NEARLY PERFECT? | Sony AZ3000ES AVR REVIEW | 360 Spatial Sound Mapping

hi. loved the review. Have you tried the HTA9 with sub. I have this setup and I do like it. I do feel the speakers do lack sound quality but generally good. I was thinking of selling to go the ES 3000 avr route with KEF meta front speakers and build on it later. So my question if you have tried is the benefits worth the cost and work wiring speakers in between these 2. Or maybe just another AVR... Thank you sir

Great review! Anything yet on not being able to engage the subwoofer in 2-channel stereo mode? Thanks

Great review! Glad I ran across your video’s. Question on the calibration. My room has the less than ideal scenario in which the sofa has to be placed against the wall. Will the phantom speaker settings in the Sony calibration improve the rear channel sound perception?

Will this AV receiver support the HT-A9 speakers? The center cannel is not so good on hta9, may be moving to avr and adding a center speaker along with a9 speakers is my thought.

Can you run 4ohm speakers on the 3000es?

So question now is an1000 or az1000 for a 5.1 nuance speaker system using old Harmon Kardon avr130

I just got the 5000es Monday to upgrade from my 3100es

I looked at ES 5000, NAD T778, and Anthem 114. Each have quirks in function it seems. Integrated BlueOS on NAD is best streaming service to me by far. Anthem unit is the least compromised amp by far, but SONY is the leader. Spatial mapping is a step change upgrade not seen in a while. My placement is mostly ideal but bubble effect is clearly noticeable to casual enthusiasts, whereas upgraded amp on Anthem is often lost on non-stereo usage unless a fan of 2 ch- stereo and care about difference.

The ideal unit to me would be spacial mapping on NAD T778 with BLuOS. That unit is now old release in AVR years so went with ES 5000 on crutchfield. I just connect to a higher end two ch stereo and done with it. Very happy. No pops clicks or issues. I just use preout fronts, and Panasonic top end bluray. No complaints at all. Just use digital laser to measure setups, and realize amp is slightly compromised but a value at this price point.

Panel on Sony is a bit sad but in reality I never use it anyway, nor would I use a LCD touch screen on any unit as I see it as a sales gimmick.

Too bad about the lack of pre outs.

HI Ealan, thank you for the review. I got my AZ3000ES after watching your reviews and some reviews on different forums. I am impressed by this AVR. I first got the Denon 4800H and I hated the music performance of it. No matter what mode I selected with Dirac or Audyssey, it sounded very thin and lack of bass, just horrible. Then I got the Marantz Cinema 40 and it sounded just as bad for music. For movie watching they both sounded amazing though. I then took a chance and got the AZ3000ES and I have been very impressed by its musical performance. The Sony really brings out the details of the tracks when it comes to vocal and instruments and the bass is decent. However, I wish the sound stage was wider though, but it could be because the power output is not enough while the speakers I have are not that easy to drive (Martin Logan XT-F200, Bowers Wilkins 702 s2, Bowers wilkins 706 s2, Focal Aria k2 936). What I like about the Sony is that when I switch the speaker impedance from 8 ohm to 4ohm, I can really tell the difference!! When I did that with the Denon and Marantz, it made no difference at all. the Sony powers my XT-F200 pretty well, but not as good as my Arcam SA30 as I never expected it to. I am planning to return the AZ3000ES and get the AZ5000ES so that I can connect it to an amp. If the AZ3000ES had pre outs for amp, I would be very happy to keep it. I will be using the Sony to listen Atmos/spatial sound music, which my SA30 cannot do.
Ealan, I am wondering if someday you could start reviewing one of those class D DAC or amp. I recently purchased a SMSL AO200 Mkii for my desktop and I couldn't believe how good it sounded when I first got it. It has much better sound stage than the AZA3000ES if you can believe it, but I could hear a tiny bit of distortion for the vocal when i crank it up passing 80 db. I have a feeling that after a few years these Chinese class D amps will close the gap between cheap integrated amps and the high end ones.

I ordered the 3000 ES after looking at a lot of models in that price range. I don't care for Dirac live (the cost and the required internet connection) so that's a plus for me and I have never needed pre-outs. The basic equipment works for me as long as it sounds excellent. And boy it does sound incredible. DCM Time Windows front and center channel with Klipsch surrounds and subs. It rocks! Great set up video. Picked up a few good pointers. Thanks!👍

I bought a SONY 5000 ES to go with a new A95K TV. It will not communicate with the Sony TV. I spent two hours with Sony's TV techs and they could not get it to work. I spent another hour with Sony's amp tech and they could not get it to work. I was told to call Monday through Friday to talk to the ES Specialist. He would not help, not even make a suggestion. He said if I don't like it send it back. I am very disappointed with Sony's support.

