Sony STR-AZ7000ES AVR Review

[kyuu]

Возможно, вы правы, но вот ещё один тест:

Он предлагает другое мнение. Объективны ли все эти тесты и измерения? Я продолжу доверять своим ушам.

First, make sure your posts are translated to English before posting please.

Second, Andrew Robinson is a hack. What he has to say is irrelevant.

Third, posting a video without a summary is against forum policy.

Fourth, your ears aren't measurement instruments and you aren't trusting your ears when you do sighted listening. You're trusting the entirety of the human perception system which we know does not respond 1:1 with the input signal.

 

[EWL5]

First, make sure your posts are translated to English before posting please.

Second, Andrew Robinson is a hack. What he has to say is irrelevant.

Third, posting a video without a summary is against forum policy.

Fourth, your ears aren't measurement instruments and you aren't trusting your ears when you do sighted listening. You're trusting the entirety of the human perception system which we know does not respond 1:1 with the input signal.

+1

Andrew Robinson wouldn't be able to tell you why you should buy the AZ7000ES over an RZ50 or 3800, LOL!

 

[Billy Budapest]

First, make sure your posts are translated to English before posting please.

Second, Andrew Robinson is a hack. What he has to say is irrelevant.

Third, posting a video without a summary is against forum policy.

Fourth, your ears aren't measurement instruments and you aren't trusting your ears when you do sighted listening. You're trusting the entirety of the human perception system which we know does not respond 1:1 with the input signal.

If you want an entertaining review that explains the features of the product, dudes like Robinson and Darko are ok. Just don’t believe what they say about “sound quality.”

 

[AudioSceptic]

If you want an entertaining review that explains the features of the product, dudes like Robinson and Darko are ok. Just don’t believe what they say about “sound quality.”

I realised long ago, perhaps even in the 80s, that most equipment reviews are for entertainment, not for information. Some "reviewers", of course, have had a strong following just because they are entertaining writers, rather than they have any "superhuman" listening skills.

 

[Chanur]

This kills me, particularly at this price. My history with AVRs are probably a lot different than many here.

My first AVR was a refurbished Denon 1912 from Accessories 4 Less. It failed twice under warranty and was repaired by them. It failed again just after warranty.

Then I bought one of the cheapest Yamaha AVRs to replace it. I think it was the 475 or something like that. Worked flawless for years. Then I decided to "upgrade" and give Denon another chance, blaming the fact I bought a refurbished.

Then I bought a Denon 3400H. This was the most expensive AVR I had purchased at this point. Sounded good, set up was easy. Died after a year. Got so pissed I tossed it in the dumpster.

Then I bought a last generation Sony ES1000. Was a bit more than the Denon. Been absolutely rock solid reliable for many years now.

Because of this I was planning to upgrade to the new 7000 as it's supposed to have a better transformer and internals than the 5000 on down. But then it measures so poorly for the money.

I absolutely will never buy another Denon, I think they are cheap junk unfortunately. It also makes me very wary of Marrantz as they are likely the same thing internally. Yet all none Denon and Marrantz seem to measure poorly, which is making it tough to know what to buy.

I don't want to have to spend 7k for a decent AVR. If I could get a stereo receiver that would let me pass through Dolby HDR and Vision and stuff I would consider just getting that.

 

[dlaloum]

This kills me, particularly at this price. My history with AVRs are probably a lot different than many here.

My first AVR was a refurbished Denon 1912 from Accessories 4 Less. It failed twice under warranty and was repaired by them. It failed again just after warranty.

Then I bought one of the cheapest Yamaha AVRs to replace it. I think it was the 475 or something like that. Worked flawless for years. Then I decided to "upgrade" and give Denon another chance, blaming the fact I bought a refurbished.

Then I bought a Denon 3400H. This was the most expensive AVR I had purchased at this point. Sounded good, set up was easy. Died after a year. Got so pissed I tossed it in the dumpster.

Then I bought a last generation Sony ES1000. Was a bit more than the Denon. Been absolutely rock solid reliable for many years now.

