Gadgetory

hi I'm ty Pendlebury today I'm looking at the Sony STR DN 1050 receiver while Sony has prided itself on its audio and video quality there were a few years there when its products lagged behind its competitors but as far as receivers are concerned the company is currently firing on all cylinders and it's STR DN 1050 receiver offers excellent sound for around $500 while most receivers look identical the DN 1050 is reasonably stylish in an understated way and includes handy features like a front mounted HDMI port and USB port the remote is one of the biggest changes here with a much simplified design that is much easier to use than the large scientific calculators of yesteryear the user interface though is what makes this receiver really stand out with attractive icons and a straightforward menu system features include Bluetooth with optics Apple AirPlay and built-in Wi-Fi the streaming services on offer are a little lean compared to the equivalently priced Onkyo with only Sony unlimited music tuning and Pandora on offer that doesn't mention it in the receiver menus it does support Spotify connect unfortunately the number of hdmi ports is also less than last year's eight now reduced to only six in use so sony has the best sound of the receivers we've tested so far this year with a rich and convincing stereo image and excellent surround sound whether you have two speakers or a full set the performance of the Dan 1050 is as good as you can expect for the price only when it came to using some of the networking features was I less than impressed in conclusion if you're looking for sound quality this is the receiver to get but if you want a bunch of doohickeys and Deauville a keys and also decent quality sound then the onkyo TX NR 636 is the one to consider this has been ty Pendlebury for cnet.com you