STR-DA5ES Receiver? (1 Viewer)

[JackS]

Earl- If I understand your question, you need to make both digital and analog connections from your sources. The receiver will auto detect and decode any digital format such as redbook CD's and DVD's and also automatically detect analog sources such as DVD-A/SACD and switch to the direct pass mode. This is my understanding, so if anyone can correct this statement, please do.

 

[Juan_R]

I have another question,

I know this receiver has the RS232C connector for future upgrades like some Denons and Onkyos and many other receivers, but has there ever been an upgrade that has come out to take advantage of this connector? And if so can someone explain what was involved and what was upgraded on the receiver? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jacy Legault]

Correct me if I'm wrong: I think that the 777 has an upgrade to give it 6.1 surround modes. It was originally a 5.1 receiver. This is a good indication that the DA5ES is going to be well supported.

I have a question:

I am about to get rid of my SR8200 and was very interested in the DA5ES. Can one of you tell me if the Digital inputs are reassignable? If they are hard coded this thing is not going to work for me. One my Denons and the SR8200, you can assign the digital inputs to any video input you want.

Thanks!

Jacy

 

[Bryan Williams]

I too have a STR-DA5ES and am VERY impressed with it. To answer the question of the last post, yes, the digital inputs are assignable to any input. I believe the only exception is the phono input.

Regards

 

[Michael_T]

I've also noticed a change using the ext. outs versus the optical connection when watching DVD's, I'm not sure which I prefer, but for simplicity I leave the Denon on auto for movies which selects the optical connection. Is there a benefit in using the analog inputs for movies as well and are you currently using the bass management feature with the multiple external inputs on the DA5ES.
On DD & DTS 5.1 material can you select which rear speakers are active? I have floorstanders behind and wide dispersion surrounds on the sides. I would like to have the floorstanders active for 5.1 and have the wide dispersion speakers enabled during 6.1 material do you know if that's possible? It's not a big deal but I thought that would be a nice bonus. Thanks again you've provided a lot of help

Kevin,
To answer your additional questions - I use the digital connection for movies, which allows me of utilizing the flexibility of the receiver for different surround fields, compression, etc. And the bass management features on the Sony are pretty good. The function of the analog bypass external inputs is to be able to bypass bass management. And the Sony does not have bass management functionality with the analog external inputs - so with DVD-Audio and MCH SACD, you really can't utilize bass management.
You can use the external inputs if you like for movies, but I think you would get much better control over DD, DPL2, DTS, DTS:NEO if you use the internal DACs for decoding movie soundtracks. The external analog bypass is only really necessary for any type of music. I put 2ch analog bypass on whether I listen to 2-channel CD, SACD, vinyl, or MCH SACD and DVD-audio. With music, I do not want to taint the signal with any digital signal processing.
If I am correct, the DA5ES doesn't give you that much control over activating different rear speaker combinations. BUT, if you hook up your floorstanding rears as the surround speakers, and your wide dispersion speakers as the back surrounds, you would then be able to use the floorstanding speakers for 5.1, and then the wide dispersion speakers on the side would only become active during 6.1 decoding. But this would cause whatever sound which should be going to the back surround during 6.1 decoding to go to the sides (which I surmise would not be your intention) - so the short answer to your question would probably be NO. Hey, for a $1500 list, $1000 street price receiver you can't have it all.

 

[John Tompkins]

I used to have the sony 777es and the denon 3801. For home theater the sony killed the denon for seperation, detail, center channel dialog. For Music the denon killed the sony, warmth,smooth more plesant to my ears.

I went and listend to the strda5es and it reminded me of the 777es same strengths and weaknesses. If my priorities where with home theater over music I would certainly go with the sony.

Its a shame it doesn't get more ink as it has EVERYTHING anybody would need or want. If I bought one it would be for HT and sacd/dvd-audio. For analog music I would probably get a dedicated 2 channel pre and would have the best of both worlds..

 

[Earl Simpson]

OK// I meant DVD movies! Should we use digital or analog outs for our 5.1 and 6.1 sound? I'm confused. I know about the other stuff, but how does all this relate to DVD movies.

And do all rcvrs do this auto detect?

 

[Michael_T]

Earl- If I understand your question, you need to make both digital and analog connections from your sources. The receiver will auto detect and decode any digital format such as redbook CD's and DVD's and also automatically detect analog sources such as DVD-A/SACD and switch to the direct pass mode. This is my understanding, so if anyone can correct this statement, please do.

Actually, it isn't that simple.

You can't have the receiver autodetect both digital and analog signals if both are hooked up to the same source input. For instance, you may have a DVD-Audio player hooked up via Coax digital and a MCH input for DVD-Audio (as I do). You have to go into the menus to tell the receiver which signal you want it to default to. You can tell it to default to the MCH input, and thus it will bypass looking for a digital input unless you manually tell it to.

