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

AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
From the PC I get PCM which I suspected wasn't right, although I thought I would at least get Stereo out of it, but Windows 10 didn't seem to be giving me any options as it seems it can't see the Yamaha or was just ignoring it.
PCM is ok for most music files you play from PC. You can change PCM settings and configurations for speakers by right clicking Sound icon. To check if Windows sees your Yamaha, go to Advanced, as shown, and see the list of all devices PC is connected to. There, you can set Yamaha as default. This will make players send everything what software in PC cannot decode to AVR. When I open VLC player and play 4K movie with Atmos or DTS HD Master-Audio, it bitstreams it to AVR automatically. As you set AVR as default in Windows and in VLC player, AVR does decoding.
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OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
PCM is ok for most music files you play from PC. You can change PCM settings and configurations for speakers by right clicking Sound icon. To check if Windows sees your Yamaha, go to Advanced, as shown, and see the list of all devices PC is connected to. There, you can set Yamaha as default. This will make players send everything what software in PC cannot decode to AVR. When I open VLC player and play 4K movie with Atmos or DTS HD Master-Audio, it bitstreams it to AVR automatically. As you set AVR as default in Windows and in VLC player, AVR does decoding.
View attachment 51764
In my case using these settings
1637787146585.png

I can play videos and sound is Atmos, but in games, the sound is PCM 7.1 (while they are supposed to be Atmos).
 
AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
Has anyone of you tried if these AVRs can play mp3/FLAC with variable bitrate through NAS Server or USB? The manual says from 8 to 320 kbps but says nothing about VBR. I see some other brands explicitly state support for VBR so I was wondering what is the situation here.
It read: "Variable rate encoding is inherent in lossless compression schemes such as FLAC and Apple Lossless."
Perhaps explicit support is not needed for these two codecs?
 
AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
There seem to be serious issues with this A8A unit. Read all details and theere is a demo video too.
 
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Replicant 7

Replicant 7

Audioholic Samurai
In my case using these settings
View attachment 51765
I can play videos and sound is Atmos, but in games, the sound is PCM 7.1 (while they are supposed to be Atmos).
I just read your post ups over on ASR, who's the dude that said, (audiophile conspiracy theorys) some funny sh$t. Lol. Who's (EB1000) over on ASR? seems to be pushing Onkyo and Denon really hard over Yamaha, one's gotta think maybe is affiliated with sound unlimited. Outside of what ever issues Yamaha may or may not have with DSP, YPAO, or just doesn't do Atmos very well I'm sure it'll all get worked out.
 
clone1008

clone1008

Full Audioholic
I just read your post ups over on ASR, who's the dude that said, (audiophile conspiracy theorys) some funny sh$t. Lol. Who's (EB1000) over on ASR? seems to be pushing Onkyo and Denon really hard over Yamaha, one's gotta think maybe is affiliated with sound unlimited. Outside of what ever issues Yamaha may or may not have with DSP, YPAO, or just doesn't do Atmos very well I'm sure it'll all get worked out.
Yep there seems to be an agenda for a couple of people with nothing but negative cross posting and hard pushing against Yamaha.
 
AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
I just read your post ups over on ASR, who's the dude that said, (audiophile conspiracy theorys) some funny sh$t. Lol. Who's (EB1000) over on ASR? seems to be pushing Onkyo and Denon really hard over Yamaha, one's gotta think maybe is affiliated with sound unlimited. Outside of what ever issues Yamaha may or may not have with DSP, YPAO, or just doesn't do Atmos very well I'm sure it'll all get worked out.
The dude matters less here. He brought a message from external source. Anyone can google translate foreign publication. It is about what is in that publication that matters and should be focused on. If Yamaha have acknowledged issues reported to them, we would like to see some communication from them.
 
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AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
Yep there seems to be an agenda for a couple of people with nothing but negative cross posting and hard pushing against Yamaha.
I do not believe that is the case. Similar news came about last year when preliminary tests were published about major HDMI 2.1 issues from Denon's line. Only when a major German tech magazine got devices into their labs, tested them and published loud and clear, the vendor admitteed what was already present on fora a few days earlier. We now need a major tech outlet (Gene and others) to finally publish stuff. It's enough with waiting.
 
clone1008

clone1008

Full Audioholic
I do not believe that is the case. Similar news came about last year when preliminary tests were published about major HDMI 2.1 issues from Denon's line. Only when a major German tech magazine got devices into their labs, tested them and published loud and clear, the vendor admitteed what was already present on fora a few days earlier. We now need a major tech outlet (Gene and others) to finally publish stuff. It's enough with waiting.
Well you have your beliefs and I have mine. We can agree to disagree on this one.
 
