Sony STR-DA1200ES or SONY STR-DG820

[admin_exported]

I am looking to upgrade my ageing denon avr 1803 receiver but cant decide between the two sonys, i know that play. com are selling the 820 for £250 and i have seen the 1200 for around £200.

I will be plugging in a ps3, xbox360 humax freesat box and in the future a bluray player.

Can anyone recommend which to buy.

 

[Anonymous]

Looking at what your other equipment is, you have a fine HD audio setup on the way!

I have the 1200es and it is a very fine receiver, and for the money you can get it for now, an absolute steal. I bought it for it's pre-outs so I could connect a stereo amplifier for playing music through, but provided you aren't particularly bothered about musicality both of them should be ok. I can vouch for the 1200es, it is more than acceptable.

The 820 has HD audio decoding and more HDMI inputs, but the 1200ES will be better in terms of most other things IMO.

Provided you get a BR player with onboard decoding of HD sound, I would go for the 1200es as the quality is just that little bit better. To me the none ES receivers seem really plasticky and poor quality.ÿ

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Octopo:
Looking at what your other equipment is, you have a fine HD audio setup on the way!

I have the 1200es and it is a very fine receiver, and for the money you can get it for now, an absolute steal. I bought it for it's pre-outs so I could connect a stereo amplifier for playing music through, but provided you aren't particularly bothered about musicality both of them should be ok. I can vouch for the 1200es, it is more than acceptable.

The 820 has HD audio decoding and more HDMI inputs, but the 1200ES will be better in terms of most other things IMO.

Provided you get a BR player with onboard decoding of HD sound, I would go for the 1200es as the quality is just that little bit better. To me the none ES receivers seem really plasticky and poor quality.ÿ

and you will be able to connect your 1200es to the Humax box using optical - the other Sony has problems with that.

 

[fatdog1]

Bit of a noob but I have exactly the same dilemna. Seen the 1200 for £199 today. If I get a BR player that decodes the HD sound how exactly does it play i.e. HDMI or analogue etc? Would you get a "fuller" sound with the 1200 instead of the 820?

 

[Anonymous]

You can either send the HD signal from the player via HDMI or analogue if the player has 5/7.1 outputs.

I've not heard the 1200ES against the 820 but have against it's predecessor the dg910 (which is very similar but with no HD decoding) and the 1200 blows it away.

 

[fatdog1]

Cheers, put this into the mix then...I can get a Pioneer VSX1017 and the Sony 1200es for around the same price. Only have 1 retailer nearby and they don't have a demo room etc (Richer Sounds) so, anybody suggest the best for my usage. Will be 100% for films and they'll be from my HTPC via HDMI and optical via ASUS module out.Might add a decent soundcard soon ish. Will have to buy longer stand legs for my Optimum rack if I pick anything taller than 170mm so that costs around £60 so budget is £250 max.Cheers.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

fatdog1:Cheers, put this into the mix then...I can get a Pioneer VSX1017 and the Sony 1200es for around the same price. Only have 1 retailer nearby and they don't have a demo room etc (Richer Sounds) so, anybody suggest the best for my usage. Will be 100% for films and they'll be from my HTPC via HDMI and optical via ASUS module out.Might add a decent soundcard soon ish. Will have to buy longer stand legs for my Optimum rack if I pick anything taller than 170mm so that costs around £60 so budget is £250 max.Cheers.

Not even close. The 1200es is far better than the Pioneer.

 

[Anonymous]

Just thought I'd point out though that if you do go for a none HD decoding receiver you will lose the ability to play HD sound from anything that doesn't have HD decoding... somewhat unfuture-proofing yourself.

But of course you already new this.

