Sony STR-DN1080 7.2ch Home Theatre AV Receiver

This receiver looks and works great with my home theatre setup. It’s big, but looks very nice and sleek from the front. The buttons are designed to blend in well, and the dials look beautiful and high-end. Set-up is easy (if you have some prior tech setup experience) and it has tons of settings, sound modes, etc to play with. It operates very smoothly. I have the receiver running my Bose Acoustimass sound system, TV, streaming box, Xbox, and PlayStation. It has TONS of connection ports on the back so you can hookup just about anything. It also has Bluetooth and WiFi compatibility. I purchased this unit from Best Buy as an open box, and the WiFi/network feature on mine has never worked. Not a big deal, as it doesn’t affect anything else on it, but would be nice if it ... MoreThis receiver looks and works great with my home theatre setup. It’s big, but looks very nice and sleek from the front. The buttons are designed to blend in well, and the dials look beautiful and high-end. Set-up is easy (if you have some prior tech setup experience) and it has tons of settings, sound modes, etc to play with. It operates very smoothly. I have the receiver running my Bose Acoustimass sound system, TV, streaming box, Xbox, and PlayStation. It has TONS of connection ports on the back so you can hookup just about anything. It also has Bluetooth and WiFi compatibility. I purchased this unit from Best Buy as an open box, and the WiFi/network feature on mine has never worked. Not a big deal, as it doesn’t affect anything else on it, but would be nice if it worked. Unfortunately after about 1-2 years, I ran into the (apparently common for Sony receivers) issue of it going into “protect mode” and shutting itself off. This was a very expensive purchase, so I didn’t want to throw it out. Spent a ton of time researching and trying possible solutions and fixes. Finally opened it, tested some things with a multimeter, and figured out it needed a new transistor - $6 on eBay. A few YouTube videos, a cheap soldering iron, and a couple hours of work, but was able to get the piece replaced. Receiver worked again - no more protect mode. It has now been working perfectly again for the past 4 years or so with no issues! Overall it was worth the investment and I’m hoping it will last for years to come.

Still after about 7 years of use with a quality speaker system, this receiver works amazing! Every time we have family movie night, it doesn’t disappoint. It has a lot of different sound options as well as listening modes to choose from, maybe too many. My “go to” brand has always been Sony. This is a quality product that I would highly recommend to anyone who is in need of a theater system. The set up is slightly complex but easy, however, the instructions for set up is very clear. For instance, there is a small round microphone that has to be plugged into the unit during start up, that must be placed where you will be sitting. The system will then calibrate the sound quality according to your location. I’ve enjoyed this thus far, and plan to for many years to come.

Exceeds Every Expectation

I already owned the STR-DN1050, so sort of knew what I was getting. I needed the newer 1080 model for 4K in my library, and I needed to replace my much-hated Denon AVR-X2400H. The difference in sound quality between the Denon and the Sony is extraordinary - so much clearer, more detailed and also fuller. Gone are the days of having to boost the centre channel volume due to the Denon's lack of power and precision - now every word is crystal clear and every explosion, thud, crunch of gravel pin-point accurate.The build quality is excellent too - slightly smaller (shorter) than the Denon, but beautifully and logically laid out. My only gripe is the insistence on having the USB on the front - it spoils the looks to have a USB stick jutting out, so why not have an ... MoreI already owned the STR-DN1050, so sort of knew what I was getting. I needed the newer 1080 model for 4K in my library, and I needed to replace my much-hated Denon AVR-X2400H. The difference in sound quality between the Denon and the Sony is extraordinary - so much clearer, more detailed and also fuller. Gone are the days of having to boost the centre channel volume due to the Denon's lack of power and precision - now every word is crystal clear and every explosion, thud, crunch of gravel pin-point accurate.The build quality is excellent too - slightly smaller (shorter) than the Denon, but beautifully and logically laid out. My only gripe is the insistence on having the USB on the front - it spoils the looks to have a USB stick jutting out, so why not have an alternative one on the back - at the price surely that's not too expensive an option. But the front display is clear, and the whole thing is as understated as a big black metal box can be.It's easy to set-up too - the built-in assistant with microphone works reasonably well, though it took me two attempts to get it to eventually accept that I do only have a 5.1 speaker set-up. But once set up it was just a couple of minor tweaks to get it to sound awesome.Linked to a Sky Q box, Sony PS4 and Sony 4K player means switching any of those on turns on the amp (to the correct channel and with the previously selected sound options) and there is no lag changing from source to source - it just works, every time.A couple of niggles, but nothing to knock a star off: the remote control feels cheap and nasty. The same remote (pretty much) for the 1050 feels better made, whereas the buttons on this feel loose and unresponsive. The amp does love to default to creating surround sound for everything - turning on Pure Direct resolves it, but it's an annoying assumption in a supposedly all-about-the-sound amp.And that's it - it's a well-made, well-specified, well-thought out amp. Expect to pay considerably more if you want to go beyond the Sony's capabilities.

