Until now we haven't really had a truly massive 4K television in to test. Enter the 65-inch 4K Sony X9 which has been dominating our living room with its monolithic stance for a good while now.
And what a stance it is. Here is a television that looks quite unlike any other, makes one hell of a design statement and offers up some of the best picture quality available on a 4K TV. Read on to find out why.
Design
Out of the box, the Sony is a seriously massive unit. It reminds us of the 'no one ever buys them' 85-inch+ pieces of kit you see dotted around the halls at CES.
The difference here is that the X9 is actually affordable. It'll eat up space in your living room at 171.5 x 87.8 x 9.9 cm in size, but then what 65-inch TV wouldn't?
It adopts the same wedge design we have seen used in Sony's flagship 4K televisions last year. The difference this time round is that the television is balanced on a pair of metal feet, rather than a circular stand.
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It looks even better for it and combined with the new and improved set of speakers either side of the display, is perhaps the nicest-looking television in existence today.
We will say though that the inclusion of the speakers, however good, does seem slightly mad for a TV with a price tag of £3,499, as surely investors would have a much better surround sound system of their own.
Hardware
Brace yourselves as there is a lot to get through here. The 65-inch version of Sony's 2014 X9 unit features Triluminious display technology that delivers extremely vibrant yet balanced and accurate colour responses.
Then you have the obvious full 4K support, with HDMI 2.0 connectivity present in every single one of the set's four HDMI ports. Edge-lit backlighting adds to the image quality toolset.
In terms of connectivity, we've already mentioned HDMI, but you also get the benefit of composite video inputs, RF, Scart, Ethernet and three USB connections. Optical audio out and headphone inputs handle all sound-related demands.
Sony's top-of-the-line X-Reality PRO image processing engine is also present here as is X-tended Dynamic Range, both work in tandem to deliver an incredible picture, but more on that later.
800hz motionflow image processing squares off movement and for those who are bothered, you also have a built-in Skype-capable camera for video calling.
Bottom line is, the latest generation X9 has a vast feature set that makes it ideally suited to just about anything from watching movies to playing games.
Picture quality
One issue which really bugged us with the X9's image and is something we've noticed in other reviews, is that its edge-lit backlighting wasn't particularly uniform.
For us, the light bleed just detracted from the overall stellar image experience found across just about everything else the X9 does. It's a shame as it holds the set back from achieving true greatness.
The X9 is probably the best television available right now to watch 4K on. Stream something from Netflix's extremely limited repertoire and you will be treated to truly beautiful images with such a subtle depth of colour that we've never seen anything quite like it.
The problem lies in what happens when you throw anything else at the X9. DVD upscaling is bad and anything other than HD content really appears to upset the television.
For us, the most marked issue with the X9 was actually when we compared to a non 4K OLED set from LG we reviewed earlier in the year.
OLED bests Sony's LED technology in just about every way when it comes to image quality and with a serious lack of 4K content still an issue, we would take an OLED HD set over the X9 any day.
That's not to say the image quality isn't particularly bad, because it isn't, it's largely incredible. The problem is you need some proper source material to throw at the X9 for it to really get in its stride.
Stuck with day to day HD content, even Blu-ray and you get a touch of motion blurring. Black levels also can't even come close to what an OLED TV can manage.
So then, the X9's 4K picture quality is class leading, but also reinforces the argument that at the moment 4K is still an early adopter technology.
Software
Sony's user interface experience with the likes of PlayStation and a fairly uniform design setup across mobile, gaming and TV.
This is definitely a good thing, as the X9 sits alongside Samsung with having one of the best smart TV experiences out there. The inclusion of a dedicated Netflix button on the remote is a particular bonus.
It isn't however even close to what LG is doing with its webOS powered televisions. There is a lot to like here though, with the new 'discover and social view' being particular highlights.
Discover basically learns your TV viewing habits and recommends content alongside what you like to watch. Social view pops a scrolling Twitter topic newsfeed up over the bottom of the screen.
All the usual big guns are present when it comes to Smart TV, so that means iPlayer, Amazon Instant, YouTube and of course Netflix.
Setting the TV up and calibrating it was nice and easy thanks to simple menus. It also offers up an extremely in-depth number of potential calibration options, so you can tweak the image to exactly how you would want it.
Sound
Whatever qualms we had with the X9's picture, we really can't pick holes in the TV's sound quality.
It's so far beyond what any of the competition are doing, thanks to the space age magnetic fluid speakers. The three units sat either side of the display pump out a detailed and balanced sound that bests most soundbars and only really needs a kick from an additional subwoofer to be all you need.
The problem is that in order to go 'full 4K', we would argue a proper 5.1 system should be used alongside the X9, in which case perhaps saving some space in your living room with a smaller TV set might have been a better idea.
Verdict
So then, it's the usual case of '4K syndrome'. The Sony looks amazing when you give it the content to play with, but any upscaling and the TV just can't work its magic.
It isn't quite as forgiving as the other Samsung sets to upscaling either and the LED backlighting issues just aren't great. It's a shame as when the Sony is in its comfort zone, it's the best TV we've used.
Our money is still on an HD OLED set however, until 4K takes off proper.
