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Entered CNET Catalog: 07/18/2006
SKU: DAV-XIV
Manufacturer: Sony Electronics, Inc.
Manufacturer description
The Sony DAV-X1V Platinum DVD Dream System is an all-in-one home theater system for customers who want big surround sound without a big system. The DAV-X1V simulates the surround sound of a traditional 5.1 ch. speaker system using just 2.1 speakers and is also very easy to set up. It has dedicated audio input for portable digital music players for customers who store music on these devices. It also offers 5 DVD/CD/SA-CD changer for hours of audio and video entertainment, HDMI interface to ensure compatibility with the latest digital television, and an auto calibration feature to create an optimum sound field for your listening environment.CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 12/19/2006
Design of Sony DAV-X1V
The Sony DAV-X1V is a 2.1-channel home theater system (two satellite speakers plus a subwoofer) anchored by a single compact "head unit" that houses the receiver and the disc player. That section's brushed-aluminum skin and high-gloss black side panels make for a striking design. The sensually curved front panel has just a few buttons: volume up/down and the usual assortment of disc player controls. Filling out at just 3.63 x 16.38 x 12.88 inches (HWD), the combined unit is also a lot smaller than your average A/V receiver and DVD changer. We really like the remote, a departure from the traditional Sony control wands, with its well-conceived button layout that hides lesser-used controls under a slip-down cover.
The rounded plastic satellite speakers come with cast metal table stands; the speakers are really small, just 3 inches high and 7.25 wide. They're attractively styled, but for this much money, we expect more impressively built, cast-metal or medium-density fiberboard speakers. Sony also offers an optional floor stand, the WS-FVX1, for buyers who would like to place the speakers further into the room. The medium-density-fiberboard-and-plastic subwoofer mirrors the satellites' style, and is also pretty compact: 17.2 x 8.2 x15.25 inches (HWD). It weighs 20.6 pounds.
Hookup chores couldn't be easier or more foolproof. The usual tangle of speaker wires gets consolidated into one three-pronged cable (16.4 feet total length to each of the satellite speakers, 9.8 feet to the subwoofer) that's fitted with special plugs. Each plug is clearly labeled for its intended destination, and you can't insert it the wrong way. The only catch is you're stuck with that cable--you can't put the receiver/changer at one end of your room and the speakers and subwoofer on the other side. Sony does offer the RK-SX1 extension cable, but you'd need one of those for each extended run.
Sony added its DCAC (Digital Cinema Auto Calibration) to the DAV-X1V's feature set. It's the same auto calibration system used on its A/V receivers, where the DCAC determines speaker sizes, balances the volume levels of all the speakers, and measures the relative distances of the speakers to the main listening position.
Autocalibration makes less of a difference on the DAV-X1V, where the included speakers limit the sonic variance you'd get from the combination of a receiver plus a third-party surround speaker package. That said, it's still important to optimize the placement of the two speakers. For best results, the two speakers should be placed the same distance apart as they are from the listening position, forming an equilateral triangle. Also, they should be placed at or close to the height of the seated listeners' ears. The DAV-X1V comes with a setup DVD that includes test tones, a helicopter flying in a circle, and sound effects of a baseball being hit that bounces around your home theater. The sounds aren't terribly realistic, but they can be of some help when placing the speakers to achieve the best surround effect. Moving the speakers even just a few inches can improve their sound.
Features of Sony DAV-X1V
The DAV-X1V uses Sony's S-Force Pro 2.1 digital signal processing to synthesize a surround sound field from two speakers. The receiver's S-Master Digital Amplifier delivers 38 watts to each speaker and the subwoofer (that's the much more conservative--and realistic--FTC rating, vs. the more "optimistic" 70-watt-per-channel rating you might see advertised). The A/V Sync is intended to compensate for video displays that lag behind the DAV-X1V's audio; unfortunately, the control isn't adjustable, which renders it almost useless. On the bright side, the DAV-X1V has bass and treble controls, making a welcome appearance following years of absence from the Dream System line.
Unlike its single-disc predecessor, the X1V boasts a five-disc changer; discs are inserted via a slot loader that gently slurps them into the housing. In addition to standard DVDs and audio CDs, the X1V also plays a wide set of recordable media, including home-burned DVDs and CDs (everything except DVD-RAM discs). Moreover, data discs with MP3 audio, DivX video, and JPEG photos are fair game, as are SACD audio discs.
The highlight of the DAV-X1V's connectivity options is its HDMI output, which upscales DVDs to 720p or 1080i resolution, making the images more potentially friendly for various HDTVs. For older TVs, composite, S-Video, and progressive/component outputs are still present. On the surface, meanwhile, the A/V inputs look promising. There are two A/V inputs, both of which offer a choice between composite or S-Video jacks and analog stereo or digital audio inputs. On the digital side, the Video 1 input lets you choose between optical or coaxial ins, while Video 2 is limited to coaxial only. Additionally, a third audio-only input dubbed TV is also available--your choice of analog or optical digital in. Rounding things out is the front minijack input, perfect for quick connections to portable audio players such as the iPod.
That's a pretty good connectivity suite for a home-theater-in-a-box system (HTIB), which is to be expected at the $1,000 price point. It means you can ostensibly use the X1V to switch between two other A/V devices--say, a cable/satellite box and a game console--plus an audio device or two. But there are two caveats. The composite/S-Video limitation means that you can't connect HD video sources. And, unlike the better HDMI-equipped A/V receivers, the DAV-X1V can't convert those video sources to any other format--composite video sources only output to composite video, and S-Video to S-Video. That means you'll have to run more cables to your TV (in addition to HDMI or component), and switch the TV's inputs accordingly. In other words, there's little advantage to using the X1V as a video switcher.