Why cant we get this in the uk

I’m on the fence between the 3000 and 5000 model?? Staying 5. and maybe moving up to 7. channels. Mostly movies. But also want to future proof myself. Can the 3000 push most bookshelf speaker living room theatres without extra amp needed? In the 5. and 7. realm.

At home my living room where my 55-Inch LG 4K UHD Multi-HDR with Dolby Vision Smart Flat Big-Screen OLED TV is at is 18x15 feet with an 8 foot flat ceiling in which my living room is small-to-medium so I couldn’t afford a Sony Elevated Standards (ES) STR-AZ3000ES 9.2 Channel Dolby Atmos/DTSX Premium Home Theater Surround Audio/Video Receiver with Digital Cinema Auto Calibration IX & 360 Spatial Sound Mapping for $1,700 or have the space for a 5.2.4 channel Dolby Atmos/DTSX Wired Premium Home Theater Traditional Surround Sound System Plus all extremely critically-acclaimed dynamic immersive impactful Sony 7-9 channel Dolby Atmos/DTSX Premium Home Theater Surround Audio/Video Receivers including the Sony 2023 Dolby Atmos/DTSX AV Receiver line-up series mostly work very flawlessly on Sony 4K UHD Multi-HDR with Dolby Vision Smart OLED TVs in very great sync and the Sony 2017-2023-present Dolby Atmos/DTSX 7-9 channel AV Receiver Series and Sony 2017-present 4K UHD Multi-HDR with Dolby Vision Smart OLED TVs are an extremely great pair for a Sony Dolby Vision-Atmos IMAX-DTSX OLED 4K UHD HDR TV Home Theater Surround Sound Set-Up My 55-Inch 4K UHD Multi-HDR with Dolby Vision Smart OLED TV is LG not Sony so I ended up buying and owning a Denon AVRS970H 7.2 Channel Dolby Atmos & DTSX Premium Home Theater Surround Audio/Video Receiver with Audyssey MultEQ: Dynamic Volume & Dynamic EQ for nearly $800 total with tax and paired it with the Klipsch Reference Reference Premier & Synergy Series 5.1.2 Channel Full-On Wired Premium Dolby Atmos/DTSX Traditional Home Theater Surround Sound System that I got bought and owned for nearly $2,500 in which I am upgrading from a 2015 Onkyo TXSR444 7.1 Channel Premium Dolby Atmos/Home Theater Surround Audio/Video Receiver with AccuEQ 4K UHD Passthrough Dolby Surround Upmixer DTS:HD-Master Audio and Bluetooth Streaming to a much more state-of-the-art advanced newer better premium luxurious dynamic room-filling immersive impactful Denon 2022 AVRS970H Dolby Atmos/Audio/Video Receiver that has all the newer much better features that I really wanted that my older Onkyo Dolby Atmos Receiver doesn’t have: DTSX DTS:Neural-X Upmixer Audyssey EQ: Dynamic Volume & Dynamic EQ Multi-HDR with Dolby Vision A High End/Quality/Fidelity/Resolution/Performance 32-Bit/192kHz Digital-to-Analogue Converter and Discrete High Current Power Amplifier and while enjoying watching and listening to many films tv shows sports and music in Dolby Atmos DTSX Dolby Digital 5.1 (Upmixed to Dolby Surround) DTS:HD-Master Audio (Upmixed to DTS:Neural-X) and Two-Channel Music/Sports (Upmixed to Multi-Channel Stereo the 3D Object Based Multidimensional Moving Surround Sound Quality with Audyssey EQ: Dynamic Volume & Dynamic EQ on it sounds extremely amazing three dimensional atmospheric richer realistic dynamic powerful immersive immense cinematic stunning realistic detailed punchy room filing with tons of great bass treble midrange detail realism dynamics impact clarity sharpness and to be honest it actually sounds and feels like having a Dolby Atmos/IMAX-DTSX movie theater in my room that rivals my nearby commercial movie theaters with 4K HDR laser picture quality paired with Dolby Atmos or DTSX

