Anyone shopping from AVPasión’s 2026 awards list is choosing among winners that were not all tested the same way, and six of the 23 come from brands headquartered in China, whose makers operate under Chinese data-access laws. The Spanish audio-video publication released its annual picks on Saturday, covering 12 video and 11 audio categories. The LG OLED G6 took Best Smart TV, the Sony Bravia 9 II won Best Mini LED Smart TV for Cinema, and Samsung’s HW-Q990H won Best Soundbar. Winners from TCL, Hisense, XGIMI and Luxsin sit in the same list without any note about data jurisdiction.

AVPasión states some caveats itself. It did not fully analyze the Hisense 116UXQ, did not test the Samsung S93H directly, based its XGIMI Titan Noir Max verdict on a preview, and lists its reviews of the Technics EAH-A1000, Luxsin X8 and both Onkyo winners as pending. The Hisense C3 won a category in which it was the only lifestyle projector the site tested this year.

Seven AVPasión Winners Rest on Previews, Partial Testing or Pending Reviews

AVPasión names no jury and publishes no scoring system. It says the awards reflect its editorial team’s own measurements, testing and opinions, and that they go to specific products rather than brands. The article gives almost no numeric scores; it describes the G6 as a solid 9.5 across the board.

That makes the list a guide to one editorial team’s testing, not a head-to-head ranking. Winners such as the S93H, the 116UXQ and the Titan Noir Max reflect a choice to include products that were not fully tested, and the C3 won a category with no other tested entrant.

How Do True RGB Mini LED, Primary RGB Tandem OLED and QD-OLED Compare on Brightness?

The three flagship video winners reach their brightness through different hardware, and the published peak figures were not all produced the same way.

The LG G6 uses a Primary RGB Tandem 2.0 OLED panel, which stacks emitter layers to push highlights higher than standard OLED. TechRadar measured 2,471 nits of HDR peak brightness in Filmmaker mode but only 455 nits across a full white screen, and noted the set lacks HDR10+ support. The review also confirms a 165 Hz refresh rate and four HDMI 2.1 ports. A 65-inch G6 launched at $3,399.99 and a 55-inch at $2,499.99.

Samsung’s S99H, which AVPasión credits with about 2,800 nits in Filmmaker mode, uses a QD-OLED panel in its 55-, 65- and 77-inch sizes, while the 83-inch model uses a different panel type. The set still lacks Dolby Vision, a gap AVPasión marks down alongside its design and software.

The Sony Bravia 9 II is one of two True RGB TV series Sony introduced this year, with independently driven red, green and blue LEDs in its backlight. AVPasión says it exceeds 4,000 nits. Tom’s Guide, as relayed by TechTimes, measured 3,990 nits in a 10% test window, so the two figures reflect different conditions rather than a clear contradiction. The trade-off sits in the electronics: the same TechTimes report says Sony kept an older MediaTek chip, which limits the set to two HDMI 2.1 ports. What Hi-Fi reviewed the 65-inch at $3,600, $300 above the previous Bravia 9’s launch price.

Titan Noir Max Measured 4,320 Lumens at Engadget and Needs External Streamer

XGIMI’s Titan Noir Max won Best Home Cinema Projector, praised for its dual-iris system and glass lens and wide lens-shift range, on the strength of an AVPasión preview. Engadget has since published a full review that scored it 8.5 out of 10 at a price of nearly $6,000.

The iris is where the engineering trade-off shows. Engadget measured 4,320 lumens in Filmmaker mode, just over 5,000 lumens in a laser mode that sacrifices color accuracy, about 2,900 lumens with the dynamic iris engaged, and only 800 lumens with the iris fully closed. Contrast follows the same curve: about 2,000:1 at normal brightness, 4,500:1 with the dynamic iris and up to 6,000:1 with the iris at f7.0. Engadget also reported visible brightness pumping on scene changes, no Dolby Atmos support, and no built-in smart platform, so buyers need an external streaming device.

