Great Price, A lot of Features, Better Sound. You must buy this unit

Think about buying a universal remote Control. The user manual does not represent Sony. Poor details and confusing instructions.

This unit is very well recommended.
If you do not have air conditioning and/or well ventilated ent syst, get a little fan in top of the unit ($40 at Radio Shack). I have satellite Bose speakers and sound great. Still pending to buy the subwoofer. Price: You can get it aroud 500

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo

Sound Quality

Too inexepensive, remote is frustrating, manuals do poor job of explaining features

I've been using this reciever since Sept. 99 when I recieved it as a warranty replacement for a STR-GX800ES Prologic receiver. I was immediatly impressed with all the additional features it had compared to my old unit, it's 3 months later and I am still discovering new features! This is in part due to my own curiousity but more to the way the manual was difficult to understand. Email me if you want a more detailed explanation.

I found connecting the speakers, DVD player, VCR, CD and DSS system all very straight forward and easy. I used S Video where I could and a digital cable from my DVD.

My listening consists of 85% home theater and 15% music. I love movies and find I'm becoming a 5.1 snob. I used to really enjoy my satellite but because my satellite receiver is only Prologic and not 5.1 I'm finding I'm not watching that nearly as much. This is due to not only the sound but the picture quality of DVD pales the satellite. Listening to Saving Private Ryan and other DTS DVD's is a treat and because the reciever makes everything sound so good going out to the movies is something to do just to get out of the house!

Because this system is priced so low I don't think people will take it seriously. My room is 24x12 and this receiver more than fills it with a warm (to my ears) sound, when I have it tuned to 1/4 volume my cat is scared to death and runs to hide. The remote as previously stated is aweful and I only really use it for volume control. However after reading reviews of other recievers remotes this seems to be a very common complaint and I won't totally fault Sony.

Just as FYI info my current system consists of:

Sony STR-DA333ES receiver
B&W Matrix 805 LRC speakers
NHT 100 Watt rears
Sunfire True Subwoofer MKII
Panasonic A120 DVD
Hughes DSS receiver
Sony SLV-790HF VCR (hardly used any more)
Sony CD player (also rarely used, now I use the DVD of CDs)

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 995 & Denon 3300

Great Sound, Powerful amps

Remote Control, Heats up

I have had my receiver for over a month now and am very happy with my purchase. I find the sound to be very clean and powerful. I was concerned at first that 80W of power would not be enough, but I was wrong. This thing is load, and I have never turned it up past 5.

The one thing that I am not overly impressed with is the Remote Control. It took me a week to get the hang of this thing. I found I had to turn off the AUTO POWER feature because everytime I wanted to listen to a music CD, my TV would automatically turn on and switch to Video 1 which is what the DVD player is hooked up to. A minor inconvience.

The other thing is that I wish Sony would have included some internal fans. (They do on the 555ES) I find my unit runs pretty warm. Mind you it is inclosed in a fairly tight cabinet. I am considering purchasing a small fan to put at the back of my cabinet to keep the air moving around.

My system includes:

Sony 333ES Receiver
Sony 650D DVD Player (Excellent unit)
PSB Image 4T Front Speakers
PSB Image 1B Rear Speakers
PSB Image 8C Center Channel
PSB Subsonic 5 Woofer

Overall, I would recommend this unit.

Similar Products Used:

Compared to Denon, and Yamaha

All the connectivity you will ever want is there. Nice banana type plug for high grade wire. 5 S-Video connection for all A/V hookup.

Remote control is slow due to its 2 way communication feature.

This unit is a dream, and a great system for the price. (I got one of the first shipments about 5 months ago for
~$580... I know some people got it for ~$540 these days)
When I was shopping for the receiver, I was looking for one with all the connectivity and good quality sound, which was hard to come by for under $600. The Sony ES333 really hits the sweet spot with all my requirements.

The STA333ES sounds really nice and have tons of features.
The only feature missing is the on-screen display, which I believe the 555ES has. However, 555 wasn't available when I bought my 333ES. The remote is not as user-friendly as I
thought it will be. At least my wife still can't figure out all the functions it can do. I was hoping to use one remote for controlling all the Sony components we have (DVD player, Receiver, VCRs, TV, Satellite etc). However, the remote really is not up to par to do the work. You can probably get to 70% of the functions from the receiver remote but not all, and it's not straight forward. You need to use the "extra" buttons to get some functions which is too much work while you're enjoying the A/V systems. Hopefully, Sony will ship a better remote in the future. In short, I still have 5-6 remotes on the coffee table.

