The Sony A80K OLED is one of two entry-level OLEDs in Sony's 2022 lineup. It sits behind the Sony A90K OLED and the QD-OLED Sony A95K OLED, and in Europe, it sits ahead of the Sony A75K. It replaces the Sony A80J OLED from 2021, and it's largely unchanged from its predecessor. It uses the same Cognitive Processor XR, and it has many of the same features like the HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, variable refresh rate (VRR) support, and the S-Center speaker input to use the TV's speakers as a center channel when connecting a compatible Sony soundbar. It also uses the same Google TV smart platform, and like its predecessor, it's available in 55-inch, 65-inch, and 77-inch models.
The Sony A80K is excellent for most uses. It performs best in dark rooms while watching movies because it displays deep blacks without any blooming in dark scenes. It's excellent for HDR because of that dark room performance and the fact that it displays a wide range of colors, but its HDR brightness isn't high enough for the best HDR experience. It's great for watching TV shows and excellent for sports in well-lit rooms thanks to its wide viewing angle and incredible reflection handling, but it doesn't get bright enough to fight a ton of glare. Lastly, it's fantastic for gaming as it has variable refresh rate (VRR) support with HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, a quick response time, and low input lag.
The Sony A80K is incredible for watching movies in dark rooms. It displays deep blacks without any blooming, meaning it looks amazing in dark rooms. It also removes 24p judder from any source and doesn't have trouble upscaling lower-resolution content. Sadly though, low-frame-rate content like movies stutter because of the TV's quick response time.
The Sony A80K is great for watching TV shows in well-lit rooms. It has incredible reflection handling that reduces the amount of glare from some light sources, but it doesn't get very bright, so it isn't ideal to place in very bright rooms. Luckily, it has a wide viewing angle so that the image remains consistent from the sides, which is great if you watch shows with the entire family. It also doesn't have any trouble upscaling content from cable boxes and has a great smart platform if you stream your content.
The Sony A80K is excellent for watching sports. Fast-moving balls and players look excellent thanks to the near-instantaneous response time, so there isn't any motion blur. It also has incredible reflection handling if you have a few lights around, but it doesn't get bright enough to fight a ton of glare. Lastly, it has a wide viewing angle, which is great if you want to watch the game with a few friends as everyone sees the same image from the sides.
The Sony A80K is fantastic for gaming. It has features most gamers would expect, like HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on two ports and HDMI Forum VRR and G-SYNC support, but it doesn't support FreeSync, which is disappointing if you have a PC with an older AMD graphics card. It has a near-instantaneous response time for smooth motion, and it has low enough input lag for a responsive feel. It's also incredible for dark room gaming as it displays deep blacks without any blooming.
The Sony A80K is excellent for watching HDR movies. It performs very well in dark rooms as it has a near-infinite contrast ratio that results in perfect black levels and no blooming around bright objects. It also displays a wide range of colors in HDR. Its HDR peak brightness is okay, and some highlights stand out, but it isn't bright enough to make a ton of colors look vivid.
The Sony A80K is fantastic for HDR gaming. It has fantastic gaming performance, thanks to its fast response time, low input lag, HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, and VRR support. HDR also looks excellent as it displays deep and inky blacks and a wide range of colors, but it doesn't get bright enough for an HDR image that really pops and looks vivid.
The Sony A80K is excellent for use as a PC monitor. It has low input lag for a responsive desktop feel, and the wide viewing angle ensures the edges of the screen aren't washed out if you sit too close, but colors shift if you sit close, which isn't ideal for photo editing. It has incredible reflection handling if you use it in a room with a few lights around, but its peak brightness is a bit limited. Sadly, OLEDs risk permanent burn-in, and this TV shows signs of temporary image retention with exposure to static elements.
We tested the 65-inch Sony A80K, and the results are also valid for the 55 and 75-inch models. It's also known as the A80CK at Costco, and it's the same TV, but the only difference is that it comes with a backlit remote, a three-year warranty, and a two-year subscription to the Bravia Core Streaming Service. In Europe, there's both the Sony A80K and the Sony A84K, and while both TVs perform like the North American A80K, the European A84K is the closest equivalent because it has a built-in mic like the North American version.
