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

TheLamonster

TheLamonster

Audioholic Intern
From what I understand, Surround AI is a 'dynamic' DSP in that it's characteristics can change on the fly depending on what the source audio is doing. Pretty cool tech, but adds random reverb/echo that pollutes the original mix too much for my tastes. I agree with snakeeyes that Dolby Surround/NeuralX upmixers are good enough (until Auro is available which some people say sounds better).
 
OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
Here’s right from yamaha…




I am running back and forth the Dolby Apple TV demo with and without AI enabled. I not sure I am able to hear a difference.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
I am running back and forth the Dolby Apple TV demo with and without AI enabled. I not sure I am able to hear a difference.
I’m not sure you would absolutely be able to. I don’t know the specific demo you’re referring to, but most of them are pretty well optimized already. So any “improvements” might be lessened. I haven’t used AI so all I know is what I read in the Yamaha link and user reports.
 
VASKION

VASKION

Audioholic
I am running back and forth the Dolby Apple TV demo with and without AI enabled. I not sure I am able to hear a difference.
I think you will notice difference if you do not use actual Atmos speakers - basic 5.1 or 7.1 setup. At least this is how this feature is advertised.
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
Having ONE wall plate is working in my case. But not two.
I will say that it is pure luck that a single wall plate is working at all. In my testing using multiple wall plates and very high grade HDMI cables that were tested as working, I was unable to pass 18Gb/s signals reliably through them. In asking of other professionals, they had run into the same issues over and over and over.

I will say that active wall plates and extenders did work just fine, but those aren't passive wall plates, but active extenders so they are different.
 
clone1008

clone1008

Full Audioholic
Here's a cool website I found with different demos you can download and test different audio formats...
 
Replicant 7

Replicant 7

Audioholic Samurai
Here's a cool website I found with different demos you can download and test different audio formats...
Sweet, sure is a whole lot to choose from.
 
AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
Also be aware that a LOT of cabling is not up to actually delivering their own claimed data rates.
Only buy Premium (18 Gbps) and Ultra-High-Speed (48 Gbps) HDMI certified cables. You can check its origin with simple app on mobile phone by scanning barcode.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Here's a cool website I found with different demos you can download and test different audio formats...
Here’s some more. Some of the same too…

Dolbys web site has a couple too…
 
T

triks_melb

Audiophyte
Can someone please point me in the direction of a full Audioholics technical review for the A6A and/or A8A?
 
AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
Can someone please point me in the direction of a full Audioholics technical review for the A6A and/or A8A?
No. It does not exist. For some reason, Gene does not publish it, although he has full measuments with some unflattering findings.
 
Replicant 7

Replicant 7

Audioholic Samurai
No. It does not exist. For some reason, Gene does not publish it, although he has full measuments with some unflattering findings.
I believe your being to kind. I didn't go back to lookup Gene's post, but it's went something like this,, (it's a Hot Mess).
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
Only buy Premium (18 Gbps) and Ultra-High-Speed (48 Gbps) HDMI certified cables. You can check its origin with simple app on mobile phone by scanning barcode.
Which still doesn't guarantee that the cable you buy actually works. There was a video posted recently where Linus Tech Tips went through a bunch of 48Gb/s rated cables (certified) and some didn't work. Especially at 10 feet or longer.

But, for the most part, all cables rated for 48Gb/s at 6' or less in length did perfectly fine, even the cheapos from Amazon and Monoprice.
 
OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
In order to be prepare for some bad THD-N numbers in Gene review I was wondering when I would be able to start to hear distortion. While I am able to perform quite good comparing compressed vs uncompressed audio file, I am starting to hear and identify distortion at about... 8% in the first test and 1% in the second one and 2% in the last one lol...
 
Replicant 7

Replicant 7

Audioholic Samurai
In order to be prepare for some bad THD-N numbers in Gene review I was wondering when I would be able to start to hear distortion. While I am able to perform quite good comparing compressed vs uncompressed audio file, I am starting to hear and identify distortion at about... 8% in the first test and 1% in the second one and 2% in the last one lol...
At what volume level? I myself haven't taken my RX-A4A up to reference level yet, about -15 db is as high as I've taken it. We can all guess on what Gene has found on Yamaha's RX-A6A, he did state that his findings on the pre-amp was state of the art. I did read up on the higher slew rate thing, and if not design right can introduce distortion or raise the distortion level. Maybe someone with more expertise will chime in on the (higher slew rate).
 
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Replicant 7

Replicant 7

Audioholic Samurai
Which still doesn't guarantee that the cable you buy actually works. There was a video posted recently where Linus Tech Tips went through a bunch of 48Gb/s rated cables (certified) and some didn't work. Especially at 10 feet or longer.

But, for the most part, all cables rated for 48Gb/s at 6' or less in length did perfectly fine, even the cheapos from Amazon and Monoprice.
Not good, is there a way to tell if that 12ft HDMI 48Gb that one just bought is good?
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
In order to be prepare for some bad THD-N numbers in Gene review I was wondering when I would be able to start to hear distortion. While I am able to perform quite good comparing compressed vs uncompressed audio file, I am starting to hear and identify distortion at about... 8% in the first test and 1% in the second one and 2% in the last one lol...
Kinda highlights why most of us say that no one can hear the fractional .005% differences from one model to another. You can barely hear a full 1.0 or 2.0% distortion, let alone a fraction of a percent.
 
OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
At what volume level? I myself haven't taken my RX-A4A up to reference level yet, about -15 db is as high as I've taken it. We can all guess on what Gene has found on Yamaha's RX-A6A, he did state that his findings on the pre-amp was state of the art. I did read up on the higher slow rate thing, and if not design right can introduce distortion or raise the distortion level. Maybe someone with more expertise will chime in on the (higher slew rate).
Using my headphone on PC. Of course it can be different with the RX-A8A
Edit: It's actually different, I started to hear the distortion way sooner with the RX-A8A, it's more 7%, 0.7% and 1.2%
High end high fi wins !
 
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