Black Friday has kicked off early this year with some cracking TV deals in the mix, and this Sony is one of the highlights.
While it doesn't feature the latest QD-OLED tech seen on the flagship models, the LCD X90L is still a five-star set, and this deal makes it all the more enticing. At £1199, the Sony BRAVIA XR55X90LU is currently £400 off the price we originally reviewed it at.
Even at the full price of £1599, we can safely recommend the Sony thanks to its balanced, bright and impactful image, as well as its impressive backlight control. Now at this Black Friday sale price, it's an even better buy.
While it's easy to get whipped up in the excitement of OLED and Mini LED, it is still worth paying attention to traditional LCD sets, as they have lots to offer. Case in point is the Sony XR-55X90L (or X90L informally) which is a fairly traditional TV as far as screen specification goes, but one that excels in the picture department.
Before we go in-depth with its performance, it's worth looking at the X90L's feature set. The LCD panel features a full array LED backlight, which under most circumstances would raise some concerns regarding black depths – as is the nature of LED backlights. Thankfully, Sony boosted the number of local dimming zones in this year's model, meaning its backlight control is rather impressive, as noted in our review.
This TV also features a 4K resolution, HDR compatibility (in the HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG formats) and a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. This is good news for gamers on the latest generation consoles, although it's worth noting that only two of the four HDMI ports are the 2.1 standard for 4K/120Hz gaming. Annoyingly, one of those HDMI 2.1 connections is dedicated to eARC, meaning if you have a soundbar or AVR plugged into this TV, there will be only one connection left for a PS5 or Xbox Series X; not ideal if you have both.
Gripes with connectivity aside, the Sony truly shines when it comes to picture performance, as many of the key characteristics found on more expensive models are present here. While black depths aren't as good as the Mini LED, OLED and QD-OLED models, the Sony makes up for it with bright, punchy highlights as well as an even and consistent approach to shifting from high to low brightness scenes.
Colours are notably natural and overall the picture is detailed and sharp, and there's a tangible sense of three-dimensional depth, as with Sony's more expensive sets.
It even sounds good by TV standards. Sony has implemented some clever audio processing to somewhat replicate the actuator-based sound systems on its compatible OLED sets which vibrate the screen to produce sound. On this LCD set, we find that vocals lose some direction and lack some fullness, but it does play to its strengths in other scenarios. For example, it's not as weighty as its peers, but it also doesn't tend to overextend and distort in the low ends. Still, it is surprisingly punchy and impactful, earning a solid commendation from us, especially at the price point.
To conclude, this is a thoroughly impressive TV and, at £400 off the asking price, it's a great deal too. Just make sure you sign up for the Richer Sounds VIP Club membership to get the full discount. Still not sure, there are plenty more Black Friday TV deals around if you're after something different.
MORE:
Check out the best Black Friday deals
Read our full Sony XR-55X90L review
And check out our picks for the best TV