Size | Model | Costco |
---|---|---|
55" | XR-55A80K | XR55A80CK |
65" | XR-65A80K | XR65A80CK |
77" | XR-77A80K | XR77A80CK |
If you come across a different type of panel or your Sony A80K doesn't correspond to our review, let us know, and we’ll update it. Some tests, like gray uniformity, may vary between individual units.
Our unit was manufactured in May 2022, and you can see the label here.
The Sony A80K is an excellent TV with deep blacks, perfect black uniformity, and great gaming features. However, it's disappointing considering it's a downgrade in a few areas compared to the Sony A80J OLED, like the peak brightness. It doesn't match up to the brighter OLEDs that are coming out in 2022, and if you want the best OLED for picture quality, you can find other options.
See our recommendations for the best smart TVs, the best TVs for movies, and the best 4k HDR TVs.
The LG C2 OLED is better overall than the Sony A80K OLED. The main difference is that the LG has a brighter panel, so highlights pop more in HDR. The LG also has better gaming performance with lower input lag and FreeSync support, which is great if you're a PC gamer.
The Sony A80K OLED and the Sony A80J OLED are extremely similar TVs with the same features. The A80K downgrades in a few areas, like the brightness, and the built-in speakers are worse. However, the A80K also has a wider 1080p VRR range. Overall, deciding between these two TVs comes down to which you can find for cheaper because they're so similar.
The Sony A95K OLED is a much better TV than the Sony A80K OLED. The A95K uses QD-OLED technology, which is a type of OLED that allows it to display more colors and get brighter than traditional OLEDs like the A80K, so it's much better for watching HDR content. However, the A80K performs better in well-lit rooms because the black levels raise on the A95K when there's any ambient light, so you don't get the same perfect black levels that OLEDs are known for.
The Samsung S95B OLED is much better than the Sony A80K OLED. The Samsung has a QD-OLED panel, allowing it to get brighter and display a wider range of colors than the Sony. The Samsung TV also has better gaming performance with its lower input lag. However, if you use your TV in a bright room, the Sony performs better because blacks still look black in a bright room, whereas ambient lighting causes the black levels to raise on the Samsung.
The Sony A90J OLED is a higher-end TV than the Sony A80K OLED, so it performs a bit better overall. The A90J gets slightly brighter in HDR, delivering a more impactful HDR experience. That's the main difference between the TVs, so if you're after the best picture quality, stick with the Sony.
Although the Sony A90K OLED is positioned as a higher-end model than the Sony A80K OLED, they offer nearly identical performance, but they're available in different sizes. The A80K is available in a 55", 65", and 77" size, while the A90K is only available in 42" and 48" sizes.
The Sony A80K OLED and the Sony X95K are different types of TVs due to their different panel types. If you often watch content in a dark room, the A80K is the better choice as its OLED panel delivers deeper blacks. However, if you want to use it in a well-lit room, the LED panel of the X95K gets much brighter, so it fights glare better.
The LG B2 OLED and the Sony A80K OLED are both excellent TVs, with a few minor differences. While they each have OLED panels with the same near-infinite contrast, the LG is the better choice for well-lit rooms as it gets brighter in SDR. The LG is also better for gaming thanks to its lower input lag and FreeSync VRR support. However, the Sony TV has a few advantages with image processing as the motion interpolation feature looks better, which is great for watching movies.
The Sony A80K OLED and the Sony X90K are different types of TVs, each with strengths and weaknesses. The A80K is better for dark-room viewing as it delivers deeper blacks, and it's also the better choice for wide seating arrangements because it offers a wider viewing angle. If you prefer something for bright-room viewing, the X90K gets much brighter to counteract glare.
The LG G2 OLED is better overall than the Sony A80K OLED. While they both deliver the same fantastic dark room performance, the LG gets much brighter, allowing highlights to pop more in HDR. If you're a gamer, you'll also be happy to know the LG has lower input lag for a more responsive feel.
