Yamaha AVENTAGE 2021 AV Receivers Bulk Up on Power and 8K Features

[chapp]

Update on 8500HA:

Cable testing is extremely buggy.
This unit can test your hdmi cables for its speed/errors. I have tested about 10 cables. 5 certified Monoprice 48k. 1 apple (belkin) certified 8k ultra and some that were not certified but ultra high speed. The unit's top indicating speed is 40gbs 8k, but all the Monoprice cables were jumping from 32gbs 8k and failed the 40gbs 8k. I repeated the test on the same cable and it sometimes would indicate 40gbs 8k passed. Rebooting the unit and using the same cable it showed fail. It did the same with the uncertified cables and even once indicated a cheap cable I had knocking around as 8k 40gbs and then again as 18gbs. My conclusion is this feature is simply useless if you want to test for the correct bandwidth of your HDMI Certified 8K 48gbs etc.

I also used the on board Audyssey which is very scaled down and buggy, too, because it froze twice and I had to reboot the unit. I did experience this previously with another Denon I own. Anyway, once I had to disconnect the subwoofer to get it to configure and that was a mess. You really have to dial down the sub to less than the half way point to get it to continue on with the configuration. With the on board config, we were not happy, so I moved on to the MultEQ XT32 app on my ipad. This was better and the config went through much better. It set all speakers to Large and varied on the Crossovers. The sub was a mess. I setup the eq to not do past the 300Hz frequency range mark and so forth disabling the midrange compensation, Dynamic Eq off, Dynamic Vol off, and LFC off. I did not go past 250 Hz on the Sub on one setting and none on one setting. Now, I did the maximum measurements as well as the minimum position allowed.
Results: The distances were not too bad off, but they were not accurate either. It set the speakers to Large as the on board did and the Crossovers varied, too. So, I set things as should and did some adjustments to the sub channel etc. The app takes a little time to do the update to the AVR and then you are set to go. The unit sounded much better than before, however, I had to play a little with the bass (sub) curve for awhile in order to get it to a likeable sound.
Caveat: 8500 has only 1 Pattern so you are screwed if you want to change to another etc. like on the Yamaha. Each time you want another pattern, you have to go back to the app and change it there providing you had created more edited copies of your pattern. Then you have to wait for it to download to the unit. Cumbersome and not to my liking at all.
Denon's setup in this unit is lacking big time and not as versatile and detailed as in the Yamaha. The web setup in the Yamaha is also really good. I cannot comment on the Denon's 8500HA's one.

Pros: 8500HA
The Unit's front features and Display is a plus.
The Back has a USB for power?
13 powered built in channels/amp
Remote is not bad and can be setup for other sources devices. Like TV, CD player, DVD, Blu Ray etc.
Has DTS X Pro
IMAX
Auro 3D

Cons:
Difficult to setup (for Me)
Menu is not friendly and difficult to get into.
Sound is not to my liking.
Not as much power as I expected for its rating
Runs quite hot (using 2 different laser testers) got temps to 140 F at times when it plays at levels of -20db or if you push it harder. In comparison the Yamaha can get to 125 F
Only 1 configurable Pattern.
Not many 8k inputs

I do not want to say more, but personally for my taste, the Yamaha is a better sounding unit for both movies and music. It has more to offer than the 8500 and clearly out performs it power wise. The sound is overall more clear and pleasing to the ear. Both my wife and the owner of the unit, my brother in law, agreed, too. He already told me that he'll be returning it and may try a Marantz. I am trying to persuade him to the Yamaha which he loves, but also is sold on " the voice of god" channel. Well, you can't please them all. I will wait and see what happens.
Disclaimer:
Testing was done using the exact speakers etc. as the A8A.
Pure Direct Modes, Stereo, Multichannel Stereo, Auto Decoding, Straight modes etc. were used.

The Denon 8500HA is still a good and capable unit and I would be happy to own one if I did not have a Yamaha A8A. I did this comparison for my own personal taste and family and did not mean to be judgmental or to criticize anyone.
It took a lot of time and effort to do it and I am glad I did get the opportunity to do it.

Regards.

