Receivers

Sony STR-DA5300ES

Sony offers up it's wild-card receiver, and it's a real grower

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Last reviewed: March 24th

In terms of hi-fi sound and musical resolution the Sony STR-DA5300ES is way out in front of its AV receiver competitors

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The look, feel and build of the Sony STR-DA5300ES is everything I have come to expect from Sony, with nicely-weighted controls and two solid remote handsets.

The overall exterior design of this receiver hasn't changed a great deal from last year, although you do now get a '2CH Direct' switch on the fascia as well as the remote, and the rear panel now offers a Sony DMPORT and a class-leading six v1.3-spec HDMI inputs (even Yamaha's £5K DSP-Z11 only has five).

An audiophile's paradise

Uniquely, input number six is marked as a dedicated 'audiophile' connection, offering the absolute shortest signal path and greatest shielding from other components.

The STR-DA5300ES can handle a DSD signal (Super Audio CD) over HDMI and the 2CH analogue direct has been further improved, giving this receiver serious musical credentials.

On the downside there's only one HDMI output, which is beginning to irritate a bit here at HCC - as it will anyone looking to run both an HDTV and a projector.

There are also no generic networking connections (USB, Ethernet, etc) and none of the audio or video connections are gold-plated. Call me the bling-meister, but I think any AV kit with a four-figure price tag should get the gold connection treatment.

Inside Sony's latest receiver

Beneath the lid there are some far more serious additions to this Sony's predecessor, including all the new-fangled Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio formats and a new horizontally-braced chassis construction.

A hefty beam runs from one side to the other, supporting the transformer to better physically isolate it from other sensitive components. The power output stages for each channel have been beefed up and made a full wide-bandwidth design, running pretty much flat out to over 150kHz.

This attention to fine engineering detail is about as obsessive as it gets - right down to the use of a new type of lead-free solder that Sony spent three years developing to perfect its sound quality!

One of the most powerful EQ Systems ever

Most exciting for me, though, is a new 32bit EQ system running from its own dedicated DSP chipset. It offers 32-band EQ with precise 1/3 octave adjustment for every channel.