Review and Measurements of Yamaha RX-A1080 AVR

[Abe_W]

It is also available for sale if anyone is interested. It will help buy more speakers to test.

How much will you sell it for bro? I'm also looking for a compatible power amp (to pair with the receiver's pre outs). Might you have a suggestion on that as well?

 

[Abe_W]

"Bro"

BroMo

 

[amirm]

How much will you sell it for bro? I'm also looking for a compatible power amp (to pair with the receiver's pre outs). Might you have a suggestion on that as well?

I am flexible. Start a conversation with me and we can discuss.

 

[Abe_W]

Keep in mind that AVRs (and related integrated 2 channel amp such as Yamaha's A-S801) can have two separate DACs for different inputs. As far as I know, for HDMI inputs, the main and better DACs such as the AK4458 and ES9006 are used.

If you use the front USB input, Ethernet (network streaming), or even optical and coax, then all bets are off and the signal may be routed through the lower grade DACs such as the PCM5100 or the slightly better PCM5101 in the integrated amp such as the Yamaha A-S801. For Z2/Z3, chance is good that the lesser DAC would be used, such as the case for D&M, Onkyo and Yamaha's.

In some cases, such as Yamaha's, even for the main zone, they would use two different ones, the better DAC for the main 7 channels and a slightly lower grade one for the remaining channels. For example: the flag ship RX-A3080 has the Sabre ES9026 Pro for the main 7 channels, and the ES9007S (same as the 9006) for the remaining channels, and then mostly the PCM5101 for the Z2/3. 3 different DACs!! It's all about cost, I assume..

Is there going to be considerable difference between the sound quality of the RX-A3080's ES9026 Pro DAC implementation and the RX-A1080's ES9007S? I am looking to get the best quality for music only on a receiver (no movies). I listen to music primarily through a 4.1 surround setup without a center channel for the enveloping sound.

 

[mcmahon48]

I bought this item on the idea that yamaha was always striving to bring the best audio to their customers and I knew their items would be trouble free other wise I was going to get a Denon for I had bad items from them in the power switch would keep going out and could not reset it and had to send it in to be reapired again after a short while.. Posted a review in Amozon giving them 3 stars for their intentionally going with outdated dacs and they also did not optimize it either So I am having to get a Topping D50s DAC to get the desired dynamic capablity of a DAC.. They should have gone with the more current one but apparently had a lot of the 9006s/9007s DACs in their manufacturing plant and used them and then using (deceptive) marketing stating latest and ( from the 1970s) best technology usable Dynamics 88 db s/n Wow that is the same as my Kenwood that I had. If It was possible for sure able to switch out the 9007s with a 9016s or something like that without causing a problem I would do it myself. So yamaha has dishonored, disgraced themselves and have made no effort to improve their position in the area of audio. I have some very effecient speakers that are very detailing and instantly made it clear there was something wierd going on. And went with Onlyo for a while and was happy with it for years I bought it used to later find one of the amps to the rear was dead when I decided to go for surround for game playing. I listen to music mostly with the unit. I am only keeping for I dont like throwing money away and the amp is decent not the best but better than many other avr amps.

 

[SynthesisCinema]

I bought this item on the idea that yamaha was always striving to bring the best audio to their customers and I knew their items would be trouble free other wise I was going to get a Denon for I had bad items from them in the power switch would keep going out and could not reset it and had to send it in to be reapired again after a short while.. Posted a review in Amozon giving them 3 stars for their intentionally going with outdated dacs and they also did not optimize it either So I am having to get a Topping D50s DAC to get the desired dynamic capablity of a DAC.. They should have gone with the more current one but apparently had a lot of the 9006s/9007s DACs in their manufacturing plant and used them and then using (deceptive) marketing stating latest and ( from the 1970s) best technology usable Dynamics 88 db s/n Wow that is the same as my Kenwood that I had. If It was possible for sure able to switch out the 9007s with a 9016s or something like that without causing a problem I would do it myself. So yamaha has dishonored, disgraced themselves and have made no effort to improve their position in the area of audio. I have some very effecient speakers that are very detailing and instantly made it clear there was something wierd going on. And went with Onlyo for a while and was happy with it for years I bought it used to later find one of the amps to the rear was dead when I decided to go for surround for game playing. I listen to music mostly with the unit. I am only keeping for I dont like throwing money away and the amp is decent not the best but better than many other avr amps.