Hisense’s C3 won Best Lifestyle Projector. The triple-laser model is rated at 2,500 ANSI lumens, and Coolblue lists a 2000:1 contrast ratio along with a note that black tones can look less deep. It runs Hisense’s VIDAA smart platform. Retail pricing varies: JB Hi-Fi lists it at A$3,495 (approximately $2,371) in Australia, and Coolblue’s German site lists €1,189 (approximately $1,314).

Samsung HW-Q990H and Technics EAH-A1000 Win Audio Awards With Documented Limits

Samsung’s HW-Q990H keeps the previous year’s core features and adds Sound Elevation and Auto Volume, according to AVPasión. Samsung says Sound Elevation aims sound at the screen so dialogue seems to come from on-screen characters, and Auto Volume reduces sudden loudness jumps. The 11.1.4-channel system lists at $1,999.99 in the US. A Sound-Advice review of the HW-Q990H put the UK price at £1,599 (approximately $2,115), called Sound Elevation a software feature and the only obvious change from the prior model, and flagged occasionally bright dialogue, a four-component system that takes up more room, and Q Symphony features that work best with a recent Samsung TV.

The Technics EAH-A1000 won Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones. It uses 40 mm magnetic fluid drivers (1.6 in) with carbon fiber diaphragms and eight microphones, six feedforward and two feedback, for adaptive noise cancelling. Technics says the fluid fills the gap between voice coils and magnets, stabilizing vertical coil movement and reducing sideways wobble that adds distortion. Notebookcheck lists up to 40 hours with LDAC and noise cancelling on, while Expert Reviews cites 45 hours with noise cancelling on, so the figure depends on codec. The headphones cost £399 (approximately $528) in the UK. Expert Reviews, in its Oct. 29 review, called them superb but narrowly short of best in class and found that sudden movement, such as bus bumps, briefly disrupted noise cancelling.

Winners From TCL, Hisense, XGIMI and Luxsin Show Performance and Verification Gaps

Six winners come from brands headquartered in China: the TCL C7L and C8L, the Hisense 116UXQ and C3, the XGIMI Titan Noir Max and the Luxsin X8 DAC. TCL is one of China’s largest display-makers, Hisense is based in Qingdao, XGIMI is headquartered in Chengdu, and Luxsin’s maker filed an FCC equipment authorization as Shenzhen Luxsin Audio. AVPasión does not state the corporate origin of the R_volution media player winner; a French retailer identifies the French company Archisoft as its maker, so it is not counted among the six. Each of the six has at least one documented gap between claim and verification.

Performance gaps: the TCL C7L won Mini LED value with about 2,200 nits cited by AVPasión, while TCL lists up to 3,000 nits for the series. In the UK it starts at £1,099 (approximately $1,454) for the 55-inch and reaches £3,299 (approximately $4,363) for the 98-inch. The Hisense C3’s contrast and the Titan Noir Max’s iris limits are described above.

Benchmark reliability: the 116UXQ, an RGB Mini LED rated up to 8,000 nits, was not fully analyzed by AVPasión, so that rating has no independent confirmation in the site’s own work. The Luxsin X8 is marketed as the first DAC with AI-assisted parametric EQ, and Neowin’s review of the X8 repeats that positioning.

Ecosystem friction: the C3 relies on VIDAA, and the Titan Noir Max ships with no smart platform. The X8, which launched at $699, is controlled through a phone app or web browser, according to AVPasión, which adds a software channel that a passive DAC lacks.

What China’s National Intelligence Law Means for Six Chinese-Brand Winners

Readers weighing these six products should know the legal conditions their makers operate under, because those conditions do not depend on any privacy policy. China’s National Intelligence Law, passed in 2017, requires in Article 7 that organizations and citizens support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence work. Scholars dispute its reach: a 2019 legal report said overseas subsidiaries of Chinese companies could be covered on a literal reading, Huawei submitted a legal opinion that its overseas units are not, and a 2024 analysis called it far from clear that the article requires active information gathering.

The Data Security Law (2021) requires data handlers to provide data to authorities for national security and crime investigation, according to the Jamestown Foundation’s analysis of Article 35. The Cybersecurity Law, in force since 2017, separately obliges network operators to give technical support to security organs. These laws bind Chinese organizations whatever their privacy policies say. How far they reach products sold abroad is contested, and no source reviewed for this article documents a specific government request for data from any of these six products.