 

[OldAndSlowDev]

I want to thank everyone who post not to trust room correction but my ears. I started tuning the speakers level using my ears and deviated from YPAO. Atmos sounds waaaay better now. Knowing I liked the sound a lot with automatic settings and getting more and more from this amp by tuning it to my taste is such a pleasant feeling. Grab a good scotch, launch some Apple Music Atmos music (discovering Taylor Swift right now) and tune the tune

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Update on 8500HA:

Cable testing is extremely buggy.
This unit can test your hdmi cables for its speed/errors. I have tested about 10 cables. 5 certified Monoprice 48k. 1 apple (belkin) certified 8k ultra and some that were not certified but ultra high speed. The unit's top indicating speed is 40gbs 8k, but all the Monoprice cables were jumping from 32gbs 8k and failed the 40gbs 8k. I repeated the test on the same cable and it sometimes would indicate 40gbs 8k passed. Rebooting the unit and using the same cable it showed fail. It did the same with the uncertified cables and even once indicated a cheap cable I had knocking around as 8k 40gbs and then again as 18gbs. My conclusion is this feature is simply useless if you want to test for the correct bandwidth of your HDMI Certified 8K 48gbs etc.

I also used the on board Audyssey which is very scaled down and buggy, too, because it froze twice and I had to reboot the unit. I did experience this previously with another Denon I own. Anyway, once I had to disconnect the subwoofer to get it to configure and that was a mess. You really have to dial down the sub to less than the half way point to get it to continue on with the configuration. With the on board config, we were not happy, so I moved on to the MultEQ XT32 app on my ipad. This was better and the config went through much better. It set all speakers to Large and varied on the Crossovers. The sub was a mess. I setup the eq to not do past the 300Hz frequency range mark and so forth disabling the midrange compensation, Dynamic Eq off, Dynamic Vol off, and LFC off. I did not go past 250 Hz on the Sub on one setting and none on one setting. Now, I did the maximum measurements as well as the minimum position allowed.
Results: The distances were not too bad off, but they were not accurate either. It set the speakers to Large as the on board did and the Crossovers varied, too. So, I set things as should and did some adjustments to the sub channel etc. The app takes a little time to do the update to the AVR and then you are set to go. The unit sounded much better than before, however, I had to play a little with the bass (sub) curve for awhile in order to get it to a likeable sound.
Caveat: 8500 has only 1 Pattern so you are screwed if you want to change to another etc. like on the Yamaha. Each time you want another pattern, you have to go back to the app and change it there providing you had created more edited copies of your pattern. Then you have to wait for it to download to the unit. Cumbersome and not to my liking at all.
Denon's setup in this unit is lacking big time and not as versatile and detailed as in the Yamaha. The web setup in the Yamaha is also really good. I cannot comment on the Denon's 8500HA's one.

Pros: 8500HA
The Unit's front features and Display is a plus.
The Back has a USB for power?
13 powered built in channels/amp
Remote is not bad and can be setup for other sources devices. Like TV, CD player, DVD, Blu Ray etc.
Has DTS X Pro
IMAX
Auro 3D

Cons:
Difficult to setup (for Me)
Menu is not friendly and difficult to get into.
Sound is not to my liking.
Not as much power as I expected for its rating
Runs quite hot (using 2 different laser testers) got temps to 140 F at times when it plays at levels of -20db or if you push it harder. In comparison the Yamaha can get to 125 F
Only 1 configurable Pattern.
Not many 8k inputs

I do not want to say more, but personally for my taste, the Yamaha is a better sounding unit for both movies and music. It has more to offer than the 8500 and clearly out performs it power wise. The sound is overall more clear and pleasing to the ear. Both my wife and the owner of the unit, my brother in law, agreed, too. He already told me that he'll be returning it and may try a Marantz. I am trying to persuade him to the Yamaha which he loves, but also is sold on " the voice of god" channel. Well, you can't please them all. I will wait and see what happens.
Disclaimer:
Testing was done using the exact speakers etc. as the A8A.
Pure Direct Modes, Stereo, Multichannel Stereo, Auto Decoding, Straight modes etc. were used.

The Denon 8500HA is still a good and capable unit and I would be happy to own one if I did not have a Yamaha A8A. I did this comparison for my own personal taste and family and did not mean to be judgmental or to criticize anyone.
It took a lot of time and effort to do it and I am glad I did get the opportunity to do it.

Regards.

