Sony A80CK Review & Specs: Sony’s 2022 Exclusive Basic 4K OLED TV Series - TV Reviews (2024)

Sony A80CK is introduced as the basic 4K OLED TV series from Sony’s 2022 TV lineup along with Sony A80K. Sony A80CK itself is basically the exclusive version of Sony A80K. It’s replaced by Sony A80CL from Sony’s 2023 TV lineup. There are 3 screen size options available for Sony A80CK: 77-Inch (XR77A80CK), 65-Inch (XR65A80CK) and 55-Inch (XR55A80CK). Should you choose Sony A80CK? In this article, we will review Sony A80CK shortly, look at its specs and features then find out its pros and cons so that we can decide whether we should choose Sony A80CK as our next 4K UHD TV.

Sony A80CK Short Review

As basic 4K OLED TV series, Sony A80CK is able to deliver perfect black and infinite contrast since its OLED pixels can be completely powered off and dimmed autonomously. The contrast is also enhanced by OLED XR Contrast Pro, XR HDR remaster, Dynamic Contrast Enhancer and Pixel Contrast Booster. OLED XR Contrast Pro is able to deliver higher brightness range, XR HDR remaster reproduces greater depth and textures, Dynamic Contrast Enhancer can adjust the brightness according to the environment’s lighting condition while Pixel Contrast Booster can boost the OLED pixels to bring brighter output. OLED panel of Sony A80CK is completed with XR Triluminos Pro that can bring Wide Color Gamut so that we can enjoy rich and accurate color details. The color is also enhanced by XR Smoothing, Live Color Technology and Rich Color Enhancer. XR Smoothing can create more natural color details, Live Color Technology delivers more lively color details while Rich Color Enhancer can bring richer color tones. Sony A80CK is completed with XR 4K Upscaling to bring excellent clarity not only from original 4K content sources but also from non 4K contents that upscaled into near 4K picture quality. It’s also completed with Dual database processing that can reduce on-screen noise especially for upscaled non 4K contents and XR Super Resolution that can detect each object in a picture then upscale their resolution for better details. With OLED panel, Sony A80CK is also able to deliver wide viewing angle so that we can enjoy accurate details from any side viewing angle. Sony A80CK already supports HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG so that we can enjoy enhanced details and expanded contrast from wide range of HDR content sources. The color, clarity and contrast of Sony A80CK are optimized by Cognitive Processor XR that integrated as the picture processor of this TV. 120Hz native refresh rate is integrated with OLED panel of Sony A80CK. It’s able to bring smooth motion images from our favorite action movies and sports. It also allows us to enjoy minimum input lag when we use this TV as our gaming monitor. Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) are also supported by Sony A80CK to bring more immersive gaming experience. Google TV is the operating system integrated with Sony A80CK. It’s able to deliver wide range of premium entertainment from our favorite content providers. It’s also connected to Google Play Store so that we can also run wide collection of additional smart apps. To help us easily connect this TV to our home network, 802.11ac wireless is already integrated with Sony A80CK. ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) is already integrated with Sony A80CK so that we can enjoy 4K HDR OTA (Over the Air) entertainment on the screen of this TV. Premium Voice Remote control is already included with Sony A80CK to help us control this TV conveniently even in the dark watching environment. Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit/AirPlay 2 also can be used to control Sony A80CK since they are already supported. The speaker system integrated with Sony A80CK is Acoustic Surface Audio+ powered by 10W + 10W + 10W + 10W + 10W audio output (77-Inch: 20 W + 10 W + 10 W + 10 W + 10 W). It’s enough to deliver rich and powerful sound for this TV. But we can also attach more advanced AV system with eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) of this TV to enjoy higher quality audio formats.

Specs & Features Table of Sony A80CK

The key specs and features of Sony A80CK can be found in the specs and features table below.

Pros & Cons of Sony A80CK

Let’s talk more about the pros and cons of Sony A80CK based on its specs and features as well as our short review above.

Pros

1. Perfect Black with Infinite Contrast

Sony A80CK comes with perfect black since its OLED pixels can be completely powered off. It’s also able to deliver technically infinite contrast with its pixel level dimming.

2. Wide Color Gamut

Sony A80CK is already able to deliver Wide Color Gamut on top of its OLED panel. With Wide Color Gamut, we can enjoy rich and accurate color details on the screen of Sony A80CK.

3. Excellent Motion Handling and Immersive Gaming Experience

Sony A80CK comes with 120Hz native refresh rate on top of its OLED panel. 120Hz native refresh rate on top of OLED panel allows us to enjoy excellent motion handling so that we can enjoy smooth motion images for our favorite action movies and sports. It’s also able to deliver minimum input lag that completed with Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) support to bring more immersive gaming experience.

4. Great Smart Features with Nice Remote Control

The operating system integrated with Sony A80CK is Google TV. It’s able to deliver wide range of premium entertainment from our favorite content providers while also allows us to run wide collection of smart apps with access to Google Play Store. Sony A80CK is also completed with Premium Voice Remote that can help us to control this TV conveniently even in the dark watching environment. We can also use Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit/AirPlay 2 to control this TV as they are already supported.

Cons

1. Limited Peak Brightness

Although Sony A80CK is able to deliver perfect black with infinite contrast, it’s limited when it comes to peak brightness as the peak brightness of OLED panel is lower than LED panel. We can also find that we can’t enjoy optimum brightness range for our HDR contents due to the limited peak brightness of this TV.

2. Higher Price

Sony A80CK that comes as basic OLED 4K TV series is relatively higher than the Sony 4K LED TV version with similar technology and features (such as Sony X90CK). But for sure Sony A80CK is able to deliver perfect black, infinite contrast and instantaneous response time with its OLED panel.

The table below can summarize the pros and cons of Sony A80CK

Should You Choose Sony A80CK?

We can find that Sony A80CK is positioned as basic 4K OLED TV series. It’s introduced as the exclusive version of Sony A80K. Should you choose Sony A80CK? Although it’s only a basic 4K OLED TV series, Sony A80CK is already able to deliver perfect black with infinite contrast, Wide Color Gamut and Excellent gaming experience. It’s also completed with Google TV, ATSC 3.0 and Premium Backlit Remote that allows us to enjoy the best entertainment. But Sony A80CK is indeed more limited in peak brightness due to its OLED panel. So, it’s not able to handle too much glare in the bright watching environment. If you are looking for an excellent 4K UHD TV and you don’t plan to use it in a bright watching environment with excessive glare, then Sony A80CK is the one that you should choose.