 

[lee37]

if you go for the 1200es you will not be able to listen to true hd audio all you will get is linear pcm which is not as good quality as true hd dd+ & dts ma.

the equipment you have the ps3 will only output in Lpcm anyway but if you ever upgrade to a seperate blu ray player you will be never be able to listen to true hd

i bought an 820 and was very dissappointed when i could not get true hd sound so i am now buying a sony s350 blu ray player

i also have an sony str va555es receiver that i now use just for music and have not noticed much of a sound drop between the 820 and the 555es

i have used decent cabling which makes all the difference qed hdmi-p cable and qed xt350 speaker cable

if you can afford it the 2400es sounds good but i cannot fault the 820.

the 1200es is old technology why do you think its so cheap

 

[Gerrardasnails]

fatdog1:Bit of a noob but I have exactly the same dilemna. Seen the 1200 for £199 today. If I get a BR player that decodes the HD sound how exactly does it play i.e. HDMI or analogue etc? Would you get a "fuller" sound with the 1200 instead of the 820?

If the player you buy has decoding on board (and let's face it, they all will very soon), you just need three sets of analogue cables to connect the multi channel inputs on your receiver to the same on the BD player. The 1200 will be a better sounding machine than the the 820 and it's free of problems. The 820 is being sent back to Sony with the 2400 to get an audio issue fixed. I am after upconversion and upscaling on my next receiver, otherwise I would keep my 1200 for years to come.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

lee37:
if you go for the 1200es you will not be able to listen to true hd audio all you will get is linear pcm which is not as good quality as true hd dd+ & dts ma.

the equipment you have the ps3 will only output in Lpcm anyway but if you ever upgrade to a seperate blu ray player you will be never be able to listen to true hd

i bought an 820 and was very dissappointed when i could not get true hd sound so i am now buying a sony s350 blu ray player

i also have an sony str va555es receiver that i now use just for music and have not noticed much of a sound drop between the 820 and the 555es

i have used decent cabling which makes all the difference qed hdmi-p cable and qed xt350 speaker cable

if you can afford it the 2400es sounds good but i cannot fault the 820.

the 1200es is old technology why do you think its so cheap

You are not quite right here. If you get a BD player with onboard decoding for HD audio, the Sony 1200 could connect to it via analogue to get HD audio. The PS3 is different only because it doesn't have analogue audio connections. As for future proof. How many dvd players out now that don't have onboard decoding for DD and DTS? The same will happen with Bluray. Soon, every new player will have the decoding for HD audio inside. This will make older receivers compatible.

 

[Anonymous]

lee37:

the 1200es is old technology why do you think its so cheap

Maybe, but the 820 is old technology too, you'll have to pay alot more money to get anything groundbreaking. It's also of a similar price to the 820 when it's been HEAVILY discounted, so what do you think this says about the 820?

As for the 1200 as we have covered, the only thing it is lacking is HD decoding, and as we have covered there is a way around this if you have a device with onboard decoding.

 

[Anonymous]

lee37:
if you go for the 1200es you will not be able to listen to true hd audio all you will get is linear pcm which is not as good quality as true hd dd+ & dts ma.

the equipment you have the ps3 will only output in Lpcm anyway but if you ever upgrade to a seperate blu ray player you will be never be able to listen to true hd

i bought an 820 and was very dissappointed when i could not get true hd sound so i am now buying a sony s350 blu ray player

i also have an sony str va555es receiver that i now use just for music and have not noticed much of a sound drop between the 820 and the 555es

i have used decent cabling which makes all the difference qed hdmi-p cable and qed xt350 speaker cable

if you can afford it the 2400es sounds good but i cannot fault the 820.

the 1200es is old technology why do you think its so cheap

I thought the PS3 could output HD sound??? The firmware ver 2.30 states that. . .

'Blu-ray Disc playback now supports DTS-HD Master AudioT and DTS-HD High Resolution AudioT output.* '

I am soooo confused. . . . .

 

[Andrew Everard]

ktan1:
I thought the PS3 could output HD sound??? The firmware ver 2.30 states that. . .

'Blu-ray Disc playback now supports DTS-HD Master AudioT and DTS-HD High Resolution AudioT output.* '

I am soooo confused. . . . .

