I used to sell this model from a store that was authorized to sell ES products. Strengths: This model had many impressive design qualities described in Sony literature. It sounded superior to ordinary, Sony models.

Weaknesses: It sounded too bright compared to similarly priced models from other brands. Several units overheated and smoked in our store even though we had them displayed with no cabinetry above or to the side. We used line conditioners, did not stack other units above or below the receivers, and only hooked them up to high-quality, eight-ohm speakers. Customers often complained of having similar problems in their homes. Sony ES CD, DVD, and Blu-ray players tend to be truly outstanding, but ES receivers from this era were disappointing.

1. Tons of inputs, including multichannel analog inputs and 4 digital inputs

2. Plenty of power with an unbelievable amount of adjustability

3. Some nice customization features, such as the ability to rename source inputs on the display

1. Unable to handle full bitrate DTS!! This makes for big problems with HD-DVD audio compatibility for DTS "core" soundtracks or hi-res soundtracks transcoded to 1.5mbps DTS. This is unacceptable for a supposed flagship model, as 1.5mbps was always part of the DTS spec. Things like lack of component video switching can be forgiven in a receiver that came out in 1999/2000, but not being able to handle standard DTS?

2. Unable to "assign" digital inputs -- while it looks like there are 5 digital inputs (4 optical, 1 coax), because they can't be reassigned, there are actually only 4 unique options as the coax and one of the opticals are stuck as "DVD".

3. No matter how much I tweaked and adjusted, and even turning off all the tone controls for the most "pure" sound, I could never get the warm and rich sound I wanted.

I bought the DA555ES for a steal price of $50 off my local craigslist about a year ago. Not knowing much about it, I just wanted a solid, feature-filled receiver with strong sound to power my budget home-theater and music setup.

This receiver has tons of options to fiddle with, with plenty of DSP's & "tweakability", but I found that it's a little out of date at this point if you want high-end performance. For example, there is no adjustable crossover, no component video, and you can't reassign digital inputs. Heck, it doesn't even covert composite to S-video!

There is also a HUGE FLAW in this receiver which I discovered when hooking up my HD-A2 HD DVD player: earlier Sony ES receivers can't handle full bitrate (1.5mbps) DTS!! Not DTS-ES, or DTS-discrete, or DTS-96/24, which didn't exist at the time. I'm talking about plan vanilla 5.1 DTS! If you have to connect your hi-def player with optical, this receiver will not handle DTS "core" soundtracks pulled from a DTS-MA audio track or any other hi-res audio that is transcoded to 1.5mbps DTS! This unfortunate problem has been reported by many others at avsforum.com.

The ridiculous amount of EQ options available (treble, mid, and bass adjustment with the ability to alter the frequency of the adjustments for every single DSP and soundfield!) makes for both a tweaker's joy and an obsessive guy's nightmare! Unfortunately, I could never get the sound quite "right". I consistently found the sound to be "cold" and a little difficult to listen to at loud volumes -- I always had to turn down the treble and pump the bass on my Energy speakers in an effort to warm up the sound.

I never had the remote, so it can't skew my review to the negative, but my Harmony worked fine with it.

I just wanted raw power, not a bunch of fancy but useless DSP acoustic environment, and could never tease it out of this receiver. When I bought a Denon AVR 2105 off eBay and heard it in Direct mode, I realized I had found what I was missing. The Sony is for someone who wants a ton of bells and whistles, whereas the Denon is more about the raw sound quality.

In summary, a nice receiver if you can find a bargain price these days, but time has passed it by at this point.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR 2105; Denon AVR 1905; Yamaha RX-V490

SONY ES IS THE BEST SONY HAS WITH THE BEST WARRANTY...5 YEARS!
PLENTY OF POWER AND 5.1 DOLBY DIGITAL SURROUND SOUND PROCESSING.
SONY QUALITY REPUTATION.

POORLY DESIGNED BACKLIT REMOTE CONTROL. 10 SECONDS AND ITS LIGHTS OUT.

