TechTvsSony KD-X85L review: beautifully judged and competitively pricedSony’s LED-backlit X85L TV shows the established technology can deliver in abundance and at a fair price pointWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictSony’s X85 range has never been less than impressive - but the tech upgrades that are part of this latest line-up make it better than ever. The X85L is a beautifully judged television for the money. It doesn’t have the in-yer-face brightness or colour lividity of some of the rivals that may seem more impressive in the immediate ‘first look in the showroom’ way - but its talents are such that it’s a better bet than any of them in the mid-to-long term.Reasons to buy+Good contrasts and great backlighting control+Punchy-yet-naturalistic colour palette+Great control of motionReasons to avoid-Short of real-world brightness-No HDR10+ support-Unengaging soundWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
TechTvsSony KD-X85L review: beautifully judged and competitively pricedSony’s LED-backlit X85L TV shows the established technology can deliver in abundance and at a fair price pointWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictSony’s X85 range has never been less than impressive - but the tech upgrades that are part of this latest line-up make it better than ever. The X85L is a beautifully judged television for the money. It doesn’t have the in-yer-face brightness or colour lividity of some of the rivals that may seem more impressive in the immediate ‘first look in the showroom’ way - but its talents are such that it’s a better bet than any of them in the mid-to-long term.Reasons to buy+Good contrasts and great backlighting control+Punchy-yet-naturalistic colour palette+Great control of motionReasons to avoid-Short of real-world brightness-No HDR10+ support-Unengaging soundWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Sony’s LED-backlit X85L TV shows the established technology can deliver in abundance and at a fair price point
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictSony’s X85 range has never been less than impressive - but the tech upgrades that are part of this latest line-up make it better than ever. The X85L is a beautifully judged television for the money. It doesn’t have the in-yer-face brightness or colour lividity of some of the rivals that may seem more impressive in the immediate ‘first look in the showroom’ way - but its talents are such that it’s a better bet than any of them in the mid-to-long term.Reasons to buy+Good contrasts and great backlighting control+Punchy-yet-naturalistic colour palette+Great control of motionReasons to avoid-Short of real-world brightness-No HDR10+ support-Unengaging sound
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
T3 VerdictSony’s X85 range has never been less than impressive - but the tech upgrades that are part of this latest line-up make it better than ever. The X85L is a beautifully judged television for the money. It doesn’t have the in-yer-face brightness or colour lividity of some of the rivals that may seem more impressive in the immediate ‘first look in the showroom’ way - but its talents are such that it’s a better bet than any of them in the mid-to-long term.Reasons to buy+Good contrasts and great backlighting control+Punchy-yet-naturalistic colour palette+Great control of motionReasons to avoid-Short of real-world brightness-No HDR10+ support-Unengaging sound
T3 VerdictSony’s X85 range has never been less than impressive - but the tech upgrades that are part of this latest line-up make it better than ever. The X85L is a beautifully judged television for the money. It doesn’t have the in-yer-face brightness or colour lividity of some of the rivals that may seem more impressive in the immediate ‘first look in the showroom’ way - but its talents are such that it’s a better bet than any of them in the mid-to-long term.
T3 Verdict
Sony’s X85 range has never been less than impressive - but the tech upgrades that are part of this latest line-up make it better than ever. The X85L is a beautifully judged television for the money. It doesn’t have the in-yer-face brightness or colour lividity of some of the rivals that may seem more impressive in the immediate ‘first look in the showroom’ way - but its talents are such that it’s a better bet than any of them in the mid-to-long term.
Reasons to buy+Good contrasts and great backlighting control+Punchy-yet-naturalistic colour palette+Great control of motionReasons to avoid-Short of real-world brightness-No HDR10+ support-Unengaging sound
Reasons to buy+Good contrasts and great backlighting control+Punchy-yet-naturalistic colour palette+Great control of motion
Good contrasts and great backlighting control
Punchy-yet-naturalistic colour palette
Great control of motion
Reasons to avoid-Short of real-world brightness-No HDR10+ support-Unengaging sound
Short of real-world brightness
No HDR10+ support
Unengaging sound
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
There’s a lot to be said for older technology when it’s been polished and refined, because you tend to get the best of both worlds: tech operating at peak efficiency and the sort of affordability that only comes with longevity. So just because LED-backlit LCD technology in TVs has been around for what feels like decades, that’s no reason to dismiss it. Quite the opposite, in fact, as this Sony X85L review proves.
Sony’s X85 range of LED-backlit LCD televisions has long represented one of the sweeter spots in the company’s extensive TV line-up. And for this ‘L’ series, Sony has given the venerable technology a right old fettling to make it a contender forthe best TVs money can buy, certainly one ofthe best Sony TVs. So are these changes for the better and is the X85L a winner?
