After a five-year hiatus, Sony is resuming the development and production of state-of-the-art cinema AV receivers that support the latest video and audio formats.
The last Sony AV receiver (model STR-DH790) was released in 2018, and the latest update to the premium ES (Elevated Standard) line happened even earlier. And in recent years, it seems that Sony has changed priorities, and the topic of multi-channel sound in home theater has left its sphere of interest. But as it turned out, that impression was false – after a five-year hiatus, Sony at a press conference in Austin, Texas , introduced a whole line of multi-channel cinema receivers for the 2023 model year.
In the younger series of receivers, the only model STR-AN1000 is presented, and in the top ES line – as many as four! All new items are equipped with HDMI 2.1 ports and support video switching up to 8K / 60 Hz and 4K / 120 Hz. As for surround sound, Sony’s 2023 receivers have support for Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and, most interestingly, decoding of their own 360 Reality Audio immersive surround sound format.
Sony’s 2023 AV receiver series includes the following models:
- Sony STR-AN1000 ( $899.99 ) – 7.2 channels, 165 watts per channel
- Sony STR-AZ1000ES ( $1,099.99 ) – 7.2 channels, 100W per channel
- Sony STR-AZ3000ES ( $1,699.99 ) – 7.2 channels, 120 watts per channel
- Sony STR-AZ5000ES ( $2,099.99 ) – 9.2 channels, 130 watts per channel
- Sony STR-AZ7000ES ( $3,299.99 ) – 13.2 channels, 150W per channel
The Sony STR-AZ7000ES Cinema Receiver can handle up to thirteen speakers and supports 360 Spatial Sound Mapping for a truly immersive surround sound experience, even in large auditoriums. Supports 9.2.4 or 7.2.6 surround system configurations for Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and 360 Reality Audio 3D content.
Sony’s immersive 360 Reality Audio surround sound solution is both a competitor and an enhancement to Dolby Atmos. At the same time, 360 Reality Audio is focused not only on movie soundtracks, but also on recording and playing music. Today, you can find 360 Reality Audio encoded music on popular streaming services like Amazon Music Unlimited, deezer, nugs.net, and Tidal. You can also listen to Reality 360 encoded tracks on TIDAL using an Amazon Fire TV 4K or Apple TV 4K set-top box as a source connected to the receiver via HDMI.
Sony’s two high-end receivers (STR-AZ5000ES and STR-AZ7000ES) offer full-fledged multi-channel analog output – eleven channels on the STR-AZ5000ES and fifteen channels on the STR-AZ7000ES. This allows these receivers to be used to build more complex surround sound systems by simply adding the required number of power amplifiers.