This is a review and detailed measurements of the Sony STR-AZ7000ES Audio/Video Home Theater Receiver. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $4,199.
The unit was easy to navigate through front panel controls (didn't use the remote). Can't say the same about transporting it as weighs a ton! OK, it is 48 pounds but for me, that is heavy. So much that I could not bear rotating it to show a picture of the back side. Here is the stock image:
I focused my testing on Front Left and Right channels. Used the pre-out for DAC measurements and speaker terminals for the amplifier. I reset the unit to factory. Firmware revision was 1.44 I think with the latest being a couple minor ones later.
Sony STR-AZ7000ES Measurements
I connected using HDMI and tried to set the output to 2 volt. I say "try" as there seemed to be a ghost in the machine. I would set the output to 2 volt, only to have it drop down. I would turn up the volume, and the cycle would repeat. I power cycled and this got me closer to the first setting but then the cycle started again. I quickly grabbed a snapshot:
This ranks the Sony in our poor category:
I went to run the frequency response, only to fail at that for the same reason:
I ran one more test and then gave up on the DAC testing:
There is a glitch visible around 0.7 volt which is likely due to same level shifting.
I tested the amplifier with analog CD input and same problem existed. I switched to HDMI, and strangely and fortunately, it resolved the problem! So here is that dashboard:
The amplifier is good for the class:
Good and very good is the adjective for the rest of the tests:
It was strange to not see higher than 98 dB SNR. Usually that scales a lot more with output power (really voltage).
We are dealing with class AB amp so no load dependency:
Intermodulation results are very good:
This is a powerful amplifier when driven in stereo:
Yet another very strange response:
How could a sine impulse on the right produce so little power? Some kind of amplifier limiter protection setting in? I repeated that test and regardless of volume control setting, it would just show that 3.5 watts.
The transfer function is very unique:
Distortion at higher frequencies sets in very early. And noise floor increases at 15 kHz+.
Finally, there is likely an audible pop on power off:
Power on also exceeds my 1 mv target.
Conclusions
There are some serious bugs in this Sony. And they are the type that require instrumentation to find so likely poor owners don't know about them. The last Sony ES AVR did well. I don't know how the company has gone backwards and introducing such odd behavior.
The only bright light is the amplifier. Oh wait, it too had that odd peak response.
I can't recommend the Sony STR-AZ7000ES AVR. You will break your back getting it inside your home, and then again back out should you discover what I found.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The unit was easy to navigate through front panel controls (didn't use the remote). Can't say the same about transporting it as weighs a ton! OK, it is 48 pounds but for me, that is heavy. So much that I could not bear rotating it to show a picture of the back side. Here is the stock image:
I focused my testing on Front Left and Right channels. Used the pre-out for DAC measurements and speaker terminals for the amplifier. I reset the unit to factory. Firmware revision was 1.44 I think with the latest being a couple minor ones later.
Sony STR-AZ7000ES Measurements
I connected using HDMI and tried to set the output to 2 volt. I say "try" as there seemed to be a ghost in the machine. I would set the output to 2 volt, only to have it drop down. I would turn up the volume, and the cycle would repeat. I power cycled and this got me closer to the first setting but then the cycle started again. I quickly grabbed a snapshot:
This ranks the Sony in our poor category:
I went to run the frequency response, only to fail at that for the same reason:
I ran one more test and then gave up on the DAC testing:
There is a glitch visible around 0.7 volt which is likely due to same level shifting.
I tested the amplifier with analog CD input and same problem existed. I switched to HDMI, and strangely and fortunately, it resolved the problem! So here is that dashboard:
The amplifier is good for the class:
Good and very good is the adjective for the rest of the tests:
It was strange to not see higher than 98 dB SNR. Usually that scales a lot more with output power (really voltage).
We are dealing with class AB amp so no load dependency:
Intermodulation results are very good:
This is a powerful amplifier when driven in stereo:
Yet another very strange response:
How could a sine impulse on the right produce so little power? Some kind of amplifier limiter protection setting in? I repeated that test and regardless of volume control setting, it would just show that 3.5 watts.
The transfer function is very unique:
Distortion at higher frequencies sets in very early. And noise floor increases at 15 kHz+.
Finally, there is likely an audible pop on power off:
Power on also exceeds my 1 mv target.
Conclusions
There are some serious bugs in this Sony. And they are the type that require instrumentation to find so likely poor owners don't know about them. The last Sony ES AVR did well. I don't know how the company has gone backwards and introducing such odd behavior.
The only bright light is the amplifier. Oh wait, it too had that odd peak response.
I can't recommend the Sony STR-AZ7000ES AVR. You will break your back getting it inside your home, and then again back out should you discover what I found.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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