Sony A80L (2023) Series

Beautifully refined picture quality ; Strong, immersive sound quality ; Elegantly minimalist design

Only two full HDMI 2.1 ports ; Limited brightness ; No HDR10+ support

The Sony A80L might not benefit from next-gen OLED technologies and brightness, but its stellar appreciation for the finer things in AV life means it’s still hard to resist – especially if your budget can’t stretch to its ‘showier’ rivals. You just...

Lustrous, naturalistic and convincing 4K images ; Very capable upscaling ; Focused, direct sound

Not short of competition ; ‘Only’ two HDMI 2.1 sockets

It’s a measure of just how balanced and convincing the Sony A80L’s picture quality is that it can score the full five stars despite only having a pair of HDMI 2.1 inputs, and having an audio system that sounds better in theory than in practice. You’re...

Beautifully sharp, detailed and dynamic… ; …yet also subtle and authentic ; Impressively atmospheric sound

Sound could be bassier ; Slight lack of shadow detail in SDR

With its deeply impressive ability to combine the spectacular and the subtle, the A80L can more than hold its own against rivals with fancier panel technology

Excellent across-the-board picture quality ; Good gaming support ; Fine ergonomics and smart interface

Just two HDMI 2.1 sockets ; Not the most wall-hangable design ; Thin and pointy sound

Sometimes ‘the current thing done really well’ is just as good as ‘the brand-new thing’. This is one of those times

Picture quality ; Sound experience ; Design

No HDR10+ support

The A80L shows both that Sony deserves to hang with the cool kids and that its position in the pack is precarious. Want a terrific, well-rounded TV at a solid price? Right now, in mid 2023, the A80L is a solid choice. Whether that will be true next...

Natural, vibrant colors and black levels ; Excellent clarity and upscaling ; Fantastic contrast ; Intuitive Google TV interface ; Solid sound and gaming features

Lacks next-gen brightness ; Only two HDMI 2.1 ports

Sony’s A80L may not be for everyone. Serious gamers may find the TV’s relative shortage of HDMI 2.1 ports limits versatility and those looking for showier HDR highlights and better SDR brightness may want to look elsewhere. But despite those...

Decent calibrated SDR performance and accuracy ; Very good HDR10 and Dolby Vision performance ; Cognitive Processor XR image quality ; Excellent video upscaling and processing ; Very good motion with film and 50Hz TV show content ; Auto Calibration...

Custom Mode is not accurate out of the box (No Filmmaker Mode) ; Lacks brightness in HDR compared to rivals ; Cyan tint to images in Custom Mode ; Only two HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps) inputs