Last year we were wowed by the sony str-DA5200ES because it was the very first AV receiver we’d seen with a genuine menu-driven, graphical user interface (GUI). Most receivers nevertheless rely on archaic-searching onscreen displays with blocky white text–in combination with cryptic feedback from the front-panel readout–to achieve speaker setup, upconversion settings, input naming, and the myriad other tasks essential by a multitalented AV hub. We identified that Sony’s GUI was a lot more than just eye candy, it actually produced the receiver less difficult to use on a daily basis. Other manufacturers have taken note–some of Denon’s new 2007 receivers will attribute a GUI as well.

Even though the STR-DA5200ES was groundbreaking for its interface, its successor, the STR-DA5300ES, is nearly as impressive for its incredible characteristic set. It packs a walloping six HDMI inputs, which is a lot more than we’ve witnessed on any other receiver in this price range, and it comes with onboard decoding for the latest high-resolution soundtracks, namely Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio (although you cannot use that decoding but). Sony has also created a very good point even far better by refining the graphical user interface so that every single HDMI input can be renamed. And our complaints about the earlier model’s lackluster video performance have been virtually completely addressed: the STR-DA5300ES delivers quite great video quality with the capability to upscale all analog sources to 1080p. The ,700 list price tag on the STR-DA5300ES is steep, but it really is effectively within cause thinking about how it stacks up to the competitors.

Design and style

As far as AV receivers go, the STR-DA5300ES has a quite common look, with its all-black design, show in the center, and a couple of knobs and buttons scattered across the front panel. To the far right, on the bottom half, is the volume knob on the far left toward the bottom is an added AV input with S-Video and an optical digital-audio input. The display is a small on the tiny side, so often we had difficulty producing it out from our seating distance of about seven feet.

Like its predecessor, the STR-DA5300ES functions a slick, icon-primarily based graphical user interface. While certain Denon receivers will attribute a GUI later this year, the vast majority of AV receivers with onscreen displays still use white, blocky text that looks dated in the substantial-def era. Press the Menu button and up pops the GUI, which gamers will acknowledge as equivalent to the Cross Media Bar (“XMB”) navigation found on the PSP and PS3 interfaces. The 1st choice is Input, which permits you to pick an input visually, by name and icon, and change which video and audio sources are assigned to every single input. You can also modify the icon next to the inputs, so it matches the source you have connected, and rename the inputs themselves(brother dcp).

The most enticing aspect of the GUI is that it tends to make using the receiver a lot less difficult, because it enables you to interact with an onscreen menu instead of a cluttered remote and a tiny front-panel show. To decide on a supply, for example, you can just hit “Menu” and then decide on “DVR” or any other name from the gadget list. With out the GUI and the potential to rename inputs, you can be stuck getting to cycle through all of the inputs although watching the front panel readout and trying to bear in mind which gadget is connected to the “Video two” input, for instance. A single nitpick we did have is that the list of inputs is pretty lengthy–we’d really like the ability to hide unused inputs so we could just pick from our linked devices.

In addition to the Input menu, there are many other possibilities: Music–which is utilized solely for attached DM port (Sony’s proprietary connection) devices–as properly as AM, FM, XM, Sirius, and Settings. The radio choices are self-explanatory, and obtaining the Settings menu in graphical form undoubtedly takes some of the anxiousness out of AV receiver setup.

We were quite harsh on the older 5200ES’ remote, and, regrettably, the 5300ES’ remote is largely the identical. All AV receiver remotes have a lot of buttons, and the 5300ES is no distinct. Our main gripe is how the DA5300ES mixes receiver manage with gadget control. For instance, if you press the HDMI 2 button, and then a tiny later you want to switch to an additional input employing the GUI, when you hit Menu most probably nothing at all will happen–since the remote thinks you want to bring up the menu on the HDMI two gadget. In spite of understanding how to avoid this mistake, we identified ourselves inadvertently repeating it quite a few times. We’d a lot rather see a dedicated button, just for the GUI menu itself, to eliminate some of this confusion. To be fair, however, we anticipate most men and women getting a receiver in this value range will have sufficient dough for a good quality universal remote.

The STR-DA5300ES also comes with a second, simpler remote, which requires some of the sting out of our criticisms of the main remote. The smaller remote lacks significantly of the functionality of the principal remote–for example, you cannot access any of the inputs directly–but it really is a great selection for those that want to navigate solely making use of the GUI on the receiver, then choose up the authentic remote for the gadget you have selected.

The STR-DA5300ES comes with a stereo mic for automated calibration of your speaker system. The automated calibration system is accessible by way of the GUI, and it’s dead basic to run. General, Sony’s automated setup did a rather great job of setting the levels on our speaker technique, even though we nonetheless went into the manual settings to make a few tweaks–for instance, it never asked us the size of our front speakers, which necessary to be set to modest. On the upside, we did locate it was quicker than the Audyssey 2EQ setup system found on competing receivers, if a little less accurate.