Sony Bravia 5 65in K65XR55

There can be no clearer sign of just how talented Sony’s current TV range is than the Bravia 5 being, well, the Bravia 5. As opposed to the Bravia 7, 8 or 9. Despite its ‘mid’ model number, there’s really nothing ‘mid’ about its features or performance in the context of the wider TV world. In fact, with its price tag of £1699, this 65in Bravia 5 is arguably the best-value TV in Sony’s entire 2025 range.

Picture quality

The Bravia 5 is illuminated by one of Sony’s latest ‘XR Backlight Master Drive MiniLED’ panel designs, with new power efficiencies and advanced backlight controls.  

Sony never discloses how many dimming zones its TVs use, but my own attempt to count them in the 65in Bravia 5 comes up with 240. That’s a decent, rather than spectacular, number by today’s standards - but I should stress that counting the zones is made very difficult by the extremely unusual ‘joined up’ nature of the Bravia 5 dimming system. It basically appears to be controlling and subtly adjusting multiple zones at once when reproducing a little white ball moving around the screen’s outer edges, rather than each zone lighting in isolation to track the ball (as happens with most local dimming systems).

This result of this joined-up dimming approach with real world content is remarkably little interference from backlight blooming or haloing problems. There’s pretty much never a trace of obvious circles or squares of light leakage around stand-out bright objects, and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times over the course of dozens of hours of viewing I’ve  become aware of the local dimming system making distracting adjustments within a shot. I’ve seen many LCD TVs with far more dimming zones than the 65 Bravia 5 do nowhere near as good a job of suppressing backlight inconsistencies. 

The occasional complex shot containing a mix of very dark areas and very bright highlights can look a touch cloudier than it would on a Bravia 7 and Bravia 9, though. And Sony hasn’t been able to completely isolate the LEDs in black bars above and below ultra wide aspect ratio films, so you can sometimes spot some very faint leakage into those bars if a very bright HDR object appears right up against them. But while these Bravia 5 backlight limitations potentially give you a reason to step up to a Bravia 7 or 9 if money’s no object, they’re actually tiny issues by general mid-range TV standards and hardly ever distract you from being fully engaged in the latest Hollywood blockbuster. 

Making the 65 Bravia 5’s unusually intelligent backlight zone control all the more impressive is the fact it’s also really bright for a mid-range TV. It comfortably hits brightness peaks of just under 1000 nits, ensuring you get a properly punchy HDR experience that doesn’t feel compromised at all by the backlight system’s desire to also deliver deep black levels. 

The 65 Bravia 5’s backlight controls are intelligent enough to ensure that black levels are compelling and natural, but not at the expense of shadow detail. There’s nothing hollow or flat about even the darkest corners of the Bravia 5. Also, with the exception of the occasional, very slight, ‘lights switched off/lights switched on again’ effect with full fades-to-black, there are no distracting fluctuations in the backlight system during cuts between light and dark shots. 

The Bravia 5’s colours aren’t as explosively bold as those of higher numbers up the Bravia range, but it doesn’t take long to realise they’re still seriously lovely. They’re still warm and eye-catching, but never (outside of the ‘Vivid’ preset, anyway) overstated - no shade gets artificial or accidental dominance over any other, tones look natural without ever feeling flat or lifeless, and tone shifts and blends are handled with enough subtlety to create a sense of image depth that actually feels like 3D at times. Only without the glasses. 

Skin tones are particularly good for a TV at the 65 Bravia 5’s price level, appearing natural in all onscreen environments (again, outside of the ‘Vivid’ preset) without ever looking plasticky or ‘clumpy’. The Bravia 5 also does well at retaining rich colour saturations even in the darkest scenes, completely avoiding the tendency to desaturate in dark scenes that many LCD and OLED TVs (even some very premium models) can suffer with. 

While the Bravia 5’s sense of detail and sharpness is not as aggressively crisp and ‘hard’ as it is with some mid-range rivals, its pictures actually feel gorgeously dense and filmic - they’re just taking a more natural approach to detail rather than over-sharpening textures or ‘hardening’ edges. Film grain looks especially effective under the Bravia 5’s management, authentic and realistic rather than exaggerated, laggy or forced. 

Sony’s excellent ‘XR’ processing keeps detail high during action scenes too, with an out-of-the-box motion performance that’s arguably the best in today’s TV world when it comes to handling both judder and blur with 24p films without the results looking processed or losing their cinematic feel. 

Inevitably the Bravia 5’s baseline black levels aren’t quite as deep as those of the Bravia 7, 9 or, especially, 8 II. Extremely dark scenes can take on a faint tinge of green, too, and Sony’s ‘Dynamic Tone Mapping’ processing can cause minor and infrequent detail-clipping in the most extreme highlights of HDR pictures. And it’s worth noting backlight blooming becomes much more noticeable if you’re watching the Bravia 5 from an angle of 30 degrees or more off-axis. 

These niggles, though, are either avoidable or so subtle that for most of the time only a trained eye will spot them. In fact, in the end what makes the 65 Bravia 5 such a great mid-range TV is the same fundamental thing that makes Sony’s more high-end models great, too: a beautifully well-rounded, balanced and nuanced approach to picture quality from a brand that truly cares about showing you what creators want you to see. And now it has both the picture processing and LCD hardware capabilities to follow this philosophy through even with its mid-range models. 

Sound quality

The 65 Bravia 5’s ‘Acoustic Multi-Audio’ sound system channels 40 watts of power into four speakers: two full range bass reflex affairs, and two ‘sound positioning’ tweeters. It’s capable of putting these speakers to use on both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks, too.