ITS BEEN SO LONG, AT LEAST FIVE YEARS, THAT I CANNOT REMEMBER WHEN I BOUGHT THE SONY STR-DA555ES RECEIVER AND HOW MUCH I PAID FOR IT...SO I WILL CONCENTRATE ONLY ON THE ACTUAL FACTS KNOWN TO ME. WHEN I FIRST TURNED ON MY STEREO I HEARD A LOUD POP AND THAT WAS ALL THERE WAS. THE RETAILER MADE AN EASY SWAP FOR A FRESH NEW STEREO AND TOLD ME THAT IF MY SPEAKERS WERE DAMAGED THAT THEY WOULD COVER TYHEM AS WELL. GOOD NEWS, BUT THEY WERE FINE. THIS SONY REPLACED MY YAMAHA DSP-A1000 AMPLIFIER. I WAS UNHAPPY WITH THE YAMAHA'S BASS. HOOKING UP THE SONY TO MY VELODYNE F-1000 SUB SHOOK THE HOUSE SO MUCH I WAS ALMOST EVICTED. THE ONLY COMPLAINT I HAVE IS WITH THE TEN SECOND TIMED BACKLIT REMOTE. IT IS VERY FRUSTRATING WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO LEARN HOW TO USE IT FOR THE FIRST TIME. TEN SECONDS IS JUST ENOUGH TIME TO READ THE SCREEN, BUT NOT FOR MAKING CHOICES. SONY SHOULD OF AT LEAST MADE THIS A USER ADJUSTABLE TIMER. I USED THE REMOTE TO SET UP MY SOUND FIELDS AND IT HAS BEEN THE DRAWER EVER SINCE. I HAVE BEEN USING THE CABLE REMOTE TO TURN THE SONY ON/OFF AND ADJUSTING THE VOLUME. TODAY I GOT A USED HARMONY SST-H768 UNIVERSAL REMOTE ON EBAY FOR $15 THAT WAS $200-$300 WHEN IT WAS ORIGINALLY RELEASED. I GUESS IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT. THE NEXT FLAGSHIP SONY RECEIVER CAME SILVER WITH A RF REMOTE. GUESS WHAT, NO PRICE BREAKS ON THAT PUPPY! I FIGURED IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE LOUSY REMOTE THAT MADE THE STR-DA555ES SUCH A BARGAIN. IF YOU FIND ONE FOR SALE SOMEWHERE, I WOULD SAY BUY IT AND GET A HARMONY, TOO.

Customer Service

CALLED SONY TO SEE IF THEY WOULD DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE REMOTE. THEY SAID IT WAS DOING WHAT IT WAS DESIGNED TO DO. GO FIGURE.
I WOULD HAVE GIVEN THE SONY 5 STARS ON BOTH RATINGS IF NOT FOR THE REMOTE.

Similar Products Used:

YAMAHA DSP-A1000 DIGITALSOUND PROCESSING AMPLIFIER

Power to spare, sound quality, ease of use, sound combinations, and looks. Best of the best.

None.

I have owned this receier for six years now and have never had a problem with it. It is by far one of the most impressive units I have ever heard. The sound quality and ease of use are incredible. I have found that reading the user instructions and manual are always best to do BEFORE you install your equipment. It clearly states not to place the unit in an enclosed area at the risk of tripping the protection curcuit. My receiver is in use everyday. The cable box, tv, dvd player, vcr, video game, and cd player are all connected to the unit and it handles it all like a champ. The cd player, dvd player and cable box are all connected via the digital optical connectors and the sound and picture quality are without compare. When I upgrade to an LCD tv I will not be afraid to connect it to my Sony receiver. As for the remotes, I have the touch screen and the simple AV remote. They are both easy to use and understand. To those of you who have had problems with your receivers I suggest you read your manuals and try different settings and combinations, this unit has more than enough possibilities to satisfy your listening choices. It's a shame when someone goes off half cocked with no idea what their doing and than blames someone or something for their stupidity. My suggestion is you use your two cans and a string and enjoy your fine sound quality and I stick with my Sony. It's obvious you are a true audio enthusiast.

Great sound, excellent value, solid construction (heavy!), overall great receiver for the price.

None of the new technologies incorporated (because it is nearly 6 years old).

