Samsung UN65KS9000 vs Sony XBR65X930D Review : Which is Superior?

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If you’re searching for 65 Inch 4K HDR TVs with Ultra HD Premium Certification in price range \$2000-\$2500, Samsung UN65KS9000 and Sony XBR65X930D might meet your needs. Both of them are parts of premium models from each of their manufactures. The highlight, both of these 65 Inch high end TVs are compliant with Ultra HD Premium Certification that means they can display HDR 10 fully. But unlike LG top model LED TV or OLED TV, both UN65KS9000 and XBR65X930D don’t support Dolby Vision.  In addition to stunning HDR picture performance, both of the also offer great performance in some features and excellent Smart TV Platform.

In the market, both of them are sold with almost similar price that is about $2200. But of course their price is not fixed and could still change at any time and usually will tend to go down as time goes by. So, what features that offered by each and which is superior between them?  Let’s start discuss one by one about their performance.

At a Glance about Samsung UN65KS9000

Samsung UN65KS9000 is part of KS9000 series, the flat model of Samsung’s 2016 SUHD TV lineup series 9. HDR 10 with Ultra HD premium certification is the highlight of it in addition it also offers great performance in some features including Smart TV. This means UN65KS9000 is including few HDR TVs that can display HDR 10 content fully. But unlike high end TV from other manufacturers that come with 3D technology, UN65KS9000 s not equipped with 3D technology. For processing HDR signals, it is powered by HDR 1000 engine that supported by the number Samsung’s advanced technologies like Quantum dot technology that delivers wide color gamut, Supreme UHD Dimming with Precision Black (Local Dimming), Ultra Black, Peak Illuminator Pro, And Ultra Clear Panel Ultimate. Additionally, with Supreme Motion Rate 240 behind it, Samsung UN65KS9000 is also a good performer when handling motion blur. Not only that, it also does a god job when up-scaling lower resolution contents to 4K quality. That is not less excellent is about Smart TV where with Tizen OS as its smart TV platform, it offers attractive, responsive, and intuitive smart TV platform. And for completing your home 4K entertainment with good sound quality, it is equipped with 2.2 channels speaker system.

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At a Glance about Sony XBR65X930D

Sony XBR65X930D is also part of high end model Sony’s 2016 4K TV lineup X930D series. Along with X940D and Z9 series, it is including Sony’s 4K TV lineup that compliant with Ultra HD Premium Certification. X1 engine and 4K X-Reality Pro is the great 4K image processor behind it. The other Sony’s most advanced technology is TriLuminos Display technology that deliver wide color gamut. Additionally, there is also X-tended Dynamic Range Pro technology that becomes its advantage than the lower series of Sony’s 2016 4K TV lineup. For improving contrast and black level, XBR65X930D is powered by Local Dimming technology and Advanced Contrast enhancer. Unlike UN65KS9000 that comes without 3D technology, Sony XBR65X930D comes with active 3D technology that offers clear and smooth 3D images with tons of depth. Additionally, XBR65X930D is also a good performer in handling motion blur with Motion Flow XR960 based native 120 Hz refresh rate panel technology behind it. A great performance is also shown by it when Up-scaling lower resolution contents to 4K quality. And as its smart TV platform, it features Google Android, one of the most popular operating systems on smart phone.

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Samsung UN65KS9000 vs Sony XBR65X930D Key Specs

Specs and Features Sony XBR65X930D Samsung UN65KS9000
Size 65 Inch (64.5”) 65 Inch (64.5”)
Panel Type VA Panel VA Panel
Resolution 4K (2160 x 3840) 4K (2160 x 3840)
LED Backlight Edge LED Edge LED
Local Dimming Yes Yes (Precision Black)
Picture Engine X1 and 4K X-Reality Pro HDR 1000
Support HDR HDR 10 HDR 10
Ultra HD Premium Certification Yes Yes
Other Most Advanced Technologies Contrast Enhancer, X-Tended Dynamic Range Pro Supreme UHD Dimming, Peak Illuminator Pro, Ultra Clear Panel Ultimate, Ultra Black
Color Technology TriLuminos Display Quantum Dot
Motion Handling Motion Flow XR960 Supreme Motion Rate 240
Refresh Rate Panel Native 120 Hz Native 120 Hz
UHD Up-scaling 4K X-Reality Pro UHD Up-scaling
3D Technology Yes (Active) No
Smart TV Platform Google Android TV Tizen OS
HDMI Ports 4 4 (Side)
USB Ports 3 3
Audio Channel 4.0 2.2
Total Power 4 x 7.5 watts 40 watts (Woofer : 20 watts)
Price See today’s Price See today’s Price

Performance of Samsung UN65KS9000 and Sony XBR65X930D

Picture Quality

As mentioned, both of Samsung UN65KS9000 and Sony XBR65X930D are compliant with Ultra HD Premium Certification. This means all display specs that offered by each of them meet the minimum standardization of HDR 10 set by UHD Alliance and of course they can display HDR 10 contents fully and stunningly. So, which is a superior between them?

