Music plays just fine, with decent sound reproduction across the various genres I threw at the unit. You are a little limited in terms of music inputs, which I’ll touch on later, but I had pleasant experiences listening to both CDs and Bluetooth-streamed tunes during my time with the STR-DH790. Put yourself at the heart of the action with an immersive 5.1.2 channel surround speaker system, delivering lifelike audio from every angle – even above. There are four HDMI inputs, all supporting all the good stuff you’d expect. According to the specs (Sony rarely skimps on specifications) they support up to 4K and UHD at up to 60Hz, HDR10, Hybrid Log-Gamma and Dolby Vision, 3D, Deep Colour, the BT.2020 colour space, and the all-important HDCP 2.2 copy protection system. There’s a single HDMI output. I had pleasant experiences listening to both CDs and Bluetooth-streamed tunes during my time with the STR-DH790. The STR-DH790 provides up to 1015 watts (145 watts per channel) total output power to let you enjoy a more theater-like sound. And as if this is not enough, the receiver offers you multiple options of setting up your system in any living or entertainment room.

Dolby Atmos® processing for use with in-ceiling or "height" speakers for more enveloping surround sound Can you cheat and go with 4ohm speakers if you already own them? I would never recommend that you do, of course. But if you must, then just be cautious with levels. The Sony has excellent output stage protection circuitry, including a heatsink temperature monitor. CONCLUSION Turning off the receiver and connected devices simultaneously with the TV (System Power Off function) “STBY.LINK”There were some wrinkles with the HDMI equipment I used. Specifically, neither of my Beyonwiz PVRs would work with the HDMI input labelled BD/DVD. Both worked perfectly with the Game and Media Box inputs. The Beyonwiz T4 also worked with the SAT/CATV input, but while the picture came through from the T3 on that one, the sound wouldn’t. I tried different HDMI cables. Who knows what was going on there. The BD/DVD input worked fine with the Sony disc player (above) and my own selection of UHD and Blu-ray players. A useful button on the remote displays video and audio signal information on the screen, so you’ve got some information to work with. The connection choices for the Sony STR-DH790 are pretty good at its price point. You get 4 analog inputs, one digital optical and one coaxial. Unfortunately, the 790 doesn’t include dedicated turntable or USB inputs. Sony supplies 5-way binding posts for you to connect the left and right channels and the rest of the speakers are forced to use spring clip connections. Four HDMI inputs and 1 output adorn the top of the receiver. Unsurprisingly, the Sony 790 supports 4K video and most of its key features such as HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision, 4:4:4 color space, and HDCP 2.2. If you’re looking for a network receiver, then the Sony STR-DH790 may not be the amp for you. It doesn’t have ethernet or WiFi, but it does have Bluetooth. So even though you can’t stream music over your network, with Bluetooth it’s still possible to stream music from your favorite music app to the receiver.

If you’re working with different combinations of speakers, our seamless auto calibration technology will have them all delivering the same high-quality sound. Automatic Phase Matching aligns the phase characteristics of your speakers to the front left and right speaker channels, so they all work perfectly together to deliver a more effective surround sound experience.Most of the sound- field settings ended up with a rather strong bass, much higher than that normally provided by AV receivers. Who does it right? Yamaha, Denon, Marantz on the one hand, with a more subdued subwoofer lev­el, or Sony on the other hand, with one that’s at least 6dB louder? I brought down the bass level a little, but really, let your subwoofer’s capacity, your own taste and your neigh­bours’ complaints determine the optimum level for you. The STR-DH790 gives you several different options for setting up your speakers. Even if you're starting with a pair of stereo speakers, you can still enjoy immersive surround sound effects thanks to Sony's front surround sound technology. The one real issue I have with the overall design unit is something I’ll touch on a little later. In what I can only assume was a cost-cutting measure, this unit uses a strange mixture of binding posts and spring clips. Not really impressed there, Sony. The receiver covers all of he sound frequencies the human ear can hear, and even a few that we can’t. It’ll send frequencies to your speakers from 20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz. Sophisticated sound formats give you control over which speakers are receiving certain channels of sound. Sound Processing Features It should be made perfectly clear at this point that all multi-channel AV receivers have circuits of one type or another that limit power output in certain conditions (including when multiple channels are driven, rather than just two), so Sony is doing the same thing as all other manufacturers of AV receiv­ers. (There are some exceptions to this rule, but they’re all extremely high-priced.)

This Sony receiver has Bluetooth on-board, but no networking or internet access. (Image credit: Sony) Overall, the Sony STR-DH790 is an impressive entry-level AV receiver designed to deliver immersive surround sound just like in cinema theaters. In terms of sound formats, the receiver accounts for both Dolby Atmos and DTS: X decoding. These formats position sound from every angle to provide a 360-degree surround sound (around and above you) that envelops you in the movie action completely. Smart Bluetooth connectivity Signal-to-noise ratios were excellent in the ‘Direct’ mode as you can see from the tabu­lated results. By way of comparison, whereas the Sony delivers an excellent 105dBA S/N re­sult in ‘Direct’ mode, it managed only 80dBA in 2CH mode under the same test conditions.

The Sony STR-DH790 is a solid receiver. Can you get a better sounding receiver? Yes, but not at this price point. For all intents and purposes, the 790 is an entry-level receiver with a little more power and punch. I really enjoyed the Sony STR-DH590 but, considering that for a few dollars more you get the added benefit of Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, I would recommend the Sony 790 over its little brother.

Also in ‘Sound Effect’ is a ‘Night Mode’, an ‘Equalizer’ (actually, bass and treble controls) for each channel pair, and ‘Calibration Type’ from which you can choose ‘Engineering’ (the default), ‘Front Ref’, ‘Full Flat’ or ‘Off’. This sets the reference which the auto EQ curves seek to approximate. ‘Front Ref’ is for those who like their front speaker sound relatively unprocessed and want the other speakers to conform, tonally, to them. ‘Engineering’ makes the sound match “the Sony listening room standard frequency characteristics”. (I got that from the online manual. The information you need is split between the printed one in the box and the online manual.) Finally, in ‘Sound Effect’ is a Pure Direct setting. The Sony sound also isn’t to everyone’s liking. We found that pairing this with high-quality speakers produced a significant improvement in overall sound, showing that this receiver has the potential to be excellent, but it sounded a little forced and harsh on budget speakers.

Product Research

Although it is an entry-level AVR, it delivers exceptional soundstage and detail for movies and music. Sony’s DCAC is arguably one of the best calibration technologies available and does a great job of tuning your receiver to suit your listening space. The Sony STR-DH790 is truly a premium performer and one of the best 7.2 receivers that you can get your hands on out there. Dolby surround sound is one of the most widely used processing formats today and offers various options to get the most from audio sources. The Sony STR-DH790 features Dolby Digital, Dolby DIgital+, and Dolby TrueHD formats along with Dolby Atmos which further enhances the way movies and music sound. S Force Pro Front Surround and Processing Modes The more advanced stereo microphone, 16-band EQ system of Sony’s Digital Cinema Auto Calibration could make this receiver more user-friendly and also more valuable for people seeking fine tuning capabilities. Video Capabilities Sony STR-DH790 connections