diff --git a/asyncstdlib/builtins.py b/asyncstdlib/builtins.py
index 5c8f54c..fa0690d 100644
--- a/asyncstdlib/builtins.py
+++ b/asyncstdlib/builtins.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
     Optional,
     Dict,
     Any,
+    cast,
 )
 import builtins as _sync_builtins
 
@@ -446,13 +447,11 @@ async def sorted(
         It is guaranteed to be worst-case O(n log n) runtime.
     """
     if key is None:
-        # TODO: is this a worthwhile optimisation?
-        try:
-            return _sync_builtins.sorted(iterable, reverse=reverse)  # type: ignore
-        except TypeError:
-            items: _sync_builtins.list[Any] = [item async for item in aiter(iterable)]
-            items.sort(reverse=reverse)
-            return items
+        if isinstance(iterable, Iterable):
+            return _sync_builtins.sorted(cast(Iterable[Any], iterable), reverse=reverse)
+        items: _sync_builtins.list[Any] = [item async for item in aiter(iterable)]
+        items.sort(reverse=reverse)
+        return items
     else:
         async_key = _awaitify(key)
         keyed_items = [(await async_key(item), item) async for item in aiter(iterable)]
diff --git a/unittests/test_builtins.py b/unittests/test_builtins.py
index 382fddd..55b0716 100644
--- a/unittests/test_builtins.py
+++ b/unittests/test_builtins.py
@@ -343,3 +343,29 @@ def collision_key(x: int) -> int:
     assert await a.sorted(values, key=awaitify(collision_key)) == sorted(
         values, key=collision_key
     )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("reverse", [False, True])
+@sync
+async def test_sorted_preserves_comparison_errors(reverse):
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        await a.sorted(iter([1, "two"]), reverse=reverse)
+
+
+@sync
+async def test_sorted_preserves_iteration_errors():
+    def records():
+        yield 1
+        raise TypeError("source failure")
+
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError, match="source failure"):
+        await a.sorted(records())
+
+
+@sync
+async def test_sorted_supports_indexed_sequences():
+    class Indexed:
+        def __getitem__(self, index):
+            return [3, 1, 2][index]
+
+    assert await a.sorted(Indexed()) == [1, 2, 3]