The LG C1 OLED and the Sony A80K OLED are very similar TVs. They each have similar peak brightness and overall picture quality. The main advantage the LG has is that it has lower input lag for gaming, and if you're a PC gamer, it has FreeSync VRR support.
The LG G1 OLED and the Sony A80K OLED are similar OLED TVs, but the LG is just a bit better overall. The main difference is that the LG gets brighter in HDR, so highlights pop more. If you're a gamer, the LG is also the better choice as it has lower input lag and supports FreeSync VRR, which the Sony TV doesn't.
The Sony A80K OLED and the LG B2 OLED are both excellent TVs, but the Sony model has the advantage in a few areas. Although their SDR peak brightness is similar, the Sony gets much brighter in HDR, so highlights pop more. It also has better image processing features like improved tone mapping and gradient handling. Lastly, if you're a gamer, the Sony TV can take full advantage of gaming consoles thanks to its HDMI 2.1 bandwidth and VRR support.
The Sony A80K looks very similar to the Sony A80J OLED. It has a premium design with metal feet and an all-black plastic body. It also has thin bezels that aren't distracting while watching TV.
The Sony A80K has metal feet that support the screen very well, and there's minimal wobble. Like some other Sony TVs, it has three different stand positions: a narrow position if you have a small table, a wide position if you want minimal space between the screen and the table, and a high position if you want to place a soundbar in front without blocking the screen. You can see the dimensions of the 65-inch TV below (W x D x H to the bottom of the screen):
The back of the Sony A80K is entirely plastic, and there's a cover for cable management, but otherwise, it doesn't have clips to route your cables to the inputs. As the inputs are side-facing, they're hard to reach with the TV wall-mounted and nearly impossible to get to if you mount it with the cover on.
The Sony A80K has fantastic build quality. The stand supports the TV very well, and there aren't any quality control issues as the panel is attached to the back properly, and the cable management cover also stays in place. There's a bit of flex on the back panel, but it isn't a major concern. However, overall it doesn't feel as good as the Sony A80J OLED because there's less metal, and the plastic doesn't feel as good.
Unfortunately, our unit sustained some damage during shipping with a scratch on the back and a bent bottom bezel. However, we don't suspect it's a common problem, and it doesn't affect the TV's performance. Because of this, the damage doesn't impact the build quality score.
The Sony A80K's SDR peak brightness is just okay, and it's a bit disappointing as it isn't as bright as other 2022 OLEDs like the LG C2 OLED, and it doesn't get bright enough to fight a ton of glare. It gets brightest after a full calibration as it only reaches a peak of 399 cd/m² in the 2% window before calibration. It also has an aggressive Automatic Brightness Limiter that makes larger areas dimmer, which isn't ideal if you use it as a PC monitor or watch sports like hockey.
We tested it again in an air-conditioned room at about 73 F (23 C), and it didn't change the brightness results in the individual windows compared to our original testing. However, we measured the Real Scene brightness after letting the TV cool down enough following the peak brightness, and this resulted in an increased brightness of nearly 20 nits, which isn't a significant difference, but cooling the display down a bit lets it get brighter.
The results are in the 'Custom' Picture Mode after calibration with the Brightness at its max, Contrast at its default of '90', Color Temperature set to 'Expert 1', and the Peak Luminance on 'High'. Gamma was also on '0', and setting it to '-2' provides a brightness of 315 nits. Setting Peak Luminance to 'High' helps gets this TV brighter, as disabling it results in a much dimmer image, but there isn't much variation between different scenes, as you can see below:
If you want the brightest image possible and you don't care about accuracy, then use the 'Vivid' Picture Mode with the Brightness and Contrast at their max, Live Color, Advanced Contrast Enhancer, and Peak Luminance on 'High', and the Color Temperature on 'Cool'. It results in a peak brightness of 766 cd/m² in the 2% window.
The Sony A80K has alright HDR peak brightness, but like in SDR, it's a downgrade compared to the Sony A80J OLED. Some small highlights stand out versus the rest of the screen, but it doesn't get bright enough for a truly satisfying HDR experience. The EOTF follows the target PQ curve almost perfectly until there's a sharp roll-off at the peak brightness, causing a loss of fine details in bright scenes. If you care about HDR peak brightness, then look into the Sony A95K OLED.
