The Sony X950G is an impressive 4k TV with great picture quality. It can display deep blacks in a dark room thanks to the high native contrast ratio and full array local dimming support. It can get very bright and delivers great HDR performance full of bright, vivid highlights. It has excellent motion handling, due to a nearly-instantaneous response time that makes the image look crisp and leaves fast-moving objects with very little blur trail. The input lag is very low, which makes it an excellent choice for gamers that are looking for a very responsive TV. Unfortunately, just like most VA panels, it has narrow viewing angles and those seated on the side will not experience the same great picture quality.
We've tested the 55" model of the X950G, which doesn't incorporate the 'X-Wide Angle' technology; we expect the 75" and 85" to have better viewing angles at the expense of contrast ratio.
Our Verdict
The Sony X950G is a great TV for mixed usage. It's an all-around TV that delivers great performance with anything you throw at it. It has deep blacks that make movies look great, and fast response time so sports action looks crisp. You can enjoy it in any room regardless of brightness, as it can get very bright to fight glare, but it can also produce deep blacks in a dark room. Finally, it has a low input lag which makes it very responsive for gaming.
- Outstanding peak brightness.
- Amazing out-of-the-box color accuracy.
- Great motion handling.
- Poor viewing angles.
The Sony X950G is an impressive TV for watching movies. It can deliver deep blacks in a dark room thanks to the high native contrast ratio, great black uniformity, and local dimming support. Lower-resolution content is upscaled well with no visible artifacts, and the TV can remove judder from all 24p sources.
The Sony X950G is a great TV for watching TV shows. It can get very bright and can fight glare. At the same time, it has excellent reflection handling so you don't have to worry about the configuration of the lights in your room. The smart interface is great and will facilitate your navigation through the various TV options.
The Sony X950G is a very good TV for watching sports. Fast-moving scenes look great, with almost no blur trail, and there's very little dirty screen effect that can be distracting. However, it's not the best TV for watching a big game with a big group of people, as the viewing angles are rather poor, causing the image to look washed out. On the upside, this TV is well-suited for bright rooms due to its outstanding peak brightness and great reflection handling.
The Sony X950G is an excellent TV for playing video games. It has an exceptionally low input lag that makes gaming feel very responsive, and its fast response time keeps the picture looking clear, with minimal motion blur. Sadly, there's no support for FreeSync variable refresh rate and it doesn't have an 'Auto Low Latency Mode' either.
The X950G is an impressive TV for watching HDR movies. It delivers images with deep uniform blacks and rich colors. It can get very bright and can produce highlights that pop offering you a very good HDR movie experience, although it might not always reach the brightness levels intended by the content creator.
The X950G is an excellent TV for playing HDR games. Its high refresh rate, fast response time, and low input lag result in a smooth and responsive gaming experience, but there's no support for variable refresh rate technology. HDR games look amazing thanks to its wide color gamut and exceptional peak brightness, and the TV's high contrast ratio and impressive black uniformity make it a great TV for late-night gaming in the dark.
The X950G is an excellent TV for use as a monitor. It can display chroma 4:4:4 properly, which is important for text clarity, and there's no risk of permanent burn-in with static user interfaces. Its low input lag makes the desktop experience feel responsive, but viewing angles may be an issue if you want to do some co-op gaming or if you tend to sit fairly close to the screen.
Changelog
- Updated Jul 07, 2020: The operating system has been updated to Android 9.0.
- Updated Jun 25, 2020: We retested the input lag, and found that it's not affected by the game mode bug we found on the X800H.
- Updated May 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.5.
- Updated Feb 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.4.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
Update 05/25/2019: The XG90 has a 120Hz panel, not a 60Hz panel.
We tested the 55" Sony X950G (XBR55X950G), and for the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the 65" (XBR65X950G) as well. The 75'' (XBR75X950G) and the 85'' (XBR85X950G) models have Sony's new 'X-Wide Angle' technology, which improves viewing angles at the expense of lower contrast ratio. As we have not tested those models, we can not be sure how they perform in contrast and viewing angles, and our only insight comes from the results of the Sony Z9F, which incorporates this technology.
The European variant of the TV is also known as the XG9505, and we expect it to offer the same performance. There's also a 49" XG90 (XG9005 or KD-49XG9005) variant in Europe which we expect to have similar performance.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Sony X950G 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 | EU Model | 'X-Wide Angle' |
| 55" | XBR55X950G | KD-55XG9505 | No |
| 65" | XBR65X950G | KD-65XG9505 | No |
| 75" | XBR75X950G | KD-75XG9505 | Yes |
| 85" | XBR85X950G | KD-85XG9505 | Yes |
The 55" X950G we tested was manufactured in Jan. 2019.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Sony X950G is a great TV, with great picture quality and some welcomed improvements over the 2018 models. Compared to other TVs on the market, it has one of the best out-of-the-box color accuracy. For other options, see our recommendations for the best TVs, the best HDR gaming TVs, and the best smart TVs.
The Sony X95J is a bit better than the Sony X950G. The X95J has a much better local dimming feature and better viewing angles. It's also a bit better for gaming, as it supports HDMI 2.1 and has VRR support after a firmware update. The X950G, on the other hand, has better contrast and better black uniformity.
Overall, the Sony X950H is a little bit better than its predecessor, the Sony X950G. They have near-identical features and perform similarly when it comes to motion handling, but the X950H has a better color gamut, significantly better reflection handling, and its local dimming is also improved. That said, the X950G gets brighter and it's more color accurate out of the box. Black and gray uniformity are better on the X950H, although it could be due to manufacturing tolerances.
The Sony X900F and the Sony X950G both have very similar performance. The X950G has lower input lag, which is good if you play video games or use the TV as a PC monitor. The X950G is brighter than the X900F, but the X900F has marginally higher native contrast ratio, although neither of these differences are noticeable under normal conditions.
The Sony X950G and the Sony X850G use different panel types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, but overall, the X950G is much better than the X850G. The X950G looks much better in a dark room, but the image degrades when viewed at an angle compared to the X850G. The 85" X850G has a VA panel, and likely performs closer to the X950G, but still isn't as good.
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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