I am really surprised (like some others I see) at some of the bad reviews of this receiver. I bought the 555ES as soon as it shipped to the store and have loved it ever since. I believe I posted about this receiver back in 2000 so I won't go into technical details but I would like to remind people that this is the review of the Sony AV receiver...NOT the sony remote. Yes the remote is not very bright and does not control many new components, but it was not that bad. Also, the remote is not a learning universal one, so get over it and go buy a Harmony remote or something. Also...to the gentleman who complained about the receiver going into "Protector" mode... That mode is used when the receiver gets too hot. It is meant to "PROTECT" your investment by not burning out (which I assume you did by powering it off, then back on and not letting it cool off). Take a look at where it is housed. If your AV rack has about 1" of space around it, that's probably why it is overheating. Personally, I have done that ONCE and it was when I had the volume cranked to 1/2 watching 'Gladiator' in DTS (opening scenes with fireballs...great bass). I can honestly say that, not only have I had NO problems with this receiver in nearly 6 years, but that it is STILL a great receiver. I am looking for a new one now, only because the 555ES does not have many of the new technologies that have come out (DTS ES/NEO 6, Dolby II, 7.1 surround, etc...). I will keep it and use it in another part of our house because I couldn't bare to sell it. PS. I wish we could strike those poor ratings about the remote off this review since it makes the actual overall ratings misleading.

power, dps's build quality, 5 year warranty, made in Japan

Difficulty driving lower impedence speakers such as Sony ssm7a es (6 ohms) .

I've had this unit for 3 years without incident. For the money it's nearly unmatched. Excellent sound quality, DSP's even the remote while not bright enough has not been that difficult to use nor is the battery hog that others suggest. I suspect that many of the problems associated with this unit are either "b stock" units or from folks that don't take time to read or understand the poorly written owners manual. I too have experienced the dolby digital fade out only to find that somewhow the impedence selector was set at 4 ohms (i have an 8 ohm ht set up). changing it back to 8 ophms solved the problem. In closing, if you're going to spend your hard earned money on one of these,learn about it. THat said, many of the reviews look like somone has been reading and writing at the 4th grade level for some time now.

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using: sony scd c333es sacd player pioneer mdj707 mini disc sony dvp nc650v dvd sacd (marginal unit) b&w dm1400 front, b&w dm602 s1 rear b&w lcr600 s2 center. b&w dm2000 b Channel listened t

Makes a great paper weight

The only way I would take a Sony is if the guy trying to give it to me could run faster then I could

Do not buy sony products! I bought this reciever thinking it was going to be an *upgrade* to my Onkyo 575. Boy was I wrong the bass responce is terrible. I called Sony aka *loser* tech support and they started to give me a hard time. Can you say *stupid for giving a customer a hard time*. I will NEVER buy another Sony product in my life period.

Similar Products Used:

two cans and a string sound better

touch screen remote, great sound, flexibility

I don't expect to have to return a Sony ES product for repairs, especially more than once.

I've owned this model for about three years now, and I've had it in the shop four times for the same problem--it will simply cease to work. Sony has finally agreed to replace the receiver with the same model. I'm hoping that this was just a lemon and that the new receiver will operate well because when it did work, I thoroughly enjoyed it. But having to disconnect this system from my system four times and send it in (at my own expense--there is no service center in my state) has been a major hassle. I think the remote is a definite plus--I found it quite easy to use.

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Kenwood receiver

It rocks.....

Only 1 Digital Coxial Input

I have owned this receiver for 3 years, and I have had no problems what-so-ever. I have only changed the batteries once. I am very satisfied. I have one problem which I would like for someone to help me. The unit only has one Coaxial digital input. I have two coaxial cables that need to go into the receiver (one from HDTV box and one from the digital cable). What can I do to have both coaxial cables work with my receiver? Do I use a spliter (Y-cable / 2 females to 1 male)? please, I need your advise... thanks

Power, built and outstanding sound

None that I can see:

I have had the Sont STRDA-555ES for over two years now and find it to be the best Audio-Video Receiver that I have ever owned. It has 120 watts per channel X5 and this reciever really puts out the sound. The sound is outstanding in Dolby Digital and DTS Sound. It sounds better on my system than in the movies. I am very happy with this receiver and hope to be using it for many many years to come.

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None