Sony TA-AN1000

[What Hi-Fi?]

We’ve waited ages for a new Sony home cinema amplifier and thankfully the TA-AN100 was worth it.

Sony TA-AN1000 : Read more

 

[Sixtyten]

From the spec on that there is absolutely no way that's a £1000 amp. The Marantz Cinema 70 is better specified for a recommended retail price of £850 and the NR1711 is cheaper still at £799. Honestly? This feels like an attempt at price establishing rather than a price anyone would ever actually pay. I wish I was surprised that What HiFi aren't calling this out.

 

[npxavar]

From the spec on that there is absolutely no way that's a £1000 amp. The Marantz Cinema 70 is better specified for a recommended retail price of £850 and the NR1711 is cheaper still at £799. Honestly? This feels like an attempt at price establishing rather than a price anyone would ever actually pay. I wish I was surprised that What HiFi aren't calling this out.

According to Sony's press release "The TA-AN100 will be available from June 2023 priced at approximately €1,000 / £900".

 

[SL 75]

There seems to be a lot of internal reworking since the DN1080 according to Sony's web site. PSU, 3 DSPs condensed down to a single chip, revised amp stage with J-FET etc. Perhaps the reviewer would care to comment on whether the volume knob is now metal rather than the horrible (but perhaps necessarily) plastic one on the DN1080, to partially explain the higher cost.

It would also be nice to know more about the music performance than just a quick stream over Bluetooth. Sony's upper midrange receivers have been able to play DSD natively, without conversion to LPCM, for some time. How well would it work as a music streamer, for example? Sony also makes a point that it trickles down a lot of ES level concepts and components, such as the specially formulated solder, chassis design, improved (multi-point) electrical grounding and so forth.

As for why the UK only gets one amp and the US five, probably the market isn't here for it any more. A few years ago the mighty SS-AR1 speakers were offered in the UK, though very poorly marketed (the US and rest of world have detailed PDF brochures) as were the SS-NA2ES, which I managed to get before they also vanished. Likewise all the "nice" stuff, Hi-Res Audio components have disappeared from the UK site but are offered in the rest of Europe to some degree, and of course in full over in Japan. We just don't have the desire for these products in the UK, it would appear.

 

[The End]

We’ve waited ages for a new Sony home cinema amplifier and thankfully the TA-AN100 was worth it.

Sony TA-AN1000 : Read more

Well, as always the same problem. There are too few speaker outputs. What if I want back surround and six Dolby Atmos speakers, plus bi-amping and zone 2 and zone 3? I can't afford such an amp if there is one🤬Marantz 70S has the plugs for my use but too few watt. I have German Quadral+ speakers and they need effect. BTW, is it TA-AN100 or TA-AN1000?

 

[NicoSavides]

Hello,
Just got the TA-AN1000 and I'm very happy with the sound I get for movies.
Only issue I see is that it is not (yet?) in the Logitech Harmony remote database.
Would anyone have some insight on which alternative amp I could use with the same codes ?

thanks

 

[HappySounds]

I have been a happy owner of the STR-DN1080 for a good few years (since shortly after it came out) and there is only one thing that frustrated me about it - the remote is IR only when all the other devices I use have a wireless remote (Amazon FireTV, Sky box etc). I have all the AV gear in a cupboard and can control it OK with the wireless remotes, except the Sony amp.

This is the one thing I would love to see improved for this new product, bringing it into the modern world, but no mention of whether or not it has been changed - has it?

 

[ZRMN995]

Is it possible to connect it somehow with HT-A7000 soundbar, 2 SA-SW5 subwoofers and 2 rear SA-RS5s?
Would there be any benefits of adding this to the system?

 

[foudordi]

I've purchased this receiver after reading this what hifi review and after two months using it, I don't recommend this purchase.
Sure, the sound quality seems very good, and I suppose it's the most important thing, but I doubt the competition sounds significantly different.
On the - side :

First, it does seem overpriced. There was a Yamaha with most features (but no built in Chromecast) for nearly half the price.

But more importantly, the settings and user manual are just stupid unclear. From calibration to effects, Sony uses very unclear wording that makes it impossible to understand what a feature actually does. I suppose they tried to do something that was understandable by neophytes rather than educated users, the result I think is that no one understands anything. Even the few forums I found struggle to provide answers.

The calibration process also seems far less complete and effective than the competition, from what I've read (although I haven't had a chance to test a Yamaha or Denon). Calibration seems to do very little to mods in the room. However the wrong distance estimate creates an echo do to a wrong delay programed between the center unit and the r/l ones. The again it's not mentioned clearly what the calibration does, and if manually setting the distances impacts delays only or other things (phase matching for instance? Or does it retain the data from auto calibration?).

Finally, the unit is riddled with bugs. The last update does seem to have improved things, but I've encountered issues were there was no sound unless turn off / on again, a case of complete crash where I had to unplug the unit, the need to turn off / on to switch from Bluetooth to Chromecast, and so on.

To sum it up, this is a premium price for a unit that clearly was released before it was properly finished, and that lacks some advanced calibration and clear settings. If I had to start again I'd probably try a Yamaha or Denon, provided they sound also very good.

For once I really don't agree with what hifi's rating and it does not seem like the features were extensively tested.

 

[Chris Brooks]

While the unit ticks all the right boxes it is let down by a two-year warranty.
Good for its price perhaps.
The cheapest ES class is the Sony ES STR-AZ1000ES which receives 5 years from Sony.
The old axiom "you get what you pay for" appears to hold true.