How do they compare in Direct Mode? The Yamaha still sounds better when all the speaker channels levels (volume) are matched?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I want to thank everyone who post not to trust room correction but my ears. I started tuning the speakers level using my ears and deviated from YPAO. Atmos sounds waaaay better now. Knowing I liked the sound a lot with automatic settings and getting more and more from this amp by tuning it to my taste is such a pleasant feeling. Grab a good scotch, launch some Apple Music Atmos music (discovering Taylor Swift right now) and tune the tune

You started playing with Manual PEQ? To tweak the speakers or only tweak the bass since the bass is usually where EQ is actually needed, not the speakers.

In my system, I left the speakers untouched by any EQ processing (auto or manual). Then only use manual PEQ to tweak the subs.

 

[Replicant 7]

I want to thank everyone who post not to trust room correction but my ears. I started tuning the speakers level using my ears and deviated from YPAO. Atmos sounds waaaay better now. Knowing I liked the sound a lot with automatic settings and getting more and more from this amp by tuning it to my taste is such a pleasant feeling. Grab a good scotch, launch some Apple Music Atmos music (discovering Taylor Swift right now) and tune the tune

Taylor huh? She sure is easy on the eyes.

 

[PENG]

Update on 8500HA:

Cable testing is extremely buggy.
This unit can test your hdmi cables for its speed/errors. I have tested about 10 cables. 5 certified Monoprice 48k. 1 apple (belkin) certified 8k ultra and some that were not certified but ultra high speed. The unit's top indicating speed is 40gbs 8k, but all the Monoprice cables were jumping from 32gbs 8k and failed the 40gbs 8k. I repeated the test on the same cable and it sometimes would indicate 40gbs 8k passed. Rebooting the unit and using the same cable it showed fail. It did the same with the uncertified cables and even once indicated a cheap cable I had knocking around as 8k 40gbs and then again as 18gbs. My conclusion is this feature is simply useless if you want to test for the correct bandwidth of your HDMI Certified 8K 48gbs etc.

I also used the on board Audyssey which is very scaled down and buggy, too, because it froze twice and I had to reboot the unit. I did experience this previously with another Denon I own. Anyway, once I had to disconnect the subwoofer to get it to configure and that was a mess. You really have to dial down the sub to less than the half way point to get it to continue on with the configuration. With the on board config, we were not happy, so I moved on to the MultEQ XT32 app on my ipad. This was better and the config went through much better. It set all speakers to Large and varied on the Crossovers. The sub was a mess. I setup the eq to not do past the 300Hz frequency range mark and so forth disabling the midrange compensation, Dynamic Eq off, Dynamic Vol off, and LFC off. I did not go past 250 Hz on the Sub on one setting and none on one setting. Now, I did the maximum measurements as well as the minimum position allowed.
Results: The distances were not too bad off, but they were not accurate either. It set the speakers to Large as the on board did and the Crossovers varied, too. So, I set things as should and did some adjustments to the sub channel etc. The app takes a little time to do the update to the AVR and then you are set to go. The unit sounded much better than before, however, I had to play a little with the bass (sub) curve for awhile in order to get it to a likeable sound.
Caveat: 8500 has only 1 Pattern so you are screwed if you want to change to another etc. like on the Yamaha. Each time you want another pattern, you have to go back to the app and change it there providing you had created more edited copies of your pattern. Then you have to wait for it to download to the unit. Cumbersome and not to my liking at all.
Denon's setup in this unit is lacking big time and not as versatile and detailed as in the Yamaha. The web setup in the Yamaha is also really good. I cannot comment on the Denon's 8500HA's one.

Pros: 8500HA
The Unit's front features and Display is a plus.
The Back has a USB for power?
13 powered built in channels/amp
Remote is not bad and can be setup for other sources devices. Like TV, CD player, DVD, Blu Ray etc.
Has DTS X Pro
IMAX
Auro 3D

Cons:
Difficult to setup (for Me)
Menu is not friendly and difficult to get into.
Sound is not to my liking.
Not as much power as I expected for its rating
Runs quite hot (using 2 different laser testers) got temps to 140 F at times when it plays at levels of -20db or if you push it harder. In comparison the Yamaha can get to 125 F
Only 1 configurable Pattern.
Not many 8k inputs

I do not want to say more, but personally for my taste, the Yamaha is a better sounding unit for both movies and music. It has more to offer than the 8500 and clearly out performs it power wise. The sound is overall more clear and pleasing to the ear. Both my wife and the owner of the unit, my brother in law, agreed, too. He already told me that he'll be returning it and may try a Marantz. I am trying to persuade him to the Yamaha which he loves, but also is sold on " the voice of god" channel. Well, you can't please them all. I will wait and see what happens.
Disclaimer:
Testing was done using the exact speakers etc. as the A8A.
Pure Direct Modes, Stereo, Multichannel Stereo, Auto Decoding, Straight modes etc. were used.