Other than that, sounds is great/superb, feature list is long and useful, connectivity is great/superb. It works nicely with my Sony DVD-S550, with the Dolby Digital or DTS.

8-)

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR925

After A Small Situation With A Defective JVC-888VBK, See Review Under That Unit Here, I Bought and Returned At Brandsmart. I went looking for another reciever. I had sold my Pioneer VSX-D1S MII to a friend for $250.00 this unit was the best unit I have ever owned. I heard the Str-935 At Circut City and it worked fine. The HK65, Also Fine Not Enough Buttons for me. They Did Not Have the Sony in Stock, Nor did Brandsmart, Or Best Buy $468. Reading the reviews here I came upon the DA30's And Such. I went to a local Sound advice and checked out the Pioneer Elite VSX 24T, DA30ES Sony, DA50ES, 333ES, yamaha's. We Used Armagedion DVD, Eagles DTS, And Daylight DTS. The Pioneer Which I have been loyal to gave me a headache, I was very suprised bass was missing and every thing sounded high pitched. The Yamaha units lacked Enough S-VIDEO's On Rear So Out they went. The Three sony Units sounded good to me and at high volume no problems, no overload, good sound. All Tested on Boise AM-15 Set, I have Cambridge soundworks. Sold, But Sound Advice Was not intrested in giving a great price they are retail Discontinued DA30 for $680, 333ES $800. Off to the Phones and Web, I searched hard. Uncle Stereo, $540 Including Shipping, In Stock, 555Es 649 Including Shipping. I called Sony to check there Auth Dealer Claim, They Are Not, I have read they are good to deal with anyhow. I did end up ordering 333es from JandR Music World for 545 plus 21.80 for UPS 3-day, they are Sony Auth and I checked ups and they shipped out same day even though they told me its two days processing. I almost Got a 555 for another $99 Bucks but for 20 Watts and Game Boy Remote, I will Pass. I have also listened to the Onkyo 575's, Nice Unit NO SVideo, Been Sharked with all kinds of DENON Hype ar Brandsmart, I finaly Asked the Salesman if they were the owners of denon because they pushed it so hard. Has Any one seen the remote on those units, Like some thing that comes with a $89 VCR.
Thing I found To Kill the Deal For me on a particular unit.

Onkyo 575, NO SVIDEO, Solid Unit If You Dont Want SVideo Switching

Yamaha 1105, ONE SVIDEO ON REAR ONE ON FRONT, They shoud fire the guy who designed that one.

DA30ES, NO 5.1 Inputs.

DA50ES, Lots Of Problems With Remote Reported Here

DE935, Two SVideo's And For A $100 or so more 333ES. Reported Here DTS Problems, Out of Stock Retail

Pioneer D608, VSX 21T, Very Plain No TONE Or Balance Control's

JVC 888VBK, 1028VBK, Loud Hiss And Hum On Three Units I saw, Company Told Me there test unit did the same and they will look into it. They Also Told Me DTS Audio CD's Will Not Decode on there unit.

I will Post full Set-up and Quility Review when unit is here.

My Rating will be based on what I know so far.

The Sony STR-DA333ES is an excellent AV receiver ! I got mine thru Onecall - which by the way provided excellent service and shipment on time.
The ultimate test is to play "When Hell Freezes Over- DTS" by the Eagles..the sound is incredible !

I've noticed the postings of a highly opinionated person on the boards who is severely critical of all Sony products...man get over it! The ES line of Sony receivers offers very good quality for the money. If this individual prefers some other brand that's fine, we call that freedom of choice in America.

This unit has replaced my 10 year old NAD Receiver and I am very satisfied !

FWIW - this unit fits nicely in an enclosed cabinet having a depth of 17 inches ( Sony measures the depth at 16 inches)- this was a major factor for my installation.

Also, concur with the comments made about the unit running hot. I may add a cooling fan to the top of the unit ( Radio Shack) due to the lack of ventilation in my cabinet (5 year Sony warranty is nice).

An absolute rating of FIVE STARS for both value and performance !

Clean sound, good set of inputs/outputs

No graphic EQ: one can get lost in that many steps without seeing the effect

The optical digital input has some noise compared to the analog CD in which has almost no noise at any level.