Because of this I was planning to upgrade to the new 7000 as it's supposed to have a better transformer and internals than the 5000 on down. But then it measures so poorly for the money.

I absolutely will never buy another Denon, I think they are cheap junk unfortunately. It also makes me very wary of Marrantz as they are likely the same thing internally. Yet all none Denon and Marrantz seem to measure poorly, which is making it tough to know what to buy.

I don't want to have to spend 7k for a decent AVR. If I could get a stereo receiver that would let me pass through Dolby HDR and Vision and stuff I would consider just getting that.

The current Denon Xx800 series have been out for a bit over 3 years - the forums therefore provide a decent indication of reliability... and although there are the occasional failures reported, most people have solid reliable performance - no storms of user complaints to be found.

 

[Billy Budapest]

This kills me, particularly at this price. My history with AVRs are probably a lot different than many here.

My first AVR was a refurbished Denon 1912 from Accessories 4 Less. It failed twice under warranty and was repaired by them. It failed again just after warranty.

Then I bought one of the cheapest Yamaha AVRs to replace it. I think it was the 475 or something like that. Worked flawless for years. Then I decided to "upgrade" and give Denon another chance, blaming the fact I bought a refurbished.

Then I bought a Denon 3400H. This was the most expensive AVR I had purchased at this point. Sounded good, set up was easy. Died after a year. Got so pissed I tossed it in the dumpster.

Then I bought a last generation Sony ES1000. Was a bit more than the Denon. Been absolutely rock solid reliable for many years now.

Because of this I was planning to upgrade to the new 7000 as it's supposed to have a better transformer and internals than the 5000 on down. But then it measures so poorly for the money.

I absolutely will never buy another Denon, I think they are cheap junk unfortunately. It also makes me very wary of Marrantz as they are likely the same thing internally. Yet all none Denon and Marrantz seem to measure poorly, which is making it tough to know what to buy.

I don't want to have to spend 7k for a decent AVR. If I could get a stereo receiver that would let me pass through Dolby HDR and Vision and stuff I would consider just getting that.

You are not going to hear any difference between the units due to their measurements. No AV receivers measure particularly well. What should control your purchasing decisions in this space are price (ie, value for money), features, available power based on your speakers’ and room’s needs, and build quality/reliability/warranty.

 

[Billy Budapest]

You are not going to hear any difference between the units due to their measurements. No AV receivers measure particularly well. What should control your purchasing decisions in this space are price (ie, value for money), features, available power based on your speakers’ and room’s needs, and build quality/reliability/warranty.

Actually, the one way they could sound different (and probably do sound different) is in their room correction schemes. That’s all a functional of EQ and delay, not bare sound measurements, however.

 

[dsd4life]

Obviously the Sony did not do well on the bench and is not a product that one would necessarily want in most circumstances.

I never heard the new ES series but lots of people on various forums like the way they sound. Their room correction is imbecile proof and not very adjustable, but looks like it is (somehow) doing the job. Pretty sure would not do a good job for me, but then this is aimed at different market. They also have 3D correction that apparently works if your speakers are not in the right positions.

I would be interested in some feedback with respect to performance their room correction system. Often think that D&M have made it really complicated to get decent sound out of the box, which is apparently what Sony does well. Not everyone wants to log to forums to get instructions how to make the thing work well.

Yes the only real competition in Home theater DSP is the Sony. And I don't think they

View attachment 480956
Yamaha CX-A5100 vs. Monolith HTP-1

0.1 V: 85 vs 84
0.2 V: 91 vs 90
0.3 V: 94.5 vs 93
0.4V: 96 vs 95.5
0.5V: 96 vs 97.5
1.0 V: 92 vs 102.5

The HTP-1 is one of the best processors at low voltages (think about high gain amps) and might only be beat by the Marantz AV10. The CX-A5100 is even better at 0.4V and below.

At 0.4V preout and 23 dB gain, that’s 5.65V at the amplifier. That’s still around reference level average (85 dB) at 7.5 ft.

So except for the bombastic peaks, it’s pretty clean for actual movies.

