Yamaha - RX-V6A 7.2-channel AV Receiver with 8K HDMI and MusicCast - Black

Great little unit ... perfect for my pre-wired large family room ... setup programming was a little frustrating but the results are great ...

Only glitch is the YPAO mic didn’t work out of the box. Called Yamaha and they sent a new mic.

Needs a firmware update to address issues with hdmi/earc switching and audio dropouts. Very frustrating. Audio quality and adjustments are numerous, and if you are just using this for that or maybe a phono player you are set, but try adding a DVD player or a streamer like a Nvidia Shield and you are bound for trouble. Maybe Yamaha will address these problems maybe not, Google for more info. Also know that most controls are only easily accessible via the app. That's not a slam, but just know that the front panel has almost no controls & the remote interface even on a TV is very cryptic with abbreviations -it all works, just takes more brain power to figure out than it should. Could be a very good unit if the hdmi connectivity is corrected, but if you have a lot of peripherals you will have trouble.

I ordered and set up this receiver in October, 2020 for a home theater with Epson 5050UB projector and 7.1 speakers config, with a desire to somewhat "future-proof" the setup. I don't have any sources to test the now-well-publicized 4K/120hz bug, I do have 4k/[24, 60] sources and 1080p sources. The unit manual describes the receiver's 4k upscaling feature as follows: HDMI > 4K Upscaling: "Selects whether to use 4k upscaling of the HDMI video signal. If this function is set to "On", 1080p content is displayed at 4K resolution." I have attached this receiver both to my projector as well as a 4k-capable TV. When using a 4k source (eg Chromecast with Google TV) both are able to show the video properly and the Signal Information menus both on the Projector/TV and from the receiver confirm that fact - great! If however I select 1080p content (eg a Nintendo Switch) and enable 4K Upscaling, no signal is sent from the receiver to the output device. There are per-source options for HDMI Video Format (see attached capture from manual) should there be issues with the 4k signal, Modes 1 and 2 have the same result. At this point it appears the receiver simply fails to output any workable signal when 4k Upscaling is enabled on a 1080p source. The workaround is to keep 4k Upscaling disabled, which I guess means just another "feature" to cross off the list of what this receiver is actually capable of. The receiver is on firmware version 1.23 (0945). I reached out to Yamaha over 2 weeks ago (Ref.#02456452ref:_00D30F1z._5004S23Yac:ref) and have not heard back despite their auto-reply saying they'd reply in 1-2 business days. If I do get any response or resolution through firmware update I will update the review.

I purchased this one along with a Denon receiver to duel it out. I have a Klipsch 5.2 speaker setup. All I can say is that this unit blew the Denon AVR-S750H out of the WATER! The unit lit up my speakers considerably more. I ran the calibration tool and also updated the firmware upon unboxing. I highly recommend this unit. I have it playing movies off of my NAS Plex server, and it complements it extremely well, preserving audio/video quality. Also, I plugged in my vinyl player and this unit supports a phono input natively, so that was also a huge plus for me. “Straight” sound mode really brought out the best quality sound using The Vinyl player.

This is my first AV receiver, so I'm coming at this from a blank slate. The good: * Has a ton of functionality that's fairly intuitive after a brief learning period * Haven't had any issues with A/V sync and HDMI passthrough * The YPAU setup process was pretty straightforward * The firmware update was uneventful * Sounds good to my ears, but I got this along with a set of speakers, so can't disentangle the two * Has no problem powering my five speakers to as loud as I'd ever listen to them (fronts are average sensitivity 150W continuous, others are 100W continuous) * iOS-based WiFi setup and AirPlay both work well. If had AirPlay break up once about an hour into a podcast, but I'm not sure if that was my network or the receiver The neutral: * The app (MusicCast) is a good alternative to the OSD/remote, and was reliable in connecting to the receiver, but doesn't cover everything (many of the settings are OSD-only) * I haven't been able to test HDMI 2.1/4k @ 120Hz/GSync and VRR yet The not so great: * The OSD is pretty slow. Like, slow enough such that you can see each line of text get drawn. Keep in mind, there's nothing fancy going on here, it's 99% crude bitmapped fonts and transparent black blocks, 1% pictures (album art and such). Compared to my LG TV it's a bit of a bummer * I lost video once when I had the OSD open and my PS4 switched video modes (non-HDR to HDR). Easy to avoid, though * AIrPlay will only show one of artist, album or song on the receiver's display at a time. It'd be nice to combine them and scroll. May apply to other inputs too. Minor niggle

One of the first hdmi 2.1 A/V receivers on the market and it has some flaws potentially serious if 2.1 support is important to you. I'll start off by first saying it is not Yamaha's fault for this issue. The reported 2.1 sync issue has to do with the chip company they sourced the part from and it has been said this is not a problem that can be completely fixed with software updates. I'm most likely going to return it until now info is released about how to fix the issue and which devices it affects. Since there are very few 2.1 devices out it's hard to know how big the list is and the exact issues. Also regarding updates some of the listed features do not and will not work until possibly Dec or Early next year when other software updates are released by Yamaha. Right now I have some complaints about the sluggish response in the menus moving around, the loud click it makes when switching on and off, and seemingly broken hdmi 2.1 mentioned earlier. As far as audio it sounds great and hdmi 4k60hz works great, just not 4k120hz yet. It is a pricey to not have everything working perfectly. The on tv screen menus is not the best I've seen and for the price should be better. Denon has a pretty slick ui but they don't give you as many hdmi 2.1 inputs for the model in this Yamaha price range. Last complaint is I wish it were a little more compact (not as tall)

I purchased this Yamaha receiver after my Onkyo had given up the ghost. First impressions were very good. I love the sleek modern and simplistic design that is lacking in pretty much all other receivers (especially in this price range). Feature wise, this thing is about average. It has many of the things you would come to expect from a receiver in 2020 (music streaming over wifi, bluetooth, 4K HDR, etc) but it is lacking in a few departments. Firstly, the amplifier section is average. At this price I was expecting it to perform a little better. My out going Onkyo had a slight advantage in sound even though it was only half the price of this unit. Secondly, there is no separate Subwoofer crossover control for the LFE channel. I always like to set my sub crossover around 80Hz as it blends nicely with my Klipsch towers. I believe the sub crossover is set depending on the crossover settings for your front speakers (but there is no way to tell and no way to see what it is set to by the unit). Finally, I have a lot of issues with ARC/eARC. The receiver has trouble with the HDMI handshake with my Samsung QLED TV. Sometime I can get the ARC to work and sometime it refuses to. I have to unplug both the TV and the Receiver a few times before it starts working again. I'm not sure if this is isolated to my TV/Receiver combination but I did not have this issue with my Onkyo. Overall, I am satisfied with my purchase. Movies and Music sound great (although it could be better with a higher end Denon) and the design and features are adequate at this price. I'm hoping future firmware updates don't just bring HDMI 2.1 with 8K/4K@120Hz but also bring more features and overall improvements.