John.Higgins | The Verge

Sony’s flagship RGB LED TV is incredible

2026-07-17T12:19:44-04:00

Sony’s flagship Bravia 9 II is the best RGB LED TV I’ve seen this year.

The Sony Bravia 9 II is the most anticipated new TV in years. It’s an amazing RGB LED TV. I watched Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on the new Bravia with my son, who has been getting into the roleplaying game but had never seen the movie. The landscapes of Faerûn looked natural and real, while the magic cast by the Red Wizards of Thay was vibrant and colorful. Specular highlights in HDR really pop. I saw it with Xenk’s glowing sword as he fought in the Underdark in Honor Among Thieves, but also in the explosions as Furiosa flees across the desert in Mad Max: Fury Road and the sun reflecting off the waves in The Meg.

The Bravia 7 II I reviewed in May was already an impressive RGB LED TV. The Bravia 9 II has more dimming zones and an anti-reflective screen, and it gets brighter than the 7 II, but the 65-inch 9 II is also $1,000 more expensive, and the price difference increases as screen size goes up. So, is Sony’s flagship Bravia 9 II worth the extra money?

Sony Bravia 9 II RGB LED TV

Score: 9

Pros	Cons
Excellent color accuracy Plenty of brightness for any room Incredible light-diffusing matte screen Same cool lenticular stand as Bravia 7 II	More expensive than flagship OLEDs It’s LED, so there’s still some blooming, especially off axis

Where to Buy:

Sony showed off an early prototype of its RGB LED backlight technology at its Tokyo headquarters back in early 2025, and even at that stage, it was impressive. Every time there’s a new display technology, Sony’s flagship TVs tend to be the best, thanks in part to the company’s industry-leading processing and upscaling. The Bravia 8 II is the latest in a string of top-tier Sony QD-OLED TVs, and the original Bravia 9 was the best mini-LED when it launched in 2024. So with RGB LED TVs the big TV story of 2026, expectations are high for the Bravia 9 II.

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Like the Bravia 7 II (and a lot of the new high-end TVs out this year), the Bravia 9 II uses RGB LEDs for its backlight. Instead of the blue backlight that LED TVs have been using for years, it has clusters of individual red, green, and blue LEDs that blend their light to create a wider range of colors than those blue LED TVs were capable of.

The Bravia 9 II has the same processor as the 7 II. They both have the same awesome lenticular stand — the coolest TV stands I’ve seen in a long time — and both have HDMI 2.1 on just two of their four ports. Maybe next year Sony will catch up with the rest of the high end and finally offer four HDMI 2.1 ports.

The Bravia 9 II is also as good as or better than the 7 II in grayscale and color performance (although it has the same issue in SDR mode with reds being oversaturated and not as bright as they should be). In Professional mode, the TV’s gamma and EOTF tracking is even better than the 7 II, so shadows are suitably detailed and images have proper depth. Colors like sky blue, foliage, and especially skin tones all look wonderful. And while grayscale measures (and looks) a little blue, I wasn’t bothered by it in anything I watched.

Its great color accuracy, high light output, and anti-reflective screen make it the best bright-room TV available

The Bravia 9 II can get bright: I measured highlights in HDR at 3,800 nits, and a full-field white screen at 885. The Bravia 7 II maxed out at 2,200 nits for highlights, although it has nearly the same full-field brightness at 848 nits. So for everything but the brightest of specular highlights, the two Sony RGB LED TVs have similar real-world brightness. There are TVs that get brighter — such as the TCL X11L — but with the vast majority of content out there, the 9 II is plenty bright with both HDR and SDR (if you turn it up from its default in Professional mode, which is set for dark-room viewing, or change to the slightly less accurate Cinema mode).

The picture processing algorithms also control how well it uses its brightness and color and help to set Sony’s image quality apart from other TVs. With the curtains open and sunlight beaming through the windows, I watched a handful of World Cup games from an ATSC 3.0 antenna, and the Bravia 9 II’s image detail was easy to see.

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In addition to the picture performance, a few features distinguish the Bravia 9 II from the 7 II.

The most noticeable upgrade is the anti-reflection screen, which is the best I’ve ever seen. Bright lamps or windows are reduced to a dim glow that’s incredibly difficult to see when anything is playing on the TV. Even when the TV is off, light reflections on the screen don’t draw my attention. The effect degrades the more off angle you get, but it wasn’t distracting until close to 70 degrees off axis, which is a pretty severe angle to watch TV at, even with a big group of friends over.

Sony Bravia 9 II specs

Display type: RGB LED

HDR formats: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG

OS: Google TV

HDMI inputs: 2 x HDMI 2.1 (one with eARC); 2 x HDMI 2.0

Audio support: Dolby Atmos, DTS: X

Gaming features: 4K/120Hz, ALLM, VRR

Sizes available (inches): 65, 75, 85, 115

It also has more dimming zones than the 7 II. More dimming zones allow for a finer control of backlight transition from light to dark parts of the screen, and usually lead to less blooming (where bright light bleeds into a dark section next to it). That is mostly true on the Bravia 9 II. From straight on, or slightly off angle, the 9 II handles blooming very well. There’s a slight glow around subtitles or a very dim haze around fireworks. The blooming was a bit more prominent at the far ends of my 8-foot couch, but it’s better than the Bravia 7 II or other RGB LED TVs (although not better than the TCL X11L mini-LED TV). It’s still an LED TV, and there will always be some degree of blooming.

When I stood more off angle next to my couch, though, the blooming got worse — and not just around subtitles. I noticed both white and color bleeding into neighboring colors. Apple TV has a Peanuts screen saver, which is mostly Snoopy doing things on or around his doghouse. From an off angle, I could see the white from his body extend into the yellow background. I wouldn’t suggest the Bravia 9 II primarily for big groups, as friends at one side will get a different viewing experience than those toward the middle. This isn’t something I remember seeing on the Bravia 7 II, and since the accentuated blooming happens off axis, I wonder if it’s related to the anti-reflective coating on the screen.

The Bravia 9 II includes a USB-C rechargeable remote and has the same lenticular stand as the Bravia 7 II." data-portal-copyright="" /> The TV uses Google TV as its OS, and it was quick and easy to use during my time with it." data-portal-copyright="" /> A slot in the back of the TV’s stand routes the cables behind the lenticular screen so they aren’t seen from the front." data-portal-copyright="" /> The combination of excellent brightness and great color accuracy makes images really engaging." data-portal-copyright="" />

Even with the minor off-angle issues, there isn’t any question that the Sony Bravia 9 II is the best RGB LED TV available. Its great color accuracy, high light output, and anti-reflective screen make it the best bright-room TV available. But the 65-inch sample I had in for review, which is the smallest available size, is $3,600, while the Bravia 7 II is $2,600 at 65 inches, and is available in sizes as small as 50 inches. Even the 65-inch Sony Bravia 8 II OLED is $3,000.

I loved my time with the Sony Bravia 9 II, and I’m sure anyone would enjoy having one in their house. Even so, there are other TVs I prefer, even within Sony’s own product line. The Bravia 8 II, which gets you the pixel-level control only an OLED can deliver, would be my first choice. Contrast is still king to our eyes, and OLED still leads in that category. If you really want an RGB LED TV and don’t want to splurge on the 9 II, the Bravia 7 II gets you most of the way there (without the anti-reflective screen). The one use case where the Bravia 9 II wins out is in a space where reflections are a major concern. There’s no denying the Bravia 9 II is a great achievement in LED TV performance. But I’m still going to recommend an OLED for most people.

