I love this unit. It does a fantastic job on DD and DTS decoding. Very feature laden, I personally don't have much use for many of the DSP modes, however.

I don't really care much for the remote. To many things that it can't do.

All, in all, a great unit considering that you can get it from $500-600. Get a replacement remote and you've got a perfect unit.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Pioneer.

Attractive design, enough power, easy to read front-panel display, well layed-out back panel and lots of connections

The remote. The remote. The remote. The volume control moves too much so it is hard to get the volume right.

A good receiver but what everyone says is true--the remote is not very good. The delay is stupid--who wants to wait 10 seconds every time you push the first button. The sound is good and for a large bedroom, there is plenty of power. I like the easy to read front panel. I don't like how much the volume moves when you use the remote. The Denon is much better for making fine adjustments.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 3300

# of inputs, sound quality, # of settings

Remote (but not as bad as people make it seem)

The is a quality receiver. I spent a lot of time reading reviews about this receiver and there really is nothing bad to say about it. You know what your getting with this puppy. The remote is also not as bad as people make it out to be. It takes some time getting used to but then again what doesn't.
It does get a little hot when running but i doubt that will be a problem.
Also, a blue light goes on when playing a DVD, which i LOVE.
Sony means QUALITY!

Features

remote, power

I was very please with this receiver until I started cranking my MTX AAL1240 speakers. As I turned up the volume the receiver would shut off. The receiver could not handle the power requirements of my speakers. Subsequently, I had to replace my 4 ohm speakers with 8 ohm speakers and I've not had the problem since. The reeiver has a 4 ohm to 8 ohm switch but it doen't seem to matter. It also runs a little warm when heavy bass music is played over a prolonged time.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, Magnavox

Clean sound, great build quality, very musical

remote

Nick sounds like he must have a personal vandetta against Sony because his review is filled with misinformation.

The 333 is quite powerful. Powerful enough to drive most speakers on the market today to the 107db range, which is quite loud. As far as clean power goes this unit is every but as clean as my 5700. I actually prefer the sound of the Sony on 2 channel material.

The other bit of misinformation is about floor standing speakers being more difficult to drive that sat/bookshelf speakers. This is completely false. Floorstanding speakers are most times more efficient than their smaller counterparts and an easier load on the amp.

I think the ES line has proven to be quite a success for Sony. It deserves a good look.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 5700, Elite27, Linn Classik

plenty of inputs

REMOTE SUX!

This receiver is not what I would call "good quality". I have had mine for about a year now, and I am very disappointed. I bought this receiver to test out the Sony ES line, and they failed. The remote is crap. I have to remove the batteries every once in a while just to get the remote to work at all. I had a Dolby Pro Logic receiver from Sony and it had a better remote, better sound for music too. If you buy this receiver, plan to buy a good remote to replace the one provided. The sound from this unit is not “clean”. The “clean” power that everyone keeps talking about is lack of knowledge about what it should sound like. This receiver has nothing that would classify as clean. When I listen to a high quality recording I can hear a low hiss during quiet spots in songs, and it is not on just one CD or the CD player. The soundstage is weak; no it’s VERY weak. If you like listening to music, this is not the unit for you. There is absolutely no separation of instruments. The 80 watts that it is supposed to produce is so full of distortion that it sounds terrible. If you have floor speakers do not buy this receiver. It may be able to push small satellite speakers, and that is doubtful, but it does not have the balls to push any big woofers. It is ok for movies as long as you don’t have good speakers, because this receiver does not produce good sound and good quality speakers will let you know the signal is bad. It does separate the Dolby Digital signal from DVDs, but I have heard other receivers produce it much better for the same money. I have been listening to music all of my life. I have also been installing high quality home and car audio equipment for a big part of my life, not as a profession but for the enjoyment of listening to quality sound. I also play several instruments, so I know how live music sounds. This Sony doesn’t do it. I would recommend saving your pennies and buying a mid-level receiver like a Denon or Yamaha, or if you have the money there is nothing that beats separates. I would look at the Proceed line of products for the preamp, and Rotel for the amp. I do not sell audio products and I get nothing from giving this Sony a bad review. I am saying this so maybe someone will think twice about spending the money on this receiver. There are better receivers out there, shop around before you buy.

Similar Products Used:

I have owned two different sony a/v receivers, and many other audio products.

Good Dolby Digital performance
Good Connectivity
Good Price

Horrible Remote Control
Not very powerful
Difficult to adjust settings
Poor 2 channel stereo performance
DTS cut-offs
Poor Dolby Pro-Logic

Positives:

I think this Sony performed very well with Dolby Digital soundtracks. The surround was very smooth and crisp. Also, for the low internet prices, it is one of the best in its price ranges. I also like the connectivity on this receiver.

Negatives: Enough has been said on these reviews about the remote, it's horrible. I thought the power was a bit lacking in this receiver (however, for the price, it is pretty good). The 2 channel stereo performance is not very good compared to the Denons and Marantz.