The data at stake varies by product. Smart TVs and projectors with their own operating system can collect viewing data through automatic content recognition (ACR), which the Texas complaints allege captures screen content as often as every 500 milliseconds. Texas obtained a temporary restraining order against Hisense on Dec. 17, 2025, and the company denies wrongdoing. Texas also sued TCL, which has not settled and has not admitted wrongdoing. The Titan Noir Max has no built-in smart platform, which narrows its ACR exposure, but its maker is subject to the same laws. The Luxsin X8’s app channel is the relevant data path, and no independent audit of its data practices turned up in research for this article. A WireScreen briefing dated May 28 said VIDAA, Hisense’s platform, reportedly runs on 30 million devices with no independent third-party audit publicly available.

ACR is not unique to Chinese brands. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced lawsuits against five manufacturers: Samsung, LG, Sony, Hisense and TCL. Samsung settled on Feb. 26, 2026, and LG reached a settlement in May 2026, both without admitting wrongdoing. The sources reviewed did not report settlements for Sony, Hisense or TCL. The difference for the six winners above is the added legal obligation to a government.

Practical steps reduce commercial exposure but do not remove the legal condition. Turn off ACR (on LG sets, it is the Live Plus setting) before connecting any smart TV or projector to the internet, put the device on an isolated guest Wi-Fi network, and use an external streamer for a projector that lacks a platform. A Northeastern University study found that opting out suppressed attributable ACR traffic on the LG, Amazon, Sony and VIDAA sets it tested, while Samsung and Vizio sets kept sending ACR-consistent traffic after opt-out; most of the traffic was encrypted, so the researchers could not confirm its contents. No setting changes what Chinese law requires of a manufacturer.

All 23 AVPasión 2026 Winners by Category

The table summarizes AVPasión’s full winners list.

Buyers Should Weigh Test Coverage, Measured Results and Data Jurisdiction Together

AVPasión’s list works best as a starting point for products that were tested, and Engadget’s measurements of the Titan Noir Max, TechRadar’s of the G6 and What Hi-Fi’s pricing and Dolby Vision findings show where independent data now exists. Seven winners rest on previews, partial testing or a pending review. Six winners from TCL, Hisense, XGIMI and Luxsin come from Chinese-headquartered makers subject to Chinese data-access laws on top of any commercial data collection, and AVPasión’s list does not discuss corporate ownership or data policies. The practical decision framework is three questions: was this exact product tested, do independent measurements match the claimed numbers, and are you comfortable with the maker’s legal jurisdiction after disabling every tracking setting you can find. Samsung, LG and Sony were also named in the Texas ACR suits, so the same settings checks apply to their winners.

Currency conversions are approximate and use European Central Bank reference rates from Nov. 13, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did AVPasión choose its 2026 winners?

AVPasión says its awards reflect its editorial team’s own measurements, testing and opinions and go to specific products, not brands. It names no jury and publishes no scoring system. Most video products were analyzed in-house, with exceptions for near-identical models or items it did not fully analyze.

Are TCL, Hisense, XGIMI and Luxsin required to share data with the Chinese government?

Chinese law imposes cooperation duties on Chinese organizations, including National Intelligence Law Article 7, Article 35 of the Data Security Law and the Cybersecurity Law’s technical-assistance obligations. These apply regardless of a company’s privacy policy, though scholars dispute how far they reach overseas subsidiaries, and no consumer setting removes them. Whether any specific request has been made for these products’ data is not publicly documented in the sources reviewed.

Do Samsung, LG and Sony TVs also collect viewing data?

ACR is a common smart TV feature. Texas sued five TV makers, including Samsung, LG, Sony, Hisense and TCL, over how it was collected and disclosed, and Samsung and LG settled without admitting wrongdoing. The setting to switch it off differs by brand and model year.

Does the Titan Noir Max need a separate streaming device?

Yes. Engadget found no built-in smart TV service, so Netflix and Disney+ require an external streaming device such as an Apple TV 4K or a Google TV stick.