almost 20 years, that hopefully says a lot.

The Bravia 8 II is also on sale right now, with the 65-inch version available for £2099 at Richer Sounds.

That's not the cheapest it's ever been (that would be £1979), but it's still a good price for what is an absolutely awesome TV.

If I were looking to buy a premium TV right now, though, it's the 65-inch LG C5 I would go for.

It's a step-down OLED rather than a flagship like the Bravia 8 II, but it's still an absolutely cracking all-rounder of a TV, and it's currently available for £1299 at Amazon.

That price difference is just too big to ignore.

In our review, we awarded the C5 five stars, praising it for delivering "excellent all-round performance" that punches well above its price.

It's one of those rare TVs that doesn't have any glaring weaknesses, making it an easy recommendation whether you're a movie buff, sports fan or gamer.

Picture quality is the obvious highlight. The C5 produces rich, vibrant colours without sacrificing authenticity, while its contrast is superb, delivering the deep blacks and bright highlights that OLED TVs are famous for.

It's also wonderfully sharp and detailed, with excellent motion handling that keeps everything from fast-paced football to blockbuster action films looking smooth and natural.

Gaming is another area where the LG excels. All four HDMI sockets support the full HDMI 2.1 specification, including 4K/165Hz, VRR and ALLM, making it one of the most comprehensively equipped gaming TVs around.

Now, let's be clear: the Sony Bravia 8 II is still the better TV. It's brighter, more vibrant and more refined, producing an even more cinematic and authentic picture. Its built-in sound system is also leagues ahead of the LG's, delivering audio that's fuller, weightier and more immersive than almost any other TV.

If money were no object, I'd still tell you to buy the Bravia 8 II.

But money almost always is an object. And when you're looking at an £800 price difference, the LG C5 becomes the smarter buy.

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Here are all of the best TVs and best TV deals available right now

And here are the best soundbars

You're probably well aware of this, but England are playing Panama in the World Cup tomorrow, and it's now a much bigger game than it should have been, thanks to that tame no-score-draw with Ghana.

The good news is that this should also be a fun game, with at least a couple of goals for Tuchel's chaps.

If you're still using your TVs built-in speakers, though, you're still missing out on a fair bit of the fun that football can offer. The good news is that there's still time to rectify that.

I've scoured the Amazon Prime Day (and adjacent) sales to find a high-quality soundbar that you can have delivered tomorrow. Somewhat surprisingly, I can't find a model I recommend at Amazon with fast enough delivery.

But, thankfully, Currys has come up trumps with a full Dolby Atmos soundbar system that I tested and we gave a What Hi-Fi? Award to – and it can be delivered tomorrow.

Said system is the Hisense AX5125H, which comprises soundbar, a wireless subwoofer and two wireless surrounds for a record-equalling low price of just £199 at Currys.

Delivery tomorrow will cost you an extra £6.99, which seems very reasonable for the convenience, or you might find you can pick up from a local store for free.

At £199, the AX5125H isn't just a cheap way to improve your TV's sound – it's one of the very best-value Dolby Atmos packages we've tested.

Unlike most soundbars at this price, you get a complete 5.1.2-channel system in the box, with wireless surround speakers and a wireless subwoofer helping to create a much bigger, more immersive sound than your TV could ever hope to produce on its own.

During testing, we were particularly impressed by the Hisense's ability to project effects around the room. That makes it a brilliant choice for sport, where crowd noise, commentary and the atmosphere of the stadium all feel far more involving than they do through a TV's built-in speakers. If (when!) England find the back of the net against Panama, you'll feel much more like you're there to celebrate it.

It's not just for football, either. We found the AX5125H delivered an energetic, spacious and surprisingly cinematic performance with movies, while dialogue remains clear and easy to follow. Music playback is respectable, too, making this a genuinely versatile all-rounder rather than a one-trick pony.

No soundbar is perfect at this price, and there are more refined and dynamic systems available if you're prepared to spend considerably more. But at £199, the Hisense simply delivers too much performance to ignore.

That's why we gave it five stars, a What Hi-Fi? Award and, now that it's back down to its record-equalling lowest price, it's one of the easiest Prime Day alternatives I can recommend.

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Here are all of the best budget soundbars you can buy right now

Also in the market for a new telly? Here are all of the best TVs

If you want a satisfyingly cinematic or sporting experience at home, there really is no substitute for screen size.

