While we saw plenty of great TVs at CES, Sony’s A8F Bravia OLED impressed us enough that it made our list of the best TVs we saw at the show — a list that also included an 85-inch monster from Sony and LG’s roll-up OLED. Now the company has finally let loose with the details we’ve all been waiting for: Just how much you’ll need to spend to get your hands on one.
The A8F Bravia OLED series comes in two sizes: 65 and 55 inches. For the 65-inch model, the retail price is $3,800, while the 55-inch model is priced at $2,800. Those prices are a little higher than what we’ve seen in similar classes and sizes from LG’s OLED and Samsung’s QLED series this year, but it could be worth it. There’s more to a TV than its screen, and Sony’s processing has made its TVs some of the best you can buy for several years running.
In the case of the A8F Bravia OLED series, Sony’s X1 Extreme processor is in charge of controlling the more than 8 million pixels that make up the display, and the company says this pushes the already impressive OLED panel even further. The ability for OLED pixels to shut completely off means that combined with the increased brightness provided by high dynamic range (HDR), the display’s contrast should be incredible. The TV also features Dolby Vision, an HDR technology that allows for adjusting brightness on a scene-by-scene or even frame-by-frame basis.
One unique touch about the A8F Bravia OLED TV is its Acoustic Surface technology. Instead of using standard speakers, small transducers vibrate the actual screen, turning it into a speaker itself, with a subwoofer mounted behind the TV for low frequencies. This worked surprisingly well on last year’s A1E, and Sony says it has been hard at work making it sound even better for this year’s model.
As with the X900F and X850F models, which were priced last month, Sony has yet to set a firm release date for the A8F Bravia OLED. That said, if you’re eager to get one into your home as soon as humanly possible, they are available for pre-order starting today via both Best Buy and Amazon.