We might know, for displaying HDR 10 contents fully, a HDR TV must meet all of the standardization set by UHD Alliance. In term of contrast, UHD Alliance set 0.05 nits of black level and 1000 nits of peak brightness while in term of color, a HDR TV must cover more than 90% of DCI P3 color space and supports 10 bit depth of color. What delivered by both of them certainly meet all of HDR 10 standardization.

In term of black level, Samsung UN65KS9500 can reach 0.014 nits of peak brightness with contrast ratio about 6820:1 while Sony XBR65X930D can reach about 0.035 nits peak of black level with 2850:1 contrast ratio. This means black level of the picture that displayed on the screen of UN65KS9000 is deeper than XBR65X930D. In term of peak brightness, the peak brightness achieved by XBR65X930D is about 1050 nits while UN65KS9000 can reach much higher, that is about 1500 nits. This means, UN65KS9000 offers brighter whites than XBR65X930D although its own peak brightness is more than 1000 nits as the standardization of HDR 10.

Moving on color coverage, with TriLuminos display behind it, Sony XBR65X930D can cover about 93% of DCI P3 color space while Samsung UN65KS9000 even provides wider color gamut that is about 95% of DCI P3 color space. Additionally, talking about depth of color, both of them also support 10 bits depth of color that means they can delivers more than 1.07 billion shaded of color. Combination wide color gamut and smooth color gradient make color of the picture displayed on each of their screen looks very accurate with smooth color transition.

Can be conclude, with the display specs that produced by them like we have discussed, picture quality displayed on the screen of SamsungUN65KS9000 is better than Sony XBR65X940D. But even so, out of the superiority of UN65KS9000 to XBR65X930D, both of them deliver stunning HDR or SDR picture quality with deep blacks, bright peaks, and rich color.

Winner: UN65KS9000

Viewing angle

Viewing angle is a big downside of Samsung UN65KS9000 and Sony XBR65X930D. As we see on comparison table above, both of them use VA Panel Type. And as we know, VA panel cannot maintain the quality of picture to a wide viewing angle. This means their viewing angle is very poor. The quality of the picture will look to deteriorate started at 20 degrees off center, even XBR65X930D offers narrower viewing angle. But even so, as long as you can set your seat in such a way against your TV, this certainly is not a big problem.

Winner: Not all of them

Motion Handling

For handling motion blur and 24p movies, Samsung UN65KS9000 is powered by Supreme Motion Rate 240 based on native 120 Hz refresh rate panel while Sony XBR65X930D is powered by Motion Flow XR960 also based on native 120 Hz refresh rate panel. The result, there is not much motion blur appears when they are used for watching videos contents with fast scenes like sport, video games, or fast action vies.  But even so, although both of them do the same good job when handling motion blur, XBR65X930D offers slight quicker pixel response time than UN65KS9000. In other hand, when handling 24p contents, both of them offer perfect performance. This means there is no judder when they are playing 24p contents like Blu Ray Movies, even via 60i signals likes Cable TV or 60p signals like streaming media.

Winner: XBR65X930D

UHD Up-scaling

Both of them are the good performer when up-scaling lower resolution content to 4K quality. The picture doesn’t loss many details when they are playing video source with 480p resolution like DVDs. When the video source is 720p likes Cable TV, the result certainly will look crisper and sharper. Moreover if the source is 1080p like Blu Ray movies, can be ascertained that re result is very crisp and sharp without losing the small detail. But even so, although both of them the same offers great performance, XBR930D is still slight better. This certainly is still very important considering most of the contents that available in the market still have lower resolution than 4K, so to be able to enjoy them in 4K quality, great UHD Up-scaling engine of a 4K TV is highly required.

Winner: XBR65X930D

3D Technology

As we see on comparing table above, Sony XBR65X930D is powered by active 3D technology while there is no 3D technology behind Samsung UN65KS9000. You need to know, since 2016, there is none Samsung TV models that come with 3D technology. Separated from their difference in 3D technology, 3D performance that offered by XBR65X930D is great. Although it uses active 3D technology, there is almost no crosstalk noticeable. Additionally, it might not as comfortable to watch as passive 3D technology, but 3D images produced also still looks very smooth and clear, it even offers full resolution for each eye. But unlike most 3D TV, the picture will look darker once 3D is activated, but it can be solved by increasing the brightness level. In other hand, XBR65X930D is not equipped with good performance 2D to 3D converter, this means if you want to watch 2 contents in 3D, the 3D images that produced is not as good as of native 3D, even much worse. The other shortcoming, there is no 3D glasses included, so to be able enjoy 3D entertainment on the screen of XBR65X930D, you must by active 3D glasses separately that course their price is much more expensive than passive 3D glasses.