The good news is that a big TV needn't cost big money. These days, 65-inch TVs go for much less money than you might imagine, and if you wait for a big sales event, your cash can go even further.

And it just so happens that we're right in the middle of a big sales event – Amazon Prime Day – and I've sifted through all of the deals to find three super-cheap 65-inch TVs that I can recommend as great buys.

• View all the Prime Day deals on Amazon

What do I know about it? I'm so glad you asked!

I've been testing TVs for almost 20 years now, so I know the good from the bad (and the ugly, for that matter). I've also been personally involved in every What Hi-Fi? TV review in probably the last 10 years – and that includes the reviews of the three models I'm recommending here.

Happy with those credentials? Excellent! Here are my three picks, ranked in order of quality.

1. TCL Q6C

Deal price UK: £529 at Amazon
Deal price US: n/a

If you're looking for the best-value 65-inch TV in the Prime Day sales, this is the one I'd buy.

The TCL Q6C impressed us so much in testing that we awarded it five stars and described it as "an absolute steal". That's high praise for any TV, but it's especially impressive when you're talking about a 65-inch set that's currently selling for well under £600.

What makes the Q6C stand out is that it brings technologies normally associated with much more expensive TVs down into the budget category. It uses a Mini LED backlight with local dimming, alongside Quantum Dot colour technology, and the result is a picture that's far more sophisticated than the price suggests.

In our review, we were particularly impressed by the TV's contrast and black-level performance. Dark scenes look surprisingly deep and convincing, while bright HDR highlights have real punch.

Colours are another strong point, delivering plenty of vibrancy and richness without tipping into the sort of exaggerated look that often plagues cheaper TVs.

It's also an excellent option for sport and gaming. Motion is handled confidently, helping fast-moving action stay clear and composed, while gamers get features such as 4K/144Hz support, VRR and low input lag.

No TV at this price is perfect, of course. The sound is merely decent rather than exceptional (something that can be rectified with one of the best budget soundbars), and you'll get the best results by spending a little time tweaking the picture settings. But those are minor caveats when the overall performance is this strong.

Simply put, if your budget stretches to the TCL Q6C, it's the best cheap 65-inch TV I've seen in the Prime Day sales.

2. Amazon Ember QLED

Deal price UK: £600 at Amazon
Deal price US: $710 at Amazon

The TCL Q6C is my top pick, but the Amazon Ember QLED isn't far behind, given its current Prime Day price.

In fact, one of my colleagues recently described the deal on this TV as "impossible to ignore", and it's easy to see why. Amazon has cut the price dramatically, turning what was already a solid mid-range TV into one of the most tempting bargains in the sales.

The Ember QLED is a significant step forward from Amazon's previous QLED efforts. It features a full-array backlight with 160 dimming zones and a panel that's considerably brighter than its predecessor, resulting in a picture that's sharper, punchier and more three-dimensional than you might expect at this sort of money.

During testing, we were particularly impressed by its detail levels and colour performance. Images look crisp and vibrant, while upscaling of lower-quality content is handled well enough that everyday broadcast TV remains enjoyable.

The TV also supports every major HDR format, including Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive, so you're covered regardless of which streaming service you use.

Another advantage over many budget rivals is the sound. Built-in TV audio is rarely worth talking about, but the Ember QLED produces a fuller, clearer and more spacious presentation than most affordable sets manage.

Why isn't it above the TCL? Primarily because the Q6C's Mini LED backlight delivers superior black levels, contrast and gaming performance. The Amazon also tops out at 60Hz, making it less appealing to serious gamers.

Still, if you're heavily invested in the Amazon ecosystem or simply want a big, capable and easy-to-use 65-inch TV for as little money as possible, the Ember QLED is an excellent Prime Day buy.

3. Samsung U8000F

Deal price UK: £367 at Amazon
Deal price US: $400 at Samsung

The Samsung U8000F is the TV I recommend if your budget is as tight as possible.

At £367/$400 during Prime Day, it's substantially cheaper than both the TCL Q6C and Amazon Ember QLED, and that price difference is impossible to ignore. In fact, it's one of the least expensive big-brand 65-inch models you can buy.

