Performance

I expect any 100-watts-plus A/V receiver these days to provide generous real-world power, and the Sony met this expectation without apparent effort. Close 2-channel, full-range listening revealed clean, dynamic sound at quite high levels. For example, when heard on my moderately low-sensitivity long-term speakers, a solo Brahms set by the incomparable pianist Richard Goode (on an Elektra/Nonesuch CD) sounded meaty and round, yet squeaky-clean, even at page turner volume — that is, what you’d hear sitting on the bench next to the player. Even the two fisted Rhapsody No. 4, in E-fl at (Op. 119), sounded clear, marvelously articulated, and convincingly Steinway.

I’m a fan of Dolby PLIIz’s height channels (and also those of Audyssey’s DSX). Playing the same recording via PLIIz produced a quite believable feeling of listening live in the great man’s own studio. The height contribution was decidedly subtle and almost perfectly inaudible as height per se, but the totality of the effect was impressively natural, especially on well-crafted acoustic classical and jazz recordings. (Solo piano reveals synthetic-sounding surround as well as any music.) Point is, on the Goode recording and also on the multichannel SACDs I listened to, the Sony impressed me with its solid, clean, dynamic amplification services.

I also auditioned It Might Get Loud, the guitar documentary featuring Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. The Sony, reproducing the transparent and involving DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, did its part to help make the film sonically compelling and a certain amount of fun.