An Amazing little system
Written: Dec 09 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent price, awesome sound, overall great DVD player
Cons: Limitations of input/outputs, Can't play CDRs, All-in-One systems can get outdated more quickly.
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| LiQiCE's Full Review: Sony DAV-S300 |
I was originally pricing around for a basic DVD player when I came across the Sony DAV-S300. For a little bit more than your average priced DVD player (I paid roughly $475), you get an entire home theatre! For a smaller sized room the DAV-S300 is amazing. While it only delivers 30 watts per channel (30 x 6 for 180 watts total), I found it to be plenty to get my room blasted full of movie magic.
One of the huge added benefits is that it supports DTS as well as Dolby Digital! Most other decoders only support Dolby Digital. There is a definite quality difference between Dolby Digital and DTS too, you can easily hear it if you listen to both tracks on the movie Gladiator.
Another nice thing that the DAV-S300 has is a speaker setup. You can tell the receiver if your speakers aren't evenly aligned, and if they are above you or at ear level. I couldn't tell the difference when I changed the setup, but I had my speakers relatively lined up to begin with.
The remote for the DAV-S300 is really good, I was able to use it quickly, without needing to stare at it for long. Making the remote back-lit, so you can see it in the dark would have been a nice feature, but you can't have everything I guess :)
Setting up the DAV-S300 was a snap. All the speaker wires are color coded, and provide easy connections. Very good directions are included as well, if you have any problems. Speaker wire length was more than sufficient for a small room, although it uses standard speaker wire, so if you need more, you can just splice more onto the end of the wire, (One end of the wire is proprietary, so you can't replace the wire entirely).
Also included with the DAV-S300 is an AM/FM tuner, and standard A/V inputs/outputs. A major disadvantage is there are no S-video inputs, but there is an S-video output. Video from the A/V inputs does not appear to go out on the S-video output either, so if you want to use the S-video output, you can't make use of the A/V inputs unless you use them on a separate A/V input for your TV, wasting a precious input. If you're using the DAV-S300 primarily as a DVD player like me, this is not a big deal, but it would have been a nice touch.
Another major disadvantage is that the DAV-S300 cannot play CDRs. This wouldn't seem to be a big deal, except that if you want to listen to Audio CDR on the system, you can't! Strangely, CD-RW media works fine.
Another nice touch is the Surround sound emulation for 2-channel sources. Standard 2-channel signals can be listened to in Dolby Pro Logic, or a variety of other "Surround stages" which attempt to emulate a certain Sony theatre. I did not find the surround stages very useful, but the Dolby Pro Logic was nice for Audio CDs.
There is also an Optical Digital Input for any digital sources you may have. I tried my Playstation 2 out on it, and it worked like a charm. Playing DVDs on the PS2 gave a great signal on the DAV-S300, Dolby Digital, and DTS worked just fine. (This is somewhat of a stupid test, since the DAV-S300 can play DVDs by itself, but I figured I would try to make sure the DAV-S300 could accept a digital signal with Dolby Digital or DTS).
Overall this system provides an excellent small home theatre for the price. I would definitely recommend this system to anyone who is looking for a reasonably priced all-in-one system.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
LiQiCE
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Member: Ryan Chung
Location: Fairfax, VA
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 9 members
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