Gadgetory

hey I'm Matthew Muscovy AK from C net and today we're gonna take a look at the Sony STR DN 1040 this is the top of Sony's main line of AV receivers featuring built-in bluetooth airplay and Wi-Fi and is currently selling for $600 this is a big bulky full-size AV receiver but Sony's actually done a nice job of giving it a clean and modern look it's relatively uncluttered with buttons with just the volume and the input knob grabbing most of your attention unfortunately that minimalist look doesn't quite carry over to the remote which is covered top to bottom and buttons that makes it tough to use and it pushes crucial buttons like the volume rocker all the way down to the bottom now most AV receiver interfaces look hopelessly out of date but Sony really did an excellent job of updating this model with crisp high-def graphics you get really nice plain-english options like watch and listen and the most impressive part may be how responsive it feels it feels like you're navigating a PlayStation 3 rather than the typical sluggish AV receiver feel there's nothing else like this for $600 and it gives the whole receiver a more overall polished feel the big features inside the receiver are built-in bluetooth airplay and Wi-Fi Bluetooth makes it easy to wirelessly stream audio from nearly any smartphone or tablet while airplay offers slightly better sound quality from iOS devices Wi-Fi is also nice because it lets you take advantage of the integrated networking features without needing a separate Ethernet connection those features include smart phone control and streaming services like Pandora Slacker Sony Music Unlimited and internet radio that's not quite as many services as on other receivers but it doesn't matter that much since you're usually better off streaming from a mobile device anyway the sony is also packed with ports including 8 HDMI inputs which is more than any other receiver at this price I doubt anybody really needs eight ports but since nearly every device supports HDMI these days it's nice to have some spare inputs for future devices sound quality on the strd on 1040 is excellent we had resident audio while Steve Guttenberg give it a listen and he was really impressed with its clarity and depth it could deliver big powerful sound on movies but then it also did an excellent job when we switched to more subtle acoustic recordings we've auditioned a handful of 2013 receivers so far and so far that STR DN 1040 stood out as our favorite of the bunch so overall you're really getting a lot with the STR DN 1040 and the main question is whether it's worth the extra money over Sony's other excellent AV receiver the STR D and 840 the 840 also includes bluetooth airplay and Wi-Fi and it costs one hundred and fifty dollars less and while it doesn't have the neat interface or the eight HDMI inputs it's plenty well featured for the average buyer still the step ups on the STR DN 1040 are pretty nice so it's a tempting option if you have a bigger budget even though most buyers will get an overall better value from the STR dn8 40 I'm Matthew moscovia and this is the Sony STR dn 1040