Like the Sony, Yamaha CinemaDSP assess positions of speakers in 3D space which gives it a great sound field processing. This is different than FR EQ. With good speakers in bad locations, Yamaha isn’t bad. Only Trinnov combines good room correction and speaker EQ with good soundfield correction.

Dirac and XT32 do great speaker EQ but they cannot reposition Atmos effects the way that Sony, Yamaha, and Trinnov can.



Based upon SINAD and MSRP there are way better options. But based upon the amplifier being the limiting factor, it’s worth noting that Sony ES AVRs are extremely reliable. I am talking about HDMI CEC working consistently to auto switch inputs and respond to a single remote control. With a Sony TV, you can even choose upmixing options through the TV interface when you have a Sony AVR.

Discontinued​

What is wrong with these pedigree Japanese super house(s) leaving the AV processor market to Marantz???

 

[dsd4life]

Obviously the Sony did not do well on the bench and is not a product that one would necessarily want in most circumstances.

I never heard the new ES series but lots of people on various forums like the way they sound. Their room correction is imbecile proof and not very adjustable, but looks like it is (somehow) doing the job. Pretty sure would not do a good job for me, but then this is aimed at different market. They also have 3D correction that apparently works if your speakers are not in the right positions.

I would be interested in some feedback with respect to performance their room correction system. Often think that D&M have made it really complicated to get decent sound out of the box, which is apparently what Sony does well. Not everyone wants to log to forums to get instructions how to make the thing work well.

Yes the only real competition in Home theater DSP is the Sony. And I don't think they know how to get out of their own way.

They need to make a processor only variant of this machine without the back breaking embedded amplification.

I really detest all in one home theater receivers. And then you have some people running them with RCA outputs. Minimum XLR outputs will do.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Yes the only real competition in Home theater DSP is the Sony. And I don't think they

Discontinued​

What is wrong with these pedigree Japanese super house(s) leaving the AV processor market to Marantz???

Which processor has been discontinued? The Yamaha?

 

[Oddball]

Yes the only real competition in Home theater DSP is the Sony. And I don't think they know how to get out of their own way.

They need to make a processor only variant of this machine without the back breaking embedded amplification.

I really detest all in one home theater receivers. And then you have some people running them with RCA outputs. Minimum XLR outputs will do.

Well situation changed a bit though. D&M released Dirac ART. That is a game changer at many levels although it does not have what Sony would call 3D processing.

XLR can be helpful in some setups, but nothing wrong with RCA if works well. I run mostly RCA out of my XLR enabled processor as most amps are RCA only. Dead silent and well behaved so XLR would in this case accomplish virtually nothing. Some people experience noise and hum so XLR could help there.

 

[dsd4life]

Which processor has been discontinued? The Yamaha?

correct.

There was a rumor that Onkyo or Integra might make a processor.

I am really excited about Dante interface and putting the onus of amir quality SINAD into the multichannel DACs with volume control instead of the processor,

 

[somebodyelse]

I am really excited about Dante interface

So AVR manufacturers again pick a proprietary interface instead of an open standard. Figures...

 

[Everett T]

So AVR manufacturers again pick a proprietary interface instead of an open standard. Figures...

I don't think they have picked anything as of yet, just wishful thinking.

 

[2Sunny]

This is one of the annoyances I have with these reviews.

Not with the reviewer, but the conclusions that people draw from it.

It is an engineering competence review. And that is really limited to the DAC, the amps, and those functions that make them work together.

Flaws were found there. Specifically, bad DAC performance from analog direct, and peak power limiting when using HDMI.

Commenters are saying the unit is completely unusable. But that is probably going too far because only an extreme minority of users will encounter those two issues.

99% of users with HDMI inputs running reasonable home theaters? Probably no issues aside from the lack of modern room correction. For me that is reason enough to not consider this over other options. I would steer people towards other brands for multi-channel home theater use for that reason. But not because of what was found in this review.

If you plan on using the analog inputs, well, this is your cue to look elsewhere. Likewise if you plan on running this thing near maximum output.

Lastly, the price. The average home user running a reasonable home theater isn't going to spend more than $1-3k on the AVR and for that kind of money you can get state-of-the-art room correction.