The Denon 8500HA is still a good and capable unit and I would be happy to own one if I did not have a Yamaha A8A. I did this comparison for my own personal taste and family and did not mean to be judgmental or to criticize anyone.
It took a lot of time and effort to do it and I am glad I did get the opportunity to do it.

Regards.

With Room EQ, including Audyssey, to get decent results you need to following instructions to the letter with some minor exceptions. For example, when setting up the sub when it tests the level, you will be instructed to get it in the green zone but experience shows that it is better to let it go over the red a little.

Also, for subwoofer distance, it is advisable to let Audyssey take care of it than to use the measuring tape. Distance is sort of a misnomer in this case because it is the delay that matters and the delay is typically affected by the DSP build in active subwoofers. Audyssey is by no means perfect, far from it, but you should be able to get very good results if you limit the EQ range to 20-300 Hz.

Regarding its power output vs the A8A, you need to rely on bench measurements, otherwise it is very difficult to compare just "going by ears", and/or the volume settings.

Audiovision.de (German) tested on and the results appear to be very similar, almost identical:

Denon AVC-8500H (Test) – audiovision
Yamaha RX-A8A (Test) – audiovision

 

[jakkedtide]

I agree, what matters is the emotion you got listening… I don’t get if you quote my post as something « fanboyist » if so it wasn’t its purpose. I bought my Yamaha for mostly bad reasons as I wanted an amp able to mix wired and wireless speakers (I finally made holes in my floor and wired everything ). I remember a study in the 90s saying above a certain quality threshold when it’s about “fidelity”, there are no more correlation between THD / Sinad measurements and what people thought it was sounding best. At some point it’s just a matter of taste and every one of us are seeing and hearing differently. My post was just to say that I am really happy with my Yamaha. I already told my hi fi journey but I will quickly tell it again. In the late 90s my girlfriend’s step father was the owner of a hifi shop. One day she invited me to listen some music there and it’s have been a revelation. Of course I listen to a maybe 50000$ system that was amazingly good. Since then I look forward to feel the same emotions in my home. And I finally, being 45, got this emotional hearing experience at home with the Yamaha. The room I am sure is 50% of the setup success. But I was driving my old B&W 704 with my Denon AVC-A1D and it was sounding flat, lacking punch, dynamic, crisp details… My columns are in the exact same position, the only thing that changed is my amp (when listening music I mean since I also bought speakers for 7.1 setup). And music is now making me cry again (I am a kind of emotional guy with music). So it’s not a scientific review with measurements for sure (and I like those reviews a lot, I am a nerd), but the purpose of an amp is to provide emotion : the RX-A8A does ! (In my room, with my columns, for my ears…). My two cents

What mode do you listen to music in? Straight? 2 ch?

 

[Replicant 7]

With Room EQ, including Audyssey, to get decent results you need to following instructions to the letter with some minor exceptions. For example, when setting up the sub when it tests the level, you will be instructed to get it in the green zone but experience shows that it is better to let it go over the red a little.

Also, for subwoofer distance, it is advisable to let Audyssey take care of it than to use the measuring tape. Distance is sort of a misnomer in this case because it is the delay that matters and the delay is typically affected by the DSP build in active subwoofers. Audyssey is by no means perfect, far from it, but you should be able to get very good results if you limit the EQ range to 20-300 Hz.

Regarding its power output vs the A8A, you need to rely on bench measurements, otherwise it is very difficult to compare just "going by ears", and/or the volume settings.

Audiovision.de (German) tested on and the results appear to be very similar, almost identical:

Denon AVC-8500H (Test) – audiovision
Yamaha RX-A8A (Test) – audiovision

Thanks PENG! You'd be the one who knows way more about RC for sure than most of us. Pogre getting pretty damn good himself.