Sony X85L: Price & Release Date
The Sony X85L is on sale now, in 55-inch (as reviewed), 65-inch and 75-inch formats. For the remainder of this review I’m talking about the KD-55X85L model, which in the United Kingdom will set you back pennies short of £1,000. In Australia it’s AU$1695 or thereabouts. Meanwhile, Sony has been umming and ahhing about whether or not to offer this range in the United States - so at the time of writing there’s no further information.
Sony X85L review: Features & What’s New?
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The ‘L’ incarnation of the X85 gets a very significant new feature: local dimming. The full-array LED backlights behind its VA LCD panel are divided into what’s confidently estimated to be 24 individual dimming zones. No, that’s nothing like as many discrete zones as some alternative designs can offer - but if I’ve learned anything from these years of reviewing televisions, it’s that raw numbers don’t always tell the whole story.
Sony X85L review: Performance
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
There are limits, of course, but one of the things that’s so admirable about the way the Sony KD-55X85L performs is just how agnostic it is. Doesn’t matter if you’re watching a 4K UHD movie via a Blu-ray player, streaming some content from one of the world’s more popular streaming services, getting your games console kicks, or asking the TV to upscale a bit of bog-standard off-air broadcast content, the Sony doesn’t complain and doesn’t have obvious favourites.
This is far from the brightest TV you’ll have ever seen, but its ability to let bright whites and deep blacks coexist without problems is impressive - and it gets quite a lot closer to ‘true’ black than a lot of LCD TVs I could mention.
The rest of the colour palette gives a good account of itself, too. The X85L strikes a really nice balance between punchy and natural, and seems capable of teasing out even the finest variations in tone and temperature. This is particularly apparent with skin tones - the Sony has any number of convincing observations to make in this department.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Edge-definition is good, even when the screen is asked to describe fine patterns or tricky textures. Depth of field in those scenes that require it is impressive too. And the X85L is, on a pound-for-pound basis, one of the most accomplished TVs I’ve seen recently where motion control is concerned. It keeps on-screen motion under complete control, and as a result its images are as natural as can be.
And to an extent, the X85L is a decent upscaler of lower-resolution content too. Certainly contemporary TV broadcasts are handled confidently: detail levels fall away just a little, and edges are drawn with a little less positivity, but contrasts and motion in particular remain admirable. It’s not until you get all the way down to some properly antiquated content that the Sony’s pictures soften up and lose definition - and it’s far from the only TV that suffers in this way.
Sony X85L review: Design & Usability
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The television is supplied with a couple of remote control handsets - both are quite small. One feels quite nasty in the hand, has too many buttons, and covers every eventuality. The other feels quite a lot nicer and has a button-count that’s restricted to the essentials.
Both remotes have a ‘mic’ button - this is a Google TV device, and so Google Assistant voice control is available. Google TV itself is a good, if rather pushy and shouty, smart TV interface - and Sony has enlisted YouView in order to provide access to all the UK’s catch-up TV services. Which will only serve to further annoy owners of Philips’ Google TV-equipped models, which all go without.
Setup is pretty straightforward. Not for the first time, Sony has struck a very pleasant balance between in-depth and friendly where user menus are concerned - so the inveterate tweakers among us are catered for, but those for whom life is too short can get a very satisfactory balanced worked out in next-to-no time.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
As far as ‘design’ is concerned, not much has happened here compared to itsX85J predecessorand the X85L looks all the better for it. Its black bezels are very slim, the branding is discreet to the point of invisibility, and the ‘blade’ feet on which the chassis stands can be fixed in a couple of different positions (which means the width of the surface it’s standing on becomes less critical than it otherwise would be).
If you’d rather wall-mount your new TV, the ‘D’ bit of 1228 x 709 x 56mm (HxWxD) means it’s a slimmer and better-looking proposition than your usual backlit LCD screen.
Build quality is typical Sony, which means it’s basically impeccable. The chassis is almost entirely plastic, but it all feels very fit for purpose and properly put together.
Sony X85L review: Verdict
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The Sony X85L is a beautifully judged television for the money. Its doesn’t have the in-yer-face brightness or colour lividity of some of the rivals that may seem more impressive in the immediate ‘first look in the showroom’ way - but its talents are such that it’s a better bet than any of them in the mid-to-long term.
Also consider
It hasn’t been all that long since I reviewedPanasonic’s TX-55MX950Mini-LED telly - but it’s been long enough for the price to come down to something very close to that of the Sony. The Panasonic is different to, rather than overtlybetterorworsethan, the Sony - certainly it’s brighter, and the fact that it supports every HDR standard is not to be sniffed at either. It’s not tremendous when viewed off-axis, though, and doesn’t control its backlighting quite as well either.
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