Excellent sound, disappointing bugs

I bought the STRDN1080 to replace an ageing Yamaha av receiver that whilst working perfectly, lacked 4K/HDR support, streaming features and Dolby Atmos. Service by Richer Sounds via their telephone sales line was excellent as always and I excitedly swapped the Sony in for the Yamaha.The installation process was a doddle - the auto setup gave you various options and allowed you to adjust the speaker layout to reflect your room.Initial impressions were of great sound - a really broad and realistic sound field with real detail - and a user interface that was light years ahead of the old Yamaha. The sound really is superb - clear surround and great music reproduction, even on streamed audio.However, after installing, there was a strange humming sound present. ... MoreI bought the STRDN1080 to replace an ageing Yamaha av receiver that whilst working perfectly, lacked 4K/HDR support, streaming features and Dolby Atmos. Service by Richer Sounds via their telephone sales line was excellent as always and I excitedly swapped the Sony in for the Yamaha.The installation process was a doddle - the auto setup gave you various options and allowed you to adjust the speaker layout to reflect your room.Initial impressions were of great sound - a really broad and realistic sound field with real detail - and a user interface that was light years ahead of the old Yamaha. The sound really is superb - clear surround and great music reproduction, even on streamed audio.However, after installing, there was a strange humming sound present. After tracing all of the speaker cables and checking on-by-one it wasn't a problem with a dodgy connection, or one of the other devices, it became apparent that the humming was coming directly from the amp chassis.I tried adjusting various settings, but nothing seemed to cure it - it was very prominent and could be heard over the sounds coming out of the speakers, and was particularly distracting during TV watching as it was audible over the dialogue. Disappointed, I took the amp out of the cabinet, placing it on the carpet to start disconnecting everything to return it to RS, and the humming disappeared.It transpires that there is what I can only think is bad transformer hum which was being transmitted straight through the feet and was resonating badly with the wooden cabinet. I used some closed-cell foam underneath the amp to decouple it from the cabinet and there's now no discernible hum, even close up. It's a shame that Sony haven't taken steps to isolate the transformer to prevent hum being transmitted by the chassis - I suppose isolation feet might do a similar job but it shouldn't really be necessary, even at this low price point (certainly I experienced nothing similar with the Yamaha). Looking online, it's something reported by a number of users.The second issue is a bug with the HDMI CEC control - when turning a connected device on, the HDMI CEC control switches the input and TV correctly to the device, but after a few seconds the 'HOME' menu on the amp appears.Again, looking online it's a known issue and there doesn't appear to be any way to prevent this happening, and it's completely unnecessary. Yes, you can cancel it using the HOME button on the remote, but this is 'laggy' so can end up with multiple presses with the HOME menu popping up and down, but it should only appear if called for by the user - it's shouldn't be the default setting.Those niggles aside, it's a good amp - a real step up sound-wise from the Yamaha and a bargain at this price point with all these features, but if Sony had just done the last 1% of development, it would be unbeatable.I'd recommend it but with caveats. I

