Every once in a while, I’m fortunate to have two flagship TVs from competing major manufacturers in our testing lab at the same time. Recently, one of those moments came along when the Samsung KS9500 arrived before we sent back our Sony XBR-65X930D. Considering both are stellar televisions, I figured I would try to explore some of the finer differences between the two.
To be clear, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend either one of these TVs. I come along with my own set of personal preferences, and that ultimately shapes my final opinion, but which one is “better” is really a matter of your individual needs and preferences. The KS9500 might be better for Joe, who watches in a bright room most of the time, but the Sony might be better suited to Sam, who tends to watch movies in the dark and entertains larger groups of people.
There’s also the matter of the curved screen, which seems to push folks hard in one direction or another. Some folks won’t stand for it, and lean toward a flat screen even if it had slightly inferior picture quality.
One more point of clarification: The new Sony Z series is technically the company’s flagship line now, but that TV series is, in my opinion, in a class of its own, and one that is poised to do some serious battle with OLED over the coming year. From a price and performance perspective, the comparison between these two televisions is fair.
In the video above, we do our best to show the performance differences and individual characteristics of each television. In some cases, we’ve exaggerated elements for the purposes illustration in a video format.
