Sony VPL-VW520ES review

Stunning images...unprecedented future-proofing...it's one hell of a beamer

Sony VPL-VW520ES
The future of projection starts here

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Sony continues to set the technological pace in the home projection world with the VW520ES, which combines a native 4K resolution with support for high dynamic range video for the first time in the domestic space.

As you might hope, this means it also by default delivers at times the best picture quality seen at the sub-£10k part of the projection market - though £8,800 is still a chunk of change for even a serious home cinema fan.

Sony VPL-VW520ES

We liked

The VW520ES's picture quality is consistently superb - at times groundbreakingly so for this section of the home cinema market.

It runs quietly in Eco mode too, and on one level it looks fair value for its unprecedented specification.

We disliked

It doesn't feel like it has quite enough brightness to fully cash in on HDR however, and it's a pity that getting the best from its HDR potential means running the lamp on its noisier Normal setting.

There are occasionally minor colour alignment errors over fine details, and there's also evidence of crosstalk ghosting with 3D.

Verdict

If you can stretch your budget to £8,800, the VW520ES rewards you with the most future-proof specifications and, for the most part, best picture quality the home cinema world currently has to offer.

JVC has a couple of much cheaper projectors out there you might want to consider if £8,800 is just too much, but neither of those give you the full 4K enchilada that the VW520ES does.

John Archer
AV Technology Contributor

John has been writing about home entertainment technology for more than two decades - an especially impressive feat considering he still claims to only be 35 years old (yeah, right). In that time he’s reviewed hundreds if not thousands of TVs, projectors and speakers, and spent frankly far too long sitting by himself in a dark room.