Great, with a few niggles

We received our home cinema package a week ago and eagerly spent the weekend setting it up. This was pretty straightforward using the quick startup guide. Most of the many menus and sub menus were easy enough to find and the sound we managed to get was good. Being in our mid-50s, we prefer a slightly ‘warmer’ sound than is currently fashionable and this showed up one weakness - the equaliser only gives control over the bass and treble values, the mid range frequencies are a bit subdued. As this is clearly a matter of software we’d like to have seen a more comprehensive range of controls.The other main issue soon emerged: some of the menus are very slow to the point where it seems the system has crashed. The is especially true with the Bluetooth menu. If the unit ... MoreWe received our home cinema package a week ago and eagerly spent the weekend setting it up. This was pretty straightforward using the quick startup guide. Most of the many menus and sub menus were easy enough to find and the sound we managed to get was good. Being in our mid-50s, we prefer a slightly ‘warmer’ sound than is currently fashionable and this showed up one weakness - the equaliser only gives control over the bass and treble values, the mid range frequencies are a bit subdued. As this is clearly a matter of software we’d like to have seen a more comprehensive range of controls.The other main issue soon emerged: some of the menus are very slow to the point where it seems the system has crashed. The is especially true with the Bluetooth menu. If the unit is switched off whilst Bluetooth is the active input (we also use the system alot for streaming music), when turning the system back on the ‘listen’ menu starts to open, freezes for around 30 seconds, before defaulting to the quick setup menu. The Home button on the remote needs to be pressed and after another few seconds delay this loads at which point the ‘listen’ menu can be deselected and Bluetooth loaded. Once this is done the system operates satisfactorily, but clearly isn’t what we’d expected from what is (to us) a significant investment. I should add that loading the dvd/blue ray is super quick - in fact all we have to do is switch on our DVD player to automatically switch on the amplifier and load the ‘watch’ menu - easy. However, it only draws attention to the slow, glitchy and cumbersome way in which the unit deals with Bluetooth (we have used several different devices with similar results).We eventually turned to the units Chromecast and Connect features to connect external devices via WiFi and this works quickly and effectively, so we now simply don’t attempt to use Bluetooth.Other than these issues the unit works well, producing a full, rich and detailed sound when paired with the Q acoustics speaker system bought as part of the bundle.

It’s great but not that great for some

At $1,749AUD the 1080 is not a strong enough value to warrant a purchase but for me I got mine new as part of a speaker pack for $1,080AUD for the AMP but not speakerswhich was a bargain. The listed RRP here for this amp is a straight don’t buy at this price as for example one would be better off with a “Marantz NR1711 Slim 7.2 AV Receiver” as its feature list is better in my view and its cheaper. Sony is asking a lot for $1,749AUD and kinda or is now outdated by Sony’s current range of Smart Tv’s... Actually it is outdated because it doesn’t support new HDMI standard, no 8K, no 120hz refresh rate and no VRR which means not even the PS5 will work with this amp with 120hz setting on.Next is those crazy watt ratings, its marketing targeted at those not experienced ... MoreAt $1,749AUD the 1080 is not a strong enough value to warrant a purchase but for me I got mine new as part of a speaker pack for $1,080AUD for the AMP but not speakerswhich was a bargain. The listed RRP here for this amp is a straight don’t buy at this price as for example one would be better off with a “Marantz NR1711 Slim 7.2 AV Receiver” as its feature list is better in my view and its cheaper. Sony is asking a lot for $1,749AUD and kinda or is now outdated by Sony’s current range of Smart Tv’s... Actually it is outdated because it doesn’t support new HDMI standard, no 8K, no 120hz refresh rate and no VRR which means not even the PS5 will work with this amp with 120hz setting on.Next is those crazy watt ratings, its marketing targeted at those not experienced in audio gear, seriously 165Wx7 lol yeah right! What is an fact here is that number is red line or maximum breaking force as in you will break speakers, distort audio, short out amp and worse go deaf. Sony unlike Marantz use’s big numbers to sell this unit rather than state real facts as again the average joe thinks those big numbers is better when thats not the case. With my DN-1080 I have been driving speakers from 20watts to 150watts playing them at reasonable volume without casualties proving that those big numbers are just a show and tell rather than telling it the way it is. As for sound vs price point that I paid for it is a great sounding home theatre amp with no regrets.My issue that I have is that not all system settings can be seen on my Sony Tv with no option to allow this, Amp menu can not be seen on TV yet other amp settings are visible on screen and also it would be nice to see on screen how much watts is been put out. Also its listed as 7.2ch yet in system settings it thinks 7.1, also to point out that sub settings only list one output when in reality there is two subwoofer outputs on amp; system audio configuration just lists one subwoofer. The remote does not have backlit keys or glow in the dark buttons.All in all this is a good amp for ones Sony line up if you can buy one between $1,080AUD to $1,300 but not a dollar more as there’s more updated home theatre amps out there for that sum of $1,749AUD. The low score is not something I wanted to give as I do like this amp its just that thats what I felt I should mention especially if one happens to have a PS5.