For the most part this adds up to one of the best-sounding mid-range TVs around. Particularly ear-catching is how beautifully detailed film and TV soundtracks sound. Not even the faintest detail passes Sony’s ultra-sensitive speakers by, building a brilliantly busy and engaging soundstage that’s taken to another level by how effectively sound effects are cast left, right and even upwards. The resulting soundstage is both unusually large and exceptionally well-crafted when it comes to putting effects in the right place - and it always ensures voices sound like they’re coming from the screen rather than somewhere below or behind it.

Add to all this the ability to get seriously loud without distorting or becoming harsh, and for the most part this is one of those rare TVs that won’t necessarily have movie fans instantly reaching for the nearest soundbar. 

The only area where the 65 Bravia 5’s sound underwhelms is bass. It can’t deliver any really deep frequencies, meaning action scenes lack a degree of presence and scale - and extreme or sustained bass sounds occasionally cause a little crackling distortion. I should stress the Bravia 5s’ main speakers actually sound unusually dynamic and open for most of the time, though, and the bass-heavy moments that cause them to break down are rare. 

Living with the Sony 65 Bravia 5

The Bravia 5 is a heavy and substantial TV by today’s standards, making it a slightly cumbersome wall-mounting option.

It’s perhaps handy, then, that the provided feet are well-finished blade-style affairs that are barely visible when viewed head-on. The feet slot in (without screws) towards the centre of the screen, making it possible to place the TV on quite narrow pieces of furniture - and they can support the screen at two different heights to accommodate a soundbar if you decide to add one.

The 65 Bravia 5’s connections include four HDMIs, though unlike mid-range models from LG and Samsung only two of these can handle 4K at 120Hz and variable refresh rates. There’s no support for the NVidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync VRR systems, either. 

The TV’s low-latency ‘Game’ picture mode (which takes just 13.3ms to render graphics) automatically activates when a game source is detected, and a dedicated game menu provides access to a decent selection of gaming aids (including FPS and RTS game mode picture optimisation options, a ‘Black Equaliser’ for raising the brightness of just the dark areas in a game image, the ability to shrink the image size for more competitive gaming, and a multi-screen feature that lets you call up a YouTube game explainer video alongside the main game screen).

The 65 Bravia 5 has received certification from IMAX to say it’s been approved as capable of delivering the benefits of the special noise-reducing ‘IMAX Enhanced’ mastering system, and officially approved ‘Studio Calibrated’ presets are available to get the TV to match the mastering standards used by Netflix, Prime Video and Sony’s own Sony Pictures Core streaming service. Buying a 65 Bravia 5 entitles you to 10 free premium film purchases on Sony Pictures Core (which, uniquely for the streaming world, offers an 80Mbps streaming speed for enhanced picture quality).Given such interest in optimising pictures for different sources, though, it’s perhaps a pity that the Bravia 5 doesn’t support HDR10+ and is restricted to HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision.

Smart features on the Bravia 5 are provided by Google TV. This isn’t my favourite smart system - it’s a bit cumbersome and overwhelming in its presentation, and isn’t as customisable as some rival systems. The latest version carried by the Bravia 5, though, is relatively easy and unbuggy to set up, and runs quite slickly.   

Verdict

Reviewing Sony’s 65 Bravia 5 is surprisingly difficult. Not because there’s anything wrong with it, though - on the contrary, the problem is I keep falling into just watching and enjoying whatever I am using as test material rather than engaging my critical TV testing faculties. Which is actually about as big a compliment as such a long-serving TV reviewer can muster, actually. 

Test samples

The Shining 4K Blu-ray
One of the most unexpected benefits of the 4K Blu-ray disc format is its ability to breathe stunning new life into old films. Nowhere is this more evident than in the gorgeously crisp, clean and colourful 4K BD transfer of Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining. And something about the beautiful master plays perfectly into the Bravia 5’s picture hands. 

Top Gun: Maverick 4K Blu-ray
Few 4K Blu-rays deliver an immaculate combination of cutting-edge 4K HDR picture quality and excellent Dolby Atmos sound, as well as lots of kinetic action and camera movement, as Top Gun: Maverick. All of which suits the Bravia 5 down to the ground. 

Bullet Train Sony Pictures Core
Ridiculously fun Brad Pitt action movie Bullet Train is available in ‘IMAX Enhanced’ 4K HDR with a great Dolby Atmos soundtrack on Sony’s exclusive high-bandwidth streaming service - and its ultra-vibrant, contrast-rich images look spectacular on the Bravia 5. The picture quality claims made for Sony Pictures Core’s 80Mbps streams are more than just hype.

More of the core picture quality DNA that makes Sony’s high-end Bravia 9 LCD TVs and Bravia 8 II OLED TVs so special has filtered down into the mid-range Bravia 5 than you might expect. The resulting pictures are an ultra-immersive and consistent joy to behold - and just for good measure, they’re joined by one of most powerful and detailed sound systems I’ve heard from a 2025 TV. Basically, if there’s a better new 65in TV around right now for £1699, I haven’t seen it.

Set the 65 Bravia 5 up on its highest leg foot mount position and you’ll have the space to add one of Sony’s Bravia soundbars. Possibly the Bravia Theatre 8 or, better, the eye-catchingly good value new Bravia Theatre System 6, which ships with rear speakers and a monster external subwoofer alongside a surprisingly powerful main bar. An S-Center jack on the Bravia 5 even lets it become the centre speaker in conjunction with an external Sony sound system. 

The Bravia 5s carry a handy auto HDR optimisation feature with PlayStation 5 consoles that makes one of those a good addition, too. Especially if you get the PS5 version that includes a decent built-in 4K Blu-ray player.

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