Sony gets a bad rap for their receivers. I think they have had and still have some reliability problems in both their lower end TV's and audio gear. That said, they tend to put out a quality product when it comes to their high end stuff. In regard to their A/V receivers, I generally think that there are better options at the same price points. Hell, I opted for a Denon over the 5300 ES. That said, I think the 5300 ES is a real contender. It has 6 HDMI inputs, a great GUI, and tons of flexibility. Looking at it's amp stats, it is rated at .09 THD, which isn't that great for this expensive of a product. However, I'm sure it's sufficient for most speakers. It's just not going to handle heavy loads as well.
I just have a problem with people qualifying a statement and then going on to say, that is a bad product. It's tantamount to saying, "no offense," but your ugly. Just because you said "no offense" doesn't give you license to say anything you want.