Guy Martin
Second Unit
- Joined
- Nov 29, 1998
- Messages
- 347
Hello All!
As some of you may recall I was looking to buy a Sony 4ES just a few months back, especially since as a minor functionary of Sony-owned Columbia Pictures I am able to purchase at the employee price (nearly half off retail on the ES line). Well just after I placed my order the 4ES was discontinued. After two months of waiting I got a note from the employee purchase program informing me that my order was canceled and suggesting I order one of the new models. I checked out the preliminary specs and decided that the 1000ES was the right mix of features and power for me. So I placed my order. They said I would get it in August (the downside of the employee purchase program is having to wait 4-6weeks if they don't have it in-stock at the on-lot employee store). So you can imagine my shock when I came home on Tuesday and found it waiting!
For reference my old receiver was a DD-only STR-DE725. My speakers are Energy Take-5s with the 8" sub and I live in a medium-size studio apartment. I unpacked everything immediately and had it all hooked up in under an hour. A few minutes later I had my speakers balanced and I began a medley of listening to a variety of DTS, DD and older Pro-Logic sources.
Sound wise this is a vast improvement over my old DE725. Much cleaner and more detailed. I don't consider my ears golden, but these were not subtle improvements. I would call it comparable to the 4ES I auditioned in a showroom, and much better than my parent's Onkyo 500 or a Denon 1803 I tried once. Bass is deep and well defined, as are the highs and even the midrange, which is especially telling since the midrange is generally the weak spot with speakers like mine. Incidentally I believe that the 1000ES does not use the new S-Master digital amplifiers used in all of the other new ES receivers. There's no S-Master logo on the box or on the machine itself and it isn't mentioned in the manual. So I assume it uses good old fashioned analog amps (and from what I can hear, probably the same ones found in the 4ES). This was my first experience with DTS on my system (my parents have it on their system) and I am generally impressed with the improvement in sound quality. I just finished watching The Thin Red Line, one of my all-time favorites in glorious full-bitrate DTS and I must say it was a wonderful experience, one of the best soundtracks ever. DD also sounds terrific on the machine as evidenced by screening a few clips from The World is Not Enough (one of my favorite DD tracks). In fact I would say that DD on my system now sounds as good as DTS does on my parents (bear in mind their speakers are not as good, in addition to their receiver). Pro-logic also benefited when I put in Robocop Criterion, although I did notice that I had to manually select Pro-Logic II decoding. The auto format detect (AFD) setting (the default) switches DD 2.0 to regular pro-logic only. However switching from AFD to Pro-Logic II meant that stereo tracks, such as the one on my Bjork All is Full of Love DVD ended up getting the DPL treatment as well so I am learning to switch back to AFD after listening to a pro-logic source.
Aesthetically, I find the machine rather elegant. Yes it is silver (a black version is supposedly available), but I rather like the color. The front panel is nicely minimalist. There's even a little panel to conceal the A/V inputs.
Features are best read elsewhere, but a few worth noting are that it switches up to 2 component sources and 5 S-Video. Like the 4ES, it can up-convert composite signals to S-video, which I find very convenient since now I don't have to change settings on my TV when I switch between my DVD player, Dreamcast and VCR (my DVD player is an old Panasonic A110 which does not have component outs).
So the bottom line is that I am absolutely thrilled with the 1000ES and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others. It's definitely worth every penny of the $600 retail price.
- Guy
As some of you may recall I was looking to buy a Sony 4ES just a few months back, especially since as a minor functionary of Sony-owned Columbia Pictures I am able to purchase at the employee price (nearly half off retail on the ES line). Well just after I placed my order the 4ES was discontinued. After two months of waiting I got a note from the employee purchase program informing me that my order was canceled and suggesting I order one of the new models. I checked out the preliminary specs and decided that the 1000ES was the right mix of features and power for me. So I placed my order. They said I would get it in August (the downside of the employee purchase program is having to wait 4-6weeks if they don't have it in-stock at the on-lot employee store). So you can imagine my shock when I came home on Tuesday and found it waiting!
For reference my old receiver was a DD-only STR-DE725. My speakers are Energy Take-5s with the 8" sub and I live in a medium-size studio apartment. I unpacked everything immediately and had it all hooked up in under an hour. A few minutes later I had my speakers balanced and I began a medley of listening to a variety of DTS, DD and older Pro-Logic sources.
Sound wise this is a vast improvement over my old DE725. Much cleaner and more detailed. I don't consider my ears golden, but these were not subtle improvements. I would call it comparable to the 4ES I auditioned in a showroom, and much better than my parent's Onkyo 500 or a Denon 1803 I tried once. Bass is deep and well defined, as are the highs and even the midrange, which is especially telling since the midrange is generally the weak spot with speakers like mine. Incidentally I believe that the 1000ES does not use the new S-Master digital amplifiers used in all of the other new ES receivers. There's no S-Master logo on the box or on the machine itself and it isn't mentioned in the manual. So I assume it uses good old fashioned analog amps (and from what I can hear, probably the same ones found in the 4ES). This was my first experience with DTS on my system (my parents have it on their system) and I am generally impressed with the improvement in sound quality. I just finished watching The Thin Red Line, one of my all-time favorites in glorious full-bitrate DTS and I must say it was a wonderful experience, one of the best soundtracks ever. DD also sounds terrific on the machine as evidenced by screening a few clips from The World is Not Enough (one of my favorite DD tracks). In fact I would say that DD on my system now sounds as good as DTS does on my parents (bear in mind their speakers are not as good, in addition to their receiver). Pro-logic also benefited when I put in Robocop Criterion, although I did notice that I had to manually select Pro-Logic II decoding. The auto format detect (AFD) setting (the default) switches DD 2.0 to regular pro-logic only. However switching from AFD to Pro-Logic II meant that stereo tracks, such as the one on my Bjork All is Full of Love DVD ended up getting the DPL treatment as well so I am learning to switch back to AFD after listening to a pro-logic source.
Aesthetically, I find the machine rather elegant. Yes it is silver (a black version is supposedly available), but I rather like the color. The front panel is nicely minimalist. There's even a little panel to conceal the A/V inputs.
Features are best read elsewhere, but a few worth noting are that it switches up to 2 component sources and 5 S-Video. Like the 4ES, it can up-convert composite signals to S-video, which I find very convenient since now I don't have to change settings on my TV when I switch between my DVD player, Dreamcast and VCR (my DVD player is an old Panasonic A110 which does not have component outs).
So the bottom line is that I am absolutely thrilled with the 1000ES and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others. It's definitely worth every penny of the $600 retail price.
- Guy