Of course, some compromises are inevitable at this sort of money. Unlike the TCL and Amazon models above, the U8000F doesn't have a Mini LED or full-array backlight, and its picture isn't as bright or as impactful when displaying HDR content. Black levels are also less convincing, meaning movie nights won't have quite the same cinematic punch.

That said, Samsung has done a commendable job with the fundamentals. In our testing, we found the U8000F delivered a balanced, natural picture that avoids many of the exaggerated traits often seen on budget TVs. Colours are pleasingly authentic, detail levels are respectable, and standard-definition and HD content are handled particularly well.

Samsung's excellent Tizen smart platform is another big plus. It's packed with streaming apps, easy to navigate and generally feels more polished than many rival smart TV systems.

The biggest reason to choose the U8000F over the TVs above is simple: value. While the TCL Q6C is undoubtedly the better performer and the Ember QLED offers a more advanced specification, both cost considerably more. If spending £500-£600 on a TV still feels like a stretch, the Samsung gives you a huge screen from a trusted brand for comfortably under £400.

No, it's not the best TV in this list. But when price becomes the priority, the U8000F makes a very strong case for itself.

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Here are all of the best TVs and the best TV deals you can get right now

Don't forget the sound: here are the best budget soundbars

On Monday, I wrote about how tempted I was to buy the 42-inch LG C5, which had dropped to a record-low £649.

I already own what I consider to be the best OLED TV available – the awesome Sony Bravia 8 II – but, at that price, the C5 was well worth buying for use in my spare room, where it could perform gaming and work monitor duties, as well as the odd streaming binge.

But yesterday, I updated that story to point out that the price for the 42-inch had dropped to £623. The previous price that I had thought was unbeatable had been beaten.

And now, would you believe, it's been beaten again: the 42-inch LG C5 is down to just £611 at Amazon.

That's a nuts price for a TV this good.

At £611 from Amazon, the 42-inch LG C5 is one of those deals that feels almost too good to be true.

In our five-star review, we praised its wonderfully balanced OLED picture, excellent motion handling, natural colours and superb contrast, all of which combine to deliver a brilliantly engaging and authentic viewing experience.

It's also among the most comprehensively specified gaming TVs available, with four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets supporting 4K/144Hz, VRR, ALLM and Dolby Vision gaming.

The sound is fairly ordinary, but that's a common weakness among TVs at any price and one that's easily fixed with one of the best budget soundbars.

Everything else about the C5 feels premium, making this deal particularly impressive. At £611, you're getting a TV that performs like a flagship for little more than the price of many mid-range rivals.

MORE:

Here are all the best TVs you can buy right now

And here are all of the best Amazon Prime Day TV deals

Having resisted for almost two decades, I finally took the plunge recently and tried living with a turntable as part of our special Vinyl Week.

I expected to enjoy the experiment. What I didn't expect was to fall completely in love with it.

Within days, I found myself eagerly browsing record shops, keeping an eye out for bargains on eBay and looking for excuses to put an album on.

More surprisingly, my family got into it, too. The simple ritual of choosing a record, putting it on the platter and dropping the needle proved far more engaging than scrolling endlessly through Spotify.

There was just one problem: because my main living room system is the Sony HT-A9, I needed a Bluetooth turntable that could sit at the back of the room without cables trailing across the floor.

The Pro-Ject T1 EVO BT fit the bill perfectly, but while the setup worked, I quickly discovered that the HT-A9 only supports compressed Bluetooth audio.

The result was a noticeable compromise in sound quality. I loved the vinyl experience, but I knew I wasn't hearing what the turntable was capable of.

Rather than abandon the whole project, I decided to build a minimalist hi-fi system that could coexist with my existing home cinema setup.

The turntable's location was already approved by my wife, so moving it wasn't an option: whatever I chose had to work wirelessly, fit neatly into our living room and, ideally, sound fantastic.

After much research and consultation with my esteemed colleagues Kashfia Kabir and Ketan Bharadia, I settled on the KEF Coda W active speakers – and they've been brilliant.

They're not quite as eye-catching as the models in KEF's LS range, but they're very handsome in their own right and, crucially for me, compact enough to slot into the existing bookcase in our living room. More importantly, they sound superb.

For relatively compact speakers, they produce a surprisingly big, confident and weighty sound. That's partly down to the hefty 100W of amplification power per channel. They're also detailed without sounding analytical, tonally balanced without sounding dull, and wonderfully fluid with music.

