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Dolby Atmos Sound: surround sound fills the room for immersive audio realism. Combined with Dolby Vision, it produces a richly cinematic experience. Because the effect of the settings varies depending how the TV is set up, choose settings that fit your circumstances and preferences. While the A80J’s system is referred to as Acoustic Surface Audio+, just like the A90J’s, it actually has just half as much power (a total of 30W rather than 60W), and that is made clear in the presentation. Not that the A80J isn’t capable of going loud, because it is, but it doesn’t have quite as much depth or weight to its delivery, either in obviously bassy moments, such as the opening of chapter two of Blade Runner 2049, or simply in deeper voices, such as that of Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista). The A80J doesn’t offer quite as much width in its sonic delivery as the A90J either, although there’s not a lot in it. Now, if Sony played the Samsung game, of not putting Dolby Vision in their sets, I wouldn't buy it.
Advanced screen-speaker technology with Cognitive Processor XR turns any sound source into an immersive sound experience. Hear sound more clearly and accurately, whatever you're watching. Enjoy entertainment in a whole new way with sound and picture in perfect harmony. Was it "Standard", "Cinema", "Dolby Audio" or some other sound mode and was it used with defaults or were the settings customised? I’m not sure about the quality of its recommendations, though. You can like or dislike titles to give Google TV a better idea of what you’re interested in, but it served me titles I didn’t look all that interested in or films I’ve already watched. These measurements are after calibration, using the ‘Custom’ Picture Mode, with the ‘Expert 1’ Color Temperature, Peak Luminance set to ‘High’, and Brightness at its max.Moving on to the XR-55A80J’s 4K HDR performance, and it’s very good, though compared to the latest OLEDs there’s an unsurprising performance deficit.
Comparing the two (even though they’re different sizes) would indicate that the Sony A80J puts more of an emphasis on HDR highlights (smaller, brighter objects) while the C1 is a smidgen brighter when dealing with bigger bright objects. However, brightness is only just one element to consider where picture performance is concerned. The A80J is just as adept at handling color. In The Rise of Skywalker, the festival on Pasaana looked rich and varied, with the rainbow of hues of its celebrants’ robes surging (but not too much) against the bland sand and brown mountains of that desert world. The mid-20th-century, palette-busting fantasia of the new Disney-Pixar film Luca really popped, in the aquamarine tidal waters and the lush above-waves Italian Riviera landscapes alike. HDMI™ signal :4096x2160p(24,50,60Hz), 3840x2160p(24,25,30,50,60,100,120Hz) 3 , 1080p(30,50,60,100,120Hz), 1080/24p, 1080i(50,60Hz), 720p(30,50,60Hz), 720/24p, 576p, 480p Yeah, not good really but I would still buy the Sony over any other TV and just use an Apple TV with it, till it was sorted.These measurements are in the 'Custom' Picture Mode, with Brightness set to max, Contrast at '90', Color Temperature set to 'Expert 1', Peak Luminance on 'High', and HDR Tone Mapping set to 'Gradation Preferred'. We use two Leo Bodnar Video Signal Lag Testers (an older 1080p version and a new one optimized for 4K) to measure the delay between a video signal passing from the input and displaying on the screen. In the A80J’s Game Mode, the results were 16.5 ms and 15.8 ms respectively—both on the high side for a TV such as this, but well below our 20 ms threshold for solid gaming performance. But detail levels, sharpness and clarity are all very strong, the intricate patterns on Doctor Strange’s cloak are impressively defined and detailed; the production design of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is brought to life with excellent clarity and high levels of insight in the IMAX presentation of the film on Disney+. In case it helps anyone, here is how I have improved it, at least for my ears. I used the equaliser in the classic smiley settings (as described here) which helped. Maximising the surround effect seems to work well and I also turned off Dolby compression. That isn’t the case: the A80J offers most of what makes the A90J great at a far more accessible price. It might not be quite as bright and punchy as its flagship sibling, or as sonically weighty, but in many other ways it’s just as capable. That makes it a remarkably crisp, detailed and dynamic performer for the money, with a superior sound system to its price rivals.
Connectivity is good, with four HDMI inputs, three of which face downwards and one of which faces sideways. One of the downward-facing inputs also supports eARC (enhanced audio return channel), and all the HDMI inputs support 4K/60Hz, HDCP 2.3, and high dynamic range in the shape of HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision (but not HDR10+). Like all the TVs in Sony’s 2021 lineup, the A80J is equipped with the Cognitive Processor XR. Sony claims that this chip “understands how humans see and hear” and is “designed to replicate the way our brains think and respond” by simultaneously cross-analyzing the many different elements of the video and soundscape to figure out how to process them (in real time) to the highest level of quality, providing “a whole new experience that immerses you completely in the scene.” We tested the 55-inch Sony A80J(XR55A80J), which is also available in 65-inch(XR65A80J) and 77-inch (XR77A80J)sizes. These results are also valid for those models, but the 77-inch model has a slightly different screen coating. The A80J is also sold as the A80CJ at Costco, but only the 65 and 77-inch models. Size It’s not just about picture quality. The BRAVIA XR range also fixes one of the biggest issues we find with most TVs: terrible user interfaces. They do this by utilizing the new Google TV platform, the next evolution of Android TV. The interface removes the need for you to constantly jump between apps when scrolling for content by offering a single overview of your recommendations from all your streaming services. Of course, you can’t live on a televisual diet of 4K HDR alone, so it’s good news that the A80J also makes the most of lower-resolution, SDR signals. What’s particularly noticeable is how punchy it is with this content – whether you’re watching Scott Pilgrim on 1080p Blu-ray, Big Mouth on Netflix or The Andrew Marr Show from the tuner in standard-def, the image pops in a way that most rivals can’t match, albeit not quite as much as the A90J. With all of these signals, the performance is as clean, controlled and detailed as can reasonably be expected, proving that the A80J is a very accomplished upscaler.
What to do when there are lines in the screen, the screen is blurred, double images occur, or odd colors occur. So far, the A80J has hit the right notes, but it’s within the features section where it becomes clearer what audience this TV is for and who it isn’t. The big question is, of course, how much of the A90J’s awesome picture performance does the A80J offer? The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is 'most of it'. Acoustic Surface Audio+: sound comes directly from the centre of the screen with actuators behind the TV vibrating to create acoustics that move with the picture. As far as audio, XR Sound Position works with Acoustic Surface Audio+ (see the Audio section below) to create the illusion the sound is coming from the point on the screen where it occurs in your content. XR Surround purportedly “creates surround sound from the sides and vertically,” even if all you have are the TV’s integrated speakers. And Voice Zoom 2 detects and enhances dialogue so you can hear it better, regardless of what else is happening on screen.
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