Sony BDV-N590 review

Moving onto Blu-ray discs, the BDV-N590 had no trouble producing pin-sharp images with plenty of detail. Colours were accurate to our reference footage, there was plenty of shadow detail and motion was smooth. The system was also quick to load each disc, taking fewer than 20 seconds on average.

DVD up-scaling is automatic, with very few settings to adjust. It mostly focuses on edge smoothing, so images look softer than they might on other players, but it still coped well with our test discs – colours were faithful to the Blu-ray version of the same film and a reasonable amount of detail is preserved following the up-scaling process.

Sound quality was top notch, regardless of the volume setting. Even the most explosive action sequences sounded crisp and clear without becoming sharp and piercing, preserving subtle details amongst the chaos. Surround sound audio was enveloping, with no audible signs of gaps in the sound stage. Our only criticism was a lack of bass at the default settings, but a quick trip to the menus to increase its level soon sorted it out. Our only concern was the small range of picture and sound settings to tweak, meaning you’re limited to what your TV lets you change if you’re not happy with the Sony system’s defaults.

At £379, the BDV-N590 is one of the more expensive all-in-one systems we’ve seen this year, but it justifies the price with great sound quality, plenty of features and a gorgeous design. It lacks some of the more advanced picture and sound quality settings we saw from other manufacturers, so you’ll be reliant on your TV to adjust the image to suit your own taste, but with the right settings you’ll definitely get your money’s worth.