Upgrade worked once I switched from Dell PII 400mhz computer to a Gateway Pentium 266mhz. Upgrade is great and I'm changing my rating on the 9000 to 5 stars. This pre-amp not only sounds great but the ability to continually upgrade software means it won't become obsolete in two years.
Thanks to all who sent emails with suggestions on how to make the upgrade work.


New Question: The ES 9000 decodes MP3, if you create a CD with MP3 files what hardware would you need to play it on the ES 9000? I have a Sony DVD 7700 and wonder if that would play MP3 discs? Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

The remote still sucks!

Well guess what folks, today was the day i got my remote back...And what do you think happend......IT DID NOT COMMUNICATE.......what a suprize. So SONY is sending FEDEX to my house to pick it up, this could be another week or so, plus to top it off they lost my blue pen,and most of all someone eles remote came back beacuse the serial numbers did not match. What next, I was wondering if this is happing to anyone else. Also will the Preamp pass a HDCD singal from a HDCD cd player via optical and still have the full sonic benifits of HDCD. I did the 1.04a upgrade and it worked well, has anyone heard any rumor of a second upgrade...thanks for the help....1 star for the Sony service center

Well, OSCAR is correct again about how you would go about upgrading your DAC's. Sony hasn't stated that they will come out with an upgrade. So, when Super Audio CD comes out with the proclaimed 192KHZ/24bit sampling rate and resoution, your sony will be obsolete in that respect. It's a shame they didn't install a 5.1 channel input for an outboard decoder. Anyway, the only manufacturer's that come to mind that have done what you are looking for is Mondial Designs, maker of the ACURUS ACT3 pre/amp, and Lexicon maker of the DC-1, DC-2 and MC-1. They have said they will offer and upgrade to 192khz/24 bit DAC's for Super Audio CD. These manufacturer's made modular designs, where you slide out the old board and install a new one, kind of like what you do in your PC. Well hope that helps.

I was one of those people who wanted only a Sony DA50ES and Got fed up waiting and upgraded to the TAE9000 & TAN9000 hopping that I would get a remote that did not have the problems of the DA50ES since this was supposed to better "right", well the remote was bad really really bad. I then heard that the fix was just as bad so I went looking for a solution. I found a remote that will make all your problems go away and make you think you went to remote heaven. The remote is the Philips Pronto. This remote learns everything and you can design how the screens look, how the buttons look, macros to do almost anything and do everything the Sony remote should but talk to the TAE9000 which you will not miss because you will so amazed at the things you can do with this remote. There are three sited to check for info on this remote and you will find programs already written for the TAE9000 Pre-Amp. They are www.remotecentral.com, www.prontoedit.com and www.philips.com. I don't work for them but I aplaud thier efforts to bring forth a remote worthty of this equipment. The cost will range from $250 to $400 check these site chat areas for good places to buy.

Overall, I have been very impressed with this unit. We all know about the remote problems, but hopefully they will be taken care of. I upgrade the unit with the firmware update and it worked very well. I do have a question about the upgradability of the unit, however. What appears to be its upgrade potential? Could it get 24/96 *true* DAC's and whatever else DVD-Audio requires?

Sony Strikes Again: As reported on other Forums, the Sony Service Centers (note the plural) are putting the wrong upgrade kits in the two different Sony Remotes. Here are the correct kit numbers. The initial screen on power up will say 501 or 501E and should correspond with the model number on the front of the remote. My retuned remote with the wrong upgrade would not even communicate with the TAE 9000.
PRODUCT REMOTE UPGRADE KIT

TAE 90000 ES RM-TP 501E T99860041

STR DA50 ES RM-TP 501 T99860652

Thanks to Scott for the information.

ATTNTION ERIC OR TODD in the Sony Specialists Department. How about an alert to the Service Centers to wake them up. Sony Continues to loose face!!!

John Wiles

This pre-amp is the quietest one I have ever heard. Great features. Sonycustomer service is disgusting though, they don't know what is going on and
don't care. -5 stars for sony service and +5 for the great engineers and
tech's at Sony, Yay!!

Hi everyone! I have called and called and called Sony again. I finally got a call from Jeff Wonderlich from the customer affairs review board. He basically is a drone who answered each of my questions reading from a script. I asked the following question.
"If upgrades have to be done at an authorized Sony service center why was a reviewer from Stereo Review sent software to upgrade the 9000ES used in the review? Did Sony make an exception to received a favorable review?"

He refused to answer my question and continued to read from his script. I then asked to speak with his supervisor and he would not transfer me. I asked him for the name and address of the review board and I let him know that I will be writing a letter to their board letting them know how bad I have been treated by their customer service. After hanging up, I received a voice mail from Jeff stating the following.

The review boards response to your request is "At this time Sony service is the only service authorized to do this type of repair. We will forward your request to our engineering department for review."

I suggest that we all call or write letters so they will know that I am not the only person who feels this way. I also suggest we write letters to all of the home theater magazines asking for their help.

Jeff Wonderlich’s phone number is 941-768-7501.

I can explain about this product. First, 2 CH sound really excellent, Because they use special 1 BIT DAC Hispeed to ensure dynamic range up to 120 db, Sound very bright, Clear and detail plus very good soundstage but you need speaker like DALI or MartinLogan.
Second, 5.1 CH sound is very good. Every Channel separate is very good, AC-3 sound Bass is ok but lack of heavy power punch. DTS sound soft but full of detail and Amazing Power of bass.
Third, 24 bit 96 Khz sound, Nothing to say but only very excellent sound, clear..detail...soundstage...airy..and smooth.
Final, 9000es owner need to study the manual because they are many detail to understand such as speaker setup, EQ and etc.. This preamp is very flat but bright detail so need Tube or Tube like amp to use with and smooth and full frequencies speaker to drive power. I give 5+5 stars to this preamp for every price range.

I got my TA-E9000ES today and here's my initial review of the unit. First, the firmware version is 1.10A. MY first impression is that the unit is excellent in workmanship and solid in construction. It has no lyp-sinc problem as reported with the earlier versions from earlier reviews on this site. I used it with my Sony DVD500D player and it rocked! I can easily give it five stars. The remote works fine for me so far. The manual says that a "one way" remote is available from Authorized Sony Dealers and Service Centers. The model # is Sony RM-PP402. You will hear more from me in the next days to come. Sorry but the firmware version did not come with a diskette otherwise I'd share it with everyone! Peace! :-)