Crucially, they also support the aptX HD-quality Bluetooth streams sent by the Pro-Ject turntable, and the improvement was immediately obvious.

The speakers impressed me so much, in fact, that they inspired the next stage of the project.

Wanting to get more use from them, I borrowed a WiiM Pro Plus streamer from our hi-fi team and connected it to the Coda W via optical. The result is what I now consider to be a near-perfect modern hi-fi system: a Bluetooth turntable for vinyl, a streamer for everything else and a pair of active speakers that require no separate amplifier.

It's compact, easy to use, living-room friendly and, most importantly, it sounds terrific.

Unfortunately, the KEF Coda W speakers aren't discounted for Amazon Prime Day, nor have I spotted any worthwhile deals elsewhere. That's not especially surprising given how new they are.

Even so, I'd argue they're excellent value at their £799 asking price. There's a reason we awarded them five stars in our KEF Coda W review.

Prime Day is often about chasing the biggest discount, but sometimes the best products to buy are the ones that aren't on sale. The KEF Coda W is just one very personal example.

If you do fancy recreating my minimalist hi-fi setup, though, the good news is that both the Pro-Ject T1 EVO BT turntable and WiiM Pro Plus streamer are currently available at reduced prices:

I am a very lucky guy: the best TV I've ever tested (and I've been reviewing TVs for 19 years) is also now the TV I use at home.

That TV is the Sony Bravia 8 II, and it really is as awesome to live with as I had expected.

• View all the Prime Day deals

Why, then, am I eyeing up another TV in the Amazon Prime Day sales?

Two reasons: I'd love to add an OLED to my spare room for gaming, and this deal is just too exceptional to pass up.

£623 at Amazon is just unbelievable for a TV this good, and it takes it from a super-premium option that would have to be your main TV, to a good price to pay for a second room TV.

My plan for this 42-inch OLED is to use it as a gaming TV and a monitor for work.

Its gaming specs are impeccable: four HDMI 2.1 sockets that all fully support 4K/144Hz, 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM; a superbly implemented HGIG mode for super-accurate HDR in games; and a Dolby Vision gaming mode.

It's great as a monitor, too, with neat, user-created software available that enables monitor-style features such as auto-wake.

Even if you've no interest in gaming or productivity, though, the 42-inch C5 is awesome for TV shows and movies, with a really balanced and authentic performance that makes full use of OLED's perfect blacks and pixel-level contrast control.

Other than the limp sound (which I recommend solving with one of the best budget soundbars), this TV is great at everything it does, and I think it's just irresistible at this price.

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Here are all the best TVs you can buy right now

And here are all of the best Amazon Prime Day TV deals

I’m obsessed with broadcast delays (no, I’m not much fun at parties).

It all stems from Euro 2020, when my insistence on watching every match in 4K via BBC iPlayer resulted in several goals being spoiled by cheers from my neighbours and the revellers at a pub down the road.

Since then, I've prioritised low latency over outright picture quality when choosing how to watch major sporting events.

But I'd never actually tested the accepted wisdom around broadcast delays. So, with Sky launching its new Real Time feature for Sky Glass and Sky Stream, I decided it was time to find out which viewing method is actually fastest.

So, there I was, on a sweaty Thursday evening, setting up a second TV in my living room so that I could compare different broadcast options during the Czechia v South Africa match.

I needed to remove as many variables as possible, of course, so my two TVs needed to be identical. I therefore borrowed a 65-inch Sony Bravia 8 II OLED to match the one currently in situ in my lounge.

After ensuring that both TVs were running the same software and had the same picture settings, I plugged my now rarely used aerial into the ‘new’ TV (the one on the right in all of the photos sprinkled throughout this piece) and set about comparing that with the alternatives at my disposal.

This is what I discovered.

Freeview (aerial) vs BBC iPlayer

Before I get started, it’s worth noting that everything is delayed.

It simply takes time for anything that's filmed live to make it through all of the broadcast equipment, be encoded and transmitted, travel to and from satellites in space or through underground fibre-optic cables, and finally be decoded and displayed by your TV.

It’s commonly accepted, though, that watching the signals received by your aerial via a Freeview tuner is the least delayed option available. The BBC itself says that it takes 7-8 seconds for something happening live to reach your TV via this method.