Photography by John Higgins / The Verge

How I test TVs

I set up each TV in my living room on my home theater credenza. I stream movies and shows through the TV’s apps and from an Apple TV, play discs on a Magnetar UDP900 MkII 4K Blu-Ray player (including the Spears & Munsil Ultra HD Benchmark disc) and movies from a Kaleidescape Strato E player, and play games on my Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. This is done at different times of the day and under different lighting conditions, with curtains open, with lamps and overhead lights on, or with blackout curtains up to keep the room dark. While I am a certified ISF Level 3 calibrator, I do not calibrate the TVs before measurement, as the overwhelming majority of TV owners don’t bother. So it’s important to know how well the TVs perform out of the box, with minor tweaks in the menu anyone can do.

For measurement, I use Portrait Displays’ Calman color calibration software, a Murideo 8K Seven pattern generator, an X-rite i1 Pro 3 spectrophotometer, Portrait Displays’ C6 HDR5000 colorimeter, a Konica Minolta LS-100 luminance meter, and Leo Bodnar 4K lag tester.

Blue Prince became a bonding — and learning — experience for my family

2026-07-10T15:14:55-04:00

My wife and son spent their weekends exploring and piecing together the mansion in Blue Prince. | Image: Courtesy of Raw Fury

I’ve always been the gamer in the family. When my son was born nearly 11 years ago, gaming was one of the things I looked forward to sharing with him. Pulling up a chair next to me, he would watch as I played Sea of Thieves with friends, often wearing the too-big-for-his-head headset to talk with them, instructing me where to go. Now instead of him watching me play through Clair Obscur, I’m sitting next to him and he battles Calamity Ganon in Breath of the Wild. His real gaming passion for years has been Minecraft — he appreciates the rules and order, as well as the calming environment of creative mode. He also likes to meticulously stack up as many TNT blocks as he can and watch them explode.

What I wasn’t expecting is the gaming connection my wife has made with my son. She’s made the effort with Minecraft and joins his worlds occasionally, though it admittedly is not her favorite. But she loves puzzles and stories, so when a friend suggested Blue Prince, recently released on the Switch 2, for both her and our son, she immediately bought it. They’ve been working their way through it every chance they have together — and have already long passed our friend who suggested it.

Blue Prince is a puzzle-solving roguelike where you need to explore a 45-room mansion from one day to the next and reach the mysterious Room 46 in order to earn your inheritance. But the rooms reorder themselves at the start of each day, requiring both detailed thinking and the ability to piece together a large story. That’s why my wife and son playing together works so well: They complement each other in their thinking and abilities. Our son has incredibly high spatial intellect. He’s able to remember directions to things easily and exactly (and correct my wife when she heads the wrong way); he can quickly solve puzzles where pieces need to be lined up or a series of switches need to be flipped in a specific order, or know the precise spot they need to stand. Often she’ll hand him the controller so he can solve the puzzle because it takes far less time than him trying to explain it to her. Also, the way he notices minor changes in a room instantaneously is astounding. This goes back years to when we would bring him to preschool, and he would take a moment to point out how the space had changed since the day before, get himself acclimated with the differences, and then be comfortable again.

My wife is great at the big picture and piecing together the themes of the story. Word-based puzzles — especially those with symbolism — are a breeze for her while they frustrate my son mightily (either because of his age or because his brain thinks far more literally instead of metaphorically). Blue Prince has brought up teachable moments where she can expand his way of thinking and explain the thought process she uses to solve these logic puzzles.

But the best part of all is the excitement that the combination of game design and storytelling has instilled in him every minute of the day. His mind is constantly thinking about how things might connect in the story. And despite some learning challenges he has with reading and writing, he’s put together his own notebook to categorize their discoveries and is even writing them down! The motivation of discovering the story by solving problems has overtaken his fear and reticence to write out ideas. This might seem minor to some, but as a parent that has watched their child struggle getting the thoughts in their brain down on paper, it makes me immensely proud and emotional.

Gaming, and Blue Prince in particular, isn’t just a distraction for him, but instead a way to expand how his brain processes information and logics its way through problems. It’s something that he can take with him, providing strategies he can use during his day-to-day life. Does he generally spend more time on a screen than he should? Yeah, probably (we’re working on it). But the interaction he and my wife have enjoyed through this adventure, and the way his sheer enthusiasm has helped push him through his normal boundaries, are well worth the extra screentime.

Vizio accidentally made the best dumb TV on the market

2026-07-07T15:12:50-04:00

Vizio OS works well, but you don’t even need to use it.

When I first started testing Vizio’s 65-inch Mini LED Quantum TV, I thought the big story was that Vizio was back and that it had a quantum-dot mini-LED TV for under $398 — the cheapest on the market. Vizio’s been pretty quiet since it was acquired by Walmart in 2024, so putting out a TV with quantum dots, which allow for higher brightness levels and more accurate color, at a budget price seemed like a strong comeback.

But that’s not the big story. While those two points are intriguing, the big news about the Mini LED Quantum TV is that Vizio accidentally made the best dumb TV on the market.

Vizio Mini LED Quantum TV

Where to Buy:

Walmart bought Vizio for its advertising business. Since Vizio’s ad division was responsible for all of Vizio’s profits at the time of the sale, keeping that ad revenue going is likely the priority here, and Vizio’s TV OS is the vehicle.

You now need a Walmart account to use some features on a Vizio TV, and you can’t access any of the streaming apps on the Vizio Mini LED Quantum without agreeing to its activity data policy, which lets Walmart collect all your usage data. That’s annoying, but not unique. Smart TVs collect data on what you’re watching and how you watch it so they can serve targeted recommendations and ads. (Vizio was even caught doing so without consent in 2017.)

Vizio Mini LED Quantum specs

Display type: Mini LED with quantum dots

HDR formats: Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG

OS: Vizio OS

Connections: 3 x HDMI 2.0 (one with eARC), ATSC 1.0 tuner, USB 2.0, optical audio out

Audio support: Dolby Atmos, DTS: X

Gaming features: 4K/60Hz, 1080p/120Hz (65-inch and up)

Sizes available (inches): 43, 50, 55, 65, 75, 85

The potential for Walmart — much like Amazon with its Fire TVs, for that matter — is that your watch habit data can be used to target your shopping app experience. Been watching Star Wars movies and shows with the family? Maybe the next time you log in to your Walmart app you’ll get a recommendation for the Luke’s Red Five X-wing Smart Lego set. This might sound great to you, but to me, the close connection between TV OS and retailer is a bit unsettling.

It’s possible to get around it, though, and to a fuller extent than on other platforms. As with any other TV, you can add an external streaming device and set the Vizio up to power on to the last used input and bypass the OS. Even with an external device, though, Vizio and Walmart are still scanning the HDMI port and collecting data on what you’re watching. But by making certain decisions during the setup process, you can keep the OS from even being active (and presumably gathering your viewing information), which I’ve never seen on other televisions.

During setup, the TV asks you to sign in to, or create, a Walmart account. If you choose to skip, you’re asked if you’re sure and warned that “you will not be able to manage payments and subscriptions or link your Vizio devices.” I already manage my subscriptions through each streaming service I use, so no big loss there. After agreeing to Vizio’s terms of service and privacy policy, you’re asked to accept the activity data policy, which enables the TV’s smart features. Declining this brings up another warning screen — this one actually says “Whoops!” — informing you that “skipping this step means missing out on all your Vizio smart TV features, including apps like Netflix, YouTube, and other apps.”

One last decline, and the Vizio is the dumb TV many are looking for: no OS and three HDMI ports awaiting a signal. And to make sure there’s no way Walmart is getting your info, you can always disconnect the TV from the internet entirely by forgetting your Wi-Fi settings. (You can also choose to skip connecting to Wi-Fi at the beginning of setup, which immediately switches the TV to HDMI, but you may also miss out on firmware updates.)

In Calibrated mode the Vizio has a nice, bright image, although its black level isn’t that deep and the screen is reflective (you can see a reflected picture frame in the middle of the TV).