The system also includes an AM/FM tuner, which offers 30 station presets. There's no satellite radio option, no digital HD Radio tuner, and no headphone jack for private listening.
The speakers each have a pair of 2-inch woofers and a 1-inch tweeter. That 2-way design is a step-up from the older DAV-X1, which lacked tweeters. The subwoofer uses a pair of 6-inch woofers, located on opposite sides.
As far as the competition goes, the Sony is going head to head with the likes of the Cambridge SoundWorks SurroundWorks 200, the KEF KIT100 Instant Theatre, the Denon S-101, and the aforementioned Bose 3-2-1 at the $1,000 price point, but none of them offer HDMI output or multidisc changers. More budget-conscious shoppers should consider the preceding--but still available--Sony model, the DAV-X1 ($800), and the ultra-affordable (and HDMI equipped) Philips HTS6500.
Performance of Sony DAV-X1V
Creating a truly 360 degree immersive surround sound experience from two speakers and a subwoofer is impossible, but some systems are more successful than others. The thing that distinguishes the better ones is how far forward they can project the sound in front of the speakers' locations in the room. In this regard the Sony DAV-X1V was well above average. We heard sound projected almost out to the sides of our listening position about 8 feet from the speakers. However, the projected surround sound wasn't as precisely focused and tonally full as when the sound was emanating directly from the speakers.
The DAV-X1V offers a choice of two surround modes: Focused Surround and Wide Stage. Focused Surround focuses the sound to a relatively small area for one or two listeners. If we moved from sitting exactly equidistant from the left and right speakers when listening in Focused Surround, the sound would collapse into whichever speaker we were closer to. Wide Stage produces a much larger listening window, but it's not as precisely targeted as Focused Surround.
For the most part, the DAV-X1V's huge room-filling sound let us forget we were listening to just a pair of tiny speakers and a small subwoofer. Dialogue sounded natural, clear, and perfectly centered, and the little subwoofer made its presence felt when it delivered deep rumbling bass on the Cars DVD. The onscreen horsepower was communicated with surprising gusto.
Music seemed to reveal the speakers' size limitations more than DVDs, mostly because their lack of bass was more apparent. Still, the sound was definitely listenable overall, but not as satisfying as we've heard from the better 5.1-channel home-theater-in-a-box systems. Yes, the same could be said about the DAV-X1V's DVD sound, but its limitations were more bothersome on music. The subwoofer's bass is powerful but lacking in definition. If you intend to listen to more music than watch movies, the DAV-X1V may not be the best choice.
Among our complaints with the previous model (the DAV-X1) was the fact that the treble lacked sparkle and real detail. We expected the DAV-X1V's new tweeter-enabled speakers to do better in this regard, but cymbals and percussion sometimes sounded harsh and fuzzy. The system can play SACDs, though we didn't hear any improvement over the sound of CDs. For music, the sound was at its best when listening to music a low to moderate volume levels.
Comparisons to the similarly priced Niro 800 (a single-speaker virtual surround system that lacks a built-in disc player) put the DAV-X1V's talents in perspective. The Sony system generated more stable stereo separation, and more immersive, room-filling surround. On DVDs, the two systems were close contenders overall. The Niro was better with music--delivering a more stable center (dialog localization) and greater midbass power--and it could play louder, with more dynamic punch than the Sony. That hardly came as surprise: both the Niro's 24-inch wide speaker and its subwoofer are considerably bigger than the Sony's. Size still matters. Still, the Sony's integrated disc player and--for many--more attractive design is likely to boost its appeal for buyers most interested in style and convenience.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5
User Rating: 
9/10
Awesome Sleek System
Pros: Compact, Sleek Speaker Design, Quality Sound
Cons: 5 disk is a bit slow... system can always be louder
Delivers awesome quality sound without all the wires.
I could not be happier with the results.
Sounds great on CD's, DVD's and everyday HD broadcast.
Safe buy.. enjoy.
User Rating: 
1/10
Don't buy this product.
Pros: None. It looks good, but has no sound quality.
Cons: The speakers on my Sony Bravia TV are fuller and more dynamic than this system When you run the TV audio through the sound system, the quality goes down.
User Rating: 
8/10
No Divx for US models
Pros: Way better than Bose 2.1 systems
Cons: Only European version plays Divx format
User Rating: 9/10
Great Sound. Easy Setup
Pros: HTIB. Sleak Design. Quick Setup. HDMI output. 5-disc DVD. Compact, easy to read manual.
Cons: Expensive..
I then read good early reviews on the new Sony DAV-X1V and decide to wait until it came out. The new system is very good, better then the previous model (DAV-X1) and rivals the quality and features of the Denon. This unit has an HDMI output, 5-disc DVD changer, sleak design, and small speakers. But the one feature that impressed me the most - the automated speaker calibration (this is key to excellent sound quality). All-in-all, I am very pleased that I waited for the Sony, and it's cheaper than the Denon-S301!
User Rating: 8/10
easy to setup, clear crisp sound
Pros: easy setup, clear crisp sound, holds 5 discs.
Cons: does not immitate surround sound, pricey
