Sony’s new home cinema amplifier is worth the wait
Home cinema amplifier | £999 | whf.cm/TA_AN1000
Sony is finally back in the AV amplifier game with the TA-AN1000 home cinema amp. It has been more than five years since the Japanese tech giant graced us with its serial Award-winning STRDN1080 AV receiver which took home Product of the Year in 2017 and 2018 (the year in which it also entered into our Hall of Fame), and it held a firm place on our Awards lists until 2020.
So surely a new AV amp from Sony is a cause for celebration? While this certainly is the case with the company’s new TA-AN1000, we first find ourselves wondering why, despite the fact that it looks near identical to the DN1080, is it double the price?
The TA-AN1000 is a new European exclusive model whose £999 price tag means it slots neatly between its two closest competitors. Both are Awardwinners and both are made by the same company. There’s the Denon AVC-X3800H which currently retails for £1200, and its stablemate AVR-X2800H which we originally tested at £869.
Sleek and modern looking
The AN1000 looks almost identical to the STR-DN1080 bar some very slight changes to the rear panel. Releasing a new product that strongly echoes a six-year-old design may not sound like a good thing, but the new Sony still looks sleek and modern, and feels well made.
The few changes from the DN1080 include buttons for the Display Mode, HDMI Out and toggling 360 Spatial Sound Mapping mode on and off, as well as clearer labelling as to which HDMI ports support 4K, 4K/120Hz and 8K. The biggest difference between the two models, however, is that the DN1080 is an AV receiver while the AN1000 is an AV amplifier. This just means that you won’t find an antenna for radio signals on the latest model.
The AN1000 is accompanied by a redesigned remote which is much smaller this time around. It’s practically the same dimensions as the remote included with the Sony A80K, the TV we paired with this AV amp for testing – a nice touch of synergy for Sony’s home cinema ecosystem. It includes shortcuts to switch between HDMI sources, quickly access settings and change soundfields, offering mostly the same functionality as the previous remote in a smaller package.
Sony has packed in the features when it comes to the AN1000, beginning with the mostly simple and straightforward set-up process. A fair chunk of this is done via a microphone-assisted automated system. However, the amp also requests that you take a number of measurements yourself to aid the calibration.
This includes the distance between your listening position to the TV,
