Great overall power, some nice features, good price with a little shopping.

Remote control more suited for nothing more than a paperweight, VERY POOR quality control in manufacturing, no TV/Satellite coaxial input.

Hello,

This unit looked great and performed as designed out of the box. It pumped out some really clear audio from various sources and separated the 5.1 DTS with good reproduction. Unfortunately, this fantasy only lasted for about 10 minutes before the "PROTECTOR" warning repeatedly shut everything down. I tried all the troubleshooting that I could logically think of on my own, then exhausted what was recommended via the Sony support site. I finally had to ship this heavy bomb in for repairs at my own expense ($22). After two weeks of waiting and great difficulty in talking with anyone located within 2000 miles of where my unit was being repaired, it turned out to be a bad "C board"! The unit was originally manufactured four weeks before I received it and in a factory sealed box! This problem should have been discovered at the heart of any quality control testing!

I now have the receiver back up and operating. The futuristic remote control has given up all it's commands to a Philips Pronto super remote control and it now collects dust as a paperweight. The receiver performs well for my intermediate needs, but I must admit that I am untrusting in its reliability. If it were not for the 5-year warranty that comes with the ES line, I would have sold the damn thing on eBay.

I have reflected my disappointment in having to pay the money to repair a brand new item in the value ratings and tried my best to be unbiased in the performance/overall rating. All companies make mistakes. The difference between a good and bad company is that a good one admits such an error and rebounds with good customer service. Sony failed and offered nothing but long hold times on the phone, limited information on my repair, and no apology or refund for the trouble I encountered. Most likely, this will be the last Sony product that I purchase.

Good luck if you buy one of these units!
Z-Man.

Similar Products Used:

Other Sony receivers with similar performance ratings.

clean power, audio & video inputs

backlight on remote

This is one of the best performing recievers I have ever heard. Before I bought the 555es, I did a lot of shopping around, for something that would replace my old Aiwa reciever. I didn't want just any reciever, but I wanted a reciever that had a lot of power and excellent performance. So I auditioned the sony 555es and it was everything that I was looking for. This reciever performed beautifully and it fit right into my budget. I would recommend the 555es to anyone who wants to get into high end audio without the outrageous price that goes with it.

Similar Products Used:

Aiwa AV-DV70

NONE

Remote, Cross Channel Talk, NO BASS, DTS decoding issues, power off on rear channels, remote, remote, remote!

Bad product! Don't waste your time! I've been through SONY hell and back! This product should not be getting even one star. After hours of letters and hooking it up and taking it out again and again this piece of garbage should be used as a door stop! SONY SUCKS!!!!

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SONY 50ES another piece of JUNK

Incredible power, clear as a bell. Price. Quality construction.

None so far.

Just got this receiver last week. Got it set-up to my new Infinity speakers and this thing is the bomb!! Clean power to all speakers. Yes, the remote is a little bit of a pain, but take some time to actually fool around with it and you will like it. Very impressive sound fields. Had my best friend over for the "TEST" when I got it all hooked up. Popped in "The Matrix" and selected the "Lobby Scene". This system rocks. Very impressive. Even at 20% volume, the walls are shaking. It does get a little warm, but HELLO!! its an amp for crying out loud, its supposed to. I recommend this product to anyone. I'm glad I took back that piece of crap STRDE935 and got this one instead. Paid $745 shipped from Soundpros.com.

Powerful, aesthetic, build quality

Remote, runs hot

I really can't come up with anything bad to say about the Sony except for growing tired of the remote. I've had it for a little over a year. Bought it from www.oadebros.com right as it was released for $640 I think.(Its been awhile) They're great to deal with.

It actually may have too much power for my speakers, Polk RT-800's front, CS300 center, f/x500 rear because I have drivers blown on each of my front speakers. Definitely gotta get those fixed. But I never turned the receiver past eleven o'clock and usually don't go above ten. I like listening to dvd's with the volume cranked and the 555 has yet to let me down. Although I think I'm gonna have to go with Klipsch on my next set of speakers so I can really test the receiver. The Polk's are definitely accurrate, but they seem to become fragile as the power increases.

Similar Products Used:

STR-DA30ES, Onkyo525

Punchy dynamics, detail, build quality, flexibility, 5 year warranty, good sound for price, convenience.

REMOTE. Auto Format Detection: both in selecting the correct setting and the quality of the sound. Video switching is either S-video only or composite only...no mixing allowed on the video bus.

