Alternative to Onkyo

[Gerrardasnails]

I am looking for a new receiver and have seen the new Sony STR-DA3300es for £530. I am a little puzzled about its spec though. Sony claim, "Powerful, user-friendly HD receiver with 8ch linear PCM audio for true hi-def sound from Blu-ray discs", but it doesn't decode Dolby HD or DTS HD. Can someone tell me what it would do if I used it with a Blu-ray player? For me, it looks good and has 3 hdmi instead of 2 which a lot of similar priced machines offer.

 

[Anonymous]

The Sony 3300ES doesnït decode Dolby HD/Plus or DTS HD, only the 5300ES

It does decode PCM Audio Multichannel, which is an uncompressed audio format, which is found on BR/HDVD.

If you use a BR Player, with a blueray title, that has PCM Multichannel sound, you will get that, otherwise you will have the PCM 2 channel, or the "old" Dolby Digital/DTS

It appears that PCM Multichannel, sounds better than the Dolby HD/DTS HD, because itïs uncompressed, unlike the Dolby/DTS HD, but it occupies a lot more "space" in the disc, and not all the BR/HDVD titles have PCM Multichannel.

Honestly i never have the oportunity to see/hear which sound format is better.

Sonically i donït like the Sonyïs amplifiers. They lack of substance, and they are at least here in Portugal, too expensive. For instance, for the price of the Sony 5300ES, i can get the Onkyo 875, or the Yamaha RX V1800.... And for the price of the 3300 ES i can get the Onkyo 805 or the Denon 2808.

Hope i can help

 

[professorhat]

Surely if you hook up a Blu-Ray player which can decode the Dolby TrueHD and DTS MA formats into PCM and then output this via HDMI to the amp, this would work a treat? Assuming you get one that can do this well that is...