In the end, I'm not sure who this AVR is for.

I just finished reading the entire thread, and I only want to post for that rare person who may have found this thread when searching for reviews of the STR7000.

I am clearly biased as I own one so right there most folks here can ignore my subjective view and just post that subjective reviews on the internet are worthless.

Anyways, let me cut to the chase and save folks from reading what is sure to be a lengthy post by summarizing my thoughts.

I currently own an Onkyo TX-NR7000, a Sony STRAZ7000, and an Anthem AV90 running on Outlaw monoblocks. I have found the Sony 360SSM room correction to produce the best Atmos effects and prefer to watch movies with my Sony vs my Anthem. Also, I have never heard any distortion or had the system clip and I have played all my systems at mid 90 dB levels.


I appreciate the fact that this website is called Audio Science Review and as such Amir provides reviews that have measurable data. As such I am of the opinion that most people who participate here hold their equipment to higher standards then the average consumer. To wit I would point to the poll I ran on "Diminishing Returns" both here and on another forum. Here roughly 40% of the folks said one must spend over $5k to get a speaker that in most cases represents the Law of Diminishing Returns and on another forum it was closer to 10%.

As part of my learning process that started here I also paid for a comparison of Ascend Acoustic speakers against KEF Blades 2s. What I learned was that some folks did believe they could hear a difference between $4k speakers and $28k speakers, but no one felt the differences warranted the price difference, and furthermore there was more than one reviewer that expressed this opinion that was forwarded to me:

If the Blades and the ELX Ribbons were the same price, I'd still buy the ELX

I bought the Sony because I wanted to try 7.4.6 and there were scant AVRs that had the ability to handle that many speakers. At the time it was on sale for $2999 as well. Also, using Sony's 360 SSM is almost trivial, but getting the room correction setup on the Anthem was, in comparison, a complete bear and not something I would anticipate the average consumer would undertake. With the Sony and the Anthem I could turn the correction off and on. The Sony 360 SSM simply creates more of that bubble of sound. The Anthem makes the helicopters fly over head very convincingly, but when the Cornish pixies are released in the room at Hogwarts Sony's 360 SSM makes them fly around the room and the Anthem puts them overhead. Lastly I would just say that so far I have come to believe that the vast majority of people over 40 can not hear sounds above 16kHz. Yes, I know many on here can, but as I said I do not believe that is the norm. I believe so not only because of the literature I have found online, but also because I have been running informal listening tests at home almost every time friends or family come over, and it is surprising how few folks hear anything above 10kHz. Even my kids young friends often can't here the higher pitched sounds.

So . . . who is the buyer of this and who would vote this as a Golf Partner . . . I would. I wouldn't pay the current list though; instead I would likely buy the 5000.

 

[Oddball]

Get ART and be done with it. It's exciting to have a journey but one should know where to end it.

 

[2Sunny]

Get ART and be done with it. It's exciting to have a journey but one should know where to end it.

I am still curious and definitely want to try DIRAC's latest as I did try DIRAC Live on my Onkyo, but I'm thinking of buying a Denon X1800H and getting ART to try on that system. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately I'm heading to Florida on Monday for 2 months so I won't be able to give it a try until I come back in March, but I will look forward to playing around

 

[EWL5]

I am still curious and definitely want to try DIRAC's latest as I did try DIRAC Live on my Onkyo, but I'm thinking of buying a Denon X1800H and getting ART to try on that system. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately I'm heading to Florida on Monday for 2 months so I won't be able to give it a try until I come back in March, but I will look forward to playing around

ART is available starting from the Denon 3800. Note that there’s quite a difference in cost going from the 1800 to the 3800. Also, Dirac Live, Bass Control, and ART are additional cost as well on Denon AVRs.

 

[2Sunny]

ART is available starting from the Denon 3800. Note that there’s quite a difference in cost going from the 1800 to the 3800. Also, Dirac Live, Bass Control, and ART are additional cost as well on Denon AVRs.

Oops my apologies I wrote X1800H. I meant X3800H