Superb sound quality

I am delighted with my STR-DN1080 AV receiver because the improvement in sound quality over my previous system is amazing. Why? the room where the system is installed unfortunately suffers from annoying resonances and with the previous AV amplifier (STR-DH790) or with the TV's own speakers and even with the radio, the room acoustics caused resonances at the low end of the speech spectrum, producing an unpleasant "honking" tone on male and female voices and an uneven bass and vocals on music, varying with listener position. Nothing I could do could cure this, by changing the loudspeaker positions or recalibrating the amp. or adjusting the equaliser controls. However the STR-DN1080 has completely eliminated these effects, as if by magic. My guess is that it is a ... MoreI am delighted with my STR-DN1080 AV receiver because the improvement in sound quality over my previous system is amazing. Why? the room where the system is installed unfortunately suffers from annoying resonances and with the previous AV amplifier (STR-DH790) or with the TV's own speakers and even with the radio, the room acoustics caused resonances at the low end of the speech spectrum, producing an unpleasant "honking" tone on male and female voices and an uneven bass and vocals on music, varying with listener position. Nothing I could do could cure this, by changing the loudspeaker positions or recalibrating the amp. or adjusting the equaliser controls. However the STR-DN1080 has completely eliminated these effects, as if by magic. My guess is that it is a combination of the new and superior Auto Calibration (D.C.A.C. EX) the stereo calibration microphone, speaker relocation and the automatic phase matching (Calibration Matching). With the new STR-DN1080, speech and vocals are now perfectly reproduced and music has smooth extended bass without holes and peaks, wherever I am positioned in the room.FYI most of the other component of the new set up have been carried over from the old - Bowers & Wilkins M1 speakers for front L, R and centre, B&W ASW608 subwoofer, smaller Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS for surround and height speakers, Sony BDP-S580 for Blu Ray, DVD and CD, Sony KDL46HX903 TV, Virgin TiVo cable TV box (HDMI connected) and an unbranded Android TV media box with 2TB HDD connected to the higher quality SA-CD/CD HDMI input. The only difference is that the previous system used Surround Back speakers, which are now used for Height, while Phantom Surround Back has been selected during calibration. The media box is used for viewing stored home videos, photos and slideshows, extensive music collection (mp3 format) plus downloaded video and Internet radio (e.g. Jazz FM, BBC iPlayer). So altogether quite a high quality system, which all works simply and seamlessly with the STR-DN1080 due to the ARC/eARC, Bravia Sync and because the TiVo and media boxes have semi programmable remotes meaning that only one remote at a time is needed to control the TV, Amp, TiVo, media box or BD player, making for a simple to control "home friendly" system.I do not use any of the analogue inputs or outputs, but a stereo analogue output, mixed down from the 7.2 HDMI output would have been useful for connecting to my Sennheiser wireless (not Bluetooth) headphones. Because these are low latency wireless, I can use them at the same time that the speaker system is on, which I do sometimes (by direct connection to the source analogue outputs via a manual switch). The regular headphone socket turns off the speakers, as does the Bluetooth transmitter facility. I have tried the Bluetooth transmitter facility with cheap Bluetooth earbuds, but while OK for music, the delay (latency) is so high that it makes speech on video awkward to watch. I see that STR-DN1080 features a high quality, low latency Bluetooth feature - LDAC, but I notice that LDAC does not feature in the specifications for the well reviewed Sony Bluetooth WF-1000XM3 premium earbuds, but rather the industry