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And for a $400 dumb TV — or even a $400 smart TV — the 65-inch Vizio Mini LED Quantum is really good. I watched multiple World Cup matches using my OTA antenna and my normal collection of weekly shows like Last Week Tonight through my Apple TV, and they all looked pretty good. Of its picture modes, Calibrated and Calibrated Dark are the most accurate. Both lean a little toward blue, so everything has a slight cool cast. Calibrated Dark is the best for color accuracy and for a dark, light-controlled room. With SDR, it tops out at a maximum brightness of 309 nits (HDR gets up to 579 nits with small highlights). Calibrated reaches 936 nits, which is incredible for a budget TV, so its highlights and overall picture can hold up to ambient light. The screen is pretty glossy, though, so if you have lamps nearby, the reflections can be distracting, especially during dark scenes.

There’s a little bit of motion blur with fast motion, which I noticed while watching the Austrian Grand Prix (especially with the cool quick-moving drone shots they introduced with that race). The Mini LED Quantum also uses an IPS panel instead of VA, so its black level isn’t as deep as a more expensive TV, and there’s some blooming visible with bright highlights in dark scenes. Most people, though, will be more than happy with the performance of the Vizio Mini LED Quantum. Even I was able to push aside my videophile expectations and relax with what I was watching. For a 65-inch TV under $400 (or up to an 85-inch for only $768), it’s easy to get past those flaws and still enjoy everyday viewing.

The back of the TV is all plastic, and the cable management channel along the back of the each foot is only big enough for a single cable.

" data-portal-copyright="" /> Connections on the Vizio are very limited, with only three HDMI 2.0, USB 2.0, an antenna, and a digital audio out.

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Of course, there are areas where Vizio’s cost-cutting is more obvious. The TV only has three HDMI 2.0 ports, when most TVs will get you four with at least one at HDMI 2.1 (though Vizio does include an ATSC 1.0 tuner). The entire back is made of a cheap-feeling plastic, there’s only one height position for the feet, and the cable management channels on the back of each foot can only accommodate a single cable each. So if you have more than one device connected to the HDMI inputs, you can’t run all the cables through the channel. The speakers, while loud, don’t sound great either (but that can be said for expensive TVs, too).

If you do decide to use the Vizio OS, it’s possible to limit Walmart’s data collection by turning off Viewing Data in the TV’s privacy menu as well as unchecking personalized ads on your Vizio account page. Vizio OS is easy to navigate, if a tad sluggish sometimes. It supports all the major apps, plus AirPlay and Google Cast, and selecting different inputs is easy, both through the OS and with an input button on the small remote. After a few minutes, the TV will go into a screensaver mode, which is just one of the WatchFree+ channels that shows what looks like AI-generated scenes with music playing. But since they’re channels and not an actual screensaver, they get interrupted by ads every once in a while. It’s not the most relaxing screensaver experience.

How I test TVs

Of course, you don’t need to worry about that if you use the Vizio Mini LED Quantum as a dumb TV. It’s not what Walmart hopes you’ll do with it, but it’s absolutely what you should. And if you want streaming apps, you can always plug in a cheap streaming device like the Fire TV Stick 4K Select for $40. If you use a connected device with the Vizio OS active, your viewing data on that device will also be shared with Walmart, according to the viewing data supplement on the privacy policy.

I was concerned that down the line Vizio might find a way to force users to agree to data collection to be able to use the TV at all, but Vizio senior product manager Mike Wood told me the TV is working as intended. The hardware and picture features will always work, even if you disable the OS. “Obviously, we believe there’s a lot of benefit to using the Vizio OS and our smart features, but the choice is up to the user,” he said. That’s good news, and solidifies that the Mini LED Quantum has great performance for the price. If you’ve been looking for a big dumb TV to escape from the incessant data tracking, the Vizio Mini LED Quantum is it.

Update and correction, July 7th: Vizio confirmed it is intended that the hardware (HDMI, antenna, USB, etc.) works without agreeing to any TOS/privacy/tracking policies. The last paragraph has been updated to include this information. In addition,the “Agree to continue” section below has also been corrected to indicate that accepting Viewing Data is optional.

Photography by John Higgins / The Verge

Agree to continue: Vizio Mini LED Quantum TV

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.

In order to manage payments and subscription or link the TV to your Walmart account, you must:

Sign in to or create a Walmart account
If you had an existing Vizio account, you must merge it with a Walmart account

When creating a Walmart account, you must provide an email address and phone number, and agree to:

To use the Vizio Mini LED Quantum TV fully (including Vizio OS), you must accept the following:

Vizio Terms of Service
Vizio Privacy Policy
Accept Activity Data to use streaming apps in Vizio OS

Viewing Data can be accepted to allow Vizio to make content recommendations, but isn’t required and can be turned off after it was accepted, if desired.

In total, you have to accept six main agreements for full functionality and can bypass three to avoid linking a Walmart account, or bypass all of them to turn the Vizio into a dumb TV when setting up the Mini LED Quantum.

The best Prime Day deals on LG, Samsung, and more 4K TVs

2026-06-24T12:00:27-04:00

LG C5 OLED TV (65-inch) | Image: LG

There are three times of year that are best for buying a new TV: leading up to the Super Bowl, Black Friday, and of course now, during Amazon Prime Day. Many of the new 2026 models have been released, and while some will be seeing discounts, the majority of the best deals are going to be on last year’s TVs.

While you might feel FOMO setting in, I don’t think there’s much to worry about. The quality of TVs — from budget models up to flagships — is closer than it’s ever been. And that goes for year-to-year improvements, as well. There’s been so much focus in the TV industry on new high-end RGB LED TVs coming out, like the Sony Bravia 7 II. Sure, the tech is interesting, but its performance is not drastically different than the LED TVs from 2025. Even OLEDs from last year can outperform some of the new RGB LED TVs.

We’re in a heyday of TV technology, and during the Prime Day sale, there sure are lots of options. These are the ones I think are the best right now. I’ve also included discounts on streaming devices.

The best deals on 4K TVs

65 inches is a sweet spot for TVs, and getting one as good as the TCL QM6K for only $527.99 at Walmart is worth it (it’s only $2 more at Best Buy if you prefer that, too). It’s particularly good for someone looking for a lower-priced gaming TV, as it supports high refresh rates up to 4K/144Hz with a PC (or 1080p at 288Hz) with VRR and has low input lag. It’s not the light cannon that more expensive TCL TVs are, but in a light-controlled room there’s enough brightness for watching or playing anything.

LG C5 OLED TV

LG’s midrange C5 TV is an excellent way to get OLED performance without paying top dollar. It has a good amount of brightness, excellent color accuracy out of the box, and great gaming features, including a max 144Hz refresh rate.

Where to Buy:

You and The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel will own the same TV if you buy the Sony A95L, for 23% off. This 77-inch QD-OLED has incredible picture quality, thanks it part to Sony’s industry-leading processing. It’s still $3,498 during this Walmart sale and $3,499 at Best Buy, but if you want one of the best TVs ever (and a multi-year winner of the Value Electronics TV Shootout) this is the lowest price we’ve seen on it.

TCL QM8K Series QD-Mini LED TV

The QM8K delivers TCL’s best performance for the price in its 2025 TV lineup, and it still competes with 2026 TVs.

Where to Buy:

If you do need or want a bigger high-brightness TV, there’s the 75-inch Hisense U8QG for $1,299 at Amazon and Best Buy. And if you want to go really big, Best Buy has the 100-inch for $2,220, which is ridiculous pricing for a TV so big. When I reviewed the 65-inch model last year, it was the brightest TV I had tested, with over 5,000 nits from a small window. Because of that, its HDR performance is excellent, with small specular highlights popping off the screen. And it means you don’t need to worry about ambient light ruining your ability to see the picture (and its glossy screen even handles reflections pretty well). The U8QG has great gaming support — AMD FreeSync Premium Pro VRR with a refresh rate up to 165Hz, Dolby Vision gaming, and good motion handling. But be aware that it also only has three HDMI 2.1 ports, with its fourth connection port being USB-C DisplayPort. So if you need to connect four HDMI sources, this isn’t the set for you.