There are quite a few menus that have to be traversed to be able to set-up this receiver the way you want it to be set-up. Generally, it will auto-detect a digital format when both a digital and analog feed are connected if you set it up this way. You can't have it both ways.

What I do is for my DVD player I set it to auto-detect the digital input, and when I want to listen to DVD-Audio I have to manually select the MCH Input 1 where the DVD-Audio player is hooked up to.

In addition, in order to select analog bypass, you must manually select it everytime you switch inputs. For instance I have my SACD player attached via analog inputs only to the SACD/CD analog input. I have it set to default to 2-channel stereo - which is not fully direct analog bypass. If I select SACD/CD and hit 2-channel analog bypass, I get true analog bypass - which will stay with that input even if I power down the receiver the next time I turn the unit on - provided I haven't switched inputs. But if I listen to and SACD/CD with 2-channel analog bypass, then watch a movie through the DVD/LD input, when I switch back to SACD/CD the receiver will go into 2-channel stereo mode. I am then again required to manually select 2-channel analog direct. Why Sony designed the receiver this way is beyond me. I would have preferred that 2-channel analog bypass always be active when I select SACD/CD, but pushing one button each time won't kill me. (The same scenario affects the Phono input - which I also use on 2-channel analog bypass).

Again, as I stated in another reply, for $1000 street - you can't have it all.

 

[Michael_T]

I used to have the sony 777es and the denon 3801. For home theater the sony killed the denon for seperation, detail, center channel dialog. For Music the denon killed the sony, warmth,smooth more plesant to my ears

I would have to agree with this statement, as it applies to the Sony and my prior Integra receiver. The Sony isn't as warm as the Integra was for music, but I am getting used to it, and it isn't that bad.

Unfortunately, I don't have the room for both a HT set-up and a separate music set-up. If I did I certainly would have a pre-amp, power amp set-up for music, and bypass the HT receiver. OR I would spend $4700 on the new Denon 5803, which has it all, and probably sounds real good on music. But $4700 is a bit rich for my blood at this point in time.

 

[Jacy Legault]

Thanks for the clarification on the Digital Input assignments.

Another Couple Questions:

1) Can you adjust the eq/soundfield on zone 2 and 3?

2) Does it have On screen volume feedback?

I'm assuming by what everyone is saying that the DA5ES preprocessor sound quality is on par with Marantz SR18EX/8200 and the Denon 3802/4802?

A am about to replace my Marantz SR-8200 with a DA5ES. Main reasons:

1) Bass Management

2) Multi-room

3) Marantz is $500 more on the street.

 

[JackS]

To answer the upgrade port(232) question, yes both the 777 and 9000es have received several. Some are to correct current firmware bugs, and others as a true upgrade. The 777 had a few bugs such as rear speaker hiss and a very notorious audio split problem. To my knowledge, both of these problems were solved by Sony and the upgrade offered at no charge. The only true upgrade for the 777 was the last which enabled the 777 for virtual 6.1. Since the intro of the DA5 is still new, it will probably be a couple of months before any real world assessment can be made. If problems do occur, the DA5 will receive the same treatment as the 777 and 9000's. I should mention that a relative small charge could be imposed for a TRUE upgrade and not a bug fix.

 

[Kevin McCurdy]

Michael,

Thanks for clearing up the bass management question on the multi channel 5.1 & 7.1 external inputs. I guess I wasn't clear with the Sony rep on which external inputs could be used with the bass management feature.

As for switching the sides and rears on 5.1 material it's not a big deal, I try it and see which speakers I prefer and rearrange if needed.

Regarding the price and features, I was surprised at what it has for it's street price. As JohnT mentioned it's unfortunate that it hasn't received more ink. At the street price of a $1000.00(+ shipping) I'm not aware of anything else that offers this kind of feature set. Plus Sony has been one of the few that does provide bug fixes and upgrades as JackS mentioned, also the 5 year warranty.

Jacy,

If you can, try to listen to the Sony if possible. I know that maybe difficult I had to settle on listening to the STR-DA3ES because no one in my area had the STR-DA5ES.

I have the Denon 3300, so it's a little dated and I'm not good at giving the descriptive sound characteristics that some others can provide. The one thing I will say is there is a difference in the sound of Sony compared to my Denon the Marantz and Pioneer models I heard. The Denon, Marantz and Pioneer seemed laid-back compared to the Sony. The Sony gave me the sense that it wasn't holding anything back. A lot of times I strain to hear the voices coming from the center of my Denon with the Sony there was no straining, it was full and strong, as were the other speakers.

The fact that you currently have the Marantz 8200 really makes think you should try a demo, it is a significant difference in sound, or the other option if you can't demo it is to buy from an authorized dealer like J and R who have return policices. Check to be sure I've never purchased from Jand R, but I believe they do have a 30 day return policy plus a 15% Restocking fee.

