Loads of power. Tons of features and connect options. Highly future-proof?

Some (transformer?) hum.
The usual millions of Japanese twinkling lights etc (hardly what you call minimalist!)

I have recently upgraded to home theatre, buying a Sony STR-DB930 amp and DVP-S725D DVD player, largely on the strength of various reviews, despite the fact that most hi-fi dealers turn their nose up at the amp. Both have turned out to be excellent. Dealers seem to think that I should have have bodged an existing 'proper' hi-fi system, rather than replace it wholesale. My old kit was a Mission Cyrus amp, a Sony CDP500ES CD player, and an 18-year old pair of Wharfedale E30s. These have brilliant detail in the treble but lack something in the bass, which is why I added an AR passive subwoofer over 10 years ago.

I had originally intended retaining my front speakers, but I think connecting them to the 5 x 100w (into 4ohms) of the Sony made them suddenly sound their age, and they had to go. I had borrowed a REL Strata III which sounded magnificent, so I knew that their replacements would end up partnering this. First off though I auditioned and bought a KEF Q95c (compared with Mission 77c1 centre speakers; no contest) and Mission 77ds rears (which came in white, useful if they're mounted up against the ceiling, and which also sounded brilliant). I had been lent a KEF Q30B sub with the centre and rears but this sounded absolutely AWFUL! I had intended auditioning the REL 100E or 200E but when I said that my listening was primarily music, and mostly classical, I was steered towards the Strata III.
I then auditioned KEF Q35s and Q55s, listening primarily for the treble, but then along came the KEF Concerto models one and two. Since, reading between the lines, they were similar except for the bass response, I auditioned the Concerto ones and was blown away.

The Sony has a million connectors to the rear, enabling you to connect EVERYTHING into it, and the TV monitor, in my case for sound only, out of it. The remote leaves a lot to be desired as it requires a special mindset to use it properly; that said, you can control all the amp's most basic functions from the DVD remote.

Since I didn't audition the Sony amp, I can't really make a comparative assessment. What I can say is that my Mission sounded OK, lots of treble detail through the E30s. The Sony sounds at least as detailed, but this may be a characteristic of good quality Japanese a-v receivers. Why? Because I auditioned a pair of Ruark Prologue one's, first through an Arcam amp, which sounded real dull, then through some Denon a-v receiver of another, which was MUCH brighter.

The surround sound capability might be regarded by purists as a gimmick, but if you switch this in for either live music, or off-air films, you can achieve some startlingly good results.

All in all, an excellent buy (it can be had for £450 if you try hard enough), with masses of features.

Set-up:
a-v receiver=Sony STR-DB930
TV=Sony 32" widescreen WEGA Triniton; cable=Ixos S-video on Sony amp to SCART (picture only, no sound)
dvd player=Sony DVP-S725D; cable=Ixos optical (ie using decoder in amp rather than in DVD player)
front speakers=Kef Concerto one; cable=QED Profile bi-wired
centre speaker=Kef Q95C; cable=QED Qudos original
rear speakers=Mission 77ds; cable=QED micro
sub-woofer=REL Strata lII; low level=Bandridge 2 phono-1 phono, high level=bi-wired off front speaker terminals

Similar Products Used:

Upgraded from Mission Cyrus amp+tuner. No previous a-v

best features/quality for the price

remote has high learning curve

This is the best A/V receiver at this price ($380 to $500 depending on mail-order retailer). One will be hard pressed to find a receiver at this price point with so many of its features such as: DD & DTS decoding, 4 S-video inputs, 3 optical inputs, 1 coaxial input, optical digital output, 27 DSP, 5.1 channel input, preamp outputs for all channels, binding posts for all channels, 110 watts x 5 channels (though homecinemachoice.com rates at 93.2 watts at 0.013% THD).

Comparing side by side, the DB930 is far superior to the yamaha 495 (which cost about $60 less at onecall.com) I have not had the opportunity to directly compare this to more expensive receivers (e.g. yamaha 2095, Denon 3300). But think about it. This would be quite silly as those other receivers cost at least twice as much. Yes my audiophile friends may scoff at me. But I along with the other satisfied owners of this best buy A/V receiver can enjoy this great receiver and te money we saved. (And if you really hate the remote that much, use the money you saved with this receiver to buy one of those programmable remotes).

Similar Products Used:

yamaha 495

value

remote is a bit slow to respond

I was looking to upgrade my 18 yr old system to HT. My old system consisted of NAD 7020 receiver, Sony CD player, Boston Acoustics A100 speakers. After upgrading the receiver to the STRDB-30,the Sony CD player to the Sony DVD SP330 replacing the woofers on the speakers and upgrading the interconnects to medium quality monster cables including digital coax from the DVD to the receiver it was like hearing an all new system for the first time. I now hear details on my old CD's that I never heard before. I can even hear some imaging from these old speakers that I never heard before. I still plan to upgrade my speakers for the full 5.1 Dolby digital experience but I can now live with my existing speakers until the rest of the upgrade is in place. The local high end audio chain had this receiver on sale for $579 but I purchased it for $389 + shippping from onecall.com. Great value

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 595A, Sony STRDB-830

Sound, Quality, Price

None

Thanks to AudioReview folks I've got piece of mind. The sound is very natural, the design is almost perfect. The remote isn't bad as most people mentioned here. The manual could be better of course, it looks like the one for cheapest Sony staff from K'Mart store. I've bought mine through buyingedge.com for 389 plus 20 dollars for shipping. Probably the best reciever under 500 bucks.