They tend to upgrade the DACs for the higher ranges mostly! ESS ES9026PRO SABRE found in the A3080 flagship. I wish to see this model measured by ASR or maybe the new flagship later..
http://www.esstech.com/index.php/en...ers/audiophile-dacs/sabre-pro-dacs/es9026pro/

There is big hopes for the new range which is going to look very different also. Won´t be long now, it might be revealed next month if the original plan is kept.

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/90-r...-rx-a8-rx-a6-rx-a4-rx-a2-new-2020-models.html

 

[mcmahon48]

You miss my point which is Yamaha has been for a long foreleader in the sound reproduction area and know for their effort to to be the best based on Japanese culture of honor and they chose to cut cost and reduce loss by using outdated DACS and apparently did not even try to optimize the unit. I already have the unit and I wish I could tell them to come to my house and make it meet their claim of 120db instead of 86 which is pathetic in a flagship level unit I bought it on the impression that this would have a very good audio section I do not want to buy the next step up unit either way and I also find it bad that after you did the review of the unit that they did not make an effort to resolve this bad showing of their implementation of the DAC.
I was basing my decision on the word of their company really striving for the best but as the pink panther was saying "what The F*** is going one here" The flagship model which should stand out is a "really bad unit and is easily beaten by a unit half the price" I wish Denon Had a 3550 unit the 4500 was too high and 3500 did not have somethings I wanted. I was looking for a review of Denon PMA600ne from your website. But did not see any.

 

[mcmahon48]

Is there going to be considerable difference between the sound quality of the RX-A3080's ES9026 Pro DAC implementation and the RX-A1080's ES9007S? I am looking to get the best quality for music only on a receiver (no movies). I listen to music primarily through a 4.1 surround setup without a center channel for the enveloping sound.

 

[mcmahon48]

What level of sound quality are you willing to accept and price will make an impact on your decision
best choice is a amp for the front and a avr with pre out to the front speakers and the sound quality of the speakers
I would focus more on the front end only it is more realistic and cost reduction
I would suggest try the denon pma-600ne to start and maybe try a topping d50s DAC if you are doing digital you may be just fine with the amp for I have not seen any test on the DAC in that unit you may which to try the next amp too see if you could buy the floor model with the information that you may wish to exchange it for a different model I hate having to return something I opened and returning it due to not be sure of what I wanted.

 

[Mountain Goat]

Thought I'd go see what Yamaha's A/V Twitter presence is. A play in two acts:

 

[spacebar]

Well, now I feel ashamed for buying the 1070 back in the days. Didn’t turn out to be so good either and now it’s the second time at service center. After 1.5 year with no problems this issue started to happen randomly. After an hour or so watching movies etc, the volume went all in(very very high) on 1 random speaker after adjusting the volume, in example from -55.0 to -56.0 but if I then adjusted 0.5 up or down it was normal again. This could happen anywhere in the volume region. I don’t know if it’s a feature or a bug

 

[mcmahon48]

I bought this a month before the review and I threw away the box and I dont like leaving the vendor with a unit return where they are not at fault and that Yamaha and how it may be hard to recover the loss especially with the reviews revealing just how bad their unit is in com
parison.

Well, now I feel ashamed for buying the 1070 back in the days. Didn’t turn out to be so good either and now it’s the second time at service center. After 1.5 year with no problems this issue started to happen randomly. After an hour or so watching movies etc, the volume went all in(very very high) on 1 random speaker after adjusting the volume, in example from -55.0 to -56.0 but if I then adjusted 0.5 up or down it was normal again. This could happen anywhere in the volume region. I don’t know if it’s a feature or a bug

You should have Yamaha exchange it out for it may not be fixable for I did not buy a Denon for I had isues like you that kept coming back on the unit and that is why I went with ya-money-ahaha with their reputation of quality of build. A good thing maybe they will give the cost as a credit toward a new model with hopes that it woud be better than the 2019 models. Demand an exchange for same or a credit.

 

[mcmahon48]

I was wondering if owner could send these unit in for repair and demand a print out of the unit performance spec and not accept it back till it meets stated performance levels and if it cant be made demand a refund due being faulty

 

[mhardy6647]

May I ask a really (really) naive question?
Someone at AK just asked why Yamaha's "2080" model has dual DACs.
I was curious, so I googled, and I find nothing concrete.
In fact, I see stuff like this:

We also find heat sinks with anti-vibration and anti-thermal properties along with a high-speed thermal feedback power amplifier. A high-quality volume IC along with an independent pure power supply and ultra low-jitter PLL circuitry are used for optimized sound imaging and improved audio quality. Everything so far are the same and the only difference spotted here is the use of different DACs. The RX-A2080 is utilizing dual ESS 384 kHz/32-bit ES9007S SABRE Premier DACs that are responsible for all audio conversions and the 2080 is the only unit with this specific DAC configuration.
...
Two ESS 384 kHz / 32-Bit SABRE DACs (ES9007S)
Incorporating dual ES9007S SABRE DACs from ESS Technology helps further enhance the signal-to-noise ratio and achieve up to 120 dB of dynamic range.