Samsung S90F

Samsung’s S90F is a premium OLED TV with a 120Hz panel, four HDMI 2.1 ports, and access to game streaming services like Nvidia’s GeForce Now via Samsung’s Gaming Hub.

Where to Buy:

Vizio Mini-LED Quantum 4K TV

Where to Buy:

~~$248~~ $218 at Walmart

The best deals on streaming devices

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023)

Amazon’s most capable streaming stick is faster than its predecessor with Wi-Fi 6E and double the storage. It also now displays widgets and artwork when idle while continuing to offer Alexa integration. Read our review.

Where to Buy:

~~$59.99~~ $34.99 at Amazon

One thing you can be certain of during Amazon Prime Day is that Amazon products are going to be on sale, even newly released updates like the Amazon Fire TV Stick HD, now available for $15.99 (54% off its usual $34.99 price). This new version of the 1080p streaming stick has a smaller design — both in terms of width and volume — so its less obtrusive in a TVs HDMI port. The Fire TV Stick HD can now be powered by a TVs USB port instead of needing to be plugged into an outlet or power strip. And it comes with the new Fire TV OS, which is far better organized than it used to be and quite a bit faster, too. Since it’s a 1080p-resolution streaming stick, it’s probably best relegated to a secondary TV or a smaller one where the lower detail won’t be noticed as much.
Google TV OS has emerged as one of the best options for a smart TV OS. If it’s not included on your TV and you need to get away from the baked-in Tizen OS on your Samsung TV (trust me, I get it), then the Google TV Streamer 4K is exactly what you need, especially if you’re already in the Google smart home ecosystem. During Prime Day it’s available for $74.99, which is the lowest we’ve ever seen it for.

Amazon Fire TV Stick HD (2026)

Where to Buy:

~~$34.99~~ $15.99 at Amazon

Update, June 24th: Adjusted prices and availability.

These are my favorite Prime Day deals on earbuds and headphones

2026-06-24T09:57:38-04:00

The Sony XM5 have been some of the best noise-canceling headphones for a few years, and they’re now under $200 for Prime Day. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

I can’t think of a tech accessory I actively use more than headphones. Whether it’s for music, calls, or just to block out ambient noise so I can focus, I always have a pair close at hand. One of the best times to get some of your own with some big savings attached is during Prime Day.

There are always an overwhelming amount of deals on earbuds and headphones — and honestly, they’re not always that great. As The Verge’s audio expert, these are the ones that I think are worth their full cost, and especially so now that they’re on sale. And while Prime Day is an Amazon event, there are plenty of deals at other retailers like Best Buy and Walmart, too.

The best deals on noise-canceling headphones and earbuds

They might not be the most recent XM series headphones Sony has released, but the Sony WH-1000XM5 are still one of the best pairs you can get — especially at a sale price of $198 at Amazon. At half of the retail price, this is the lowest I’ve ever seen these headphones. I’d go so far to say this is the best headphones deal of Prime Day. The XM5 are comfortable, sound excellent, and have noise-canceling performance that still holds up to more recent releases. If you need a new pair of headphones, get these before Prime Day ends.
Bose has been synonymous with noise cancellation for years now. While other companies — like Sony, Apple, and now the budget-minded Soundcore — have closed the gap in performance, the QuietComfort Earbuds still offer great noise-canceling performance. And they’re available during Prime Day for $129. These aren’t the newest ANC earbuds released by Bose (those are the Ultra earbuds gen 2 going for $249), but they’re a great deal for the sale price.

The best budget deals on headphones and earbuds

EarFun earbuds are always a good value, but especially so during Prime Day. You can find the EarFun Air Pro 4 Plus (which I recently featured on a Vergecast episode about call quality) for $71.23. Verge readers can apply discount code EFAP4PFB for an additional 5 percent off to bring the price down to $67.66.

Nothing CMF Buds 2A

The CMF Buds 2A deliver decent sound and noise cancellation. They also offer useful extras like customizable EQ settings, multipoint connectivity, and IP54 water and dust resistance.

Where to Buy:

Nothing Ear (a)

Nothing’s Ear (a) earbuds have the same general design as the company’s previous earbuds — but you can get these in a snazzy yellow. They include ANC, more than decent sound quality, and other features like multipoint for just under $100. Read our impressions.

Where to Buy:

The best headphones deals for bass lovers

Sometimes you just want some thump. They don’t offer an accurate reproduction of sound, but the Sony Ult Wear certainly do bring the bass for $148 during Prime Day. The default sound profile pushes the low and upper frequencies a bit, but when you press the Ult button, you can add two different levels of bass oomph. While the most extreme level is a bit much for me, I’m sure a true bass-head will love it. The Ult Wear are also light and comfortable to wear and have up to 30 hours of playback with ANC on, so you’ll be able to enjoy your bass all day long.

The best deals on Apple and Beats earbuds and headphones

It took Apple nearly six years, but we finally got the AirPods Max 2 this past March, and surprisingly, they’re already on sale at Walmart for $399 — $150 off their regular price. The Max 2 are more of an upgrade over the original than a reimagining. They look exactly the same and weigh the same (which is on the heavy side for headphones), and I’m not a fan of their carrying case, which doesn’t offer as much protection as I’d like. But they sound great, have good ANC performance, support loss less at 24-bit/48kHz when using a USB-C cable, and integrate seamlessly into the Apple ecosystem. Plus they have a distinctive look, so everyone will know what’s on your head. If you’ve wanted a pair, this is probably the best time to get them.

AirPods Pro 3

The AirPods Pro 3 have a new design that improves their fit, superior noise cancellation, better bass, and fairly accurate heart rate sensors. Read our review.

Where to Buy:

At the other end of the Apple spectrum from the AirPods Max 2 are the AirPods 4 with ANC, available at Best Buy during Prime Day for $150 (the cheaper version without ANC is available for $100, but I think paying extra for the ANC is worth it). Their noise-canceling performance is impressive, especially considering their open design, they have great sound quality, and the case supports wireless charging. If you’re a fan of Apple’s design and don’t want to spend more for the Pro 3, these are a great option.
The Beats Solo 4 have dropped to $99.95 ($100 off) at Amazon and Walmart, which is $10 more than their all-time low we saw last year. The wireless headphones offer a noticeable step up in performance from the Beats Solo 3, delivering more detailed sound and support for lossless audio over the included USB-C or 3.5mm cable. They also provide up to 50 hours of battery life, plus comfortable memory foam ear cushions, though they don’t include active noise cancellation. Read our review.

Beats Studio Pro

The latest Beats Studio Pro feature improved noise cancellation, sound quality, and comfort. They also support lossless audio over USB-C and offer native support for a range of iOS and Android features like other Beats headphones. Read our review.

Where to Buy:

The best for workout-friendly earbuds

The Beats Powerbeats Fit are my go-to earbuds for working out, and they’re $160 during Prime Day. I never have to worry about them falling out of my ears, thanks to their wingtip design, and they work equally well with Apple and Android devices, and they sound great.

Shokz OpenRun Pro 2

The OpenRun Pro 2 are Shokz’s best bone conduction headphones yet, with better sound and more bass than their predecessor. Our reviewer Victoria Song praised their cozy fit as well as their USB-C charging (goodbye, proprietary charger!). Read our review.

If you don’t like the wingtip design of the Powerbeats Fit and want a few more features, the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 are a good step up — and they’re $180 during Prime Day. The ear hooks keep them securely in place, and the Pro 2 come with heart rate monitoring. While the case is on the big side because of the ear hooks, it supports wireless charging.

Update, June 23rd: Added new deals, including a discount for the Beats Studio Pro.