standard aptX, which the STR-DN1080 does not, so I wonder what is going on here? I have not used the Bluetooth receiver function for casting etc. but I do like the Sony Music Center App which is a nice alternative way of controlling the receiver from my smartphone.The second HDMI output (B) is useful. I occasionally use it with an HDMI capture device to back up stuff recorded on the TiVo box, but in the future, will probably wire up an HDMI extension for a TV in another room so that we are able watch the same media that is playing on the main TV . It is rather complicated to set up the STR-DN1080 in this way and it is not really explained simply in the user guide:1. On Handset HDMI Out select HDMI A+B (view Amp display)2. From Home – Zone Controls, select HDMI Zone Power – On3. From Home – Zone Controls, select HDMI input - Source4. From Home – Settings – HDMI - HDMI B Mode, select Main5. From HDMI Settings – select Audio Out – AMP + TVPhew! and note that when mains power is switched off, Audio Out reverts to AMP (only) and if not reset to AMP + TV there will be no audio from the second TV.Ever since I had my first home theatre system (Sony DAV DZ-280), I preferred to use Dolby Pro Logic (Movie or Music) 5.1 rather than stereo for listening to music, because Dolby produces a good sound stage, with precisely located vocalist or soloist (centre channel) even when listening way off the "sweet spot" position required for 2 speaker stereo. It also sounded good when previous room layouts prevented far from ideal location of the speakers (which auto calibration overcomes). When listening way off the "sweet spot" (i.e. much nearer to one of the speakers), ordinary stereo sounds as if most of the output (especially the vocalist) is coming from the nearest speaker and there is little or no effective sound stage. Now, the new "Dolby Surround" gives even better results, with clear location of the performers. I also like listening to music with "Multi Ch Stereo", which seems to give a softer but wider sound stage, with a centre channel, rather like the old Dolby Pro Logic Music. it would be good if the User Guide gave a better explanation of what it is.The receiver is located right next to my router (cable broadband) which means that the receiver and the Android media box can have a direct ethernet connection, which takes advantage of the very high speed available and provides for excellent buffering-free video and audio streaming. However the RF hash from the router completely drowns out the FM tuner signal for the receiver and its wire antenna. In my case this does not matter because I use Internet radio, which is better anyway, via the media box rather than FM, but I suspect many users would prefer a DAB+ tuner with a coax. connector for an external antenna. One slight disappointment is that the STR-DN1080's Internet Radio Service only provides Spotify Premium (in UK), so Hi-Res streaming services, such as Qobuz or Tidal cannot be played directly by the receiver. USB playback has always been useful on Sony equipment, but the ability to interface with higher capacity (e.g. 2TB) partitioned HDDs would be better.The Custom Presets are a very useful feature and have an excellent selection of controls. I have programmed some of them slightly differently and for different purposes than the Sony defaults. Therefore it would have been nice to be able to re-name them to suit. Also, the Remote only allows Custom Preset 1 (Movie) to be selected. Being able to select any of the four (e.g. by cycling through them like the sound field buttons) would be better, rather than having to go through the Home Menu to access the other three Presets. The Preset 1 button is still useful, since it is the most used Custom Preset.Summarising, all the slightly negative comments mentioned above are very minor (suggestions for future improvements?) compared to the superb sound quality, which has brought back my listening pleasure enormously. I would recommend the Sony STR-DN1080 to anyone!

