Sony STR-DN1030

• Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 4 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 8 stars

  Good all around receiver with wifi & bluetooth

  by Randini24 on July 27, 2012

  Pros: Blue tooth, wifi, lots of power. And it works!! doesn't overheat and require service calls.

  Cons: Audio quality is suspect. Switched from a Denon 2312, that kept overheating. When functional, Denon's audio quality was superior & the Sony didn't sound as nice regardless of EQ settings. Sony only has 2 band EQ, competitors have multi band, same $$

  Summary: After comparing a few receivers at home, and after 2 days with the Sony receiver I'm still debating whether I will keep it. Running Definitive tech STS towers, multi ...

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  Summary: After comparing a few receivers at home, and after 2 days with the Sony receiver I'm still debating whether I will keep it. Running Definitive tech STS towers, multi band EQ is really critical to compensate for lack of mid range. Hopefully Sony addresses this in a future firmware update. Sony may have allocated more money towards adding bluetooth & wifi, while taking money away from being a great sounding amplifier with more user controls to tailor the EQ. Not the most user friendly, had to read the manual to figure out how to setup. For the money the average listener without musician ears will be very happy.
  
  The difference in audio quality I noted is not EQ settings, the Sony sounds more compressed, less dynamic, the Denon had a bigger more CLEAR transparent sound, less muddled when comparing on same speakers, same songs, same iphone, same cable. I'm thinking of picking up the Pioneer VSX-1122 or the Elite VSX-60 and just comparing on straight up audio quality, which if you think all receivers are the same, they are not. There is more to a receiver than just the bells & whistles, each one has its own unique "sound". I'll gladly pay extra for a wifi dongle, if it means sacrificing even a little audio quality to have wifi included. I will admit it will be hard for someone to notice the audio quality unless you are able to compare it to another receiver, otherwise you may be totally happy with the Sony.
  
  The amp is very powerful, and I can reach a good volume at 15% power, this is great if you have a big room, the downside to this is most people believe an amp will typically sound its best when driven to about 35-45% power, so in my case the extra power is not useful. Be sure you really need all this power, as you may never use it.
  
  One other note, be extremely careful if you have an iphone, and you have both paired with bluetooth and you have airplay hooked up. While on bluetooth you must keep the volume almost maxed out on your iphone, if you switch to airplay, the volume will be the volume of your amp, which if almost maxed out, can be shocking, which is what happened this morning at 9am, my g/f was pretty rattled and I'm sure everyone in my building was awake after the incident, if they were still asleep. Hope this is useful to you.

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  3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 2 stars

  It ain't all peaches and cream with this receiver.

  by KHRobertson on February 12, 2013

  Pros: Good sound when it worked.

  Cons: Everything else.

  Summary: I started out looking for an upgrade to my Kenwood HTiB receiver I purchased in the late 90s. The Kenwood system has been an incredible value, but it doesn't ...

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  Summary: I started out looking for an upgrade to my Kenwood HTiB receiver I purchased in the late 90s. The Kenwood system has been an incredible value, but it doesn't have HDMI inputs with passthrough so I've had to hook up most components into my HDTV and then output the audio from the TV to the receiver. Not a big deal, but lots of extra wires, etc. I was looking for a receiver in the $300-500 range with around 100 Watts per channel or possibly more. I was originally leaning toward the Onkyo line of AVRs, but saw so much negative feedback about firmware issues and HDMI switching problems that I was scared away from a purchase.
  
  The Sony STRDN1030 got a great review from a major review site as well as on Amazon, had all of these extra networking features and built-in wifi so I decided that it was the "safer" pick even though it cost a little more than the comparably powered Onkyos did. I MADE THE WRONG CHOICE.
  
  PROBLEM #1: After hours of reading the manual, fiddling with my network settings and the receiver settings I still couldn't get the networking features to operate even when I connected a wired network connection, much less the "fantastic built-in wifi". Regardless, I wasn't overly concerned about this and was planning on calling Sony tech support to see what I might be doing wrong if anything. I never had the chance to do this however (see problem #3).
  
  PROBLEM #2: the HDMI input and switching times are excruciatingly long. At least 10-15 seconds every time I turned the TV on, switched input, etc. Not a deal killer, as I had already heard that this was the case from reading reviews, but fairly annoying at times. Rest assured the repeated complaints about this issue are absolutely true.
  
  PROBLEM #3: After about 3 weeks of operation, the HDMI video output stopped working. REALLY...and I was worried about the Onkyos? I can hear the audio but no video. If I directly connect the HDMI to my TV there's no problem (other than the fact that my TV speakers are less than stellar), so I know it's a receiver issue.
  
  So I'm returning the receiver while its still (barely) within the 30 day return policy.
  
  OTHER POTENTIAL ISSUES: I had this receiver set up in a location with complete free flow of air - shelf open on all sides with no other components or equipment within 6-12" in any direction - and it gets hot to the touch even while in standby mode. Not just warm, HOT. Maybe this unit is defective and that's part of the problem, but I would be very careful about purchasing this unit to use in a mostly enclosed cabinet or crowded component stand. Also, I was surprised that this receiver at $500 retail is not rated to power speakers under 8 ohms. That's probably not an issue if you're using low end speakers, but many medium and high end speakers are rated at 4 or 6 ohms. That doesn't necessarily mean you CAN'T run 4 or 6 ohm speakers, but given that this unit already runs pretty hot (I was using 8 ohm speakers), I thought I'd mention it as something to consider.
  
