Sony STR-DB895D

I bought the Sony STR-DB895D receiver to go with a new DVD/LCD TV setup, and it seemed to fit the bill for specification, as well as being relatively unusual by incorporating a DAB tuner.

The receiver is part of Sony's QS range, and so gives the impression that it is beautifully built and weighing about the same as a small hatchback. Marvelling at the number of connections on the back of this receiver, I simply plugged in the coax output from the DVD player and five surround speakers.

The receiver offers a quick setup to select your speaker configuration, which is very useful, although not especially easy to use. With this done, the receiver was basically setup.

The sound is excellent and a definite step up from my older Sony receiver, particularly in relation to the noise floor. No hiss is apparent from any of the speakers and the sound is clean, detailed and dynamic. I would not partner this receiver with bright sounding speakers, as I think it would probably take out your eardrums. But partnered with more neutral ones, it injects soundtracks and music with just the right amount of life. Movie effects fly around the room seamlessly, even on my simple 5 speaker system (it can drive up to 7) and makes for an enjoyable movie experience.

Two channel stereo is also very listenable, and the sound is cohesive and gets the toes tapping with its clarity and pace. An interesting experiment is to switch between DAB and analogue FM on the tuner. I have long suspected that DAB was below par on quality, and on the evidence of this receiver, it would appear to be the case. Tuning into a good quality (BBC) broadcast on FM and on DAB reveals the DAB transmission to have restricted treble response and very flat stereo imaging. Switching back to FM results in a much smoother sweeter sound, with a wide stereo soundstage. No contest really.

This Sony receiver is an excellent bit of equipment. It is beautifully built, has lots of features and really is a bargain for the price you can pick it up for online. Once the novelty of listening to 'Classic Rock Gold FM' at 96KBPS wears off and you switch to a quality sound source, it really shows what it is capable of.