Many of today's cutting-edge TVs have a terrible secret: they sound terrible. TVs with the most advanced screen technology imaginable often come with sound quality that's barely better than a budget Bluetooth speaker, so it's taken for granted that when you buy a new TV you'll have to shell out for a soundbar too.
Unless you're listening to a Sony TV such as the Bravia XR OLED or the Bravia XR Master Series, that is.
Sony thinks how TVs sound is as important as how they look – and that means there's as much innovation in its TV audio tech as there is in Sony's incredible displays. These are TVs you need to hear as well as see.
How Sony makes TVs you'll love to listen to
Sony knows a thing or two about audio: its name comes from the Latin word for 'sound', it made the iconic Walkman way back in 1979 and it's been at the cutting edge of audio technology for decades. And all that expertise is right there in your Sony TV.
Sony's goal is to immerse you in the most realistic audio possible, and it does that in a number of different ways depending on the technology in your TV.
One of the problems with TV audio is that as screens get bigger, the distance between the speakers gets bigger too – so with screens getting to 60, 70 or even 80-plus inches, delivering convincing audio becomes much more difficult with a traditional speaker setup.
Sony has solved that in a really clever way in its OLED TVs using something it calls Acoustic Surface Audio+.
Acoustic Surface Audio+ effectively turns the entire OLED panel of the TV into a speaker, vibrating to produce clear, detailed sound that emerges from specific parts of the screen so the dialogue appears to be coming from where the character actually is.
That's backed up with hefty internal subwoofers to deliver exceptional low-end performance and all the presence you need for a blockbuster movie night or a triple-A game. It's a truly incredible audio experience, and it's unique to Sony OLED TVs.
Doing smarter things with TV speakers
With LED and LCD TVs, Sony has to take a different approach; those display technologies have backlights that make it impossible to use the same Acoustic Surface Audio+ you'll find in Sony's OLEDs.
So, Sony has developed another superb audio system, and it's called Acoustic Multi Audio.
Instead of just sticking speakers on the left and right of the panel, Sony uses multiple speakers all around the TV.
The number and direction of the speakers depends on the particular model, but for example you might have four front-facing speakers in the top and bottom of the TV, two sound positioning tweeters in the back and a vibrating frame tweeter, all working together to deliver precisely located, detailed and crystal clear audio for music, movies and games.
Like Acoustic Surface Audio+, Acoustic Multi Audio is only available on Sony TVs.
A different kind of voice control
Sony TVs have another really useful audio feature: Voice Zoom. It enhances the audio to make voices clearer, and it works on all kinds of content: for example, you might want to boost the sound of your family in your home videos so they're not drowned out by background noise, or you might boost the audio so you don't miss the whispered secrets in a movie or the quips in an action-heavy scene.
Unlike some rivals' voice processing, this isn't a blunt-force frequency booster: it carefully analyses the audio channels to magnify or mute specific sounds without affecting the rest of the audio.
That means you still get the same incredibly realistic and immersive audio experience while adjusting it to suit your own personal preference.
The ultimate TV experience
When you buy a Bravia XR TV you're not just getting a spectacular TV. You're getting an incredible sound system too.
Thanks to technologies including Acoustic Surface Audio+, Acoustic Multi Audio and Voice Zoom, Sony has created a range of TVs that you’ll love to listen to as well as look at.
Incredible visuals deserve an incredible soundtrack, and that's exactly what Sony TVs deliver.
Find out more about Sony's 2021 TVs and how they combine incredible image quality and stunning sound to deliver a TV experience like no other.