The STR-DN1080 is truly excellent and compares favorably to my rock star Sony STR-ZA3000ES.

The STR-DN1080 is my new second Sony AV receiver purchased from World Wide Stereo in the past year, and my review allows me to compare it to my first, a truly superb one-year-old STR-ZA3000ES, which I have decked out with high-quality outboard wireless RF Sennheiser headphones and a high quality BlueDento BLT HD bluetooth receiver. My 5.1 setup incorporates great speakers from WWS, Sony Core Series SSCS5 "bookshelf" speakers on 31" Sanus stands in front, SSCS5's on 32" Pangea stands in back/surround positions, SSCS8 center speaker, SACS9 subwoofer at front right, good quality affordable connectors and cables, an ancient 13-year-old Vizio Jive plasma TV, and an 11-year-old Samsung Blu-ray player. I am not yet set up for Dolby Atmos or DTS-X, nor for 4K, so this ... MoreThe STR-DN1080 is my new second Sony AV receiver purchased from World Wide Stereo in the past year, and my review allows me to compare it to my first, a truly superb one-year-old STR-ZA3000ES, which I have decked out with high-quality outboard wireless RF Sennheiser headphones and a high quality BlueDento BLT HD bluetooth receiver. My 5.1 setup incorporates great speakers from WWS, Sony Core Series SSCS5 "bookshelf" speakers on 31" Sanus stands in front, SSCS5's on 32" Pangea stands in back/surround positions, SSCS8 center speaker, SACS9 subwoofer at front right, good quality affordable connectors and cables, an ancient 13-year-old Vizio Jive plasma TV, and an 11-year-old Samsung Blu-ray player. I am not yet set up for Dolby Atmos or DTS-X, nor for 4K, so this relates mostly to comparison of build quality, sound, and function. The 1080 is a truly excellent in sound quality, and is no slouch, at all, compared to the 3000ES. I give the clear edge to the subtly more refined 3000ES, but I am very pleasantly surprised that the 1080 sounds so very good against its older brother that still retails at $1,698 as of May, 2019. After much research and auditioning a year ago, I was about to pull the trigger on a 1080, when World Wide Stereo put the 3000 on sale for a price way too tempting to resist. If I recently had not already had the 3000, the 1080 would be undisputed king of the hill in my home entertainment rack. Like the 3000, the 1080 produces beautifully stunning, powerful, detailed, clean, and dynamic music and movie soundtracks from low bass to midrange (especially vocals and piano) to high treble range. It can be punchy and authoritative, as well as subtle and delicate as a quiet whisper, then dead silent. It can turn on a dime from one to another. Suddenly loud explosions, gunshots, shouts, or music will often startle you and make you jump at moderately loud volume. You may mistakenly be fooled by a movie soundtrack to think someone actually knocked on your front door. Properly set up, the sounds from it are very realistic and fully satisfying. As a former symphony and jazz band performer for many years, I can tell you that classical music is absolutely outstanding on the 1080, especially with the Core Series speakers! Even good stations on FM radio sound stunningly good! The build quality and quality of parts of the 1080 is excellent. The 3000 has higher quality parts and components, but not too noticeably better. Sony did not cut corners on the 1080, especially at its amazing price. The 1080 functionality and ergonomics, especially with the remote and physical panel controls is very good. The 1080 remote is probably easier for many to use with user-friendly arrangement of essential buttons. The 3000 is much smoother, complex but intuitive, and flexible with more fine-tuning adjustments and dedicated buttons on both the receiver and remote, which is to be expected at its premium level. However, I have been very pleased that the 1080 is still very well designed and easy to operate and navigate. The hallmark Sony AVR onscreen GUI (graphic user interface) is beautifully designed and makes navigation to make settings and adjustments fairly easy and painless, especially once you practice and get the hang if it. As with any AV receiver and much like any new computer, the 1080 has a moderate learning curve, and one should be very patient and ready to learn by fully reading and referring to the detailed instructions provided, excellent online research and help guides Sony offers, and good old trial and error. No need to dread it or be intimidated. You will get it figured out and be richly rewarded in no time. Light bulbs will light up, and you will smile. Bottom line: I highly recommend the Sony STR-DN1080 and other truly excellent and reliable Sony products, especially the Core Series speakers that sing so beautifully with Sony receivers. Just give them a good listen and trust your own ears over everything else. You will understand what I mean. As always, I also highly recommend World Wide Stereo, my preferred "go to" for audio and video gear. Hard to beat their consistently high quality of their website, quality product selection, great regular and sale prices, purchasing experience, steady reliability, and simply excellent customer service. No, I do not work there, and I am not a relative of the owner. They are genuinely top notch, and as a discerning old-school consumer, I tend to stick with such businesses.

Unbelievable!!