Yes, it supports playback of those formats, but it decodes them internally and outputs them as multichannel Linear PCM, rather than as a bitstream for decoding by external devices. That's no bad thing - and indeed there's a school of thought that onboard decoding is better - and IMHO it sounds just as good as streaming these formats and decoding them in a receiver.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for clearing that up Andrew.

As a follow up, I take it that PS3 owners do not need an AV receiver which can decode DTS-HD or HD sound. A 'bog standard' AV received would be good enough???

 

[Andrew Everard]

ktan1:As a follow up, I take it that PS3 owners do not
need an AV receiver which can decode DTS-HD or HD sound. A 'bog
standard' AV received would be good enough???

A bog-standard AV receiver able to accept Multichannel LPCM over HDMI will be fine, yes.

 

[Anonymous]

Octopo:
You can either send the HD signal from the player via HDMI or analogue if the player has 5/7.1 outputs.

I'd just like to point out to avoid confusion that this comment refers to receivers that can extract audio from it's HDMI connections. The 1200es under discussion here CAN'T do this, so you'll need to connect all your sound sources via analogue or optical.

 

[Anonymous]

Im so tempted to purchase the 1200es, £199.95 from SuperFi, its got to be a bargain. From what information Ive gathered through this thread it's still going to be compatible for a while yet? I get (like most) so confused with the AV developements.

Music is my main interest, I was thinking of staying with a two channel amp, but the knock down prices for AV amps, BR players and TV's make it a reasonable prospect that seems to good to be missed, so films will become more apparent as I purchase more equipment. Ive had a pair of floorstanders for 3 weeks, still boxed, so im eager to get something asap.

For myself, on a budget, the 1200es seems to be the way to go, a class act for £199.99 or is it?

I see on the specs http://whathifi.com/Review/Sony-STR-DA1200ES/Specs/ It states - HDMI 1.3a - no ....Is that significant in anyway?

EDIT: Where does upscalling/downscalling come into the equation? Is that also done on-board by input sources? I read and read info all the time, then I forget what ive read...

Im still on the 'first page' of Terry Pratchet book, and ive been reading it for the last 3 years. Must be my age... /sarcasm/

 

[Andrew Everard]

subliminal41:
For myself, on a budget, the 1200es seems to be the way to go, a class act for £199.99 or is it?

It's a great receiver, but as mentioned above it doesn't do the high-definition audio thing over HDMI.

 

[Anonymous]

If your looking for a receiver for £200 that delivers fantastic SD sound, has pre-outs to connect to a stereo amp, can deliver hd sound from one hd decoding device and looks and feels quality you can't go wrong with the 1200.

Don't worry about the HDMI type, 1.4 will be along soon and that's a different story.

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew Everard:subliminal41:

For myself, on a budget, the 1200es seems to be the way to go, a class act for £199.99 or is it?

It's a great receiver, but as mentioned above it doesn't do the high-definition audio thing over HDMI.

As they say, you dont miss what you aint got (all lies of course). I think, i'll take the plunge. For that price i can live without the bells and whistles until better times finacially and upgrade to something more significant at a later date. Im pretty sure i could sell it privately for £120/150 in 12 months, so im literally going to be losing nothing.

 

[Anonymous]

Octopo:

If your looking for a receiver for £200 that delivers fantastic SD sound, has pre-outs to connect to a stereo amp, can deliver hd sound from one hd decoding device and looks and feels quality you can't go wrong with the 1200.

Don't worry about the HDMI type, 1.4 will be along soon and that's a different story.

I'll be getting one next week.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone i will get the 1200 from superfi.

Have never ordered anything from superfi before can anyone tell me if they are any good.

 

[Anonymous]

roxsy:
Thanks everyone i will get the 1200 from superfi.

Have never orderedÿanything from superfi before can anyone tell me if they are any good.

I've probably used them about 10-15 times and always experienced great service.ÿ

 

[fatdog1]

So in a 1 on 1 DTS or Dolby Digital track comparison, can I assume the 1200 would "outgun" the 820?Most of my content is on my HTPC at the minute so the new HD audio isn't massively important, and the BR player is a few months away at best.