So, how much slower was iPlayer than the TV playing Freeview? A hefty 23 seconds. That’s plenty of time for a goal to be spoiled by cheers from the neighbours.

Interestingly, I found no meaningful difference between BBC iPlayer's HD and UHD streams. If you're watching via iPlayer anyway, choosing the 4K feed doesn't appear to add any extra delay.

I also tested the iPlayer app on several devices – the Bravia 8 II itself, a Sky Stream box, and an Apple TV 4K – and the result was always 23 seconds, there or thereabouts.

It’s worth remembering that BBC iPlayer is the only way to watch the World Cup in 4K, and the feeds look terrific, but when immediacy matters, such as when England are playing, foregoing pixels for promptness is the sensible way to go.

Sky Stream/Glass

Time for Sky Stream, and the good news is that this was indeed quicker than BBC iPlayer. The bad news? It was still around 18 seconds behind Freeview.

That’s better, of course, but still more than enough time for a goal to be spoiled.

But, as I mentioned earlier, Sky has a special feature up its sleeve for dealing with this…

Sky Real Time

That feature is Real Time, which is designed to massively reduce the amount of lag experienced during big sporting events.

Sky has rolled Real Time out just in time for the World Cup, and it’s available on the BBC HD, ITV1 HD and ITV4 HD.

It’s worth noting that it’s not turned on by default. Once you tune in to one of the channels mentioned above during a World Cup match, you then need to click the ‘Real Time’ button that appears on the screen. Do that, and you’ll be switched to a special ‘RT’ version of the channel.

So, how much faster is Real Time? A whopping 13 seconds faster than standard Sky Stream, which makes it just five seconds slower than the Freeview tuner.

That’s close enough, I think, to rarely be an issue.

Conclusions, caveats and Sky Q

You’ve probably spotted that there’s a significant absentee from my testing, Sky Q, and there’s an easy explanation for that – I no longer have a satellite dish.

However, Sky has previously told me that Real Time brings Sky Stream/Glass to within three seconds of Sky Q, and the results of my testing certainly suggest that's plausible.

It’s also worth noting that there are plenty of variables that mean your results might vary slightly from mine. Aerial connections and Freeview tuners are remarkably consistent, but network conditions are not. Broadband speeds, router performance, wi-fi quality and even the streaming device itself can all affect how quickly a live stream reaches your screen.

Still, if you want to see how all of these various viewing methods compared, delay-wise, for me, here’s a little graph I whipped up:

Broadcast / reception delay

Here's how long, in seconds, it takes each broadcast type to show you a goal that's just been scored

Delay

Live

0

Freeview (aerial)

8

Sky Q (satellite)

10

Sky Glass/Stream with Real Time

13

Sky Glass/Stream without Real Time

26

BBC iPlayer

31

010203040

Delay Data

Product	Value
Live	0
Freeview (aerial)	8
Sky Q (satellite)	10
Sky Glass/Stream with Real Time	13
Sky Glass/Stream without Real Time	26
BBC iPlayer	31

This is according to my testing – bear in mind that your mileage may vary.

So, is Sky Real Time the saviour of sports fans tired of hearing celebrations before they see the goal?

Not quite. My tests suggest that a good old-fashioned aerial is still the quickest way to watch live TV, and Sky Q via satellite probably remains a touch faster too.

But Sky's new mode narrows the gap dramatically. Instead of lagging tens of seconds behind the live action, Sky Stream and Sky Glass are now close enough to traditional broadcast TV that, in most homes, they're unlikely to be the reason a goal gets spoiled.

For years, choosing streaming TV meant accepting that everyone else would see the goal first. Thanks to Real Time, that trade-off is finally starting to disappear.

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And don't forget the audio! Here are all of the best soundbars

You know how fancy restaurants have this tendency to deconstruct classic recipes? Well, Sony’s done the same thing to the soundbar, but unlike that deconstructed lasagne, which you rather wish was just a perfectly delicious, fully constructed lasagne, the Bravia Theatre Trio is an almost flawlessly tasty treat.

Sony’s thinking behind the Theatre Trio is that as TVs get ever bigger, soundbars will struggle to create audio on a scale to match the visuals. The obvious solution is to switch to having speakers on either side of the screen, which is what the company’s done previously with the HT-A9 and Bravia Theatre Quad, but that creates its own issue: a lack of central focus, which is particularly important for dialogue.

