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The Short Form |
| $2,000 / SONYSTYLE.COM |
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Snapshot |
| Sony’s near-flagship A/V receiver covers all the bases with its host of performance-enhancing audio features |
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Plus |
| • Bang-up-to-date audio processing • Superb analog video processing • Enough inputs to accommodate even the largest systems |
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Minus |
| • No HD Radio • No network connections • No HDMI upconversion |
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Key Features |
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• 7 x 120 watts • 6 HDMI 1.3 inputs, 2 HDMI outputs • Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD Master Audio, and DSD (SACD) decoding • Dual Faroudja DCDi video processors • Automated speaker setup and calibration • XM satellite radio-ready • Can send HD video over CAT-5e cable (requires optional CAT-5e-to-component-video adapter) • Compatible with 1080/24p video sources • Phono input, (3) IR ports (2 in, 1 out), RS-232 serial control port, multichannel analog audio input, (2) Sony Digital Media Port inputs, (3) 12v triggers • 16¼ x 6¾ x 16 in, 34½ lb |
A good example of this new breed of fully up-to-date receivers is Sony’s STR-DA5400ES, which sits one step under the company’s flagship STR-DA6400ES. Both models come with similar feature sets and performance, the main difference being that the 6400ES is DLNA-compatible and can stream high-def video over a home network. Otherwise, the 5400ES has the key bases covered, with Faroudja DCDi video processing, six HDMI 1.3 inputs, and dual HDMI outputs for sending HDTV programs to two separate displays. (Picture resolution for second-zone video maxes out at 1080i.) Audio formats are fully covered, too, with onboard decoding for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, and even DSD (SACD). While it lacks the flagship model’s networking prowess, the 5400ES can distribute high-def video to another room over CAT-5e cable, and can even provide a third zone with 2-channel analog audio.
At 7 x 120 watts, the Sony receiver’s rated power is a bit less than what you can get with some similarly priced competitors, although it should be plenty unless you have a huge home theater or hideously insensitive speakers. Additionally, if your plans call for a simple 5.1-channel setup — as opposed to a 7.1-channel one — the 5400ES lets you reassign those two extra amp channels either to power a second zone or as duplicate front channels for speaker biamping.
SETUP
With binding posts that accept either bare wire or banana plugs for all seven channels, hooking up my 7.1-channel speaker array to the Sony was a snap. I also connected my Blu-ray Disc player and cable box/DVR by way of HDMI, along with a Sony Digital Media Port iPod dock, an XM satellite-radio tuner module, and an Oppo DVD/SACD player so I could investigate the Sony’s upscaling and DSD input features.
Sony’s Xross Media Bar onscreen menu is attractive, and once you get the hang of navigating it, you’ll find it simple enough to step through the receiver’s setup without cracking open a manual. The supplied calibration microphone is unusual in that it uses two elements spaced a few inches apart to get a better handle on speaker positioning and room reflections. Along with the normal level, phase, crossover, and frequency-response calculations, the mike allows the receiver to determine the angle between your front speakers. It then uses this information to calibrate some of the surround modes to match the front-speaker placement.
Rather than use an established system like Audyssey, Sony has its own automated setup routine that can store measurements made from three different mike positions. While some receivers calculate room correction based on readings from several points, Sony’s setup only lets you select one stored “position” at a time. What’s good here, though, is that you get the option to correct all speakers for a flat response, correct them to a target curve, or match the center and surrounds using your front left and right speakers as a reference. Personally, I rather like the way my PSB Synchrony tower speakers perform, so I mostly stuck with the Sony’s Front Reference mode or left the equalization off altogether.
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MOVIE & MUSIC PERFORMANCE
The 5400ES includes plenty of features designed to help you get the best possible performance from a variety of sources. When playing SACDs with my Oppo universal player, Sony’s HATS (High-quality digital Audio Transmission System) was able to process digital audio coming over the HDMI connection using the receiver’s master clock. Sony claims that this all but eliminates digital jitter, and when I spun Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue on SACD, there was a small but clear uptick in clarity and low-level resolution with the HATS circuit engaged. Punchier music, such as the remix of the Beatles’ “Drive My Car” and “The Word” on the Love DVD-Audio disc, showed off the Sony’s ability to get a powerful grip on the speakers, with Giles Martin’s 5.1 mix swirling around the room in a convincing manner.
Moving on to cinematic material, the DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Night at the Museum Blu-ray will give any system a good workout, especially when the Tyrannosaurus rex chases Larry (Ben Stiller). Even amidst this sonic mayhem, the 5400ES managed to create a stable, enveloping sound field, along with impressive dimensionality and spaciousness on the soundtrack’s orchestral score. The bass was solid and well defined, if perhaps missing that final smidgen of grunt and punch I’ve heard with a few (admittedly much more expensive and powerful) amps I’ve used.
Analog video signals were processed by the excellent Faroudja DCDi chip, with everything from composite video arriving by way of a VCR to 1080i-format signals on a component-video connection upscaled to 1080p. This is one of the best video processors around, so it’s no surprise that pictures looked uniformly excellent — a notable improvement over my Samsung 1080p LCD TV’s built-in processing.
To make compressed digital-audio files like MP3 tracks sound better, the 5400ES has what Sony calls a Digital Legato Linear (DLL) audio scaler. I found that this could reduce the warbly, underwater-like effect you often hear with highly compressed signals — a few of XM Radio’s talk channels, for example. With XM’s music channels, or the better-sounding MP3s on my iPod, the enhancement was less pronounced but still noticeable, with high-frequency sounds such as cymbals losing some of that papery quality you sometimes hear with MP3s.
ERGONOMICS
With its many rows of similar-looking rectangular buttons, Sony’s programmable remote is not the easiest to navigate, although the critical input-selection and volume controls are easily accessed. Sony packs two nearly identical remotes, with the second unit intended for use in a second zone.
If you don’t thumb through the receiver’s manual, you’re likely to miss a few well-hidden features in its Xross Media Bar graphical user interface (GUI), like the multiband speaker equalizer. One problem I ran into is that operating audio-only functions such as radio tuning can be confusing unless you also turn on the video display. But this became much easier once I assigned all of my regular FM, AM, and XM stations to presets. While we’re discussing tuners, one feature this Sony regrettably lacks is HD Radio, a service I’ve really grown to appreciate.
TEST BENCH
The STR-DA5400ES did very well on power tests with 2 channels driven, easily besting its 120-watts-per-channel spec. But with multiple channels stressed, the Sony’s current reserves managed a bit less than 50 watts per channel with all 7 channels loaded. More significantly, the Sony clipped asymmetrically, flattening its negative-going waveform several dB before its northward half. This occurrence tends to make the onset of distortion effects audible somewhat earlier than is typical. With its software setup switch at 4 ohms, the 5400ES limited its stereo output to about 140 watts (into 4 ohms). All of my results reflect the receiver’s 8-ohms setting. Noise and distortion results were impressive across the board, including Dolby Digital S/N that was smack on the theoretical limit for our
dithered-silence measurement.
— Daniel Kumin
BOTTOM LINE
With its STR-DA5400ES, Sony has packed all of the current must-have features into a fine-sounding receiver with good video processing. And although Sony tends to tread its own path when it comes to ergonomics, I found that operating the receiver’s Xross Media Bar GUI soon became second nature. I also appreciated both its excellent handling of the SACD and DVD-Audio formats and the ability of its DLL circuit to pump a little more life into compressed, low-rez source material. Now, if it only had HD Radio, my checklist would be complete.