Sony look to be first out of the blocks with their new midrange AV Receiver, the STRDN860. The specification looks promising and it’s exclusive to Richer Sounds!
For those people holding off picking a new A/V receiver until new models come in: good news, your wait is almost up as the biggest brands gear up to release their 2015 wares!
The STRDN860 offers a 7.2 channel setup, so whilst capable of traditional 5.1, it’s ready to take on more speakers to keep the pace with more modern audio decoding formats. Output across each of these channels is 150 watts into a 6 ohm load, which is more than powerful enough for satellite, bookshelf or floorstanding speaker packages to work with.
Equipped with no less than five HDMI inputs and one output, it keeps up with Sony’s previous models and it is likely that this will become something of a popular standard across the market. With the HDMIs meeting ‘2.0’ specification, this receiver is also capable of 4K upscaling.
With stacks of inputs and features including HDMI 2.0 for 4K upscaling.
The USB input makes a welcome return, with iPhone/iPod playback available through this handy connection, as well as being able to play back a wealth of filetypes from a USB memory stick too. Those looking for wireless music playback are catered for in the form of built-in Bluetooth and Airplay, covering both Android and Apple devices neatly.
Leading us nicely on to the next key feature, the STRDN860 comes with wireless internet connectivity provided. With Wi-Fi built in and DLNA as a standard, those wishing to stream their music from PC or NAS drive are all set to go. Spotify Connect is sensibly kept over from last year’s models, as is Sony’s own Music Unlimited, and the internet radio service TuneIn. Compatibility with Sony’s control app should help to make sure all of these features are a doddle to use.
All the latest audio and video codecs are packed in, with the only exception being Dolby Atmos playback – although we are expecting this to feature on another incoming model, the replacement for last year’s What Hi-Fi award-winning receiver, the STRDN1050. More on this model will be announced shortly.
On paper, then, the STRDN860 looks to be another well-specced winner from the Japanese giants. All we’ve got to do now is patiently (yeah, right!) wait to see how it performs. As mentioned, Richer Sounds will be the only retailer offering the STRDN860, with the first batch due imminently.
Author: Chris, Liverpool store
