Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony STR-DA5300ES ES 7.1 Channel Surround Sound Audio/Video Receiver

I highly recommend this receiver to anyone who plans on not purchasing another for quite some time. It is jam packed with all the latest formats for your digital components. It probably won't be outdated for another 10-15 years.
I did my research and was familiar with the features of this unit, but I still cannot tell you how many times I have been taken back and said "WOW!, it does that too!?". I have had it for 2 weeks and play around with it every evening and am still discovering ways to improve my listening pleasure. It's incredible.
I am running an upconvert Panasonic DVD player, a Mitsubishi 57" DLP TV, and Onkyo 6.1 surround speakers, among other things. The sound reproduction of standard DVD's to 6.1 is reallllllyyyy good. I can't wait to purchase a BluRay!

Picked this baby up for almost 50% off new with FREE SHIPPING!! I love this receiver. I upgraded from a very old RCA 5.1 system (bought it before next gen dvd's were talked about).

When i started to migrate my dvd movies to HD-DVD's & BluRay's, I noticed that some of the movies only played in 2.1, then I realized that on some of the BluRays, my older receiver couldn't decode them. My friends were also annoyed with the fact that my older system would shut down in the middle of Rock Band!

LOVE the GUI! Makes it easy to program. The Auto Mic works well in helping a user get the best setup possible. I tied my Receiver with Sony's line of Bookshelf, Front Speakers & subwoofer. Watching HD TV / Movies & Video games are now complete with this receiver.

I haven't utilized that multi room setup but plan on running a set of speakers outside. This receiver has TON's of options with plenty of room to upgrade. 6 HDMI's!!, Upconversion on ALL video inputs!

Only thing I dont think this has, which doesn't really bother me but the radio tuner, does not support HD broadcast. Something that in my area, alot of the radio stations are bragging about. But I have this tied into my Windows Ultimate Media Center, so I barely use it.

Rock Band sounds great! Now how my neighbors fell about my system, thats another story..

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This is a high quality unit. For todays, audio , visual home theater this unit is over the top in features and quality. Tremendous versatility, lots of power, built like a bank vault

Just purchased this unit which has taken me five days to install including one chat room discussions and four telephone service discussions taking over three hours. The unit is complex parly because of its inflexibility. Upward conversions seem to work but output to the second and third zones are limited to composite video and analog audio. The manual describes the analog signals as component through S and composite video but only composite works. This is one of the many confusing elements of the manual which seem to be the result of a Japanese manual converted to English. When you get the service people on the line in any configuration, they have no better understanding and also complain of the complexity. The next problem I have dealt with is the remote which claims to be a universal remote. In fact, according to my experience, is universal as long as all your components are Sony. In truth the remote will not operate and can not learn how to operate the remotes for my BluRay player (Panasonic), Satellite Receiver (DirectTV/RCA), or my monitor (HP HDTV). If you can through all the confusion and nonsense you can make this unit work but the ultimate function is not what one expects for the price.

I found the Sony 5300ES to be slightly more complicated to setup. When switching to a different manufacture you always expect some different nomenclatures/phrases for settings etc... though my learning curve with the 5300ES was a tad bit longer then usual. One has to understand of course this unit does offer a heck of a lot (functionally). That said, out of the box one can not expect to just plug in and guess their way through the GUI setup and "Auto" sound calibration... I had expected the auto calibration (using the stereo calibration mic) to recognize the speakers a little bit better. It mistook my side speakers as large when they are in-fact "small", though definitions can always be debated. The sub woofer was also set sub-par... It's just like anything that is "automatic setup" though, the system is really just guessing. So just make sure you go in and use the manual option to tweak things yourself.
Cons:
- Complex setup (which could be overcome with better GUI setup design.)
- Advanced Remote has a very cramped feeling and unintuitive
- No option to setup 6.1, only 5.1 and 7.1 (may be an issue for users upgrading from 6.1 built-in systems
- Some video issues, not as good of video HD quality vs. going straight through to TV.
- Front panel unintuitive, most users will find adv. remote and GUI the easiest setup option.

Pros:
- Cutting edge technology all the way around.
- Incredible sound at all volumes! never lose detail, even with mid range quality speakers (assuming they are rated 120watt or higher & 8ohms)
- Very nice looking GUI interface, best in the industry to date
- Very customizable and multi zoning options
- Exceptional value for the quality (lower price then most competing units)
- 6 HDMI inputs!

[My other components : Dish HD DVR, Apple TV, PS3, Pioneer 50" PDP-5010FD]