What Hi-Fi? Verdict
The ’Z4500 represents the pinnacle of what Sony is capable of right now, so it should come as no surprise that it’s simply stunning
Pros
- +
Builds on the already-impressive ’W4500 to create the best picture of any 46in TV we have yet seen
Cons
- -
The individual improvements aren’t as dramatic as £600 might suggest
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Knowing how good the Sony KDL-46W4500 is, we rather suspected that it might take a stable mate to knock it off its perch.
Enter, the '46Z4500, a set that's so high-end, it costs £600 more than the already premium W.
That extra chunk of change gets you Motionflow 200Hz, an increase in claimed contrast from 50,000:1 to 80,000:1, and a different speaker array that also boasts a built-in subwoofer.
There are subtle styling differences, too, which include a ‘floating' speaker grille and a return to the blue-tinted Midnight Sky finish.
Plenty of small improvements?
We think it's fair to say the Z is a better-looking set than its W brother, but does it perform better? Well, yes, but subtly so.
The headline spec is that enhanced refresh rate, which should result in better motion. However, the extra level of motion processing this makes available actually decreases motion realism.
The most solid performance comes when Motionflow is standard, but it's not a huge improvement over the great delivery of the W.
A more significant difference is the ever-so-slight extra richness to whites, which in isolation is almost impossible to spot. It actually serves to add a smidge of extra life to skintones.
The backlight is a little more even, too, which will please those who were disappointed with the 'W4500.
Subtle performance improvements
All these small improvements add up to a performance that subtly improves on that of its brother.
It has the subtlety to reproduce all the realism of The Duchess on Blu-ray, and the vibrancy to make Wall-E jump off the screen, while revealing more detail, punch and black depth than any other set of this size.
Even the Freeview tuner is improved, with a marginal increase in stability. The sound, however, doesn't seem quite to bring the advances that its 40in sibling enjoys.
Other than that, though, the improvements make a picture that just about justifies the price. It's too expensive to win against its size rivals, but if you're prepared to pay for the very best, this is it.
