i am looking at the sony es (elevated standards) line of receivers. typically i wouldn't consider the sony line, however i basically have $600 which must be spent on a sony product.

it seems that sony (as well as some other popular brands) have a reduced reputation in the audio field. some of this is to be expected given sony's saturation of the consumer (cheaper-is-better-quality-isnt-important) market.

so, my question for the forum is can sony still make a quality product? is the "es" line as good as some people say or is it "crap" like others say? i am looking for honest *unbiased* opinions and comments.

I'm not sure there is anything today that can be considered "crap", there is at times however not a lot of value for money.

My main beef against Sony is in the realm of digital photography where their battery packs and memory cards are far too expensive. I'm not sure how much of this spills over into their other products

Why "must" you buy Sony? Are you getting a deal or something? Maybe like a $1000 receiver for $600? If that's the case, I think you'll be pretty well off.

perhaps "crap" was too strong a description to use. what i mean is that there seems to be a strong aversion to certain brands. here are some quotes from other posts:

"... always skeptical of big name electronics houses"

"The performance on music is night-and-day better than Japanese units"

i totally agree that sony is expensive for some items - memory stick, mini-dv, digital cameras, computer displays.

i am getting $600+ to purchase sony products on my sony credit card. generated from the sony points program. catch is it has to be sony and it has to come from an authorized dealer.

Personally, I'd spend it on a PS2 and a boat load of games or a new TV if I needed one in the 27" range.

Every Sony product I've ever owned has died with the exception of two TV's. Optical drives seem especially vulnerable but they all fail and very early. Sony has a very strong reputation for this in the repair field. What's worse, their technicians are retards, making for a very bad situation.

No manufacturer should have to resort to "elevated standards" just to sell to the $500+ market. That's pathetic. That means their regular discrete part selection (the major difference between ES and not) is so craptastic that it can't even pass in the relatively cheap and disposable under $1k market.

Save your pennies for someone that knows what they're doing.

In my humble opinion, I've enjoyed the products I have from the Sony ES line( receiver- EA-4 and 2 SACD players). The build quality, 5 year warranty and option are real value in comparion to Yamaha, Denon ,Onkyo brands. I will caution that price reseach makes this line even better because MSRP on this line can be $$$$. So far so good in my current set up which is sourrounded by my AXIOM speakers !!!!!!!!!

Gee I can't let this post topic pass me by...

As a guy who used to work for Sony, and has purchased and owned many different brands and products over the years, I can say that without a doubt the Sony ES series of components are better than their "standard" units.

Everybody in the hi-fi business generally has the same issues that surround the design and production of equipment. Development costs, production costs, labor costs, parts, materials, marketing, advertising, shipping, warranty, profits, etc. In most cases you really do get what you pay for! The ES series of components are designed to compete with the higher end gear of companies like Marantz, Denon, Onkyo, etc. Everybody wants to make and sell as much stuff as possible and there are many different markets all around the world. So really big companies like Sony, Matshushita (which own/make Techniques, Panasonic, JVC), Mitsubishi, Kenwood/Trio, Pioneer and many others are able to build and sell gear to all kinds of buyers. Some people want inexpensive and flashy looking gear - and others want really good quality stuff and are willing to pay extra for it.

Even Onkyo revamped their line and build a series of more "popular priced" receivers with their TX SR500, 600, 700 models. Are they crap? No - but compared to their other units, I think they are certainly "cheaper" in more than just cost.

Rest assured that a company like Sony has the resources and where-with-all to build some of the finest gear available. OK But is it? Well, whose opinion do you want to believe? Everybody has one (me too!) I recommend you compare prices, specs, warranties and use your EARS, EYES and HANDS! Play with them, listen to them FEEL them. Quality shows up in many different ways.

So who makes the best? scheesch - who makes the best of anything? Are Mercedes or BMWs the best cars on the road? Maybe - but they still break down, need repair, maintenance etc.

I have had and used Sony gear for many years, some of it has NEVER had to be repaired and some of it was well... pretty crappy. Wow! I still have the original Sony Walkman (TPS-L2) from around 1984 (?) and it still works! (well it really needs a new drive belt) But some things just last and others don't. I have a Sony A/V receiver (5 years old) that lost a channel before the 2 year warranty was up, got it fixed (they replaced two tiny resistors) and have had no problems since. SO you just never know!

IMHO the new STR DA ES series receivers should do you just fine (I would recommend the DA4ES) and are much better than the normal STR DE series.

Sorry for the long winded post - but I just HAD to get my 2 cents worth in here.

Good luck on your choice!

Randyman

i am back visiting the axiom forum (researching the next upgrade). came across this old (ancient?) thread and felt that an eight year update would be interesting.

after 8 years, i eventually did have a problem with the sony es receiver, but not what you would expect. the sony es is still going strong - not a single issue the whole time i've owned it. the problem was justifying a replacement - which i was able to come to terms with given the devices lack of hdmi support (or support for anything contemoporary).

i've replaced it with a denon avr 1912. one of the first things i noticed with the new unit was how much lighter it is. second thing: the fit-and-finish on the sony is actually better than the denon.

looking back now, i don't think it was a bad choice. some people are saying sony is in its death bed now - they just announced they will revamp their entire television line and even work with third parties to develop products to compete against samsung.

Kudos for the largest 'bump' I've ever seen!

Ha ha ! No doubt!

I'm also shopping around. I'm looking heavily at Marantz and Onkyo / Integra.

I have had great success with Sony "ES" (elevated standard) products.

I have a Sony TA E9000ES multichannel processor.


It will not die. It's sound quality is superb. Even though it is only 5.1 without DTS-96/24 capability, its sound quality is better than my Onkyo Integra DTC 9.4 and I think better than the TX NR 1007 as well.

I know there are folks who say there is no difference in sound quality between CD players (it's all 1's and 0's), however, I disagree. My CA9ES CD player is great. Sound quality is superior to that of the highly touted Cambridge which I bought but returned.

My DVP9000ES is awesome. Sound quality is superb.

I also have a 300 or 400 CD "jukebox" EX CD Player, love it.

Anyway, I look for used Sony "ES" products in my local recycler and Penny Saver, buy them for a song whenever I can.

I give them 5 stars out of 5.

The Sony ES line up was usually well reviewed, IIRC, they were certainly better products than their non ES line up.

I have an old Sony ES SACD player and it is built like a tank. Well, it's heavy like a tank. I've had issues with the tray alignment, but I attribute that more to it being a display model. Who knows what kind of abuse it took in the store.

*sigh*

The things we do for a deal.

Amen, brother. Preach it.