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.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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