The Hisense U8N wowed us, earning our Editors’ Choice award for its stunning picture quality and excellent value. It isn’t Hisense’s flagship TV, though—that designation belongs to the U9N, which features an eye-catching design, a 4.1.2-channel speaker system, and promises to get even brighter than the U8N. It offers fantastic color performance and picture quality, but at $2,999.99 for the 75-inch model we tested, the U9N is much pricier than the U8N ($1,999.99 for 75 inches) and it isn’t available in smaller screen sizes. It’s worth considering as a home theater centerpiece, but the U8N presents a better value, and thus remains our Editors’ Choice for midrange TVs. If you’re willing to spend more, the LG Evo G4 OLED ($4,599.99 for 77 inches) is our top premium pick for its perfect black levels, lifelike color, sub-millisecond input lag, and bezel-less design that begs to be mounted on a wall. Design: Tapered, Silver FlairThe U9N bucks the current trend among flagship TVs embracing minimalist style in favor of a slightly flashier look. The screen is framed by a narrow gray metal bezel with sides that extend back at an angle, giving the TV a trapezoidal cross-section (as viewed from the top). Both side edges hold a long, narrow speaker grille recess. While these grilles run the length of each side, the drivers within are relatively small and positioned near the top, so the rest of the recesses are for visual flair. It’s certainly a bit more eye-catching than most modern TVs that try to show off the screen and only the screen, but the matte finish on the bezel keeps it from being distracting when you’re actually watching TV. A small bump under the bottom bezel holds an infrared sensor and a far-field microphone array.
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(Credit: Will Greenwald)
All connections, except the power cable port, are situated on the left side of the back of the TV, facing left. They include four HDMI ports (two 4K144Hz, one eARC), two USB ports, an optical audio output, 3.5mm ports for composite video input, service, and stereo audio output (a headphone jack), an Ethernet port, and an antenna/cable connector. The power cable port sits on the right side of the back of the TV.
(Credit: Will Greenwald)
The included remote is a rectangular gray wand almost identical to the U8N’s remote, with a circular, chrome navigation pad near the center. Power, input, profile, and settings buttons sit above the pad, along with dedicated service buttons for Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, Tubi, YouTube, and a programmable favorite button. A pinhole microphone and a Google Assistant button also sit near the top. Volume and channel rockers reside below the navigation pad alongside menu and playback controls. Half of the buttons are backlit and light up when you pick up the remote.
Like the U8N and most of Hisense’s other TVs, the U9N uses Google TV. It’s a very capable platform that supports all major streaming services including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Crunchyroll, Disney+, Netflix, Twitch, and YouTube, along with local computer and mobile device streaming over Apple AirPlay, Google Cast, and Miracast/WiDi. It also provides hands-free access to Google Assistant thanks to built-in far-field microphones. The U9N features Wi-Fi 6E for its networking and streaming features.
(Credit: Will Greenwald)
Picture Quality: Very Bright Picture (Under the Right Conditions)The Hisense U9N is a 4K QLED TV with a 144Hz refresh rate. It supports high dynamic range (HDR) content in Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HDR10+. It includes an ATSC 3.0 tuner for 1080p and 4K over-the-air broadcasts.We test TVs using a Klein K-10A colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G signal generator, and Portrait Displays’ Calman software. Hisense claims the U9N has a peak brightness of up to 5,000 nits (or 4,000 nits for the 75-inch model we tested), but that doesn’t pan out with our usual tests. The 75U9N produces a peak brightness of 2,317 nits with an 18% white field in HDR Theater mode and 2,630 nits in HDR Filmmaker mode, but dropping to a 10% field pushes those numbers up to 2,979 and 3,364. That’s actually a bit lower than the 65-inch U8N using our standard tests, but still extremely bright. The TV can be coaxed into putting out 5,000 nits of light for short periods under different testing conditions, exceeding Hisense’s promise for this screen size, but in terms of sustained peak brightness, the U9N stands next to the U8N at 2,630 nits.
