I found this at a 2nd hand store and when I got it home and plugged in..the volume was stuck on all the way up! It was late at night so I had to solve the issue. After pulling the volume unit out and resoldering a few contacts on the little board I put it back together and ended up finding out that my universal remote could control the volume even thought the volume button didnt. Let me tell you as a long tome auudiophile and professional musician..This Sony ES is a great sounding receiver right from the first moment the volume was set to a normal level. Very musical amp section. Clean but not sterile. It has very active controlled sound like the amp is high current and uses high end circuits and processors. I agree with the consensus that the processing of its soundfields and decoding of movies is a gripping powerful experience! Warm and colorful. My Paradigms never sounded so amazing. Even compressed files from the web sound fat and energetic. Smooth is the word I would say mostly describes its sound experience. Lots of negative in this forum about this amp yet its 18yrs old and it blew my mind. Ever hear a flagship NAD or Nak amp? I have and I got the same feeling as I heard the Sony STR-DA5ES for the first time.

Although I am greatful for how much a person can do to the settings right from the front face of the unit..and not forcing a remote or else situation..I think they could have added a few things to menu like level control for fronts without having to use a test tone. (Other than the volume button) That and how the knobs can break when trying to service a broken volume control haha..are all I would change at the moment.