  So I'd give it 3 stars when it worked (good sound overall but highly touted network functions didn't work), reduced to 1 star because it bit the dust in less than 30 days of only moderate use at very reasonable volumes.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  I'm very happy with the STR-DN1030.

  by Kranin2009 on August 15, 2012

  Pros: Audio Quality
  Video Quality
  Build Quality
  Bluetooth Audio Streaming

  Cons: Ugly GUI
  No Powered Zone 2
  Longish Delay when Switching Inputs

  Summary: I purchased the str-dn1030 Sony A/V receiver to replace an old school Panasonic Receiver I've owned for over a decade. I have a TiVo HD and PS3 Slim ...

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  Summary: I purchased the str-dn1030 Sony A/V receiver to replace an old school Panasonic Receiver I've owned for over a decade. I have a TiVo HD and PS3 Slim input into the str-dn1030 via HDMI. The str-dn1030 outputs to a wall hung 42" Panasonic Plasma via HDMI. I have internet connected to it via Ethernet. I operate my A/V system with a Harmony 900 (fully RF).
  
  The str-dn1030 connected to a 5.1 system and the automatic speaker calibration feature (via the included mic) was very smooth and easy. I really enjoy the sound quality of this unit. The music and sound effects from the opening bank robbery sequence in The Dark Knight (on Bluray) were simply lovely.
  
  Video is gorgeous.
  
  The GUI on the str-dn1030 is almost laughably bad looking and unintuitive, but is perfectly functional with the assistance of the user manual. I am truly perplexed at how bad the GUI is given how Sony can clearly deliver a better product. Perhaps this will be improved in a future firmware update. All this being said, I find the str-dn1030's bad GUI is better than the no GUI on my old Panasonic Receiver.
  
  The delay in getting an image from the PS3 or TiVo to my Panny 42" display upon initially powering on the unit, or when switching inputs, was initially jarring for me. It isn't ridiculously long, but definitely noticeable compared to the near instantaneous sound and signal transmission I had enjoyed with my video outputs going directly to the display (via HDMI) and my audio outputs going directly to my old receiver (via Optical).
  
  FYI, an inactivity power off feature appeared to have been enabled by default at the factory with my unit. I thought I was initially going crazy when watching Netflix Instant streaming when the str-dn1030 "spontaneously" powered off on my several times in a row. Sure enough the unit was set to power off automatically after a period of inactivity (10 minutes if I recall correctly).
  
  Really love that the bluetooth audio streaming instantly wakes the unit up from standby as soon as you "connect" a paired device. I discovered another tricky spot with the user manual. The glossary refers you to page 101 for Bluetooth Pairing...don't fall for it! Go to page 82 instead.
  
  I think the build quality of the unit is very good and overall I'm very pleased with the daily functioning of this device.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Wonderful receiver!

  by indijones75 on February 26, 2013

  Pros: Sound Quality (which to me is what it is all about anyway!)
  Price point (got it for $300 with wife's sony discount)
  Online Connectivity
  Number of HDMI connections
  Appearance

  Cons: GUI is slow and cumbersome and aesthetically lacking.

  Summary: It is all about sound quality for me and this receiver shines in this aspect. Previously I had a Yamaha 667 and this receiver quite frankly blows the Yamaha out ...

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  Summary: It is all about sound quality for me and this receiver shines in this aspect. Previously I had a Yamaha 667 and this receiver quite frankly blows the Yamaha out of the water in my opinion. The Sony brings a more rich and full sound stage. Also you don't lose fidelity with volume, which was a problem believe it or not with the previous receivers that I have owned.
  
  For a receiver of this quality you could easily expect to pay above $500, but Sony has aggressively priced it between $300-400. I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this. Rarely if ever do we actually see an opportunity when the cheapest price equals the best buy, but that is indeed the case here.
  
  Although I have not utilized the systems capability for streaming music as of yet, another great reason for network connectivity is the ability to work with networked based remote control apps such as "roomie". All I had to do was engage network standby capability in the menu and voila, almost flawless control with a $10 app.
  
  With 5 HDMI this receiver has more than enough connections for the average home theater enthusiast. Also, people have been complaining about the length of time it takes to switch inputs or upon system startup, well after actually timing the delay I discovered that best case it can be 3 seconds and worst case it can be 4 seconds. Nothing close to the 15 seconds that some have quoted, which by the way 3-4 seconds can be how long it takes for some satellite providers set top boxes to change channels. How often does the average viewer change inputs anyway? Being generous lets say once every 30 minutes, so what is 3-4 seconds every 30 minutes?
  
  Bottom line, I am pleased with this purchase and would highly recommend this receiver to anyone in the market for a mid range model. By the way, great job Sony, you surprised me with the quality of this product. If only their TVs were on par with the value and quality of this receiver.

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