At home my living room where my 55-Inch LG 4K UHD Multi-HDR with Dolby Vision Smart Flat Big-Screen OLED TV is at is 18x15 feet with an 8 foot flat ceiling in which my living room is small-to-medium so I couldn’t afford a Sony Elevated Standards (ES) STR-AZ3000ES 9.2 Channel Dolby Atmos/DTSX Premium Home Theater Surround Audio/Video Receiver with Digital Cinema Auto Calibration IX & 360 Spatial Sound Mapping for $1,700 or have the space for a 5.2.4 channel Dolby Atmos/DTSX Wired Premium Home Theater Traditional Surround Sound System so I ended up buying and owning a Denon AVRS970H 7.2 Channel Dolby Atmos & DTSX Premium Home Theater Surround Audio/Video Receiver with Audyssey MultEQ: Dynamic Volume & Dynamic EQ
for nearly $800 total with tax and paired it with the Klipsch Reference Reference Premier & Synergy Series 5.1.2 Channel Full-On Wired Premium Dolby Atmos/DTSX Traditional Home Theater Surround Sound System that I got bought and owned for nearly $2,500 in which I am upgrading from a 2015 Onkyo TXSR444 7.1 Channel Premium Dolby Atmos/Home Theater Surround Audio/Video Receiver with AccuEQ 4K UHD Passthrough Dolby Surround Upmixer DTS:HD-Master Audio and Bluetooth Streaming to a much more state-of-the-art advanced newer better premium luxurious dynamic room-filling immersive impactful Denon 2022 AVRS970H Dolby Atmos/Audio/Video Receiver that has all the newer much better features that I really wanted that my older Onkyo Dolby Atmos Receiver doesn’t have: DTSX DTS:Neural-X Upmixer Audyssey EQ: Dynamic Volume & Dynamic EQ Multi-HDR with Dolby Vision A High End/Quality/Fidelity/Resolution/Performance 32-Bit/192kHz Digital-to-Analogue Converter and Discrete High Current Power Amplifier and while enjoying watching and listening to many films tv shows sports and music in Dolby Atmos DTSX Dolby Digital 5.1 (Upmixed to Dolby Surround) DTS:HD-Master Audio (Upmixed to DTS:Neural-X) and Two-Channel Music/Sports (Upmixed to Multi-Channel Stereo the 3D Object Based Multidimensional Moving Surround Sound Quality with Audyssey EQ: Dynamic Volume & Dynamic EQ on it sounds extremely amazing three dimensional atmospheric richer realistic dynamic powerful immersive immense cinematic stunning realistic detailed punchy room filing with tons of great bass treble midrange detail realism dynamics impact clarity sharpness and to be honest it actually sounds and feels like having a Dolby Atmos/IMAX-DTSX movie theater in my room that rivals my nearby commercial movie theaters with 4K HDR laser picture quality paired with Dolby Atmos or DTSX

video would be great if the menu screens didnt get blurry randomly

Hi Ealan, does your receiver make a “mechanical” click/thump sound inside its chassis when you power it on? Like a relay click, but VERY loud. I have an AN1000 and I wonder if the 3000ES does the same thing…

Would you go AZ7000es or Marantz Cinema 40? I'm torn...between the two.

You can only get the es1000 in my country. Lame.

Hey Ealan, thanks for the review, really appreciate it and seriously considering the step up model. Just wondering, do you think the 360 spatial sound best Auro 3D upmixing? I’m going with a more Auro 3D setup with front height and mid height channels, and was wondering if you think a receiver with Auro 3D is a better option than one of the new Sony receivers? Thanks for your input and love your reviews!!

Honestly, most people will be find wit 3 channels LFR as most of the sound comes through the Center channel. Having surround speakers are great but only really used on action movies.😊

What is IMax enhanced? And what does it do?

Great thorough review! You delved into it all. This is a really nice AVR. My only concern are the software/electrical gremlins you experienced. I hate when stuff like that happens as it just makes me think there are unpolished edges that will eventually show up again, and there is never a good time for issues to happen. Reliability is paramount!