The solution to the solution, then, is to break the soundbar down into three parts: a centre, a front left and a front right.

In a way, this is the antithesis of the soundbar, which was created, of course, to reduce all of the speakers needed for satisfying home cinema into one, slender unit. What’s next: the return of full home cinema in a box systems?

Let’s not get bogged down in the circular nature of home theatre fashion right now, though. Let’s just enjoy the Sony Bravia Theatre Trio for what it is: one of the finest lifestyle Dolby Atmos systems you can currently buy.

Price

The Sony Bravia Theatre Trio has launched at £1999 / $2000 / AU$2999, making it a very premium proposition indeed.

It’s a highly unusual proposition in today’s market, too, which makes direct comparison rather tricky. Someone considering the Bravia Theatre Trio might also have on their shortlist solo soundbars such as the KEF XIO, Sonos Arc Ultra and Bravia Theatre Bar 9; full soundbar systems such as the Samsung HW-Q990H; and bar-less set-ups such as the Bravia Theatre Quad.

It’s a good job, then, that we have all of these on hand for comparison with the Trio.

Almost inevitably, the Trio system can be expanded through the addition of wireless surround speakers and up to two wireless subwoofers. The new Rear 8, Rear 9, Sub 7, Sub 8 and Sub 9 are all compatible with the Bravia Theatre Trio, and if you buy everything together, the prices of the surrounds and sub(s) are halved.

Several legacy accessories – the SA-SW5 and SA-SW3 subwoofers, and the SA-RS5 and SA-RS3S surrounds – are also compatible with the Trio, should you already own any of those.

We’ve tested the Trio with the Rear 9 surrounds and Sub 8, as well as solo, and you can read our thoughts on the value of expanding the system in the sound quality section.

Design

The Bravia Theatre Trio is a slightly odd thing to behold, especially if you're coming from a soundbar.

The left and right speakers will look familiar to anyone who remembers Sony's HT-A9 system. They share a similar cylindrical shape and fairly substantial dimensions, though the Trio's versions are considerably more stylish, with a black fabric (rather than grey plastic) finish that helps them look modern and discreet despite their size.

They're attractive speakers, too. A metallic ring around the top of each cabinet adds a touch of class, while perforations in the top reveal the up-firing drivers responsible for the system's height effects. Build quality feels reassuringly solid throughout, too.

The centre speaker is a little more divisive.

Essentially a very narrow soundbar that sits beneath the TV, the centre isn’t unattractive exactly, but there is something slightly awkward about its proportions, particularly when it’s positioned beneath the sort of super-sized TV that the Trio is primarily designed to partner.

Thankfully, its low-profile design means it won't obstruct the screen, and Sony includes spacer feet in the box should you need it to straddle your TV’s pedestal stand.

Sony has also done an excellent job of making the Trio as installation-friendly as possible.

The rear of each speaker is flat, allowing for neat wall-mounting, and the left and right speakers require little more than suitably positioned screws. A dedicated wall bracket for the centre speaker is included in the box, too, alongside an HDMI cable and usefully long power leads.

Sony has gone out of its way to ensure that the system isn't overly fussy about speaker placement. It's still worth positioning the speakers as symmetrically as possible, but if real-world constraints mean one speaker ends up slightly higher or further away than another, the calibration system is designed to compensate.

There are compromises to the minimalist approach, though.

Like many modern soundbars, the Trio has no traditional display. Each speaker instead features a small status light that indicates power and connection information. Anyone wanting more detailed feedback will generally need to open the Bravia Connect app, which isn’t always ideal, despite the quality of the app itself.

This is a non-issue for owners of compatible Bravia TVs, at least, as the Trio’s settings and status information appear directly within the television's interface.

Sony also supplies a small but useful remote control that provides quick access to the essentials, including volume, bass level, sound modes, voice enhancement and input selection.

Features

While the Bravia Theatre Trio's three-piece design is its most obvious distinguishing feature, the real cleverness lies in how Sony attempts to make those three speakers sound cohesive, like a soundbar, yet also much bigger, like a more traditional home cinema set-up.

Officially, the Trio is a 3.0.2-channel system comprising dedicated left, centre and right speakers. The centre houses two front-firing woofers and a tweeter, while the left and right speakers each feature a front-firing woofer and tweeter, plus an up-firing driver. Together, Sony claims the three speakers deliver a total power output of 405W.

