The Good The Sony XBR-X900E evinces excellent image quality, with deep black levels, accurate color, solid video processing and best-in-class high dynamic range performance. Its modern, minimalist styling is a cut above budget models. The Android TV operating system beats many competitors with more apps and integrated Google Assistant.
The Bad Costs more than Vizio and TCL TVs with similar image quality. Smart TV and voice control features can occasionally be slow to respond.
The Bottom Line The Sony XBR-X900E has the sweet style and superb picture quality to tempt midrange TV shoppers away from Vizio or TCL.
The Sony XBR-X900E is Sony's least-expensive to deliver truly excellent image quality, thanks in large part to full-array local dimming. That feature allows different areas of the screen to dim independently, and in my experience it's the number one contributor to great picture quality on an LCD TV.
It's no coincidence that the two other highest-rated LCD TVs I've reviewed this year, the Vizio M series and the 55-inch TCL 55P607, also use local dimming. Since those TVs cost significantly less than the X900E, and "it's a Sony," you might automatically assume they look worse. You'd be wrong. In my side-by-side comparisons each one showed advantages and disadvantages in different areas -- the Sony has slightly worse black levels and contrast, for example, but the best HDR (high dynamic range) image of the three. In the end I rated all three the same for picture quality.
That leaves the other stuff. For its higher price the X900E has hands-down better styling than those other two, with a modernist look that might be worth the price difference by itself to you. If not, perhaps you're tempted by its neat-o Android TV operating system, packed with apps and boasting integrated Google Assistant, just like an Android phone.
In the end, the Sony XBR-X900E is one of the best TVs of the year, sitting squarely between the "best-picture-for-the-money" appeal of the Vizio M and TCL P, and the "best picture, period" appeal of OLED TVs like the LG C7 series. If you don't want the Vizio/TCL for some reason, and you're reluctant to step up to OLED, this is the TV to get.
Sleek, minimal, no-nonsense looks
All TVs today have super slim, usually black frames around the picture, and the X900E is no different. Its frame is even slimmer than most, however, at about half the width of the Vizio M series, for example, for pretty much maximum screen in minimum cabinet. And its black is complete, all business and just one accent: a thin chrome strip below the discreet Sony logo on the bottom.
Antidote to the cheap-looking splayed leg stands found on many competitors, Sony sets the X900E atop a traditional center pedestal, a raked-back chunk of subtly reflective metal that lifts the panel enough to create a sensation of floating, when seen from a low enough angle.
Google-powered Smarts, but not so fast
Sony's sets run Google's smart TV system, and it beats the homebrew solutions from Samsung and LG (if not Roku TV) in one important area: app coverage. It's also better, in pretty much every way, than Vizio's system.
Unfortunately, the responsiveness of Sony's Android TV system, while tolerable for the most part, wasn't as quick as many of its competitors, particularly Samsung and Roku. At times the home page would take forever to load, and Google's little loading icon popped up more than I'd like to see it elsewhere. The system even lagged when I hit the "Action Menu" key during streaming to call up a picture adjustments. Methinks Sony could invest more in processor speed on this TV.
Of course there's an easy, inexpensive cure for pokiness: throw on a $70 Roku Streaming Stick Plus.
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