Sony STR-DA3500ES - What Hi-Fi team question

[admin_exported]

Hello,

I have recently read in your last magazine issue the review for the Sony STR-DA3500ES.

I own a Sony STR-DA3200ES (capable of PCM uncompressed sound, but no bitstreaming) which I have it paired with orb audio (www.orbaudio.com) speakers in a 7.1 setup. I have mod2 speakers for the front, mod4 speaker for the center and mod1 speakers for the rear.

I was wondering whether an upgrade to the newer Sony STR-DA3500Es receiver from my Sony STR-DA3200ES receiver worths the trouble and extra money 🙂

Thanks a lot.

Andreas

 

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Anybody who can help ??

Thanks

 

[Clare Newsome]

Sorry, Andy - I don't personally know the products in question well enough to get a decent answer. Andrew Everard may be able to help later on...

 

[Anonymous]

Clare,

Thanks for your answer.

Well my main concern is basically whether the new 3500ES receiver worths the upgrade as long as performance goes from the older 3200ES model. As far as bitstreaming goes, I personally believe there is no substantial difference with PCM uncompressed sound 🙂

 

[Andrew Everard]

Good though the 3500ES is, I'm not entirely sure it'd be worth upgrading from the 3200 to it just to get the ability to bitstream from your player.

The 3200ES is still a very good receiver, and provided your player is doing a good job of 'unpacking' the soundtracks and converting them to PCM, the rest of the benefits of the 3500ES will just be niceties rather than must-haves, in my opinion.

You'd probably do better to be looking for a good price on a Sony STR-DA5400ES if you wanted to stay in-brand and yet make an upgrade.

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew,

Thanks a lot and Merry Christmas.

I will look around of the 5400ES or the 5500ES. I will try to get the new one as the prices of both the 5400ES and 5500ES are about the same.

The only proble is that are almost double the price of the 3500ES, so I hope they justify the price difference with their performance 🙂

Thanks again.

 

[Andrew Everard]

IMO the 5400ES definitely does. Haven't tested the 5500ES yet.