Well, first of all, I'm very pleased at what this product can do for the price. I probably use the product for music listening 75% of the time, with DVD movies consuming the remaining quarter. A recent purchase, ths 555 is being used in the following system:

TV: Sony Wega 32" XBR
DVD: Toshiba 1200 (place holder until DVD-A gets sorted out)
LR Speakers: NHT Super Zero
Center: NHT Super Center
Subwoofer: M&K MX-700 (great subwoofer)
interconnects: Ultralink Platinum

Sound setup:

After much experimentation, I've determined that the following gives the best sound on music in my system:

DVD-Out via coax into 555. Only one connection, though.

Soundfield OFF Auto Format Decode OFF.

Subwoofer: Can't use subwoofer out with decoding off, so driving from the L+R pre-outs.

Originally, I had the system set with AFD ON. I had the front speakers set to SMALL, which should roll off at about 100 HZ. The MX-700 was connected to the subwoofer output.

However, I began to experiment with turning the soundfield processing on and off. My conclusion: the circuits used during auto-detection and, probably more likely, crossover filtering, had the following impact on sound:

reduced soundstage
reduced dynamics
reduced detail
increased listening fatigue
strange digital "hash": I don't know how to explain this, except to say that something was happening to the high frequencies that was unnatural and, after a while, may the sound fatiguing and less natural when compared to turning the soundfield off.

To make sure that it wasn't the presence of the subwoofer that was affecting things, I performed additional tests with the soundfield on and off using LARGE setting and the subwoofer disconnected, e.g. running the front speakers wide-open.

However, with the soundfield turned off, the sound is really great, especially at this price point. Dynamic, detailed without being pierciing. A little on the bright-ish side, but not at all glaring...just not dark-tinted like the Marantz and Denon receivers. More punchy and dynamic than the Marantz and Denon. Has great 'pace', as the Brits would say. Compared to the NAD, it doesn't have as much air and less of a delicate nature, but the NAD, which can sound lacey and pretty on some music, just doesn't have enough wallop and drive to handle rhythmic music well, nor symphonies. All in all, very good sound for this Sony, MUCH MUCH better than the non-ES gear...and this coming from someone who used to snort derisively at the mention of Sony audio systems. I picked the Sony over more highly regarded gear, such as Marantz, Denon, and NAD based upon sound alone.


Quibbles and Annoyances:

REMOTE:

I think others have said enough already. I won't add much, except that, after playing with it after a while, I did learn to hate it less, probably because I habitually hit the Backlight On button everytime I use it now. However, it's not capable of learning and even it's ability to do Macros for the 555 is limited (try making a Macro to select a particular soundfield...you can't do it). I'd like to have a better Sony remote. Sony shouldn't be in a position to force me to give my $$$ to Philips for their Pronto.

Auto Format Decode: outside from the DSPs affecting the sound, the AFD seems to get confused sometimes. Pop out a DVD and put in a CD and half the time it will decode the PCM in such a way that any sound that is mixed into both channels disappears...like its trying to route it to the center channel. Switching to another source, such as TUNER, and back, solves this. Annoying, but it doesn't happen very often.

Video Switching: you can't mix and match S and composite video. You can switch one or the other. Ironically, my Sony Wega only has Monitor Out in Composite and Component...no S Video. This required me to buy a $100 Monster Cable Composite - S conversion cable so I could switch between my TV and DVD player using the receiver.

Lack Of Specs: I'd like to see some specifications on where the crossovers rolloff when speakers are set to Small and Large. I can't find this in the manual.

Over all, I'm very happy with my purchase. I give the Sony a 4 for sonics (5 being reserved for true high end gear..but I would give the Sony a 5 compared to other models at the price point). I give the Sony a 5 for value. I give the remote a 2.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR 3300, Pioneer Elite 7something, NAD 760, Onkyo 777, Harman Kardon, Marantz

Power, Flexibility, Lots of inputs, sound fields

I unpacked it and set it up with my new speakers - PSB Stratus Bronze (4 ohm speakers), Stratus Center, PSB Image 1B in the rears and Subsonic 6.

The receiver handles the heavy load well (although I have yet to turn up the receiver very much (no sound is at 6 o'clock...and I have yet to turn it up past 7 o'clock).

Nice flexibility with the inputs and the cinema fields. Able to let the receiver know the distance from the viewer of the speakers to really customize the soundfields.

Unlike most others, I have found the remote fairly easy to use and intuitive. Perhaps I am just a geek! :) I set up the remote in about 10 minutes and had it using all of the various components in my system (Toshiba and Sony stuff).

Well built, rock solid, and sounds great!

Similar Products Used:

Denon receivers

Outstanding audio/soundtrack reproduction!

The remote is cool, but bothersome to use.

