Sony KD-55A1
“You get everything you expect from an OLED, but the way the A1 defines edges and reveals textures is beyond our already-lo y expectations”
FOR Vibrant colours; insightful blacks; classy design; sound
AGAINST Interface could be slicker; SD better on LG OLED
We first tested this fabulous Sony OLED TV in May, and made the point that it would without a doubt cause LG – until very recently the unrivalled king of the OLED market – some serious headaches. And here, almost before we know it, is the KD-55A1’S chance to prove it – and show that a great OLED TV is more than just a panel, for the panel of this Sony set is, of course, made by LG.
Visual impact
Making a TV that looks unique is a tricky thing, but Sony has a long history of doing just that, and the A1 stands out with an easel-like design that leaves the screen leaning back at a slight angle. The display portion of the chassis is just 78mm thick, with the chunkier stand portion housing all the connections and a subwoofer.
The rest of the clever speaker system comprises four drivers that vibrate the glass panel to create a sound. To all intents and purposes, this is an invisible speaker system – and that means the bezel can be super-thin all the way around, to show off what is a beautiful piece of design.
That design, though, does mean you’ll want a wide piece of furniture for the A1 to stand on. The ends of the 122cm-wide display will hang over the edges of a typical shelf or stand without issue, but that can look a little peculiar. You won’t want to stand it on something too high, either, as the angle of the screen makes it look odd. There are standard VESA mounting points on the back though, so wall-mounting is still an option.
It’s fair to say that the user-interface hasn’t been lavished with as much attention as the physical design. The A1 is powered by Android Marshmallow 6.0, which is perfectly useable and has just about every on-demand app you could desire (Now TV being the only significant omission), but it isn’t as slick or welcoming as Samsung or LG’S current interfaces.
Nice touch
The Discover feature is nice. Tap the dedicated button on the remote and a row of cards appears, each one representing a piece of content that you can access instantly.
It’s a quick way to get directly to what you want to watch (immediately pick up where you stopped watching
Better Call Saul without having to first open Netflix and search for it there). The new Samsung TVS have a similar feature, however, that supports more apps, including Amazon.
Sony has let LG and Samsung overtake it in terms of remote control, too. Compared with Samsung’s superstreamlined silver zapper and LG’S pointer-like wand with user-definable shortcuts, the A1’s remote is basic and rather cluttered.
If the Sony’s user interface is something of a mixed bag, the picture performance is a resounding success. And you don’t have to tweak too many settings to get the screen looking its best.
The colours are a bit overdone by default, but this is easily remedied by dropping the colour setting down a few notches and switching Live Colour from Medium to Low. We’d also recommend turning off the Light Sensor (automatic brightness adjuster).
We leave a few other processing options on, such as the Advanced Contrast Enhancer, X-tended Dynamic Range and Motionflow. We start with some HDR content from Netflix (as you do) and, while there’s no Dolby Vision support just yet, it’s hard to imagine it being much better when it’s added via a firmware update later this year. You get everything you expect from an OLED in terms of deep blacks combined with punchy, perfectly uniform whites, but the way the A1 defines edges and reveals textures is beyond our already-lofty expectations for this TV tech.
Stunning yet realistic
It makes everything look that little more solid and three-dimensional, with images popping from the screen. It’s stunningly dynamic but, with our tweaked colour settings, also superbly realistic, steering clear of over-saturation but lending a lovely lusciousness to vegetation and the right amount of warmth to skin tones.
Motionflow plays its part here, too. On an LG you have to choose between the slight soap opera look when you add a little bit of Trumotion or a slight blurring when you turn it o. The A1’s Motionow gets the balance just about spot on, removing blur without adding weirdness.
Switch to 1080p Full HD Blu-ray and the A1 is, if anything, even more impressive. Of course, there’s an expected drop in resolution, but the Sony’s dynamism goes beyond what other TVS offer with the same content.
Winning combination
Again, it’s the combination of punchy colours and deep blacks, and the way that’s used to better define characters and objects that makes the A1’s picture so enticing. We watch Fantastic Beasts
And Where To Find Them and, as Newt and Tina walk through the streets of New York, the cobbles are more clearly defined and more obviously slick from recent rain, with patches of sunlight reflecting effectively.
Even watching standard definition, you’re likely to be pleasantly surprised by the quality of the picture. Our tweaked colour options ensure there’s a good balance of realism and dynamism, and detail levels are high.
The Game Mode is irritatingly buried in the menus (unlike the awful Live Football Mode), but the TV should default to it after you’ve selected it once. Once you’re playing, input lag with a 4K source is around 30ms, which is good, and the picture quality with games is absolutely stunning.
Aural innovation
The A1 has an unusual approach to sound, with the screen itself being vibrated to become the speaker. And it works really rather well. Compared with the sound from most TVS, this is a more direct and weighty delivery with a good amount of punch. The sound is projected a long way into the room, and there’s even a bit of stereo separation, although a good soundbar will still offer a significantly better performance.
Sony’s first ‘proper’ OLED is absolutely brilliant. A stunning design featuring a unique sound solution and picture processing tech and software that’s so good it beats our already lofty expectations of OLED.