Some folks PM'd me and asked that I share my impressions. The time has come to setup a new budget HT system in my home so a new receiver was needed. I contacted JR and had them send to me the HK 2600 ($429) and Yamaha 667 ($405). I haven’t been a fan of either of these brands over the last couple of years. Yamaha was really skimping on their amp sections and HK’s were buggy as hell. But having seen the article on Audioholics regarding the 667 using discrete amps again, I had to give the 667 another look as Yamaha receivers have always been incredibly reliable for me in the past. And from what I hear, HK has corrected a ton of bugs in their receivers, upgrade via USB now, and include Dolby Volume (Leveler and Modeler) which some higher-end processors and receivers use. I won’t go into what kind of standard features and connectors each receiver has as that can easily be found online, rather, I’m going to talk about the experience with each and what I feel are deciding factors. I lived with each receiver for a week to get a real feel. Speakers being driven are the Mirage OMD-5’s (6 Ohms, 90db) and an eD A3S-250 filling in the low end. In any case, let’s get to it.
Looks:
This comes down to personal taste, but I like the look of HK receivers over the last few years. They have a very slick and minimalistic look to them which I appreciate. The Yamaha isn’t ugly by any means, but it just has a more utilitarian look than the HK which some people may prefer. I know some folks miss the orange LED of the older Yamaha models, but I actually prefer the white. In short, neither receiver represents an eye sore in a typical room.
Remote:
Any true Audioholic should have a universal remote so the remotes shouldn’t be a deciding factor in what receiver to buy. Said another way, both remotes suck. One thing I will mention is that my Harmony remote worked much slower than the stock HK remote. I tried changing delays and various other settings, but nothing seemed to work; really odd.
GUI:
Both include very pretty HD GUI systems which overlay over video via HDMI which is nice. The Yamaha GUI has prettier icons and feels a bit snappier than the HK's, however, the volume overlay on the Yamaha looks a bit cheap. Curious as they obviously spent time dolling up the icons and all and then skimped on this overlay. Overall, I feel HK's GUI is more intuitive making setup easier. One thing I really like about the HK is you can assign ports several times. For example, for the DVD input, I can set the receiver to ProLogic II Movie and select HDMI 1 for video and sound. At the same time, I can set the receiver to Stereo in the AUX input and select HDMI 1 again. I’ve had problems with this sort of thing in the past as some receivers use toggles instead of discrete remote codes to select the sound mode and programming a universal remote to use toggles doesn’t always work properly in my experience.
Video Performance:
I'd give the edge to the Yamaha when it comes to upscaling SD signals. With the HK, there was a bit more noise and jaggies overall and some moire effects. The Yamaha presented a much cleaner picture overall even if it was a hair softer. Also, the Yamaha allows for standby passthrough which is a nice feature not found on the HK.
Upgrading:
Both receivers arrived updated already so I didn’t upgrade either one. The HK upgrades via USB. Put a file on a blank USB drive, plug it in and away you go. The Yamaha is a little more complicated. You have to connect your CD/BR/DVD player via coax or toslink (not HDMI) to the receiver, burn a CD, and play that CD through your player to update the receiver. In my experience, this is pretty unusual for updating a receiver, but it’s reported to work fine.
Audio Performance:
I’ve always felt HK has the worst room correction system (EZSet/EQ); I find the sound more pleasurable when it's turned off completely. What I did appreciate was Dolby Volume. Having experienced it with the HK receiver, I think it does a better job than Audyssey EQ and Dynamic Volume which I’ve always loved. With Audyssey, the LFE always seemed a bit bloated when volume levels were low and I still would have trouble hearing dialogue with these features engaged. Not so with Dolby Volume, everything sounds balanced and dialogue comes through clear.
As for YPAO, I really like the speed of it as it completes measurements very quickly. YPAO pretty much nailed all the settings and I didn't tweak anything. However, Yamaha's Adaptive DRC doesn't have a prayer against Dolby Volume. The HK clearly had an advantage when listening at lower levels as the sound overall was much fuller and more balanced; at reference levels, it was a pretty even matchup.
I pushed both receivers pretty hard and neither gave up on me. This is good as I have been able to push a 663 to its limits. I figured the 667 had the same amp section, but it appears Yamaha put a little more into the 667. I wasn't surprised that the 2600 kept its composure as all HK receivers up till now can take abuse.
Competition:
A few other receivers I considered were the Onkyo 270/708, Pioneer 1120, and Denon 1911/791.
I dismissed the Pioneer 1120 as I don't care for MCACC and I find having to set various MCACC EQ's for various listening levels annoying. The Pioneer has THX listening modes which include THX Loudness which is nice. I also found that Pioneer's ALC feature doesn't work on all signal types. The 1120 does have the best upscaling ability so it's a good choice if video processing is a priority. That said, the Pioneer is great for tweaking as it offers lots of options, but if you like to set it and forget it, the 1120 isn't for you.
I dismissed the Onkyo 270/708 even though it has a great amp section and feature set including things like internet radio, DLNA, etc. However, my BluRay has all those things so I don't need them in a receiver. Onkyo's GUI is pretty decent and a breeze to setup. The deciding factor here was Dolby Volume which as I said earlier, I feel it does a better job at low listening levels than Audyssey. Also, the 270 was $100 more than the HK and Yamaha so cost was an issue.
Dismissing the Denon 1911/791 was tough as I really like their receivers. They have great amp sections, Audyssey MultEQ, and prove reliable. Granted, their GUI stinks and they're a pain to setup, but once you get it right, it's smooth sailing. But again, Dolby Volume trumps Audyssey to my ears.
Summary:
So which one will I be keeping? The HK's more intuitive GUI, Dolby Volume, excellent amp section, and slick looks does it for me. I don't have a need for the Yamaha's Bluetooth ability since I realized my Sony BluRay player is DLNA certified and works perfectly with my MacBook. And although Yamaha has been including loads of sound modes in their receivers for years, I always find myself using Dolby Prologic II Movie/Music or Stereo for my listening. My only real complaints about the 2600 is that HK removed the preouts from this receiver so adding an external amp requires an upgrade to the 3600 whereas the 667 is ready to go and the 2600 initially chops off the first second of sound when it's processing a new, incoming signal. Not a big deal really in my book as you can get around it by using analog cables.