I kept this receiver for about 20 days, before bringing it back and paying more for the Marantz SR-19. I paid a lot more, but it was worth it. The Marantz is better across the board in every category. However, I can't speak for the comparably priced Marantz SR-7000, but I would not hesitate to check it out instead of the Sony.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR-3300
Marantz SR-19

This unit (as everyone else has stated) has a lot of useful inputs that give you a lot of versatility. Great sound and power.

I must concur, the remote is difficult to operate.

I have had this unit for about 6 months now with only great things to say. It has surpassed all of my initial concerns regarding compatibility, features, expandability. Sony has really outdone themselves with this unit. I also like the cool blue light on the unit. It matches the one on my Sony DVD player (530D). I am very pleased with the power and the sound fields. I am in the process of overhauling my entire audio system and I must admit being able to utilize the virtual sound fields to create the surround sound effect is incredible! I frequently invite friends over to be amazed at the sound of this system with the old speakers that I have. I can't wait to get some new speakers and listen to all that the receiver has to offer. You can not go wrong with this choice. I must ditto on the warmth of unit.

Similar Products Used:

JVC, Yamaha, Denon

Great sound, Easy setup, Easy hookup

Remote?, Hard to set EQ, no S-Link?

After debating for a while between this and the DB930, I decided the money was better spent on the ES unit. It was hard to listen to them side by side as the only dealer in the area who carried them had them in separate sound rooms. I can't say as I can "hear" a difference between them, but it does sound GREAT!. Mostly used for watching movies with my DVD player, the 5.1 digital audio is great. I really like the little blue light - I know it's stupid, but it's nice to SEE a confirmation that it really is in digital mode.

I was a little disappointed that there was no S-Link on this unit. I guess that means Sony doesn't take the S-Link feature very seriously if they leave it off of their top of the line models. I'm not sure I would have used it anyway, but it would have been fun to play with.

As everyone mentioned I found the learning curve on the remote to be longer than expected, but now I think I've got it figured out. I have all Sony components, and a Toshiba television (4 year old model) and it controls everything I need. I was worried about putting the unit behind the glass doors as some users said the 2 way remote had trouble communicating through glass, but mine works fine.

As far as the heat goes, I've not found it to be a problem. It could be because I've not turned the volume up past 25%, (which is PLENTY loud enough), or it could be because I set the shelf up so that there was a 5" clearance above the unit. Whatever the reason, heat has not been an issue.

As far as the sound goes - well it sounds GREAT. The digital sound on DVD's is awesome. Every time I get a new DVD, I can't wait to get it home and hear what it sounds like. The sound is consistently clean and clear and even older movies on VHS sound great.

The sound fields are probably overkill, I tend to use either Normal Surround, Studio B, or Large Hall (for classical music), the rest of them are wasted on me, but I supposed someone might find them useful. I was a little confused why they would build sound fields for systems with no rear speakers (why buy this if you don't have rear speakers) but I guess they are standard across all of their models.

Overall I give it 5 stars - easy to operate, sounds great, great value (and you can find it for as little as $550 online)

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo, HK, Sony DB930

Excellent Sound, Numerous "Toys", 5 year warranty

Slow remote on start-up

This thing doesn't use vacuum tubes, isn't made of solid gold, and didn't come with a Ferrari. But for the price...

I get tired of people complaining that a product doesn't have one thing or another, and not taking the price range into consideration. For the $525 I paid several months ago, I don't think I could have found anything comparable for nearly twice the price. And I looked. I bought Sony's 550 DVD player, and I had a nice, older JVC pro-logic system. So it was time to upgrade. The Sony had quality, good sound and great features compared to the Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo and HK for a very competitive price. I played around with all these units, and after becoming disenchanted with the remote for the 555 receiver, and not having a 2000 sq. ft. home theater, I chose the 333. My older JVC was rated 120 watts, and the Sony is much louder. It makes a differnece how a company rates the outputs, and this would be louder than most receivers rated at 120 watts. Besides, I have never turned it up past halfway, and THAT was pretty damn loud. The remote is a little slow while it talks to the receiver, but it does have potential to give a lot of info. The remote does everything. This receiver has more inputs and outputs than anything else I looked at. One ridiculous thing is that the Sony upper-end $500 550 DVD player uses S-link, which I hope is compatible with the A1II. I haven't had any problems yet. The new receiver made my speakers sound so much better, but I still plan to upgrade soon. I also just bought a 32" Sony V-series TV that rocks. But I use the DVD remote for TV watching because it has number buttons for channels, and an AV volume control for the receiver, so I don't have to push any special buttons to change the receiver volume. I like the S-Video on the front panel, because this is quickly becoming the standard, especially for digital camcorders and cameras. With a 5-year warranty and a $525 price tag, you can't go wrong.