Our Verdict
The Sony XBR-55A9F is an excellent TV that can handle just about anything. It is an outstanding TV for watching movies or gaming in a dark room. It has excellent motion handling and low input lag, great for fast paced content or gaming. Like all OLED TVs, there is a risk of temporary image retention and even permanent burn-in, although we don't expect this to be an issue for most people.
- Excellent dark room performance
- Near-instantaneous response time
- Image remains accurate when viewed at an angle
- Could experience permanent burn-in (see here)
- Brightness is limited in white scenes.
The A9F is outstanding for watching movies in a dark room. The OLED panel delivers a perfect dark room viewing experience, and the image looks great, even if you are viewing from the side. It has a near instantaneous response time, which may bother some people as 24p content stutters. It is also free from 24p judder.
The A9F is a great choice for watching TV shows during the day. The wide viewing angles make it a perfect choice for someone that likes to move about with the TV on. It has excellent reflection handling, but might not be quite bright enough to overcome glare if you have a lot of windows. If you're a fan of the soap opera effect, the 120 Hz motion interpolation is a great option.
The Sony A9F is great for sports fans. It has excellent gray uniformity with very little dirty screen effect. Fast moving objects appear clear, with very little motion blur thanks to the near-instantaneous response time. It has wide viewing angles and good peak brightness, good for watching the big game with a large group of friends.
Excellent TV for playing video games. It has excellent low input lag and supports all common resolutions. Fast moving objects are crisp and clear, and it has an optional black frame insertion feature to further improve motion. It has excellent dark room performance, great for late night gaming. Unfortunately, the A9F does not support any variable refresh rate technologies, like FreeSync, and there is a risk of permanent burn-in.
The Sony A9F delivers a truly remarkable HDR movie experience. The infinite blacks deliver a perfect dark room experience, and the wide color gamut and very good color volume deliver outstanding picture quality. Unfortunately, it has only decent brightness in HDR, so some really bright scenes clip, and pure white scenes aren't very bright.
The A9F is an excellent TV for playing games in HDR. The OLED panel is perfect for playing in a dark room, as it delivers true blacks and perfect black uniformity. It has excellent low input lag and a near-instantaneous response time. It has decent brightness in HDR, but large white scenes aren't very bright. There is also a risk of temporary image retention and permanent burn-in.
The XBR55A9F is a very good TV for use as a PC monitor. The wide viewing angles ensure an accurate image, even when sitting up close. It supports all common resolutions, and chroma 4:4:4 is displayed perfectly. Unfortunately, there is a risk of permanent burn-in when displaying static content, like menu bars, for long periods of time.
Changelog
- Updated May 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.5.
- Updated Feb 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.4.
- Updated Feb 28, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
- Updated Oct 03, 2018: Retested the brightness after firmware PKG6.0348.0059NAA. All measurements are essentially unchanged, and the TV still aggressively dims when the screen isn't moving. You can read more here.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 55" Sony MASTER Series A9F (XBR55A9F), and for the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the 65" model (XBR65A9F) as well.
The European variant of the TV is also known as the AF9, and we expect it to offer the same performance.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Sony A9F doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review. Note that some tests such as the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
| Size | US Model | Alternative Name | EU Model |
| 55" | XBR55A9F | XBR-55A9F | KD-55AF9 |
| 65" | XBR65A9F | XBR-65A9F | KD-65AF9 |
The A9F we reviewed was manufactured in Aug. 2018
Popular TV Comparisons
The Sony A9F is an excellent OLED TV, but it faces steep competition from LG and Samsung in the top-end TV market. See our recommendations for the best televisions.
The Sony A9F OLED is slightly better than the Sony A1E OLED. The A9F has slightly better picture quality, thanks to higher peak brightness and better color volume. The A9F has much better input lag with a 1080p source, and all four HDMI ports support the full bandwidth of HDMI 2.0. The A9F also has a faster smart interface thanks to a newer version of Android TV OS and a newer chipset.
The Sony A9F OLED and the Sony A9G OLED have very similar performance. They have a very different design and different remote control. It's hard to notice any differences in performance when watching normal content.
The Sony A9F OLED is slightly better than the Sony A8F OLED. Both TVs have excellent dark room performance thanks to the OLED panel, which can produce perfectly deep blacks. The A9F has better color volume and displays gradients better. The A9F also has lower input lag, native support for 1080p @ 120Hz, great for Xbox One S/X owners, and all four ports on the A9F support HDMI 2.0 full bandwidth. The A9F also has faster smart features, thanks to a newer version of Android TV OS, and a newer chipset.
The Sony A9F OLED is better for dark or wide rooms than the Samsung Q9FN/Q9/Q9F QLED 2018, unless the possibility of temporary image retention or permanent burn-in is a concern. The Samsung Q9FN is much brighter, which helps it to overcome glare, but it has worse uniformity and bad viewing angles. The Q9FN has lower input lag and supports FreeSync VRR, great for gaming. The A9F has better dark room performance, thanks to the OLED panel that delivers true blacks and perfect black uniformity.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
Older Test Bench: This product has been tested using an older TV test methodology, before a major update. Some of the test results below aren't directly comparable with other TVs. Learn more
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