Sony PS5

Sony KD-65XH9005 (£1100) Sonos Arc (£800) Sony Playstation 5 (£450)

We kick off our trio of systems based on Award-winning kit with what is, on the face of it, a really simple set-up. A big-screen TV, a superb soundbar and a games console as a 4K Blu-ray player to go along with the streaming apps on the television.

It’s simple looking, as we say, but those appearances are, of course, deceptive. The Playstation 5 is the newest kid on the block, and a powerhouse of a games console that also handles 4K Blu-ray and any required extra streaming duties. It’s an extremely impressive piece of kit, and marries beautifully with our favourite soundbar of 2020 and Sony’s Awardwinning 65in television.

There is a more affordable PS5 Digital Edition (£360) that, according to Sony, is identical to the standard PS5 in terms of performance and specs but lacks an optical disc drive. In this system, however, that disc drive is fairly crucial to our requirements – so the more expensive model it is, then.

One of the big flaws we highlight in our review of the PS5 is that Dolby Atmos isn’t supported at a system level. 7.1-channel PCM is the highest-quality audio delivery that can be selected in the console’s menus, and that’s the best you’ll get out of any games or streaming apps. You can, however, enable Atmos for discs by accessing a menu within the Disc Player app.

The Disc Player app is also able to override the system’s frame rate and dynamic range settings. If you play a standard Blu-ray movie, for example, it will be output at 24fps and in SDR. Every streaming app, in contrast, outputs in line with the console’s main settings, so SDR films are upconverted to 60fps and HD.

Watching a 4K Blu-ray of Blade Runner 2049, we’re impressed by the depth, solidity and three-dimensionality of the PS5’S delivery. And, spinning up the bombing-run scene of Unbroken via Blu-ray, the PS5 does a good job with Dolby Atmos soundtracks when given the chance. It doesn’t quite have the crispness or dynamic punch of a dedicated player such as the Sony UBP-X700, but the console produces a muscular, room-filling sound with good clarity and well placed sound effects.

While it’s certainly true that a dedicated player such as the Sony will give you slightly better performance, both with picture and sound, the PS5 is still a capable player and has the benefit of being a superb games console to boot.

A (near) perfect partner

And it will link ideally to the 65-inch TV we propose for this system as well. The PS5’S stablemate KD-65XH9005 is one of the best performance-per-pound televisions you can buy. At around £1100 it also offers a huge amount of screen real estate for each pound you spend on it. Which is all good in our book.

The Sony KD-65XH9005 is the 65in panel size of one of two Sony TVS branded by the company as ‘Ready for Playstation 5’. The only problem is that when we reviewed the set it wasn’t ready for Playstation 5 – it required a promised firmware update.

Crucial updates

It has now had one update, and with it has added the all-important 4K@120HZ (often referred to as HFR), to the HDMI ports – but you should be aware that VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) have yet to be added; once again an update is promised, but there’s no date for it yet. Which is, of course, a real shame – but doesn’t alter the fact that this is a superb TV, with the potential to become even better in the (we hope) not too distant future.

Whatever the case with that, you won’t be left wanting for connectivity. There are four HDMIS and two USBS, plus optical and headphone outputs. Bluetooth 4.2 is built in, too.

The KD-65XH9005 is powered by the 4K HDR Processor X1 – Sony’s second-tier processor. This is still a full-array Led-backlit TV with local dimming, and it includes support for the HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision HDR, and Dolby Atmos for sound. It’s also Netflix Calibrated.

The base black levels on this TV are excellent for an LCD panel. From there, Sony offers huge scope to choose your preferred trade-off between shadow detail and black depth. Particularly impressive are the Contrast Enhancer, Local dimming, X-tended Dynamic Range and Black Adjust filters. These work by

real-time picture analysis, with the TV attempting to optimise the image according to the mixture of light and dark areas in each frame.

The Deadpool freeway fight scene is a tour de force of HDR handling, for example. This largely monochrome scene of mixed lighting is rendered with superb balance. The dark cars and black clothes of the henchman are full, deep and textured, but without loss of white detail in the bright cloudy sky, nor overexposure of the picture. The buildings in the distance have real dimension to them and that’s credit to both the overall levels of shading and the tight dimmingzone control.

When the moments of colour do arrive, this TV is more than ready. Sony’s Live Colour setting gives a saturation kick to the on-screen palette. It’s tempting to jack it up because the results are so stunning and mostly well judged. However, a pinkish tinge sets in the higher you go, so ultimately we settle on the Low setting.

This Sony set’s sound is perfectly serviceable for normal TV watching, but it lacks the weight and scale you would want for a full-on movie night. So we bring in Sonos’s excellent Arc to take care of sound duties. This is one of the few soundbars we have heard with Dolby Atmos capabilities that actually does that amazing technology something approaching justice. Clearly it won’t be as good as a full-on surround system (for which see the next few pages), but it gives a very good approximation of it from just one unit sitting in front of the TV.

Once it’s in place, most of what you can see of the Arc is a 273-degree grille that hides the array of front-mounted and up-firing speakers. Each end also features a grille-covered driver. The curvy design helps mask the Arc’s dimensions and makes it look svelte, but its height measurement of 8.5cm is not inconsiderable. In front of a 65-inch TV, though, it looks perfectly at home.

At the back of the Arc are the power socket, an ethernet connection for wired networking, and a single HDMI port. An optical adapter is included for those with older TVS, but the intention is that you use HDMI and use the ARC (Audio Return Channel) functionality to get the sound from your TV to the Arc. In fact, the Arc supports EARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel), so it can handle Dolby Atmos signals from TVS that can output it.

Designated drivers

The Dolby Atmos soundfield is generated by 11 Class D digital amplifiers powering 11 custom drivers. Eight of those drivers are elliptical woofers evolved from those in the Sonos Beam (four along the front, two on top and one in each end), while the other three are silk-domed tweeters that are all built in to the front, but with two firing diagonally into the room.

Sonos refers to the Arc’s arrangement as 5.0.2, which clearly doesn’t add up to 11 but makes more sense if you think of it as using its 11 drivers to attempt to replicate the soundfield of a five-channel surround sound system with no subwoofer and two height speakers.

The Arc uses its array of speakers to bounce sound off your walls and ceiling to create a 3D audio effect, and the soundfield is tailored to your room using Sonos’s Trueplay technology, accessed via an iphone.

All of that effort has paid off: the Sonos Arc delivers one of the most convincing Atmos presentations of any soundbar we’ve heard. Play the bombing-run scene from Unbroken and you’re immediately transported to within the fuselage of the B-24 Liberator. Our listening room is filled with wind noise and the whirr of the plane’s engines, and the incidental creaks and rattles are placed in specific spots, including right in the top corners of the wall we’re sitting against.

Dynamic performance

Those incidental details are lovely, but the Arc is dynamically deft too, and it’s this combination of qualities that makes the performance so evocative. Bigger dynamic shifts are also handled with aplomb, making this £800 unit an extremely impressive soundbar.

As far as big-screen bang for your buck goes, in as neat a package as we can think of, this system should do you proud for quite a few years to come.

THE PLAYSTATION 5 IS THE NEWEST KID ON THE BLOCK, AND A POWERHOUSE OF A GAMES CONSOLE THAT ALSO HANDLES 4K BLU-RAY AND ANY REQUIRED EXTRA STREAMING DUTIES. IT’S AN EXTREMELY IMPRESSIVE PIECE OF KIT