Kaleidescape’s movie player blows streaming, and your wallet, away

2026-06-18T19:03:00-04:00

The Strato E player (here with a Mini Terra Prime server on top of it) is smaller than a Blu-ray disc collection, but you can get a lot of 4K discs for $3,000.

We’ve lost something in the past 15 years. Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Apple; they’ve all convinced us that streaming is the best way to watch movies and shows at home. With everything at our fingertips, there’s no need to run to Blockbuster for the weekend’s entertainment, or wait for a DVD rental to arrive in the mail. And going to the movie theater is a luxury — one that keeps getting more expensive.

But we were, all of us, deceived. We traded quality for convenience. And while TVs have improved drastically, we feed them inadequate, bitrate-starved, internet-throttled streams that won’t let our fancy screens show their full potential. Blu-ray sales have plummeted, and even though 4K Blu-ray sales went up slightly last year, they’re never returning to what they were. Throughout all of that, I’ve always known there was a better way.

Kaleidescape Strato E player

Pros	Cons
High bitrate capability for visually lossless quality Atmos sounds clear and accurate Far superior to popular streaming apps	Incredibly pricey Limited internal storage Only supports expensive in-ecosystem storage

Where to Buy:

Kaleidescape gets movie files directly from the studios, encodes them at reference quality, and makes them available for download to its high-end media players and servers. They offer 4K Blu-ray quality, or better, without a disc, and the ease of streaming without the quality loss. But they’ve always been expensive — so expensive that even in my 20 years of reviewing AV systems I’ve never had the chance to use one. They’ve been the purview of pricey, custom-installed home theater spaces. But now, Kaleidescape has released its most affordable 4K movie player yet. Although, at $2,995, the term affordable is extremely relative.

The Strato E isn’t a streaming device. It has a built-in 480GB solid-state drive, which is enough to store five to six 4K movies, plus a USB port and an HDMI 2.1 port that handles both audio and video output. What makes Kaleidescape unique is that it’s not constrained by bitrate in the same way as streaming or even Blu-ray can be. 4K UHD discs have a maximum bitrate of 144Mbps, although most discs are limited to 128Mbps. That maximum is most important for movies with lots of action and detail, like Top Gun: Maverick, although even Maverick won’t be at that maximum for the entire movie.

The average throughput for a title on 4K Blu-ray is around 50Mbps. The max throughput on most streaming services is significantly lower — usually around 20Mbps — with an average of under 10Mbps. Sony Pictures Core, which has a max bitrate of 80Mbps, is an exception, but it’s only available on Sony devices. Compression can add artifacts to the signal, which can visually show as color banding or a loss of detail, especially in dark scenes, and can limit the dynamic range and spatiality of the audio.

Kaleidescape gets its movies directly from the studios and does its own encoding pass, allowing it to determine what bitrate the movie requires for each frame to be visually lossless. Movies with lots of action, detail, and color — like Maverick, Incredibles 2, and Mad Max: Fury Road — can hit a higher maximum bitrate than Blu-ray, and way higher than most streaming services.

Title	Average bitrate	Maximum bitrate	File size
Top Gun: Maverick	71Mbps	166Mbps	84.6GB
Incredibles 2	66.9Mbps	160Mbps	69.3GB
Mad Max: Fury Road	68Mbps	152Mbps	69.6GB
Godzilla vs. Kong	67.4Mbps	143Mbps	64.5GB
Pacific Rim	70.7Mbps	137Mbps	78.1GB
Ghostbusters (1984)	65Mbps	123Mbps	58.4GB

Against streaming, the Strato E was a big improvement in almost all situations. The spice-laden sand of Dune sparkled, and there was more devastatingly handsome detail in Oscar Isaac’s face than in the streamed version from HBO Max. When Paul first encounters Shai-Hulud in the darkness of the desert planet, the stream’s shadow detail gets crushed, and there can be banding artifacts from the compression. But because of the higher bitrate, the Kaleidescape doesn’t have those issues. Even though the scene is dark, the great worm is visible in the shadows. Compression artifacts inevitably pull me out of the story and the action, so when the image stays pristine, I’m able to stay immersed in the movie. It’s the great benefit of Kaleidescape: supporting the storytelling by faithfully presenting the material.

Fellow reviewer Dennis Burger noted in his review for SoundStage a drastic improvement in The Godfather Part II (a film he is very familiar with) over the stream from the Apple TV app, particularly in the natural grain structure. The extra bitrate likely helped the difficult task of causing the excessive film grain to look more organic. On the other hand, The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel found Ghostbusters to be noisier on Kaleidescape than the version he’s watched through Sony Pictures Core on his A95L.

For an audio comparison, I set up the new Bose Lifestyle Ultra system, which has good virtualized Atmos performance in my living room, but not as good as my discrete 5.1.2 SVS and Revel system with speakers on the ceiling. On the Bose, there’s still an audible difference between Kaleidescape and HBO Max, but the quality gap isn’t as wide as with my speakers.

The Strato E (top) has just a single HDMI port for video and audio, and both it and the Mini Terra Prime connect via Ethernet to a home network." data-portal-copyright="" />

The Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks on the Kaleidescape are also far better than you can get on streaming. Streaming delivers lossy audio via Dolby Digital Plus, while Kaleidescape uses lossless tracks with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio (same as 4K Blu-ray discs, although audio format is dependent on title). After level matching Dune on the Kaleidescape and through HBO Max, the lossless version has more presence and clarity in the height channels. The placement of sand encircling Paul as he gets his first unexpected dose of spice during the ornithopter rescue is more distinct on the Kaleidescape, instead of the more muted wash of sound I got from HBO Max.

Kaleidescape has the technical ability to surpass Blu-ray, but in practice it depends on the movie — and your home theater setup. When I compared the Kaleidescape versions of Mad Max: Fury Road and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to my 4K Blu-ray versions played on a $3,300 Magnetar UDP900 MKII, with both players going through an Onkyo TX-RZ30 receiver, it was hard to see any difference. And that’s to say it looked equally excellent with both. The colors on Mad Max might have been a touch more vibrant with the Kaleidescape version, but not enough to put it far ahead of the Blu-ray. The animated film Incredibles 2 looks amazing on the Strato E, with colors that really pop onscreen and no issue with artifacts during fast motion.

Movies with lots of motion, like Top Gun: Maverick, have less potential to exhibit artifacts because of the high bitrate capability of Kaleidescape." data-portal-copyright="" />

As you might expect from a movie player this expensive, the better your TV and sound system are, the more you’ll notice the differences between Kaleidescape and the competition. I tested the Kaleidescape while reviewing a series of higher-end TVs, including the TCL X11L, Hisense UR9, and Sony Bravia 7 II (Nilay used his Sony Bravia A95L). You won’t see as much benefit from a lower-end TV (but also, who is going to hook up a $3,000 movie player to a $1,000 TV?).

For this review, Kaleidescape loaned Nilay and me each a Strato E and a $9,995 Mini Terra Prime server. It has an 8TB SSD, increasing storage capacity to around 125 4K movies, and bringing the total cost of my review system to $12,990.

It’s important to put that price into context. After all, in case your yacht doesn’t have room for all the Blu-rays you might want to watch at sea, the company also has a package deal that includes a player, every 4K title that’s available on the Kaleidescape store when you buy it (2,845, at last count), and two 120TB servers (enough to download all of them) for $127,995. That price doesn’t cover future releases, just what’s in the store now, so expect it to go up over time. So $2,995 for the Strato E is a steal!

The collections view will show movie store suggestions, newly downloaded titles, paused movies, and selections that have already been watched.

" data-portal-copyright="" /> Titles downloaded to the Kaleidescape Strato E (and connected server, if there is one) can be viewed in an alphabetical list.