Incredible sound with good clear bass

the remote is terrible

Great receiver, nice price. Highly recommend it to anyone.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer VSX-D508 which is so bad it's unbelievable

Separation, clarity, speed

Sony's Uk distribution operation and staff!

This amp is wonderful. The clarity and separation of all five channels is startling. The bass is tight and punchy and very low (i've shelved plans to buy that active sub!) and the mid and treble are clear.

I use this with a Sony DVPS725 DVD player, and MS 816 front pair, MS823R rears, and MS821C centre.

On the downside, the sony operation and staff are appalling, trying to get hold of this product was a nightmare, with retailer after retailer telling me they couldn't guarantee delivery dates as Sony couldn't/wouldn't tell them when stock would be available. Add to this the fact that I had to buy the silver model to appease my other half!! Calling Sony direct for information only resulted in a curt, unhelpful employee quoting company policy at me. This is usually enough to put me off buying from a company for life - but in this instance i'm glad it didn't!!

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha A1

Value

Possibly 24bit,96khz processing (under evaluation)

Overall I would have to say that I am very happy with Sony's DB-930, I did a lot of comparison shopping and believe the DB-930 is a very good value for the money. I listened to the Denon 3300, Onkyo 575 and Sony DB-930 through a CD player and noticed very little difference in sound quality, at least not enough to justify the extra 400 dollars for the Denon 3300.
To be fair to the Denon and the Onko though I did like the 5 speaker sound from 2 channel source option. I am not sure yet about the DB-930's ability take advantage of the 24 bit, 96 ktz from the DVD player as is advertised by the Denon and Onkyo through their SHARC 32 bit DSP processor. Sony's information does not cover this in as much detail as Denon and Onkyo, but they do say in the manual that the reciever out put is converted to 48 khz when using digital input from the DVD, but 96 khz through anolog input. I am not sure whether the need to use anolog input rather than digital ends up being a big disadvantage or not.
I used ONECALL through Buyingedge.com and was very happy with the price and service.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 3300, Onkyo 575

nice to look at

remote, bass, sound

I cannot see why this unit is getting such good reviews, compared to the yamaha A1 or A2 it is simply not able to compete. Try listening to the two units back to back on the same setup before considering the Sony unit, I think you will be quite surprised.
Regarding its ability to play music, forget it, AV amps are not designed for this and the Sony comes pretty close to the bottom of the pile while attempting.

Similar Products Used:

yahama a1

Great sound. More than enough power. Plenty of surround sound fields. Blue light on face lights up to indicate a Dolby Digital signal.

Nothing tragic: No optical input for CD (hook up to MD/DAT instead). The manuals don't help a whole lot. Remote is a little confusing. This doesn't bother me much, but the grief I get from my wife...

Overall: This is a great receiver. Like many others, I got it instead of a DE unit. Great value for the money. It produces excellent sound with little effort. I have never had the volume past about 4.5 for music or DVD. I have also never had overheating problems either.

Wish list: I wish it had an optical input for the CD, but connecting the CD to the MD/DAT input works fine. I also wish I could set the equalizer settings to be dependent upon the surround field chosen. Finally, you can't set the subwoofer crossover frequency through the receiver.

Other components: Infinity RS5 front speakers, JBL PSWD112 subwoofer, Wharfdale center channel, Infinity Quadrople surround speakers, Sony DVD, RCA DSS, Pioneer 57 inch wide screen TV.

Movie watching or listening to music is an experience. The receiver is great and considering the price, really great!

Excellent build, Power you can feel, ES look, Bananna connectors for all channels, 2nd audio (Sub Room)

Remote

I was one of the first people to review this unit here and now after 4 months of use I can still say this receiver is wonderful. Since I've owned the unit I've added a new B&W LCR S2 center channel and B&W SW1000 sub woofer. Prior to the purchase of the sub woofer, the unit did run a little hot when I drove it hard, however, it runs much cooler with the separate powered sub. Let me tell you this, if you think you don't need a sub because your mains handle the bass just fine, you will be in for a pleasant surprise when and if you get a sub. The only draw back with the DB930's sub woofer RCA outs are that you can't control, or do you know what frequency they are sending out. I found that cutting off the sub at 80Hz and using LARGE for all speakers rounds out the bass really well.

One quick note. The reason people complain that the remote is slow is because the remote attempts to talk to the receiver first before displaying info on the it's screen. It contacts the receiver to accurately display which input is selected. So, if you point the remote directly at the DB930, then hit a button, you'll see the remote respond much more quickly. You can also disable 2-way remote control functions from the receiver if a quick response is what you desire.

For under $500 there is no better receiver. If your budget allows room to spend, check out the new Denon AVR3300. For around $800-$1000 this is a very nice reciever.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo, Denon, Sony