I not too long ago had the chance to get an in-person and in-depth overview of Sony’s new ES AV receiver lineup at an occasion that occurred in an atypically frozen-over Austin, Texas. Fortuitously, the facility remained on lengthy sufficient – icy rains had knocked it out for 120,000 Austin clients throughout my keep – to get a radical demo of those spectacular fashions, the primary new receivers to emerge from Sony in 5 years.
There are 5 new fashions in whole: 4 ES receivers aimed on the skilled customized set up channel, and one client mannequin. All receivers share lots of the identical options, together with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding and a number of HDMI 2.1 ports with 8K, 4K 120Hz, Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR, and IMAX Enhanced help.
Additionally they help Variable Refresh Charge (VRR) and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), making them a future-proof possibility for players. Sony TV and PlayStation 5-specific perks embody pass-through of Auto HDR Tone Mapping and Auto Style Image Mode, options meant to optimize image high quality for particular PS5 video games on suitable Sony Bravia TVs like the brand new X90L sequence.
The ES fashions are designed to totally combine with lots of the key whole-house management methods available on the market akin to Crestron, Savant, and Control4. Moreover, they’re Works with Sonos licensed, which lets them join as much as a multiroom wi-fi Sonos system.
- STR-AZ7000ES: 13.2 channel ($3,299.99)
- STR-AZ5000ES: 11.2 channel ($2,099.99)
- STR-AZ3000ES: 9.2 channel ($1,699.99)
- STR-AZ1000ES: 7.2 channel ($1,099.99)
- STR-AN1000: 7.2 channel ($899.99)
All receivers can be found now for presale and include a 5-year guarantee.
ES sequence energy output specs vary from 100 watts-per-channel on the 7.2 mannequin to 150 watts-per-channel on the 13.2 flagship. The 7.2-channel STR-AN1000 client mannequin is rated at 165 watts. Sony’s new receivers all sport a variety of design adjustments meant to enhance each sound high quality and reliability, with new 32-bit DACs, massive capacitor energy transformers, and a body buffer board chassis. The ES choices have additionally been beefed up with a 200% thicker backside panel and 120% thicker aspect partitions than earlier fashions.
A brand new processing characteristic for Sony’s 2023 receiver lineup is 360 Spatial Sound Mapping. Beforehand used within the firm’s HT-A9 wi-fi speaker system this will work to fill in sonic “gaps” in a typical 5.1.2 or 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos speaker configuration. 360 Spatial Sound Mapping is enabled by way of the corporate’s new Digital Cinema Calibration IX, a characteristic that makes use of a stereo microphone to do variable top measurements of distance, angle, and sound stress of every speaker and create a 3D sound map of the room. As soon as that’s completed, you press the 360SSM button on Sony’s distant management and 360 Spatial Sound Mapping generates phantom audio system between the system’s precise audio system to ship an enhanced sense of immersion.
Together with phantom audio system, Sony’s new receivers additionally help wi-fi ones. The corporate’s SA-RS5 and SA-RS3S wi-fi fashions can optionally be added to be used as rear-channel audio system, and the identical possibility applies to its SA-SW5 and SA-SW3 wi-fi subwoofers.
New audio choices
Streaming music to Sony’s receivers is made simple with ChromeCast, AirPlay 2, and Spotify Join help. Works with Sonos additionally means you’ll be able to combine the receiver with your property’s wi-fi multiroom system and management music playback utilizing the Sonos S2 app when a tool like that firm’s Port is linked.
The brand new receivers are additionally Sony’s first fashions to help 360 Actuality Audio. Music encoded utilizing Sony’s proprietary Spatial Audio mixing format might be discovered on providers like Tidal and Amazon Music Limitless, and you may stream it to the receiver by way of Chromecast or play it from apps on a linked Amazon Hearth TV Stick 4K or Apple TV 4K.
Evaluation: A/V receivers are lastly prepared for the longer term
It’s been a minute since we’ve heard a couple of new Sony AV receiver, however these newest fashions seem effectively definitely worth the wait. That delay would possibly even have been strategic on the corporate’s half, since HDMI 2.1 {hardware} supporting the total vary of HDMI 2.1 options like 8K and 4K 120Hz pass-through wasn’t available to producers, a few of whom pushed by way of half-baked merchandise with a promise of enabling extra options in a “future firmware replace.”
The greatest AV receivers now ship with complete HDMI 2.1 help, making them excellent dwelling theater companions for next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence X | S consoles. Sony’s newest fashions match precisely into this class, and so they provide a complete vary of tech-forward growth choices on high, together with Works with Sonos and different whole-home integration options.
At Sony’s Austin occasion I had the chance to hearken to music encoded in 360 Actuality Audio (Come Viaby H.E.R. and Chris Brown), and the adventurous object-based combine made beneficiant use of 360 diploma house. Two-channel music may also be upmixed to 360 Actuality Audio, so it’s a characteristic that may be utilized to legacy sources as effectively.
The house theater demo room the place I watched film clips and listened to music was powered by Sony’s new STR-AZ7000ES flagship, and the 9.6.4 presentation – utilizing KEF audio system and subwoofers, no much less – was powerfully immersive. There have been so many audio system on faucet that the receiver’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping wasn’t wanted!
I’m positive that 360SSM will enhance the efficiency of my very own 5.1.2-channel system, and since Sony despatched me an STR-AN1000 to check, I’ll quickly be capable of report again on that.