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You can buy or rent movies, TV shows, and concert films from the Kaleidescape store, and they can be added to or removed from your local storage as necessary to make room for other titles. 4K movies range from $5 to $40 for purchase. Regular rentals are $6 to $10, but usually $8, and if you decide to purchase them during the rental period, you’ll get a credit of half the rental price toward the purchase. Premium rentals, which are generally movies still in theaters, are up to $30 and are not eligible for the purchase discount. On gigabit internet (the minimum Kaleidescape recommends), downloading a movie took around 10 to 15 minutes. It’s not the instant gratification of streaming something from Disney Plus, Prime Video, or Netflix, but still quick enough that I could set up the living room and get some snacks ready for the family before sitting down to watch.

Unfortunately, high-fidelity video takes up a lot of storage space, and that’s the biggest downside of the Kaleidescape system. The 480GB drive on the Strato E only has enough room for around six 4K movies, so its drive fills up fast, and there’s no way to upgrade the onboard storage. (The $3,995 Strato V has a 960GB drive, both optical and coaxial digital audio out, and comes with a remote.) If you want more, you can buy one or more of Kaleidescape’s Terra servers, which start at $4,995 with an 8TB platter hard drive (also non-upgradeable) and can stream to multiple Strato players on your network. You can’t use your own server, either, and adding a server actually disables the internal storage in the Strato player.

When asked why there’s no ability to upgrade a Strato player or server’s storage, Kaleidescape director of technical marketing André Floyd said, “It is much more straightforward, once someone has filled a Terra server, to add another server to their system and simply continue to add downloads to their system. Removing drives full of content and throwing them away to make room for larger drives and then re-downloading all the original content is not a supported operation.”

As for why you can’t keep using the internal storage on the Strato player when you add a server, Floyd said it’s because each Strato system has a four-server limit, and each player’s storage, if left on, would count toward that limit. In a household with one server and three players, “When that first server becomes full, the owner needs to determine which player(s) to disable the storage for and then re-download any content that was stored there onto the new server when it is online. Having to figure that all out is not the experience we want to provide for our customers.”

When a Strato E is grouped with a server, the covers view becomes available." data-portal-copyright="" />

The Kaleidescape Strato E really is a pleasure to use. That focus on customer experience does differentiate Kaleidescape from the most obvious, and much less expensive, alternative: a NAS full of Blu-ray rips running a service like Plex or Jellyfin. It takes time and technical know-how to set one up and rip your discs (or acquire media in other ways), and there can be playback issues with high-res files. And NAS boxes and hard drives are still expensive — granted, nowhere near as expensive as a Strato E or Kaleidescape’s add-on media servers, but storage isn’t cheap these days. It’s fair to say Kaleidescape’s target audience doesn’t mind spending money to avoid building and maintaining their own NAS setups. They just want to add a system (or, more accurately, have their custom installer add a system) that is easy to use and delivers the best quality they can get.

Back when Kaleidescape first started in the early aughts, it was a way to rip and store digital versions of your movie collection onto local servers, displayed on an attractive user interface. The DVD Copy Control Association was not happy with that and sued Kaleidescape for breach of contract in 2004. After a lengthy process that included a decision for Kaleidescape and an appeal ruling in favor of the DVD CCA, the two sides came to a joint settlement in 2014. That led to the current incarnation of Strato players and Terra servers, first available in 2015. Kaleidescape gets the movie files directly from the studios, encodes them at the highest bitrate necessary for each title at different resolutions, and makes them available on the Kaleidescape store for purchase and download. This allows Kaleidescape to keep a closed, piracy-free, and controlled system, and is surely part of the reason you have to buy Kaleidescape’s servers instead of using your own.

That industry connection is also why, while it’s still possible to scan your physical disc collection to your Kaleidescape, it only gives you a discount, not a free download. And some discounts are only a couple bucks — pricing is set by the studios and distributors. Kaleidescape will also only recognize DVDs and HD Blu-rays for discounts on the standard and 1080p formats. If a 4K disc is recognized, it would be catalogued as an HD Blu-ray and receive the corresponding credit. (Kaleidescape’s Floyd says this is “because Kaleidescape never made a player that was capable of reading 4K Blu-ray discs, so we have never added the codes for 4K discs.”) And no luck if you have your movies through Movies Anywhere (remember that?); Kaleidescape is not currently a partner with the service.

The Strato E player and Mini Terra Prime server have black perforated steel enclosures with blue LEDs that glow inside (and can be turned off in the menu)." data-portal-copyright="" />

If you don’t already have an excellent sound system and TV, investing more in those pieces, with a cheaper Blu-ray player, will provide a better overall experience than adding a Kaleidescape to a midrange setup. You could get a Blu-ray player like the Panasonic DP-UB820 for $600 or Sony UBPX700U for $330 and get basically the same video and audio presentation quality. Although part of the appeal of Kaleidescape products over physical discs is the space they save. I don’t have the room in my LA apartment to have more than a fraction of my Blu-ray collection readily accessible; most of it is stored in the garage.

For AV enthusiasts, the real benefit of the Strato E is that it offers most of the convenience of a streaming service without the concessions. Video and audio quality are just flat-out better, and I can’t see streaming catching up anytime soon. The infrastructure that streaming companies would need to store and deliver the larger, higher-quality files would drive up subscription prices, and people wouldn’t be happy about that. Especially since many probably wouldn’t even notice or care about the difference.

For those of us who do, though, the Strato E delivers an incredible experience. It’s an amazing piece of AV gear and I’m happy I’ve finally had the chance to live with it for a while, but it’s such an extravagant purchase I can’t imagine getting one for myself. In the Kaleidescape’s absence I’ll need to free my Blu-ray collection from the garage and find shelf space where it can live again. The movie enthusiast who has the means to get a player that costs as much as or close to the price of their TV will love the Strata E. And every time I stream a movie on Netflix I’ll be reminded of what I’m missing.

Photography by John Higgins / The Verge

The three sets of earbuds I reach for

2026-06-09T18:21:07-04:00

I listen to a lot of earbuds, but these three I actually use all the time. | Photo: John Higgins / The Verge

I have been an audio reviewer for 20 years. My time as a freelance headphones panelist at Wirecutter, and the multitude of reviews I’ve written for sites like Reviewed, Digital Trends, IGN, and now The Verge, have given me the chance to listen to hundreds of earbuds. Some were truly excellent, and some were pretty hideous. Honestly, they tend to blur together as I move from new earbud to new earbud. But when something worthwhile comes around, it gets and holds my attention. These are the three sets that I reach for most often right now.

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro

Score: 8

Pros	Cons
Incredible call quality Great ANC Useful case screen	Default sound profile needs tweaking

Where to Buy:

For ages I relied on the Apple AirPods Pro — first the Pro 2 and then the Pro 3. But the new $170 Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro have been my go-to earbuds for the past month. I’m using them to listen to Lofi Girl as I write this. Their sound quality is really good after you use the Soundcore app to fine-tune the frequency response (out of the box the bass is too high, which causes vocals to get muddy and snare hits to be muffled). They fit my ears securely, and since they have an IP55 rating, I could see myself using them on a run in a pinch — though I prefer running with my Powerbeats Fit buds (see below). And they also support the LDAC high-res audio codec with supported devices (sorry, iPhone users).

Noise cancellation is also top-notch and comparable to more expensive earbuds like the Apple AirPods Pro 3 (which we’ll get to in a few paragraphs). The Soundcore buds let in a little more midrange, but handle low-end drone with no problem.

But call quality is the Liberty 5 Pro’s greatest strength. I’ve never heard earbuds that block out as much ambient noise, allowing me to sound clear on my calls and in meetings. Whether it’s a squawk from the family parrot that’s a couple feet to the left of my desk or the Los Angeles traffic as I walk around my neighborhood, nothing distracts my conversation partners from what I’m saying. And many don’t even believe it when I tell them the amount of noise around me.