 

[JNMNL52]

I need some encouragement or I need to wake up and smell the coffee. I have read every single message on this Yamaha Aventage 2021 thread, viewed all of Gene's A6A videos, cryptic concerns, and I am trying to keep an open-mind. I am very close to pulling the trigger on a RX-A8A pre-order. However, I am not comfortable at all with the so called improved YPAO calibration, especially the new (sub) bass EQ'ing. I do not want to keep playing with (sub) bass EQ'ing after I calibrate it. I just want to set the sub bass one time based on watching movies and be done with it. One and done. I currently have a RX-770 which has a rudimentary YPAO system that is horrible. Based on what I am reading here in this forum, and others, it is apparent that the improved 64 bit YPAO system still has serious issues and some say it potentially has "bug's." This is coming from owner's and that is concerning. Assuming this YPAO system remains as it is without any further firmware updates, how can you properly calibrate the RX-A8A without using the YPAO determined settings which so far are found to be inaccurate? I understand that settings can be entered manually, but how do you determine the correct settings for a specific room? I need to find a way to properly calibrate before I spend the money on a new RX-A8A. I am getting the sense that we are Beta testing the new Adventage line and that it was not ready for prime time. If I cannot determine a work-around for RX-A8A calibration, I am going to punt and go with a newly manufactured Denon X6700H which is proven and I can count Audyssey XT32 to do a good calibration job. How are you guy's dealing with this?

 

[ryanosaur]

@JNMNL52
Do you need an AVR today?
If yes, well, you in a sellers market. This isn't a good time to buy.
Wait.
At least until Yamaha delivers on their promise of making their steamy cr@p heap work. Frankly, I feel the same way about all the options right now.

What's your hurry?

 

[OldAndSlowDev]

You started playing with Manual PEQ? To tweak the speakers or only tweak the bass since the bass is usually where EQ is actually needed, not the speakers.

In my system, I left the speakers untouched by any EQ processing (auto or manual). Then only use manual PEQ to tweak the subs.

That’s the next step. Right now I am just setting +\- dB to my taste per channel

 

[OldAndSlowDev]

What mode do you listen to music in? Straight? 2 ch?

Straight for stereo music, Surround decoder for Atmos or Dolby Digital surround music

 

[Replicant 7]

Straight for stereo music, Surround decoder for Atmos or Dolby Digital surround music

Try out, 2.1 for music, Net Radio, umm Find, Chill & Smooth Jazz, than click on both Enhancer and Hi-Res Mode, than go into your settings, go into PEQ, Put it on YPAO : Low Frequency. Let me know your thoughts. My A4A stays on those settings for Net Radio. I freaking love it!, By the way your A8A in two channels, puts out 260 x 2 into 4 Ohm's, beastly!!

 

[ryanosaur]

Try out, 2.1 for music, Net Radio, umm Find, Chill & Smooth Jazz, than click on both Enhancer and Hi-Res Mode, than go into your settings, go into PEQ, Put it on YPAO : Low Frequency. Let me know your thoughts. My A4A stays on those settings for Net Radio. I freaking love it!

He still doesn't have a sub.

 

[Replicant 7]

He still doesn't have a sub.

Thanks, I miss read, thought he had gotten one.

 

[chapp]

With Room EQ, including Audyssey, to get decent results you need to following instructions to the letter with some minor exceptions. For example, when setting up the sub when it tests the level, you will be instructed to get it in the green zone but experience shows that it is better to let it go over the red a little.

Also, for subwoofer distance, it is advisable to let Audyssey take care of it than to use the measuring tape. Distance is sort of a misnomer in this case because it is the delay that matters and the delay is typically affected by the DSP build in active subwoofers. Audyssey is by no means perfect, far from it, but you should be able to get very good results if you limit the EQ range to 20-300 Hz.

Regarding its power output vs the A8A, you need to rely on bench measurements, otherwise it is very difficult to compare just "going by ears", and/or the volume settings.

Audiovision.de (German) tested on and the results appear to be very similar, almost identical:

Denon AVC-8500H (Test) – audiovision
Yamaha RX-A8A (Test) – audiovision

I am an advocate of the SPL meter and hands down testing. I am not a professional tester reviewer. Please read carefully most of my posts I had mentioned the same thing. I don't care for those Professionals with their test results. I do it just to please myself and my benefit. Sound/ Vision is totally personal and I take it seriously, because at the end of the day, I listen to it not the Pro testers. Just my 2 cents and as I said I did not mean to offend anyone. Owners of Denon 8500 or Yamaha A8A. My findings to my knowledge and testing still shows that the A8A is a lot more pleasing sound wise and power, too, in the identical setting using the identical speakers and subwoofer. All this is for an average person to setup, too. These days AVRS should be user friendly to setup and enjoy and the one setting it up is the important factor, the owner and his/her ears is the best judge.
regards.

