I recently had the opportunity to experience Sony’s new line of ES AV receivers in-depth at an event held in extremely frozen Austin, Texas recently. Fortunately, the power was on long enough – icy rains knocked out power to 120,000 Austin customers during my stay – to get a thorough demo of these impressive models, Sony’s first new receivers in five years.
There are a total of five new models available: four ES receivers for the professional custom installation channel and one consumer model. All receivers share many of the same features, including Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding, and multiple HDMI 2.1 ports with support for 8K, 4K 120Hz, Dolby Vision HDR and IMAX Enhanced.
They also support Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and Automatic Low Latency Mode (ALLM), making them a future-proof option for gamers. Additions specific to Sony TVs and PlayStation 5 include automatic HDR tone mapping and Auto Genre picture mode, features designed to optimize image quality for specific PS5 games on compatible Sony Bravia TVs.
The ES models are designed to fully integrate with many of the key whole home control systems on the market, such as Crestron, Savant and Control4. In addition, they are Works with Sonos certified, which allows them to connect to the Sonos wireless multi-room system.
- STR-AZ7000ES: 13.2ch ($3299.99)
- STR-AZ5000ES: 11.2ch ($2099.99)
- STR-AZ3000ES: 9.2ch ($1699.99)
- STR-AZ1000ES: 7.2ch ($1099.99)
- STR-AN1000: 7.2ch ($899.99)
All receivers are available for pre-order now and come with a 5-year warranty.
The ES Series output power specifications range from 100 watts per channel on the 7.2 model to 150 watts per channel on the flagship 13.2 model. The 7.2-channel consumer model STR-AN1000 is rated at 165 watts. All new Sony receivers feature a number of design changes to improve both sound quality and reliability, with new 32-bit DACs, large capacitor power transformers and framebuffer board housing. The ES range has also been enhanced with a 200% thicker bottom panel and 120% thicker sidewalls than previous models.
A new processing feature in Sony’s 2023 receiver line-up is 360 Spatial Sound Mapping. Previously used on the company’s HT-A9 wireless speaker system, this may work to fill in sonic “gaps” in a typical 5.1.2 or 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos speaker setup. 360° surround sound mapping is made possible by IX’s new Digital Cinema Calibration, which uses a stereo microphone to take various measurements of the height, angle and sound pressure of each speaker and create a 3D sound map of the room. Once done, press the 360SSM button on the Sony remote control and 360 Spatial Sound Mapping generates phantom speakers between the actual system speakers for a more immersive experience.
Along with phantom speakers, Sony’s new receivers also support wireless speakers. The company’s SA-RS5 and SA-RS3S wireless models can optionally be added for use as rear channel speakers, the same option applies to the SA-SW5 and SA-SW3 wireless subwoofers.
New audio options
Streaming music to Sony receivers is easy with ChromeCast, AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect support. Working with Sonos also means you can integrate the receiver into your home wireless multi-room system and control music playback from the Sonos S2 app when a device like Sonos port is connected.
The new receivers are also the first Sony models to support 360 Reality Audio technology. Music encoded using Sony’s proprietary Spatial Audio mixing format can be found on services such as Tidal and Amazon Music Unlimited.
Analysis: A/V receivers are finally ready for the future
It’s been a minute since we heard about Sony’s new AV receiver, but these latest models seem worth the wait. This delay may have been strategic on the company’s part, as HDMI 2.1 hardware supporting the full range of HDMI 2.1 features such as 8K and 4K 120Hz pass-through was not readily available to manufacturers, some of which pushed underdeveloped products with the promise of including more features in “future firmware update”.
The best AV receivers now come with comprehensive HDMI 2.1 support, making them the perfect home theater companions for the next generation PlayStation 5 AND Xbox Series X | S consoles. Sony’s latest models fit this category perfectly, and offer a range of high-tech expansion options, including Works with Sonos and other whole-home integration features.
At a Sony event in Austin, I had the opportunity to listen to music encoded in 360 Reality Audio (Go through, by HER and Chris Brown), and the adventurous object-based mix made generous use of 360-degree space. Two-channel music can also be mixed into 360 Reality Audio, so this is a feature that can be applied to legacy sources as well.
The home theater demo room where I watched movie clips and listened to music was powered by Sony’s new flagship STR-AZ7000ES, and the 9.6.4 presentation – using KEF speakers and subwoofers – was incredibly immersive. There were so many speakers bugged that 360 surround sound mapping in the receiver was not needed!
I’m sure the 360SSM will improve the performance of my own 5.1.2ch system, and since Sony sent me the STR-AN1000 to test, I’ll be able to report back soon.