The Liberty 5 Pro have some nice extra features, including voice controls, AI translation (with the Soundcore app), and a case with a 0.96-inch TFT touchscreen and wireless charging. For $60 more, the Liberty 5 Pro Max’s case adds recording with an AI transcription and summary, but they cost $230 and the earbuds are exactly the same as the 5 Pro. I wouldn’t bother with the upgrade unless you really need to record and transcribe things regularly.

Battery life with ANC on is below average, listed as only 6.5 hours (or a total of 28 hours with the case), and that number goes down if you’re using features like hi-res audio. I find myself needing to charge the case every couple days.

It also takes some finagling to switch the earbuds between paired devices. I regularly use my work MacBook, my iPhone, and my iPad during the day, and the earbuds can only be connected to two at a time. So I find myself regularly needing to disconnect from one to allow them to work on another.

AirPods Pro 3

Score: 9

Pros	Cons
Improved ANC and sound Longer battery Standalone workout tracking Live translation Same price IP57 Better fit Camera remote control is handy!	If you’re hoping for traditional foam ear tips, this isn’t that

Where to Buy:

In those cases I fall back to my Apple AirPods Pro 3. When I’m using Apple products, I don’t have to think about them. I just take them out of their case and they work. When I open my iPad to watch a show on HBO Max or the Dropout app, the AirPods will seamlessly switch over to the new device and alert me with a pop-up notification.

The AirPods sound a bit better than the Soundcore, although it’s not a drastic difference. And they still deliver some of the best noise-canceling performance available.

They also have a plethora of features that only work within the Apple ecosystem. Live translation on supported iPhones works decently, and their case supports magnetic wireless charging. They have Find My for if (when) you lose them, and even a hearing test. There’s also a heart rate sensor that integrates with the iOS Fitness app, and the buds are now IP57 (the Soundcore are IP55, so their water protection isn’t as strong). Although, even with the heart rate sensor and IP rating, I don’t like using the AirPods as workout earbuds for one specific reason.

Even though fit has been improved on the AirPods Pro 3 compared to the Pro 2, I still have issues with it. It’s not a concern as I sit at my desk, but a light jog or run and they start to work their way out of my ears. Earbuds fit is such a personal thing, since everyone’s ears are shaped differently, but for me, Apple has never nailed it. I also don’t like the stem design, to put it mildly. It’s iconic, sure, but also exceedingly frustrating to use when I’m running. I’m constantly jostling them loose as I try to change the track, adjust volume, or switch to a different ANC mode.

Beats Powerbeats Fit

Score: 8

Pros	Cons
Excellent, secure fit Solid sound Good ANC and transparency	H1 chip limits Apple features No wireless charging on case

Where to Buy:

That’s where the Beats Powerbeats Fit come in. Because of their wingtip design, I never worry about them coming out of my ears, and yet they’re comfortable throughout my workout. The in-ear design also keeps out of the way of sunglasses, which is one reason I prefer them over the ear hooks of the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2. And even though Beats are owned by Apple, the earbuds are not locked into the Apple ecosystem. They can connect to Android phones and still offer the same functionality with the Beats app.

There’s still a drawback to the Fit as workout earbuds: their IPX4 rating. I don’t sweat profusely near my ears when I work out, and I live in the dry Los Angeles climate, so humidity and rain aren’t huge issues for me. I’d be cautious about running in heavy rain, but they should still be okay in most situations.

The past year has seen an influx of open earbuds. They offer great environmental awareness since they don’t go fully into your ears — but they don’t sound as good as in-ears because they don’t go fully into your ears. It affects the bass response in particular, but also the overall balance. I don’t think the tradeoff is worth it, and the Powerbeats Fit have a fine transparency mode when I need to pay attention to my surroundings. If you don’t like putting things in your ear holes though, something like the Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 are a good option.

Most people don’t have earbuds coming into and out of their lives as I do, and most people don’t need or want three different sets of $200-ish earbuds. If I had to pick one, I’d choose the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro. Not only are they the cheapest of the bunch, they’re versatile, sound great, and have incredible call quality. With their IP55 rating, you could even use them for workouts. All three are excellent earbuds, and if you feel the need to stay within the Apple ecosystem, the AirPods Pro 3 are a good choice. But to me, the Soundcore Liberty Pro 5 are the standout.

Where was tvOS 27 at WWDC?

2026-06-09T04:07:55-04:00

For a new tvOS, we really need a new Apple TV. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Every year, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference gives us a first look at what’s coming next to the company’s many operating systems. But missing from today’s keynote, apart from a single graphic listing all current Apple OSes next to a big “27,” was any mention of tvOS.

The whole structure of this year’s WWDC was different, with features delineating the presentation structure instead of sections for each OS update. But there were still major mentions for macOS 27, iOS 27, and iPadOS 27. They’re getting Siri AI, customizable transparency options for Liquid Glass, and some new child safety features. Even visionOS was included with new Siri AI features. tvOS was conspicuously absent, including from Apple’s website.

In a recent announcement of upcoming accessibility features, Apple mentioned larger text support is coming to tvOS, allowing those with low vision to increase onscreen text size (Amazon announced its version of this for the Fire TV Stick HD in April). But I was expecting that to be a precursor to more reveals during WWDC as opposed to an utter absence.

The only mention of tvOS during WWDC." data-portal-copyright="" />

My hope was a more integrated Apple Home experience with the Apple TV 4K, where it could act as the hub for your entire smart home. Right now it’s possible to view camera feeds or activate different scenes that are set up, but it’s more limited than the interaction you can get on an iPad or iPhone. And it’s far behind the TV integration from Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

The main limitation is the hardware. A new Apple TV has been rumored for a couple of years, since the most recent Apple TV 4K came out in 2022. And according to Mark Gurman, the new Apple TV is basically ready to go, which could be good news. To support Siri AI, or even Apple Intelligence, the Apple TV needs to be more powerful (the A15 Bionic chip in the Apple TV originally came out nearly five years ago). The effect is being felt across Apple’s lineup, with older Watches, iPads, and even some Macs being aged out. So a new device that can run the features highlighted during WWDC and bring Apple TV up to the same level as Amazon and Google is sorely needed.

There’s a chance something interesting will show up when a tvOS 27 beta becomes available. As I write this, other OS 27 developer betas are becoming available, including iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 (and a waitlist for Siri AI). So far, though, my Apple TV 4K’s software updates page sits dormant. And without a current Apple TV that is actually capable of running the new Siri, we’ll likely be waiting until the end of the year for anything significant to come for tvOS.

Correction, June 9th: An earlier version of this article mentioned public betas, when it is developer betas that are becoming available. Public betas will not be available until next month.

WiiM expands its whole-home ecosystem with a new soundbar

2026-06-03T17:12:51-04:00

The $479 WiiM Bar includes a 2.1-inch touchscreen on its front. | Image: WiiM

WiiM, the audio company that’s challenged the idea that audiophile-level performance requires a small loan, is expanding its whole-home ecosystem with the WiiM Bar, which releases in July. Much like its other speakers and audio components, the WiiM Bar supports a bunch of streaming options and expandability at an affordable price — in this case, $479.

The company’s first soundbar has a 3.0.2 Atmos configuration with a total of eight drivers — three front mid-woofers, three front tweeters, and two up-firing full-range height drivers — paired with four passive radiators. That configuration can be expanded to 3.1.2 with the addition of a WiiM Sub Pro for $449, or to a 5.1.2 surround setup by also adding two of the company’s wireless Sound or Sound Lite speakers. It’s compatible with both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and includes room correction, dialogue enhancement, and a night mode.

While most current soundbar designs from companies like Sonos, Bose, and Samsung are sleek yet understated, the WiiM Bar stands out with a 2.1-inch round touch display front and center. The Bar isn’t the first WiiM device to incorporate a touchscreen; they can also be found on the WiiM Ultra streamer, WiiM Amp Ultra streaming amp, and WiiM Sound speaker. I’m all for having a display that shows things like volume level, playback information, or album art, and I like that it also offers another way to control the soundbar. But I rarely find myself near a soundbar while I’m listening to it, so I’m not sure how useful that part is. There are also illuminated capacitive buttons for volume, play and pause, and source switching.