Black levels are extremely low at 0.001cd/m^2, though not perfect like the black levels of OLED TVs such as the LG G4 Evo or the Samsung S95D, or Samsung’s flagship QLED TVs like the QN90D. The U9N still shows an incredibly high effective contrast ratio of 2,630,000:1 thanks to lower black levels than the U8N (0.007cd/m^2). Like all LED TVs, some light bloom is noticeable around certain bright objects against dark backgrounds, but it isn’t very distracting. The black letterboxing above and below a movie, for example, might show a little bit of haze along the edges of bright scenes, though not a significant amount.
(Credit: PCMag)
The above charts show the U9N’s color levels with an SDR signal in Theater Day mode compared against Rec.709 broadcast color standards, and with an HDR signal in HDR Filmmaker mode compared against DCI-P3 digital cinema standards. SDR colors are nearly perfect, with red reaching just a bit beyond the usual saturation levels. HDR colors are also excellent, extending past the DCI-P3 color space without significantly skewing. Magentas run slightly warm, but all other colors and whites are spot-on.BBC’s Dynasties looks fantastic on the U9N. In the “Lion” episode, the sunny savanna appears lifelike thanks to the TV’s brightness, and shadow details like the contours of a lioness silhouetted against the sun and the leaves of trees silhouetted against a stormy sky can be clearly discerned without looking washed out, and even retain some color in the darkness. Tan and white lion fur looks crisp, while the blacks of noses and ears display just as much detail. This is a case where, even if the U9N’s contrast ratio isn’t “infinite” like on OLED TVs, its extreme brightness and extremely low black levels still produce a stunning picture.The party scenes in The Great Gatsby also look impressive on the U9N. The cuts, contours, and textures of black suits can be clearly discerned while still looking very sharp. The whites of shirts, balloons, and lights pop out brightly, while highlight details like cloth textures are preserved and not blown out. Skin tones appear natural, varied, and saturated against the stark extremes. I also noticed very little light bloom along the edges of the letterboxed picture.HDR demonstration footage on the Spears & Munsil Ultra HD benchmark disc looks similarly excellent on the U9N. Sunny landscapes are vivid and realistic, retaining detail everywhere from dark shadows to bright clouds. Shots of brightly lit, colorful objects against completely black backgrounds stand out impressively, and while some light bloom can be seen along the edges, it’s usually modest and doesn’t produce a dreaded fog of light bleeding into the blackness.
(Credit: Will Greenwald)
Even excellent TV speakers can typically be replaced with a soundbar for more power, dynamic range, directional imaging, and general audio quality, so we don’t normally test the built-in sound systems in TVs. The U9N’s speakers are notable, however, since they form a 4.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos-compatible system that includes side-firing and upward-firing drivers. It should provide a more immersive listening experience than most other TVs, though a good Atmos soundbar will likely put out more boom and directionality, especially if paired with rear satellites and a subwoofer.Native 144Hz for GamingThe U9N is loaded with gaming features, including support for 144Hz along with variable refresh rate (VRR) and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro certification. However, we were unable to perform our standard input lag measurements on the TV due to testing conditions at the Hisense site where we evaluated it (all other tests were unimpeded). For a similar model’s performance, the Hisense U8N showed an input lag of 7.4 milliseconds in Game mode during our in-lab testing, and last year’s U8K had a latency of 6.6ms, both of which fall below our 10ms threshold to consider a TV to be good for gaming. These numbers should only be taken as reference regarding the U9N, though; we can’t confidently say whether its gaming performance is comparable.Verdict: A Compelling and Costly FlagshipHisense has produced a truly impressive big-screen TV with the U9N, which is worthy of being called the company’s flagship for its picture quality, features, and eye-catching design. That said, the U8N is comparable in many ways, including brightness, for a much lower price. With that in mind, the U8N remains our Editors’ Choice winner for reasonably priced QLED TVs, but the U9N is definitely worth a look if you want a big screen with its own style and a particularly big built-in sound system. If you’re willing to spend top dollar, however, we also recommend the LG Evo G4 OLED. It isn’t nearly as bright as the U9N, but its OLED panel produces perfect black levels, its minimalist design is ideal for wall mounting, and it’s one of the fastest TVs available for gaming.
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