[emphasis added]

This kind of language strikes me as the HT equivalent of typical audiophile gobbledegook -- palpable midrange and jaw-dropping PRaT... that sort of thing.

Can one of all y'all tell me: why two DACs? Or I guess, more to the point, what is the Aventage Advantage of two DACs, concretely speaking?

Thanks!

 

[mcmahon48]

It is simple the dac can only handle 8 channels so once you pass 7.1 surround you need a second dac yet which is more stupid is using a dac you know has flaw and and newer dac has corrected the flaw so screw your customer and save money and lie about how great it is

 

[mcmahon48]

This is a copy of what I emailed YorMoney aHa

Please suggest that they get some newer audio engineers for it appears the current ones are brain tired and are getting lazy and they have dishonored and disgraced Yamaha Audio by their laziness. It appears that there have been no real changes that improve the audio to the level it should be and is causing people to lose faith in Yamaha's stated goal of continual excellence. This is clearly evident that there has been little to no improve for the past 10 years and that their choices in which to include certain components demonstrates the lack of effort to keep up with others. If I werent a man of character I would have returned My RX-a1080 after discovering how this unit is not of the quality that I was expecting from Yamaha. This show how disappointed in the Yamaha team in this regard. Choosing to use old and known flawed components in current devices demonstrates the lack of desire to do the best for the customer.

 

[3dbinCanada]

Finding audible differences between a Bryston and a Benchmark would likely be difficult because I don't think we'd be looking at several orders of magnitude differences at normal levels.

But compare a Bryston and a 1080 in 2ch mode, I'd be astonished if a reasonably trained ear couldn't distinguish between two amp stages that ARE magnitudes of difference apart.

And that's what this is all about: audio fidelity. It's not about making excuses for a product because the manufacturer decided to cram every square inch with components AND kick it out the door at $1500.

Run the tests where all amps are operating well within their power envelope, level matched outputs through the same speakers in the same room, put on a blind fold to eliminate prejudice and I'm betting the ability to choose one over the other suddenly becomes impossible.

 

[MRC01]

May I ask a really (really) naive question? ...Can one of all y'all tell me: why two DACs? Or I guess, more to the point, what is the Aventage Advantage of two DACs, concretely speaking?

Some DAC chips have a mono mode, and have slightly better measured performance in this mode. So, a device maker could use a separate DAC for each channel, each DAC running in mono mode.
Whether this makes any audible difference is debatable. But it may improve measured performance, however slightly, if so then it's not entirely BS.

 

[mcmahon48]

Well you have heard what a Day can make in someones life Well I have to say what a Difference a Dac can make in this receiver. I finally got the Topping D50s DAC. The extra 16db dynamic range has made things be able to be heard that where off/scale due to the poor optimization of the DAC on the Yamaha The extra detail has made it the amplifier shine through which was the real strong point of this receiver. When playing digitized music of non digital (studio tape) to digital with no compression made sonic detail really present Barbra Streisand in certain songs you could hear the room reverb which was very slight but you could hear it. Horns, woodwinds, and even cymbal brushing detail is more clear and detailed. They should have used the ESS 9016 DAC but chose to use an older version with bad results. I could have saved myself a bunch of disappointment if I had been able to get the results from here earlier. The result is a great improvement but at extra expense.

 

[scooter]

Well you have heard what a Day can make in someones life Well I have to say what a Difference a Dac can make in this receiver. I finally got the Topping D50s DAC. The extra 16db dynamic range has made things be able to be heard that where off/scale due to the poor optimization of the DAC on the Yamaha The extra detail has made it the amplifier shine through which was the real strong point of this receiver. When playing digitized music of non digital (studio tape) to digital with no compression made sonic detail really present Barbra Streisand in certain songs you could hear the room reverb which was very slight but you could hear it. Horns, woodwinds, and even cymbal brushing detail is more clear and detailed. They should have used the ESS 9016 DAC but chose to use an older version with bad results. I could have saved myself a bunch of disappointment if I had been able to get the results from here earlier. The result is a great improvement but at extra expense.

Nice that you can hear the difference. I guess this is only in Pure Direct mode?