The Bar can integrate into an existing WiiM multi-room system. It can play audio from more than 20 services from within the WiiM Home app, or connect with Google Cast Audio, Spotify Connect, Qobuz Connect, Tidal Connect, and Amazon Music Cast. There’s also local network support with DLNA or Roon. One major exclusion is Apple AirPlay, which hasn’t been supported by any WiiM products since the Amp was released in November 2023.

Connections include HDMI eARC, optical, line in, Ethernet, and a USB-A port that is configurable as audio in, audio out, or for media storage. There’s an included remote control if you prefer one to the app or controls on the soundbar.

I fully expect the Bar, releasing in July, is just the beginning. If WiiM follows its previous strategy, we’re sure to get a step-up option later this year or early next. But even if we don’t, the $479 WiiM Bar looks to be an awfully good deal from a company that knows how to make great-sounding products.

Sony’s first RGB TV is a statement piece

2026-05-27T12:48:23-04:00

The first wave of RGB LED TVs are fighting for their spot in the TV hierarchy. They need to outperform OLED TVs in brightness and color (because they’ll never match OLED’s contrast), and they need to outperform regular LED TVs in everything (because their price is so much higher). It’s now time for Sony to take a swing with the Bravia 7 II, which is out alongside the flagship Bravia 9 II. Both pair RGB LED backlighting with Sony’s always top-notch processing.

RGB TVs like the Bravia 7 II use red, green, and blue LEDs instead of a field of all-blue or white LEDs for the backlight. This allows for an RGB LED TV to display more, and brighter, colors without as much reliance on its color filter. Sony drives each LED individually, giving its TV fine control of the color mix.

Sony Bravia 7 II RGB LED TV

Score: 8

Pros	Cons
Great color accuracy Cool lenticular screen stand	Pricier than competitors Only two 4K/120Hz HDMI

Where to Buy:

The biggest potential drawback of RGB LED technology is color crosstalk, which is when one color bleeds into the color next to it. It happens because the red, green, and blue LEDs provide light for a zone that includes multiple pixels. If the majority of those pixels are supposed to be red, then the backlight will create red light and rely on the color filter to carve out the correct colors for the remaining pixels in that zone. But sometimes that red will slightly affect the pixels that aren’t red, especially if they’re a lighter color or white.

Sony Bravia 7 II specs

Display type: RGB LED

HDR formats: Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG

OS: Google TV

HDMI inputs: 2 x HDMI 2.1 (one with eARC); 2 x HDMI 2.0

Audio support: Dolby Atmos, DTS: X

Gaming features: 4K/120Hz, ALLM, VRR

Sizes available (inches): 50, 55, 65, 75, 85, 98

So far, examples of color crosstalk are most apparent in test patterns, and while running the Bravia 7 II through a barrage of tests, I could see evidence of it. A green rectangle would subtly create a halo into the space around it — and it happened with a bunch of colors, not just green.

But test patterns are designed to bring out flaws. And apart from those unusual conditions, I only saw color crosstalk on a handful of occasions, with none of them being significant. The most noticeable was with the app tiles on my Apple TV. The blue of the Prime Video tile slightly crept into the white of the text, and on the NASA app tile the emblem’s text had a red tint.

In movies and TV shows, there was little crosstalk to be found. I could nitpick and wax poetic about the red of Snoke’s throne room causing a minor shift to his skin tone in a few frames of The Last Jedi when I paused and inspected the pixels from a foot away, but the reality is it doesn’t matter. When I sat back and watched, there wasn’t a point during The Last Jedi, or Mad Max: Fury Road, or the F1 Canadian Grand Prix where I felt pulled out of the action by color crosstalk.

In fact, in Professional picture mode, the Bravia 7 II produces a beautiful picture with all content. Along with color crosstalk essentially being a non-issue, colors and grayscale in SDR are remarkably accurate, apart from some inaccuracies in red, which is oversaturated. Lighter grays in HDR are a bit brighter than they should be as well, but it’s not too noticeable, and colors look vibrant. The Bravia 7 II is also capable of 2,200 nits of brightness. It doesn’t match the TCL X11L light cannon, or even the LG G5 OLED from last year, but it’s plenty of brightness for an average living room. And since the majority of content is still mastered at 1,000 nits, Sony’s latest still has plenty of brightness headroom.

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One of the benefits of RGB backlighting is the ability to display more colors, and in testing, the Sony measured 88 percent of BT.2020. There’s a limited amount of content that actually uses those colors, so while the potential is impressive, it won’t matter unless you’re watching something like Planet Earth II that’s specifically mastered for it. The green jungles of Ecuador are lush and verdant, and the shimmery blues and cyans of hummingbirds pop off the screen. It looks similar to the Hisense UR9 on those scenes, although overall the Sony is far more accurate. Still, until we get a lot more movies and TV shows that are mastered in BT.2020 instead of P3, there’s little benefit.

When using Professional mode on the Sony, there’s an interesting menu option available that allows you to change the backlight from using color to white light. If the slight color bleed on the Apple TV app tiles bothers you, switching it from color to white will remove the problem. But doing so also affects the color gamut coverage, decreasing it from 88 percent to 73 percent of BT.2020 and down to 91 percent of P3. The inclusion of the option is curious, as I’m not sure what a useful application for it is apart from the novelty of seeing the performance difference between color and white backlight LEDs.

Beyond picture performance, the 7 II has some cool, and some not so cool, design choices. Starting with the cool is the pedestal stand, which incorporates a lenticular screen on its front that causes cables hanging behind it to disappear from view while still presenting a mostly transparent look. It’s a nerdy and fun solution to cable management.

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A not so cool choice was to still only have two HDMI inputs support 4K at 120 Hz, one of which is the eARC port. As other TV manufacturers are including support across all four inputs, this is a miss from Sony. It doesn’t make or break a TV, but if you’re planning to connect a soundbar or AVR to the eARC HDMI port and want to connect more than one game console or PC for high refresh rate gaming, it’s not possible.

The Bravia 7 II also has a pretty reflective screen. Reflected lights don’t cause as dramatic a rainbow effect as I’ve seen on TCL and Hisense TVs, but the screen doesn’t mitigate the light much. The Bravia 9 II has a non-glare, low-reflection panel, so if you have a room with lamps or ceiling lights you’re concerned about, that’s the better choice — for at least an extra $1,000.

Which brings us to the cost. Sony has always priced its TVs a bit more than other manufacturers, and that trend continues. The 65-inch Bravia 7 II for my review is $2,600. That’s $600 more than the Hisense’s top-end RGB LED TV, the UR9 (once Hisense slashed the price after release), and $500 more than the Samsung R85H. I haven’t had a chance to closely look at the R85H yet, but I can say even for $600 more, the accuracy and far better processing of the Sony Bravia 7 II is worth it over the Hisense.

The Bravia 7 II’s battery-powered remote is light and easy to use, but isn’t backlit.

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If I could control the daytime light in my room, I’d probably still opt for an OLED like the LG C6. Regardless of the RGB backlight tech, the Bravia 7 II (and every other RGB LED TV) is still an LCD TV. It handles blooming well, but can’t compete with the pixel-level control and deep contrast an OLED provides.

As more RGB LED TVs come out and get evaluated, we’ll have a better idea of how they perform with actual content and if the color crosstalk concerns are real or marketing subterfuge from competitors. But one or two things is certain: either color crosstalk isn’t an issue, or Sony has figured out a way to make it a non-issue with its processing. Even though there are nitpicks like the reflective screen and limited HDMI 2.1, the Bravia 7 II is an excellent TV with a beautiful picture.

Photography by John Higgins / The Verge