Excelsis - Display Vote

Sony TA-E9000ES

Three years later and there is still nothing on the market that can match this pre/pro in terms of sound/image quality, input/output flexibility vs. cost. This is an outstanding value in a pre/pro unit and they are available for well under $1,000.0 now. There is literally NOTHING that can match it for less than $3,000.00USD and to surpass the TA-E9000ES by any significant margin will cost you very dearly.

I've just updated to firmware version 2.01 which adds virtual Dolby 6.1 matrix surround and virtual EX surround, this sounds great if your speakers are placed well and you can find EX encoded material.

But the most interesting change has been how much the update dropped the sound floor. In pure 2 channel mode with DSP off using a digital input from a dedicated high-end Sony ES cd player, a mid model Sony DVD player or a Pioneer Elite LaserDisc player the sound is amazing. Sound now is comming out of an almost pure black background on good discs with solo voices (including insturmentals), and the dynamics have improved tremendously. The very top end is now a little smoother than the update last year from Sony (1.18c), which was a major break through over version 1.04 (original release), and 1.10.

If there is anything lacking it is a lack of 7.1 inputs (but nothing designed in 1995 or 1996 has them), and a lack of analog inputs for non-digital sources or sources that cannot be decoded by the processor (SADC, discreet 7.1 etc.).

OUTSTANDING product and an even more outstanding VALUE now!!!

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date: 07/13/2001 08:33:55 am PST
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.246.170)
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=27121

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