Replicant 7

Replicant 7

Audioholic Samurai
I do not believe that is the case. Similar news came about last year when preliminary tests were published about major HDMI 2.1 issues from Denon's line. Only when a major German tech magazine got devices into their labs, tested them and published loud and clear, the vendor admitteed what was already present on fora a few days earlier. We now need a major tech outlet (Gene and others) to finally publish stuff. It's enough with waiting.
Oh no doubt, agree Yamaha better own up! If it weren't for sites like AH and other's finding these issues where else would owners have recourse. Rely on the manufacturers to be honest? If past has shown anything most if not all manufacturers won't until they have to.
 
AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
I can play videos and sound is Atmos, but in games, the sound is PCM 7.1 (while they are supposed to be Atmos).
Is this from PC's GPU directly connected to AVR?
If so, players such as VLC, PowerDVD, etc. correctly bitstream raw audio so that you can get Atmos on AVR.
If games can output Atmos too, then you need to check audio settings in games and try to set it to bitstream too. PCM 7.1 mean that the game software decodes audio and so Atmos is not supported in PCM mode.
 
OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
Is this from PC's GPU directly connected to AVR?
If so, players such as VLC, PowerDVD, etc. correctly bitstream raw audio so that you can get Atmos on AVR.
If games can output Atmos too, then you need to check audio settings in games and try to set it to bitstream too. PCM 7.1 mean that the game software decodes audio and so Atmos is not supported in PCM mode.
Yes it's with PC directly connected to AVR, with Atmos official games audio settings set to spatial (to match the Atmos for home theater in the audio out panel). I don't know how/where to change PC output for bitstream/PCM.
 
D

Dezed

Enthusiast
Yes it's with PC directly connected to AVR, with Atmos official games audio settings set to spatial (to match the Atmos for home theater in the audio out panel). I don't know how/where to change PC output for bitstream/PCM.
have you tried switch to DTS-X yet? I’ve found it works perfectly. The atmos issue, I can’t tell whether it’s a Yamaha issue or Dolby on windows issue, I used to be able to get atmos with gaming working with my denon x2300 but that was months ago and can’t easily test it now.
 
C

chapp

Audioholic
As posted in another forum with many cross posters:

I have had the A8A for awhile now and though I had the little issue with the Pop when changing the TV built in apps source etc. I have not experienced any other significant issues as yet. Yes, I do have a little delay like others do, and some gripes about the YPAO (generally). Although I am not a great fan of equalization and prefer the simplest approach, I have done the 8 point plus angle YPAO on this unit. My speakers were set to large and crossovers were varied, but the distances were close to exact, including the sub. The levels were fairly good, too, as I have checked with the SPL meter. I did do my own tweaking using different patterns and such. My findings as I have mentioned before are quite impressive. I would advice that all of you with these units should not make rash judgements based on the disgruntled claim by some who did or may not have tested this unit for a while in almost every scenario. I have been doing this relentlessly as I still have time to return the unit if I want.
I got my hands on a Denon 8500HA and did some tests and comparison to the A8A, (I posted this in another forum with photos). Side by side and using the same identical setup, the Yamaha outshined the Denon in my opinion, my wife's and my brother in law who owned the unit. The Yamaha had more power, sound was cleaner and more pleasing to the ears and ran 12 F cooler at same volume levels for same time.
Do not ask me too many questions, because I did not do this for others, but for my own satisfaction as I was leaning towards a 8500HA, too. Personally, I would always choose the A8A ahead of the Denon 8500, but if I had no choice, I would get one if it was more in line with the Yamaha's price. Although many would disagree with me, this is my own opinion and care not about what others think as I have both units in my home at the moment.
I think that I may have found the reason for the "Pop"
regards.
I don't use AI mode nor do I game at the moment so I cannot comment on that. Atmos, DTS X etc. all works fine so far. Up mixing of DTS and Dolby sounds good, too.
 
OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
have you tried switch to DTS-X yet? I’ve found it works perfectly. The atmos issue, I can’t tell whether it’s a Yamaha issue or Dolby on windows issue, I used to be able to get atmos with gaming working with my denon x2300 but that was months ago and can’t easily test it now.
Yes DTS-X Master is working perfectly. It’s a Dolby Access app bug. I am currently trying to help Dolby to resolve this issue.
 
OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
As posted in another forum with many cross posters:

I have had the A8A for awhile now and though I had the little issue with the Pop when changing the TV built in apps source etc. I have not experienced any other significant issues as yet. Yes, I do have a little delay like others do, and some gripes about the YPAO (generally). Although I am not a great fan of equalization and prefer the simplest approach, I have done the 8 point plus angle YPAO on this unit. My speakers were set to large and crossovers were varied, but the distances were close to exact, including the sub. The levels were fairly good, too, as I have checked with the SPL meter. I did do my own tweaking using different patterns and such. My findings as I have mentioned before are quite impressive. I would advice that all of you with these units should not make rash judgements based on the disgruntled claim by some who did or may not have tested this unit for a while in almost every scenario. I have been doing this relentlessly as I still have time to return the unit if I want.
I got my hands on a Denon 8500HA and did some tests and comparison to the A8A, (I posted this in another forum with photos). Side by side and using the same identical setup, the Yamaha outshined the Denon in my opinion, my wife's and my brother in law who owned the unit. The Yamaha had more power, sound was cleaner and more pleasing to the ears and ran 12 F cooler at same volume levels for same time.
Do not ask me too many questions, because I did not do this for others, but for my own satisfaction as I was leaning towards a 8500HA, too. Personally, I would always choose the A8A ahead of the Denon 8500, but if I had no choice, I would get one if it was more in line with the Yamaha's price. Although many would disagree with me, this is my own opinion and care not about what others think as I have both units in my home at the moment.
I think that I may have found the reason for the "Pop"
regards.
I don't use AI mode nor do I game at the moment so I cannot comment on that. Atmos, DTS X etc. all works fine so far. Up mixing of DTS and Dolby sounds good, too.
Funny you mentioned the pop. I just made some try to validate a theory about hdm 1 (output) and eArc : I got pop when I started to use the tv app ! As I am using an AppleTV which is head and shoulders better than the crappy Samsung apps I never experience “pop”. It’s only when using my TV app in my case. Never with the PC or AppleTV
 
AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
Well you have your beliefs and I have mine. We can agree to disagree on this one.
"I believe" is just a phrase. If I had said "I think", you could have replied "It's your opinion". If I had said "I suspect", you could have replied "it's conspiracy", etc. It's useless ping-pong. I'd suggest to you to open up with more serious analysis so that we could exchange thoughts on what is actually happening and how to interpret news from initial user testing on one unit before bigger players go with official publications.

It's not about my or your beliefs. You have not actually explained what it is exactly that you disagreed with. I simply compared current news with what we heard last year about Denon. It might lead to more serious developments, it might not. It depends on snow-ball effect and new information coming in from users and tech outlets testing the gear. I am sure Gene feels uncomfortable to have to publish, yet again, that new AVRs do not work properly, as some users are starting to discover that too.

What matters here is that major tech oulets are tired of reporting about constant bugs new generation of AV machines face. They have been writing about it since October 2020 in multiple publications and challening vendors to come up with clear statements, explanations of issues and roadmap for consumers. It's embarrassing for major players in the industry to push half-baked devices into the market and hope that consumers who pay thousands would report issues for them to iron out, instead of doing extensive in-house testing themselves. Consumers and reviewers want those devices to finally start working properly, fully and reliably.

We need more information and more clarity. Issues might be related to Dobly itself, TV, AVR or all together. All we know is that several features and configurations do not work properly on this new AVR. It's a test case and there will be more to come.

To illustrate how sluggish vendors can be with putting information out there, I will say this. It took Yamaha one full year to admit publicly a simple piece of spec, namely that 2020 models have 24 Gbps ports, after sustained preessure from AV community. Ridiculous. It's an important piece of information for users looking for specific gaming configurations and, as we all know, new AVRs have been heavily and aggressively marketed towards that segment of the market. Official Yamaha slogan on their website reads: "Movies and games like never before". Games as bad like never before?

I actually truly hope that bleak findings in testing of this unit are specific to it, so that nothing more substantial developes. Becasue if it does, we are going to have again thousands of unhappy users and outcry, just like last year.
 
AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
Oh no doubt, agree Yamaha better own up! If it weren't for sites like AH and other's finding these issues where else would owners have recourse. Rely on the manufacturers to be honest? If past has shown anything most if not all manufacturers won't until they have to.
Exactly! You are right. To be fair, this isn't just a Yamaha problem. Amir at Audio Science Review caught a problem with the current generation of Denon receivers that had a high SINAD. He contacted Denon, like Gene did with Yamaha, and Denon admitted to using faulty capacitors. They fixed the problem and the units review beautifully. Denon even offered to fix units already in the field. Here's that review: Denon AVR-X6700H AVR Review (Updated)
We need more reviewers and owners to report all possible issues, so that vendors are challenged to relate to issues as soon as possible and communicate clearly what is going on and how it is going to be fixed, if at all, so that potential buyers become aware of it before they commit substancial resources to purchase machines. Access to information is power.
 
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