After receiving a cash windfall recently, my wife finally gave me her permission to upgrade my home theatre system. The previous system was a Yamaha RXV-375 5.1 AV receiver playing through Mission MX-1 floorstanders, the MXC-1 Mission centre speaker, a Tannoy 5.1 SFX subwoofer which was replaced with the Yamaha NSSW050 and some old Panasonic surrounds from a previous all in one dvd system. I had no issue with this amp but once I upgraded my TV to 4K a couple of years back, it ceased to be an AV receiver and just became an amplifier. Cut to today and I’m fully upgraded with a spanking new LG C9 with new Mission LX-1 bookshelfs for surrounds and the Eltax ATM Monitor Atmos speakers and this baby.... but first context...I thought my speaker setup was great for the ... MoreAfter receiving a cash windfall recently, my wife finally gave me her permission to upgrade my home theatre system. The previous system was a Yamaha RXV-375 5.1 AV receiver playing through Mission MX-1 floorstanders, the MXC-1 Mission centre speaker, a Tannoy 5.1 SFX subwoofer which was replaced with the Yamaha NSSW050 and some old Panasonic surrounds from a previous all in one dvd system. I had no issue with this amp but once I upgraded my TV to 4K a couple of years back, it ceased to be an AV receiver and just became an amplifier. Cut to today and I’m fully upgraded with a spanking new LG C9 with new Mission LX-1 bookshelfs for surrounds and the Eltax ATM Monitor Atmos speakers and this baby.... but first context...I thought my speaker setup was great for the size of room I have but I always thought it was just dangling on greatness. As soon as Atmos made the scene, my dream was to upgrade but history has taught me that just because something is new doesn’t mean it works all the time so I did a load of research. After reading What Hifi’s review of this amp, I was sold but a part of me was still thinking ‘it can’t be any better than what you’re used to’. After all I’ve spent the best part of 6 years faffing with the Yamahas sound that nothing could possibly beat it, right?So on to Richer Sounds to purchase the receiver and onto the speaker section to get new surrounds and Atmos speakers (I’ll post reviews for them later). After only 2 days the whole setup arrives, proving that Richer Sounds are on the ball with their delivery.Now, onto setting the beast up - cue 10hrs of tidying the living room to make space for new speakers, tidying the hifi unit to make way for new tech, removing old speaker cable from around the living room then replacing it with brand new cable for ALL speakers. So, ruined fingers and a slow waste of motivation due to a sore back from being hunched over for 10hrs, I finally finished and thought it’s too late to give this a real bash so I’ll just try a standard 5.1 Blu-ray DTS HD MA soundtrack.... my jaw instantly hit the floor. Even at volume 4 it was clean and precise with dialogue perfectly balanced with the low end from the sub.But the following day, the wife challenged my ridiculous man-treats and asked what difference they make - cue Saving Private Ryan on Ultra HD disc with its Atmos soundtrack.... I wish I took a picture of her face because she was dumbstruck by what she was hearing - explosions ring for longer than you remember due to the overhead sound the Atmos speakers provide, while also laying out a subtle but very noticeable low end hum for the entire D-Day sequence (sound design I never knew was there, not any defects). Bullets whizzing past in the surrounds and dialogue on the battlefield are produced with tremendous clarity due to the 360 degree sound field the phantom surround function provides and the centre speaker handled all the mid range sound and main dialogue better than I’ve ever heard. Quite simply put, my old speakers were only toying with me about what they were capable of but thanks to this fantastic bit of tech they can now blow free and proud.... well, as free and proud as the neighbours will allow.Add to the beautiful sound reproduction a really good 4K upscaling function, Sony’s famous sound decoder for making music sound just as good as movies and full future proofing with true 4K HDR passthrough that supports all HDR types including Dolby Vision, and I have to say this is the best amp I have ever owned. Pretty much essential if you have the budget and honestly, worth every single penny.I simply can’t praise this receiver enough.

Versitile unit but room for improvement

I have bought a system from Richer Sounds in the past but through Amazon, a Denon Amp and MS speakers which was very good. However on this occasion I was after an AV receiver and had seen an upgraded unit from another manufacturer. These are complicated (and expensive) bits of equipment, I had a lot of questions so went directly to Richer Sounds. After discussing my requirements with the Richer Sound team I settled on a Sony receiver, one which is also recommended by WhatHiFi?, the Sony STR-DN1080.The Sony unit looks and sounds great, it really brings movies to life and my music sounds full and smooth, even at high volume. I am playing it through Wharfdale Diamond speakers (which I would also recommend). There are enough inputs and outputs to cope with almost any ... MoreI have bought a system from Richer Sounds in the past but through Amazon, a Denon Amp and MS speakers which was very good. However on this occasion I was after an AV receiver and had seen an upgraded unit from another manufacturer. These are complicated (and expensive) bits of equipment, I had a lot of questions so went directly to Richer Sounds. After discussing my requirements with the Richer Sound team I settled on a Sony receiver, one which is also recommended by WhatHiFi?, the Sony STR-DN1080.The Sony unit looks and sounds great, it really brings movies to life and my music sounds full and smooth, even at high volume. I am playing it through Wharfdale Diamond speakers (which I would also recommend). There are enough inputs and outputs to cope with almost any setup, both digital, analogue and HDMI.I have a Fire-stick, a Youview Recorder, FreeSat receiver, Blueray player, and XBox One going in then being fed out to my TV and a full HD projector. I can play any source to either projector or TV or both!The unit also connected to my Google Home system with no problems and I can now use this unit as part of my multi-room speaker system.Downsides - which is not a real issue, is that I used to improve the Denon unit volume for parties etc by feeding the source signal through a Marshall Amp, this does not work with the Sony unit as there is always a slight lag between the Sony and the Marshal speaker. However the Sony unit is loud enough that I don't need the Marshall amp anyway.A built in DAB Radio receiver would have been nice to have, but as you can stream other sources through the Sony unit there is no issue in playing a clear DAB feedfrom your phone.It may have been good to have a turntable phono connection, but I was using a pre-amp for my vinyl with the old unit anyway, so again not an issue, but the pure phono feed may have been better?The menu system can seem a bit clunky but setting up and allocating input names helps with this, all done through the TV onscreen menu.I am very happy customer, but if I were designing the system I would add a few tweaks.