Hi Ealan, great review.. I am an audio geek and am looking to move from my current receiver to a more sophisticated but also user friendly system... I am going to get the Sony, but ironically what tipped the scales is based on the "Watch" "listen" start up GUI experience.. Sony is the only company I know of that has partially figured out that most people that have home theaters just want to watch a movie or listen to music. Go figure? I like the specs on this....(dont need pre-outs).. For my Home theater, I am the only person around that knows AUX1=AppleTV or Video1=DirectV or HDMI2=Projector, or how to use the smart laser projector app's output through the receivers TV input to use the speakers...... I literally need a poster of instructions or be on call.. Sound familiar? I can go on and on. No, I don't need Control4.. id rather put the $$ into sound.. Other than turning everything on, the AVR can control inputs/outputs/sound fields/etc. And NO, everyone doesn't have a SONY receiver app on their phone and Harmony stopped making remotes. I predict someone is going to create an Apple like GUI front end that a normal human can use with a sophisticated AVR (and to not offend all the audio geeks, a simple switch to turn it back into 1980 line item GUI like most high end AVR's have). Interested on your thoughts on this.. everyone I talked to including those that have high end home theaters shared the same with me... They dont like having to call in audio consultants when something goes wrong. At least a my house, im it.

I thought this had pre out is this not the same as rz50 which im currently trying

Promo sm 😏

I love the new Sony lineup I have the ES7000 and it's epic and a beast

Thank you for this detail et very well explained review. I have the Sony SRT-AZ5000ES receiver (11.2 channel) which I use with a 5.1.4 set up. I recently purchased the Sony SARS5 Wireless Rear Speakers so I could upgrade to 7.1.4. But when I connected the two Sony SARS5 Wireless Rear Speaker, which I used as surround back left and right, the two rear height speakers in my initial set up 5.1.4 did not work. I could hear the sound in the wireless rear speakers but not in the rear height speakers. What do you think?

Try engineer setup and lift the front (only applicable if FH is set) speakers to 3 or 4. It will widen the front like having another center or like having front wide speakers..
Cons. you will only get rear atmos.
Also try adjusting manually after the easy setup. It will give you more better sound.
The old model of sony za3100es / za5000es can make all this 360 feels like if you know how to play with it.

I don’t like how Sony’s run so hot. They should have changed the aesthetics too.

Great run through on this! The pre out thing is a must, total fail on Sony.. they should refresh with a 3100 model that adds the pre outs

Actually were all waiting for Disney to shutdown.

What a wast of 🕦....not 1 mention of how it sounded with music......a well rounded system does both well......😤

I like Sony products. I have NX1000 headphones. $1700 for no pre-outs? I personally don't care for the Sony sound...thin and clinical but I also have found 110 watts x2 (same as my Marantz 6014 which also manages 11 channels) gets destroyed by the added Emotiva BasX 3 channel. My theater sounds like a theater. So, save your money and embrace the ability to expand with Denon, Marantz, pioneer .

Nice review thank you. I am wondering if the zone pre-outs are able to be set to the two hight channels to use an external amp for them?

Would you take your current separates setup or a AZ5000es with amps? I currently have an emotiva MC1 and while it’s been decent, it has some glitches and the calibration isn’t amazing. I did notice a big improvement in sound going to separates and worried I may lose that going back to an AVR.

You don't need a 9 channel Receiver to get a true three dimensional soundstage. All you need is a good quality 2 channel preamplifier and 2 channel power amplifier with your normal stereo speakers and a small device that applies crosstalk cancellation.

Thanks for the video brah!! 👍
You forgot the most important spec tho! What’s this thing weigh ?? Lol

I know you are up north, but these 105 days are killing us down here.

Oh. And go Giants!

This is exactly what I need. Theater in the family room. Three sides with a huge kitchen on the other side, Virtual sound would work fantastic. But I have a Outlaw 5000x so need the preouts. When will Denon get on board with this tech. You have connections. Make it happen. I'm counting on you E.

OMG. Your daughter is so cute.

I appreciate this review as I've now had mine for about a month and a half yet this helped me better understand the 360 mapping. For sure would have loved pre-amps but honestly doubt i would ever add other amps anyway. Just wish i could make the subs play on 2 channel stereo listening. If anyone figures that out please let me know. I can only get them to play if i do multi channel stereo but rather just hear my fronts with added sub(s).

Random but, do you have a similar video on tips for setting up a denon x3800?

Dolby is too rich& strong that,I think dts will be history soon!Their social media pages and website reminds me of a shady company. Reminds me of the old camera /lens company vivitar's webpage

They really need to improve the app, they are way behind others!

so stupid all that robotic sounds calibration, and I have never liked the results