These results are from the 'Custom' HDR Picture Mode with the Brightness at its max, Color Temperature on 'Expert 2', and the HDR Tone Mapping set to 'Gradation Preferred'. If you find the image too dim, set the Contrast to its max, Advanced Contrast Enhancer and Peak Luminance to 'High', and HDR Tone Mapping to 'Brightness Preferred'. This results in a brighter image, but it doesn't change the peak luminance.
The EOTF changes according to the settings you use for HDR Tone Mapping, and you can see the differences below:
The HDR brightness in Game Mode is nearly the same as outside of Game Mode, and there isn't a noticeable difference. These results are with the same settings as outside of Game Mode, but with the Picture Mode set to 'Game'.
The gradient handling is incredible. There's just a bit of banding in greens, but even that is hard to notice, and you won't see much banding with regular content. Setting Smooth Gradation to 'Medium' or 'High' smooths out gradients with real content, but it also causes a loss of fine details with high-quality content.
The Sony A80K's gray uniformity is excellent. The screen is uniform throughout, and there isn't much dirty screen effect that could be distracting during sports. Like any OLED, there are thin vertical lines in near-black scenes, but they're hard to spot unless you sit really close.
The Sony A80K has incredible reflection handling. Reflections from bright light sources aren't too distracting, and even if there's a bit of a purple tint, it isn't distracting or too noticeable like on the Samsung S95B OLED.
The Sony A80K has great out-of-the-box accuracy in SDR. Most colors are accurate, and even if the white balance is a bit off, it's still great. The color temperature is slightly on the cold side, giving the image a blue tint, but it's still close to the 6500K target. Gamma follows the 2.2 target for moderately-lit rooms fairly well, except some brighter scenes are too bright.
The Sony A80K has incredible accuracy after calibration to the D65 white point. It's easy to calibrate the white balance, but calibrating any colors makes the image worse. The color temperature and gamma are both spot-on with their targets too.
You can see the full settings for our calibration here.
The Sony A80K uses an RWBG panel, known as WOLED, with four subpixels. Because all four pixels are never all on at the same time, you can see different pixel configurations here and here. You can also see the spectral power distribution of the panel.
The Sony A80K has an excellent color gamut. It displays a wide range of colors in the commonly-used DCI-P3 color space, and it has decent Rec. 2020 coverage, so it's future-proof as more content will start coming out with that color space. The tone mapping with the tested 75% stimulus is good, but some brighter colors are a bit off in Rec. 2020.
These results are with the same settings used for the HDR Brightness tests, including with HDR Tone Mapping set to 'Gradation Preferred'. However, the gamut coverage changes depending on which HDR Tone Mapping setting you use, as you can see below:
Brightness Preferred | DCI-P3 | Rec. 2020 |
Gradation Preferred (Judd White Point) | DCI-P3 | Rec. 2020 |
Off | DCI-P3 | Rec. 2020 |
The Sony A80K has a decent color volume. It displays dark colors well because of its near-infinite contrast ratio, but it isn't as good as the Samsung S95B OLED at displaying bright colors because it doesn't get as bright.
The Sony A80K has a near-instantaneous response time that results in almost no motion blur behind fast-moving objects. It has a bit of overshoot in dark transitions, but it isn't visible. However, due to the sample-and-hold nature of OLEDs, there's still persistence blur.
The Sony A80K isn't technically flicker-free because there's a slight dip in brightness every 8 ms, which corresponds to the refresh rate of the TV. However, it isn't noticeable and isn't the same as pulse width modulation on LED-backlit TVs because it isn't a full-screen on and off cycle.
The Sony A80K has an optional black frame insertion feature to reduce persistence blur. It only works with 60 fps content, which is disappointing if you want to use it with 120 fps games. Keep in mind that the BFI score is based on the flicker frequencies at which it works and not the actual performance.