"Wow! Holy Crap, and you gotta be kidding me!" these are the thoughts that went through my mind the first time I played up a favorite CD using my new Sony STR-DA555ES. In short it has made more improvement in the sound of my system than anything I have tried in the last 5-years.

My system consist of the following components: Sony DVP-S300 CD/DVD, Sony PS-LX300H turntable, Sony SLV-686HF vcr, Sony TC-K620 cassette, Sony KV32XBR tv, in wall surround speakers and Omni Sound TCM-3 main speakers.

Since the focus of this review has to do with my impressions of the two-channel audio performance of the 555ES, I feel I need to describe the Omni Sound TCM-3 in greater detail.

The Omni Sound TCM-3 is the largest of a line of hand-built speakers produced by Omni Sound Audio of Dallas, TX. The TCM-3 consist of a hand-built 8" driver w/ a modified 1" Vifa (SP?) aluminum dome tweeter in a floor standing tower w/ extensive internal bracing and hand-wired crossover using audiophile components and oxygen-free copper wire. It is rated at 36Hz-21KHz +/- 3dB, 8ohm, 92dB at 1 watt-meter. In the showroom, these speakers blew me away with their combination of mid/treble transparency and bass punch/quickness, I could not believe an 8" driver could belt out the solid bass these puppies generated in the showroom (they were driven by an Sony ES receiver at Omni Sound).

I couldn't wait to get these speakers home, but when I did, I was very disappointed. They sounded shrill and did not seem to have the bass I remembered hearing at the store, even after breaking them in for many hours. Setting the mid/treble down a bit and boosting the bass up helped, but I was still disappointed.

Over the years I tried various speaker placements, upgrading to better speaker wire, placing sound deadening material on the wall behind the speakers (they are rear-ported), adding spike feet, upgrading my CD player and switching to optical input, upgrading my receiver to the Sony STR-D2020 (top of consumer line, one notch below ES) and lastly upgrading my speaker wire to Tara Labs Prism Bi-wire.

All of these efforts brought me closer to the sound I had heard at Omni Sound, but the Sony STR-DA555ES I added two weeks ago has made a difference that even my non-audio enthusiast wife has commented on. If you look at the stereo output specs, the only difference between the 555ES and the D2020 is 15WPC (105 vrs 120wpc), but the specs don't begin to tell the story. I was setting the D2020 at +3dB at 38Hz and -3dB at 14KHz and leaving the speaker grills on to de-emphasize the treble and attenuate the bass. Using the same CD/DVD player, optical interconnect, speaker wires, speakers and speaker placement, and no tone emphasis/de-emphasis I get MUCH improved sound with the 555ES. The treble is light and airy, not shrill as before and the bass is phenomenal, I no longer crave a sub.

The only downside is the remote, which IMHO is a bit gimmicky. I was looking forward to ditching the 84-button remote that came with my D2020, but the 555ES remote is no panacea either. I am especially bothered by the fact that you can't operate any component using the remote without powering up the 555 and selecting that component as the source. Alas, it's a small price to pay for the incredible sound/value of the 555ES.

P.S. The 555ES belts out amazing multi-channel cinema audio reproduction as well as it does stereo sound.

P.S.S. I bought the 555 for $820, no tax, no shipping from a semi-local authorized ES dealer.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-D2020, first-generation Sony Pro-logic receiver (don't recall model number)

This should be a very nice receiver. Besides the usual complaints about the remote: requires 2 hands and a stylus to operate, the lcd has poor contrast, poor programmability, etc., mine was defective. It has 2 very annoying problems - it has source to source cross-over, and it cannot tune radio stations. I was willing to turn a blind-eye to the tuner problem, as I bought it to use with mainly digital sources - DVD, DBS, CD, digital audio. But when trying to listen to a videotape and hearing the satelite tuner over-lay it's audio source was very annoying. Turning off the offending source only increased noise. So, it's going in for repair. We'll see how that goes. I must say that I have owned other Sony products and have never had a problem. To have such major problems on an ES unit really suprised me and has left me leary of their quality. I hesitate to rate the product because it's tough to compare the 'normal' quality of the unit to the defects.

This receiver offers great power and quality construction for the price.

I have to be redundant but I really do not like that remote.

I listened to just about everything out there (see above list). I just kept coming back to this product!

The Sony just seemed to stand out in the end. The sound is exceptional, the power is tremendous, and the look of it screams high dollar. You can tweak every varible of your "sound experience" from this unit, and wait till you hear the digital sound this unit puts out. The five year warranty and the quality of the components that go into the piece are just icing on the cake. This thing has a ton of inputs and outputs, and is ready for future upgrades.

Similar Products Used:

STR-DB930