Winner: XBR65X930D

Smart TV

Samsung UN65KS9000 features Tizen OS while Sony XBR65X930D features Google Android TV as their smart TV platform. Both of them offer attractiveness and responsiveness with a lot of interesting apps.  But even so, in term of user layout, Tizen OS is more comfortable to use than Google Android TV that’s little confusing to navigate. Both of them also provide plenty useful and interesting apps like Web Browser, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Video, and many more. As the contents apps store, there is Samsung’s apps store on Tizen OS while on Google Android TV, there is Google Play Store. Google Android TV provides very complete apps while apps provided by Tizen are more focused on the use of smart TV.

Tizen OS

Google Android TV

Sony XBR65X930D comes with basic remote where the navigation of different TV menus is straightforward. Additionally, it also comes with pointer functions that of course will make you easier to input a text. The “number” buttons like on traditional remote is also included. In other hand, Samsung UN65KS9000 comes with smart remote called “Smart Controller. The button is minimalist without “number” buttons. Additionally, there is also no pointer function like we found on Samsung Smart Touch Remote. But even so, it can be used for controlling other devices once they are connected onto UN65KS9000 via HDMI Ports. Although both of them offers the same attractive and responsive smart TV platform, but in my personal opinion, Tizen is still better.

Winner: UN65KS9000

Sound Quality

As we see on comparison table above, Samsung UN65KS9000 is equipped with 2.2 channels speaker system with total power output 60 watts while Sony XBR65X930D is equipped with 4.0 channels speaker where each of speaker channels is powered by 7.5 watts output power. There is no built-in woofer behind XBR65X930D. The result, UN65KS9000 is offers better sound quality especially on low frequency or bass. Additionally, frequency response of UN65KS9000 is also better than what produced by XBR65X930D. Overall, sound quality of UN65KS9000 is a better than XBR65X930D. But even so, to get a better sound quality, both of them still need an additional external sound bar.

Winner: UN65KS9000

Inputs / Outputs

Both of Samsung UN65KS9000 and Sony XBR65X930D are the same equipped with 4 HDMI ports and 3USB Ports as their major connectivity. The difference, all ports of XBR65X930D is located at the rear panel of TV while on UN65KS9500, HDMI and USB Ports are installed on One Connect Box. In term of completeness of input/output, XBR65X930D provides more complete inputs/output with 1 Composite In, 1 Component In, 1 RF, 1 Ethernet, 1 RS323, and Digital Audio Out (optical) while there is no Composite and Component in behind UN65KS9000. But even so, in term of input lag, Samsung UN65KS9000 offers faster responsiveness on both 1080p and 4K resolution.

Samsung One Connect Box

Winner: UN65KS9000

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Samsung UN65KS9000 <<

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Sony XBR65X930D <<

Summary

Performance Samsung UN65KS9000 Sony XBR65X930D
Design (4.7/5) (4.3/5)
Picture Quality (4.1/5) (4/5)
HDR (4.2/5) (4/5)
Motion Handling (4.1/5) (4.6/5)
Inputs (4.1/5) (3.2/5)
Sound Quality (3.3/5) (2.8/5)
Smart TV (4.3/5) (3.8/5)

Conclusion

Both of them are included HDR TV which compliant with Ultra HD Premium Certification. This means both of them can play HDR fully with the quality that creator intended. But even so, as we have discussed above, although both of them compliant with Ultra HD Premium, Samsung UN65KS9000 offers deeper black level, brighter peak white and slight wider color gamut that makes its picture quality is better than what produced by Sony XBR65X930D. But even so, because both of them use VA panel, the quality of the picture cannot be maintained from side viewing angle. Additionally the other superiority of Samsung UN65KS9000 to Sony XBR65X930D is also about Smart TV, Sound Quality, and Input ability. Otherwise, the main advantage of Sony XBR65X930D is about 3D technology where there is no 3D technology behind UN65KS9000. The other advantage is about motion handling and UHD Up-scaling although UN65S9000 also offer great performance on these cases.

So which is a better choice between them? As mentioned, in the market both of them are sold with almost the same price. UN65KS9000 is superior on HDR and SDR picture quality, Smart TV, Sound Quality and Input Lag while XBR65X930D is superior on 3D technology, Motion handling, and UHD Up-scaling. Now the decision comes back to you according to your need. If Picture quality is your main consideration, of course Samsung UN65KS9000 is a better choice. But if you are searching TV with Ultra HD Premium Certification and also comes with 3D technology, of course Sony XBR65X930D is a better choice.

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Samsung UN65KS9000 <<

Please click here to see today’s price for the Sony XBR65X930D <<

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