I think JohnT can give you a good description. He has the 4802, had the 3801, 777es and numerous others, plus he was with me when we listened to the Sony STR-DA3ES, Marantz 8200 and Pioneer Elite.

 

[Jacy Legault]

Thanks Kevin,

You've convinced me to demo the Sony. Thanks for your input. I am wondering why the Sony sounds so much different in the dimensions you describe than the Marantz. The dealers I talk to don't ever even mention the Sony ES equipment any more, when I push for information they scoff and state that it's not even in the same class as Denon and Marantz. I am an avid sony fan, and I still use an old ES receiver I bought back in College to power a zone in my house.

-Jacy

 

[John Tompkins]

Jacy, welcome to "SONYS" world. They have in the past brought on some of the misery themselves.

Many salesmen and forum people automatically dismiss Sony because of some past issues, While some complaints are warranted, others are not.

Fact of the matter is as Kevin stated they do upgrade and issue new firmware unlike B&K and some others. Fact the Sony has more tweakability, features then ANY other processor. Fact sonys price is much lower then others given the features.

I have the denon 4802 which is a great piece, I have also had many others including the 3801, sony 777es and have listened to the strda3es. As stated for home theater the sony is close to the top, better the the 3801 and equall {albeit different sounding} then the 4802 very close here. The strda5es has better base management and more tweaks, plus two sets of 5.1 inputs. For music I MUCH prefer the 4802 or 3801 for that matter.

I guess it depends on where you priorities are, ht/music combination thereof. As Kevin stated we also listened to the marantz 8200 and pioneer 36{?} I dont want to make anyone mad and this is just my opinion but...at the store, with things probably not setup correctly, a/b-ing back/forth I MUCH preferred the sony

 

[Kevin McCurdy]

Thanks John,

Jacy,

My thoughts for recommending the demo first was based on your ownership of the Marantz 8200. I know everyone's ears are different and my initial thoughts were if you like the Marantz sound then you may not care for the Sony, but since you've been a fan of Sony gear you're probably familiar with the way Sony sounds. Everyone is different and what sounds good to some, doesn't to others that's why I always recommend trying a demo before buying.

I'm still trying to decide, that was the main reason for starting this thread. I couldn't find many comments anywhere about this unit and so far I don't believe I've found one negative thing that has been said that would prevent me from buying it.

I'm about 90% sure I'm going to try it. In my case it may sound a little different because I'll be using it as a preamp primarily for home theater, so I'm unsure of how it will truely sound since I'll be using it with Harman Kardon amps.

It'll give me an excuse to go out an buy an SACD player to fill in the remaining Multi channel ext. input since the RP91 will be filling the other.

My belief is that once the Bass management, sound Field Customization and EQ settings are setup properly for my room and speakers that this unit should sound very good.

When I do decide to buy it, it'll be from a dealer that will allow me to return it in case it doesn't sound good in my system. Hopefully that won't be the case.

Let me know what you think after you demo it.

 

[Tommy Rodgers]

Hi, I thought I'd ad my 2 cents' worth here-

I ordered the da5es from an authorized retailer about 3 weeks ago. At the time, it seemed like the ideal answer- 2 sets of multichannel inputs (I already have an SACD player) and an upgrade port for under $1000. Deal of the century.

Anyway, I got the piece and hooked it up, a little annoyed that it took a LOT more patience to set up than my previous Onkyo. No big deal if it worked great, as I fully expected it to. Right off I noticed that there was no way to change DSP modes from PL to PLII music or movies from the remote, this must be done from the front panel. In fact, it took me awhile to figure out how to access PLII in the first place. Sony's manuals are not exactly well-written and thorough. I also didn't like the remote at first, but figured I'd get used to it.

OK, at this point I should probably make it clear that 2-channel music is very important to me. I love music and spend a lot of time listening to SACD and CD, hoping for a nice turntable soon. I probably watch 2-3 movies on DVD a week for comparison. Anyway, upon listening to a lot of music I realized something was missing. Couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, it just didn't sound good. Not very objective, I know. The Sony had good detail, the highs were very precise, and the bass was okay too, it seemed very lacking in heft in the midrange. I played with the equalizer settings; a little better, but still not right. My old Onkyo 575 (with only 70 watts per channel) sounded more "full" to me. I know what "warm" amplification sounds like (Marantz, tube amps) and I don't tend to like that either, but the sony actually sounded "cold" to me, almost lifeless. Music was fatiguing rather than enjoyable. In its defense, on home theatre it was excellent, no problems there. I realized it had to go when I found myself looking on Ebay and Audiogon for lightly used power amps to get better sound. So...

