I give you Marantz, but I have the Denon 3700 with AKM DAC, and it’s perfectly fine. I doubt if Sony can measure anything close to that specially with their hissings and proprietary DAC chip.
Sony's DAC Chip doesn't hiss or hum at all with Manual Room Correction. I haven't tride Auto Room Correction yet.
.... If one lives and dies by measurements. I am not one of those people. Marantz is well built and liked by many, but I have never been a fan of the Marantz "sound". I had a Denon 6700 that I found ok after much tweaking with the Denon app but my personal preference, having tried almost everything in my house leans toward Onkyo/Pioneer, Sony ES, Yamaha for these ears.
Without measurements, nobody knows what’s going on with these units. Proprietary means there is no independent/outside measurements for the DAC either.
Amir does not accept units from manufacturers. They could send him a hand picked or binned unit.
I will run Auto Room Correction once I hear back from the store where I bought my Sony-az7000es. They are connecting one up for display and they're been running Auto Calibration. So I waiting to see if they have issues. If they don't "That's a Green Light for me. I'll then post the results. If they have issues I won't run Auto and keep using Manaul. I won't return my unit as I am very happy with it regardless.
I've been happy without living by measurements for close to 30 years. Some of the best gear that I've had were units that measured "poorly" like my RZ50. I've had gear from Denon and Marantz that "measured well" but I was never satisfied with and would never buy again. In the end, what matters most is my ears and how the gear interacts with my room. My ears are much more sophisticated than a metal microphone pointed 90 degrees north.
What are you talking about? RZ50 was 97dB!! If you use it as a pre/pro, it’s one of the best. And we are all posting on ASR. Why else would anyone check here besides measurements?
Amir frequently gets units from manufacturers. EG the current second in the review list:
I am using Sony-az7000es as a Pre/Pro except for the Atmos Channels using Sony's Amps for them. Sounds Good. I actually can use wired headphones connected to the Sony's Front outs because of the Rotel I have connected there. With Sinhizer HD99 Headphones the Sony sounds very good not excellent. However with Headphones on in Stereo Mode Zero Hiss or Hum. I biggest complaint about the Sony Receivers is there is no Headphone Jacks on any of their Receivers, So Stupid. Sony does transmit Bluetooth.
I read it somewhere here that he does not, but if this is not the case then perhaps Sony and Integra are not confident about their products.
Many have complained about the "nanny mode" amps that Amir identified. I used outboard amps, but even when I didn't, I never had a problem.
Sony hasn’t used a proprietary DAC in ages (in their AVRs). They used Burr Brown in the previous generation AVRs, and while not SOTA is used by D&M today as well
I think historically, Amir hasn’t gone out of his way to ask for review units. Companies have to send to him or members send to him.
False. Amir had a cheap lower tiered Sony that couldn't withstand the test.
Uh. I wasn't talking about Amir. I was talking about Matthew Poes at Audioholics. So...False. Good reading comprehension though j/k!
I stand corrected. Still not indicative of performance. Measurements are a bit of a torture test that can wreak havoc on Any gear at any time.
I agree 100%. Many amps from many manufacturers have blown up on the test bench. I just hope Audioholics gets another crack at it.
lol. I believed they combined sonus (sound) and sonny to make an international easy to pronounce name to sell their radios.