The system supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks. It’s IMAX Enhanced certified, too, but only once compatible rear speakers and a subwoofer have been added.

Key to the way the Trio handles these 3D audio formats is Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology. Using the physical speakers as a foundation, 360SSM then creates up to 24 'phantom' speakers around the room. These virtual speakers are designed to bolster the real ones and create a larger, more immersive soundstage than would otherwise be possible.

One area in which Sony has clearly put particular effort is set-up and calibration.

Installation is handled via the excellent Bravia Connect app, which guides you through the entire process with clear, well-illustrated instructions. Despite the sophistication of the system, getting everything connected, positioned and configured is refreshingly straightforward.

As part of the set-up process, you're asked to specify the locations of the speakers relative to one another, either approximately or by entering precise measurements. You can also specify their height, allowing the system to compensate for the sort of less-than-perfect real-world placement that often comes with living-room-friendly home cinema set-ups.

The calibration itself is unusually thorough, too. As well as using microphones built into the speakers, the Trio comes supplied with a dedicated USB-C calibration microphone that you plug into your phone before measurements are taken from the listening position. The result should be a level of consistency and accuracy that's difficult to achieve with systems that rely solely on onboard microphones or a smartphone.

Despite that thoroughness, the process is remarkably quick and painless, and, once complete, Sony's Sound Field Optimisation technology adapts the system’s performance to both your room and speaker placement.

There are plenty of further adjustments available within the app should you wish to experiment. You can choose between Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping processing, Dolby Speaker Virtualiser and DTS Neural:X, adjust the height of the soundfield, create a temporary listening position and access the usual assortment of voice enhancement, bass and night mode settings.

Happily, Sony's default settings are generally spot on, and most users will never feel the need to delve into the Trio’s advanced sound settings.

Connectivity is solid, too. The centre speaker houses an HDMI eARC connection for your TV, plus a dedicated HDMI input with support for 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM passthrough.

Wireless support includes Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay and Spotify Connect, while Sony's DSEE Ultimate processing can be used to upscale compressed music files.

Owners of compatible Bravia TVs get a few extra perks, including Voice Zoom 3 dialogue enhancement and, as mentioned, the ability to control many of the Trio's functions directly through the television's interface.

Sound quality

The whole point of splitting a soundbar into three separate speakers is to create a larger and more spacious soundstage, and that's exactly what Sony has achieved.

Compared with even the best conventional soundbars, the Trio sounds huge. Effects stretch much further to the left and right, dialogue remains firmly anchored to the screen, and there's a greater sense of sound being projected out into the room rather than simply originating from beneath the TV.

Blade Runner 2049 demonstrates these strengths particularly well. The sounds of the city as K walks towards his apartment spread far beyond the physical locations of the speakers, filling our large listening room with impressive width and scale. More importantly, the system doesn't just sound wider than a soundbar; it sounds taller, too.

In fact, the Trio's Dolby Atmos performance is one of its most impressive achievements. The sounds of passing vehicles, overhead announcements and environmental effects frequently extend above the listening position, creating a genuinely convincing sense of height. Given the size of our test room and the almost three-metre distance between the seating position and speakers, that's no small feat.

The system proves equally adept with the chaotic battle sequences of Civil War and the aerial action of Top Gun: Maverick, maintaining an impressively large and immersive soundfield without losing track of the finer details.

Perhaps even more impressive than the scale, though, is the cohesion. Despite the fact that you're listening to three physically separate speakers, the Trio rarely sounds like three separate speakers. Instead, it creates a single, unified wall of sound that stretches right across the front of the room.

That sense of integration is particularly important because it allows the system to retain one of the key advantages of a traditional soundbar: you never find yourself consciously thinking about which speaker is producing which effect.

Much of the credit for this appears to belong to Sony's Movie Theatre Acoustics processing. Switch it off, and the soundstage immediately shrinks, while the illusion of a single coherent soundfield begins to weaken. Leave it enabled, however, and the Trio sounds significantly larger, more immersive and more convincing.

There is a small trade-off. The processing can occasionally exaggerate echo that's already present within a soundtrack. The interviewer's voice during K's baseline test in Blade Runner 2049 is one example, while Nandez's dialogue during the early autopsy sequence gains a touch more resonance than is strictly correct.