Got this for a week now. I use it mostly for two channel stereo CD music. The sound is definitely better than comparably priced Sony non-ES receivers: more dynamic and better resolution. I have a pair of NHT 1.5 and a Sony CDP-CX90ES 5 disk changer hooked to it with both an optical digital connection and the analog input.

For music I find the 333's DAC inferior to a good CD player DAC or an external unit. When comparing the optical connection to the analog side by side, I noticed the following: the digital has more defined low end and sounds a bit more dynamic than the analog BUT has considerably more noise. Set the CD player at "pause" and turn the volume more than half way up - you'll hear a rough hiss; there is no audible hiss from the analog connection, only when the volume is all the way up I can hardly hear it with my ear on the tweeter. The digital connection sounds a bit more dynamic but at the expense of having more distortion in my opinion: I guess the 8-way DAC in the CD player does a "smoother" job. You will not notice this in a home-theater application or if any effects are on as the sound will degrade more than the difference anyway.

The verdict:
- decent amplifier
- good set of connections
- the remote could be better (hate the flip-top)
- the digital to analog converter is not top-of-the-line, so I have to rely on the CD player's which I feel could also be better (picky...)
- setup of the equalizer is difficult and slow
- sound may be a bit on the bright side which will probably be OK for many speakers, but with accurate tweeters may be conceived as somewhat harsh.
- good value and sound for a home theater, could have a better sound for music applications (but got to spend more money), although for either it beats most other offerings.

Compared to other receivers using the NHT 3.3 speakers at J&R:
- a bit higher prised Yamaha (don't remember the model): the Yamaha has a slightly different soud, the Sony sounds a bit more open but it may just be somewhat brighter-personal preference would be the factor here, not quality.
- comparably priced Harman Kardon AVR5: no comparison there. The HK had a lot of "hum" even at mid level and when cpoupled with the potential reliability issues with HK, the Sony with its 5 year warranty and better sound stands out.
- when compared to the more expensive two-piece Sony 9000 ES (forgot the exact model) that sells for roughly 4 times the price of the 333, the sound was not much different when using analog inputs, at least not for me to spend the additional $1500 or so now. I would think about it if I win the lottery though...

So, If I were to do it again? For music I would try a power amp with separate DAC and a lower-priced CD player with digital out: as somebody else said here, the digital is 1s and 0s; it should be the same as long as the number of bits is the same. For HT this unit is good, unless your home is the size of a movie theater...

Enjoy!

I bought my 333ES a couple months ago. Overall I like the unit, but the remote could have been SO much better. If you don't have all Sony equipment then the remote sucks -- but Sony could have EASILY made it great. Also, the fact remote does not support Echostar (DISH) IR functions seems to be an obvious omissions to discourage competition (with Sony-supported DirecTV). I haven't noticed my unit running overly hot, but I haven't paid much attention to it (to be honest). Since I'm using Klipsch loudspeakers, I don't have to push the amp very hard to get loud volume levels.
Some nitpicks: the tuner doesn't seem to be quite as good as my old Sony 57ES unit and no gold connectors on an ES unit!

Just an update to my earlier dilemma regarding the malfunctioning remote (wouldn't upload index and station names) and the lack of a "Wall" setting. I sent the unit in for repair. While it was gone I got an email from someone who told me that connecting the AII control port to a S-Link port (on a DVD player) will, because they are incompatible, make the remote malfunction. I mistakenly assumed that they were one and the same and had, indeed, connected them. Anyway, two weeks later I got the unit back with a note that said it was working fine. I hooked it up again (making sure not to connect the AII & S-Link) and, lo and behold, it works fine. A precautionary tale to those who, like me, get carried away with plugging things in.

I had originally purchased a 30ES. The 1st one had a really loud hum, so I returned it. The 2nd one had a display that would not come on. I returned it. The 3rd one did not work at all, so I returned it. Keep in mind that the receiver was purchased mail order, so it was a hassle to return each time. Oade finally hooked me up with the 333es for the same price as the 30es. O.K., this one works great. Now, Jim (from oade) gives me a call and say's he has not been paid, but my credit card co. say's they have paid him. I got my next statement from Visa and Jim had ran my card through again, for more than I paid the 1st time. I had to dispute it of course. In the end, if this is the end, I got a receiver that I really like. The remote sucks, but all remotes suck. The receiver works great.