 

[chapp]

I need some encouragement or I need to wake up and smell the coffee. I have read every single message on this Yamaha Aventage 2021 thread, viewed all of Gene's A6A videos, cryptic concerns, and I am trying to keep an open-mind. I am very close to pulling the trigger on a RX-A8A pre-order. However, I am not comfortable at all with the so called improved YPAO calibration, especially the new bass EQ'ing. I do not want to keep playing with bass EQ'ing after I calibrate it. I just want to set the bass one time based on watching movies and be done with it. One and done. I currently have a RX-770 which has a rudimentary YPAO system that is horrible. Based on what I am reading here in this forum, and others, it is apparent that the improved 64 bit YPAO system still has serious issues and some say it potentially has "bug's." This is coming from owner's and that is concerning. Assuming this YPAO system remains as it is without any further firmware updates, how can you properly calibrate the RX-A8A without using the YPAO determined settings which so far are found to be inaccurate? I understand that settings can be entered manually, but how do you determine the correct settings for a specific room? I need to find a way to properly calibrate before I spend the money on a new RX-A8A. I am getting the sense that we are Beta testing the new Adventage line and that it was not ready for prime time. If I cannot determine a work-around for RX-A8A calibration, I am going to punt and go with a newly manufactured Denon X6700H which is proven and I can count Audyssey XT32 to do a good calibration job. How are you guy's dealing with this?

Sorry to tell you, but you'll run into the same issues with Audyssey. None of these are simple setup and you will have to do some manual changes etc. to bring it to your liking. You can use the Patterns to setup for different scenarios or tryouts. With the Yamaha A8A, one press of a button can change the pattern as well as other settings that you may configure. This can be accomplished via the Web Setup program. I have done it and it is simple. I do like simple although I am a retired Engineer. Good luck.

 

[OldAndSlowDev]

Almost any tune by Kimbra is a mix masterpiece. Listening to Montreal (feat Kimbra) I checked three times that it was actually straight stereo. The imaging is so f….g impressive. Was hearing sounds from behind. Still amazed about psychoacoustic

 

[Falstaff]

Yesterday I picked-up my A8A and Panasonic DP-UB9000. It was a good day.

All I had time for was to unhook my Denon AVR-4520CI and get the A8A connected to WI-FI In hopes of getting the firmware update before setting it up on Saturday. At first, there was nothing, but by the time I went to bed, it appeared and I got it done.

So, today I hooked the A8A up and repositioned all my components in my AV stand. It’s a sad day for my OPPO BD-103 now relegated to universal audio disk duty. After running YPAO everything looked good. It identified some of my speakers as large, so I changed them to small and adjusted the crossovers. I have only a 7.1 system for the time being and, after years of dealing with Denon, having to making adjustments like that are nothing new. I think YPAO has handled my sub better than my old Denon, the distance is still coming in at a bizarre number, but that’s always been the case for me regardless of which AVR I use.

So far, the sound has been good. Not hands down better than the Denon, but pleasing for day one and certainly not disappointing. I tried out a few blu-rays—boy that Panasonic puts out a nice picture—and a couple vinyls. I’m happy with it, but know I’m only just scratching the surface with all the things features. I won’t be able to try out any 4K content unit the spring when I update my projector, but so far switching between blu-ray player, Apple TV, PS4 and phono hasn’t created any issues. I know I’ve got to decode all these new features—like the Denon, there’s likely at least one that needs to be deactivated to make the A8A sound even better. I just need to drill down some to find it.

I will say that the first fight in Godzilla vs Kong at -10db was pretty damn impressive.

 

[chapp]

I want to thank everyone who post not to trust room correction but my ears. I started tuning the speakers level using my ears and deviated from YPAO. Atmos sounds waaaay better now. Knowing I liked the sound a lot with automatic settings and getting more and more from this amp by tuning it to my taste is such a pleasant feeling. Grab a good scotch, launch some Apple Music Atmos music (discovering Taylor Swift right now) and tune the tune

I have been saying all along that Ears are the downright best judge of sound. You are on the right track. Guide your ears with a good SPL meter. Happy listening and keep on tweaking.