These moments are relatively rare, though, and the benefits broadly outweigh the drawbacks. Some people might prefer the cleaner delivery when Movie Theatre Acoustics is disabled, but most will want to leave it enabled (as it is by default) for the additional scale, weight and cohesion it brings.

In some respects, the Trio highlights the limitations of conventional soundbars.

Using the excellent Sonos Arc Ultra as a reference point, Sony's system delivers substantially greater scale, bass weight and Atmos immersion. This isn't really a criticism of the Sonos, which remains one of the most capable soundbars at its price, but it does neatly demonstrate what can be achieved when you physically separate the front channels: the Trio simply fills the room more effectively.

One small issue to note regarding movie sound is that the centre speaker can buzz slightly when pushed by super-deep bass, such as that at the start of the second chapter of Blade Runner 2049. It's not something that crops up often enough to become a significant issue, but it is one of the few occasions on which the centre speaker draws attention to itself.

For music, meanwhile, the Trio offers something that most soundbars simply cannot: genuine stereo reproduction.

Switch Sound Field processing off and the centre speaker drops out, leaving dedicated left and right channels handled by dedicated left and right speakers. Give those speakers a small amount of toe-in, and the resulting stereo image is impressively focused, while still benefiting from proper separation.

My Curse by Killswitch Engage is delivered with excellent punch, dynamics and drive, while Rosalía's Divinize demonstrates the system's ability to produce serious low-frequency heft. The dense instrumentation of Karnivool's Salva remains composed and controlled, and Alone On A Hill by Silversun Pickups is rendered with convincing scale and strong stereo focus.

Sony's hi-fi heritage shines through here. The Trio sounds weighty, energetic and engaging in a way that most soundbars simply don't.

That doesn't mean it's a replacement for a properly sorted pair of powered hi-fi speakers, of course, but it comes closer than most lifestyle home cinema products.

One similarly priced alternative to the Trio that we’ve not yet mentioned is the excellent KEF XIO.

With both movies and music, the KEF sounds cleaner, crisper and more detailed than the Sony, with excellent organisation and precision. The Trio counters with greater weight, larger scale and the sort of genuine stereo separation that only physically separated speakers can provide.

Neither approach is inherently better than the other, and preferences will inevitably vary, but the comparison reinforces the fact that Sony has created something genuinely distinct rather than simply another premium soundbar.

And, while the Bravia Theatre Trio is a complete and highly capable package on its own, adding Sony's optional speakers and subwoofer takes things to another level.

Testing with the Rear 9 surrounds and Sub 8 dramatically increases immersion, creating a seamless bubble of sound that extends around the entire listening position. Atmos effects become even more precisely placed, and the busy cityscape of Blade Runner 2049 becomes extraordinarily convincing.

Just as importantly, the minor shortcomings of the standalone system largely disappear. The slight buzz from the centre speaker vanishes once deep bass duties are handed over to the subwoofer, while the occasional over-emphasis of echo through Movie Theatre Acoustics is also cured.

There remains a very slight amount of distortion from the Sub 8 itself during the deepest bass moments, and we'd be fascinated to hear whether the larger Sub 9 can eliminate this final remaining niggle. That's a discussion for another review, though.

Judged as an initial package, the Bravia Theatre Trio is a hugely impressive performer that successfully combines the scale and spaciousness of a separate-speaker home cinema system with much of the convenience and cohesion that make soundbars so appealing.

Verdict

Sony's Bravia Theatre Trio could easily have ended up feeling like an awkward compromise: neither as neat as a soundbar nor as capable as a traditional speaker system. Instead, it succeeds in taking many of the strengths of both approaches while avoiding most of their weaknesses.

It's not quite perfect – the centre speaker isn’t quite as capable as the larger speakers flanking it, there's no display, and some rivals can sound a touch cleaner and more detailed – but those shortcomings are minor in the context of what the Trio achieves overall.

Ultimately, Sony's deconstructed soundbar concept proves brilliantly effective. If you're looking for a premium lifestyle Dolby Atmos system and have the budget to stretch this far, the Bravia Theatre Trio is one of the most compelling options in years.

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Design 4
• Features 4

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Read our review of the KEF XIO

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Read our Sonos Arc Ultra review

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