I went looking around and listened to several receivers in the price range, deciding on the Yamaha RX-V2200. I gave up the extra multichannel input and the upgrade port, but I gained a rock-solid, great-sounding receiver with all the latest decoding options and a few DSP's I've grown to like. This is no attempt to slam the Sony; I really wanted to love it despite the remote and clumsy user interface (to be polite), but the thin sound on music was a definite deal-breaker. I'd like to be able to say, like other posters, that if all you are interested in is home theatre the Sony is a great pick, but I don't agree. I don't care who you are, no one should settle for underperforming equipment when several other choices at the same price are so much better in sound. Bells and whistles are nice, but what counts is the sound. What's really hard for me to understand is how the da5es could sound so deficient on music when Sony is the big pusher behind SACD- even these sounded noticably thinner on the Sony than the Yamaha. And the Yamaha has "only" 100 watts per channel and weighs a good 10 lbs. less.... sticking with Yamaha.

-Tommy

 

[John Tompkins]

Tommy, I agree with your review of the sony on music, it just didnt do it for me either, actually it made my ears buzz {literally}. Music is important to me so I ended up with the denon.

But having said that, there are people who that dont really care about music too much and just want the best HT performer. Here I dont think the sony can be beat for the money. As its strengths most assuredly lean towards HT.

 

[Bryan Williams]

It is good to see a decent discussion on this receiver. After owning this unit for 1 month, now I have to say that I disagree with Tommy (no offence intended) with regards to the sound of this unit. I do agree with some other posters that its sound on music is not as good as its sound on home theatre, however, I have also found that playing around with many DSP modes can deliver a much better sound. However this does involve a fair amount (OK a lot) of tweaking. In terms of movie sound, this receiver is incredible, I find it to be extremely full across the entire dynamic spectrum (midrange included).

With regards to comparing this unit to Yamaha, I guess it comes down to personal taste. I personally find Yamaha to be overly bright (although I do admit that I do like their product). I guess a lot depends also on what type of speakers you use with a particular unit as well. I personally use the PSB Stratus Bronzes on the front, Image 9C center and PSB 400i's on the rear. I find these to be an excellent match for this unit. In a previous life I worked for Sony of Canada and I can say that not all brands of speakers compliment these units (but that goes for any brand of receiver). That being said I have a good friend with a Yamaha RXV-995 on Klipsch speakers and I think it sounds terrible (too bright).

I must also add that it IS possible to change between the PLII modes and PL from the remote, although it is a tad cumbersome (I would have appreciated a one button solution.) You just flip up the cover hit "main menu", then hit the up and down cursor so the display on the unit reads "surround" then hit "enter" then hit the down cursor to access the PLII and NEO DTS modes (not simple but definitely doable.)

In short this is not a receiver to buy if you dont want to tweak it. The bonus is that once you spend the time to set it up, it pays off bigtime. This unit is amazing once you get through the initial setup and once you do it, there isnt much you have to do to keep it that way. OH, and it also sounds Great. The remote is excellent for both SONY and NON-SONY products once you get used to it. I have an RP91 and it does everything that you need to navigate menus and watch a movie.

In short I dont think that anyone who is willing to sit down with a product and truely work with it will be disappointed with this product.

Regards

Bryan

 

[Kevin McCurdy]

Tommy,

Thank you for your review and comments, I was looking for information good or bad. I thought maybe this unit might have been overlooked with all the anticipation of the 950.

Although my primary use will be home theater, I agree that I don't want to settle on something that will limit myself to only home theater and prevent me from listen to music on those rare occassions. I sort of got that impression from other comments as well.

I listened to Eric Claptons Reptile DVD-A disc this morning and thought to myself I really like the way this sounds. I started thinking if the Sony would truely be my best option.

I've been working towards separates for a while and after the last announcement from Outlaw decided to look into this unit as an alternative based on it's impressive features and the demo I heard of the STR-DA3ES. I thought it was impressive on movies, but I could see were it may be a little forward for some on music. Since it was a store demo we had no way of knowing if it or the other units we compared it to were properly setup. I thought with a chance to set it up that maybe this would not be much of an issue.

I'm going to continue to think about this and other options for a while before I make any purchasing decisions. I might just end up with the 950 after all. Again I would like thank everyone for their help.

 

[JackS]

Everyone has an opinion. Although I've heard the Yamaha and Onyko and ect., etc, I finally got it down to HK and Sony for myself. If everyone had the same perspective on the way music ought to sound, we would all own the same receiver. People buy Onyko's because they beleive they are the best. I may not care to purchase this receiver for myself, but would not dissuade anyone either. For Tom, perhaps he didn't spend quite enough time with the Sony, or perhaps his speakers really aren't matched to this receiver, and perhaps none of the above apply, and he really doesn't care for the Sony sound. It really is insignificant because most people are going to buy the gear they think best, and hopefully rely less on the opinions of others. The audition of several receivers and the elimination of most is pretty easy and fast. Go to a couple of dealers and listen. If the Sony is not for you, it should become very appearent.