Sony STR-DH590 Review and Specs

By adding the STR-DH590 to your home theater, you can enjoy a larger and sharper picture. With support for 4K HDR, Dolby Vision technology and customizable surround sound with a 5.2-channel AV receiver, the image seems to come to life. Intrigued with these Sony STR-DH590 specs? Then see all the details in Sony STR-DH590 review.

Sony STR-DH590 review

Features

This receiver features 5.2 channels, 725W at 6 ohms. It has Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, as well as onboard DSD decoding.

Design and build

Laconic design, convenient connection for clear sound. The minimalist designed front panel has a Pure Direct button, which allows you to direct the sound directly to the receiver amplifier, while maintaining signal characteristics and sound clarity. The front panel has a simple but elegant design with a brushed black finish, two knobs for input and volume, a headphone output, one long row of black buttons for various tasks (speakers on/off, FM tuning, sound mode selection, Bluetooth, Pure Direct mode, etc.), and a medium-sized LCD located near the top.

Connectivity

The back panel sports a modest amount of inputs and thus is cleanly laid out. The only video input option is HDMI, and you get four HDMI 2.0a inputs with HDCP 2.2, plus a single HDMI 2.0a output with Audio Return Channel. The DH590 passes through a video signal as is, with no upscaling ability (which is standard in this price range). The back panel also sports one coaxial and one optical digital audio input, plus four stereo audio ins, two subwoofer pre outs, and an FM antenna input.

Setup

The DH590's onscreen setup process could not be easier, mostly because there's just not that much to do. Once you connect your speakers, sources, and display, power on the receiver, and select your language of choice, you're instructed via the onscreen menu to connect the supplied microphone cable to run Sony's DCAC automatic setup. In this entry-level model, DCAC takes less than 30 seconds to run: it measures from just one location and quickly runs through test tones to determine speaker channels, size, distance, and level. That's it. Once it's done, you can go into the Speaker Settings menu from the OSD's home page and check to see how it did.

Pros and Cons