The Sony A80K has a motion interpolation feature to bring 30 and 60 fps content up to 120 fps. Strangely, it looks bad with the test pattern at 30 fps, as you can see in the image above, but it doesn't look like that with real content. With regular content it looks great, especially in slow scenes, and even if there are a few more artifacts with fast-moving scenes, it isn't as bad as on some other TVs.
Due to the near-instantaneous response time, there's stutter with lower-frame-rate content as each frame is held on longer. Enabling the motion interpolation can help reduce this.
The Sony A80K removes 24p judder from any source, including 60p/i sources that don't have a Match Frame Rate feature, which helps with the appearance of motion in movies. However, if you enable the BFI feature, it can't remove judder from 60p/i sources.
The Sony A80K supports variable refresh rate technology to reduce screen tearing. HDMI Forum VRR and G-SYNC compatibility work over the entire refresh rate range, and it supports Low Framerate Compensation to continue working with low frame rates. Sadly, the lack of FreeSync support is disappointing if you have a PC with an older AMD graphics card.
VRR works with 1440p @ 60Hz signals, but the TV is upscaling 1440p to 4k, so it isn't a real 1440p signal, which is why we left the 1440p VRR range as Unknown.
The Sony A80K has low input lag as long as you're in Game Mode. Although it's a bit higher than most other OLEDs like the LG A2 OLED, it's still good enough for a responsive gaming feel. The input lag is very high outside of Game Mode, so if you feel the delay while navigating through menus or using the on-screen keyboard, switch into Game Mode for a more responsive feel.
The Sony A80K supports most common signals under the HDMI 2.1 bandwidth up to 4k @ 120Hz with HDMI ports 3 and 4. Unlike some Sony TVs in the past there aren't any resolution-halving issues with 4k @ 120Hz signals. It displays proper chroma 4:4:4 with all of its supported resolutions, which is important for clear text while using it with a PC, except you need to send an RGB signal for it to work with 1440p @ 60Hz. Sadly, it doesn't support 1440p @ 120Hz at all.
The Sony A80K works well with the PS5 and Xbox Series X, as long as you have them connected to HDMI ports 3 or 4 for full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. It only supports Dolby Vision up to 4k @ 60Hz from the Xbox, as Dolby Vision doesn't work with 4k @ 120Hz signals. It has a few PS5-oriented features like the Auto HDR Tone Mapping and ALLM, but the ALLM also works with the Xbox.
The Sony A80K supports HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on HDMI ports 3 and 4, while HDMI ports 1 and 2 are limited to HDMI 2.0 bandwidth. As HDMI 3 is an HDMI 2.1 and eARC port, you lose an HDMI 2.1 slot if you connect a receiver, so you can't use HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on multiple devices at the same time unless the receiver also supports it. The tuner supports ATSC 3.0, allowing you to stream over-the-air 4k channels.
The Sony A80K has one less USB port than the Sony A80J and doesn't have an analog audio output, so you can't connect speakers that require this connection or headphones.
The Sony A80K supports eARC, allowing you to pass high-quality, uncompressed audio to a compatible receiver through an HDMI cable. You can also connect a compatible Sony soundbar to the S-Center speaker input and use the TV's speakers as a center channel.
The Sony A80K has decent frequency response. It sounds best for dialogue in the mid-range, but it struggles to output much bass. While it's more accurate overall with trebles than the Sony A80J OLED, if you're listening to content at moderate listening levels with low trebles, like whistles and flutes, it sounds more balanced on the A80J as it's more accurate with those particular sounds. The A80J follows the target better in the low treble range, as the A80K dips more in that range. These tests were done with the TV in the wide stand position using the digital room correction feature.
The Google Play Store has tons of apps available to download, and they run very smoothly. It has Google Chromecast built-in, meaning you can cast content from your phone. You can also connect the Bravia webcam for video calls.
The Sony A80K has an updated remote compared to the Sony A80J OLED. It's smaller as there's no numpad, and instead, the '123' button brings up a virtual numpad on the screen. There's a mic in the remote and built into the TV that you can use for voice control with Google Assistant, and you can ask it to change inputs, search for content, open apps, and adjust certain settings like the brightness. Note that the Sony A80CK version sold at Costco comes with a premium remote with backlighting.