Yamaha RX-A3080 Review (AVR)

[iraweiss]

A number of 3080 owners, myself included, have had very loud random pop/snap noises that do not come from one specific speaker. Some users of the new A8A and A6A are having the same or similar popping problem. After contacting support, Yamaha's recommendation to me was to change the Dynamic Range from Maximum to Standard.

I got my first pop/snap sound since November 19th last night after following Yamaha's recommended change to the Dynamic Range setting and also running without AI and using only Straight decoding. I was watching Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard on HBO Max. It was in Dolby Digital Plus. I don't know if the pop/snap sound came from the surround right or surround back right channel, just from that direction.

Should I get back to Yamaha again with this issue and demand a hardware repair or replacement or a software repair? In over 50 years of receiver ownership I have never had an issue like this.

 

[3dbinCanada]

Does the snap only show up on that input, or on that channel. I have a RX-A3060 and have never had that issue.

 

[iraweiss]

Here's what I originally posted about this issue at the AVS Forum before asking Yamaha support in November and modifying the Dynamic Range setting on November 19, 2021:

Our RX-A3080 receiver has an annoying and frankly scary problem. It occasionally, unexpectedly and randomly makes a loud pop/bang sound. I would say this happens about once a day.

The sound does not appear to always come out of the same speaker. It may come from a front or side speaker and even the subwoofer.
The sound seems to be volume control independent: It is loud no matter the position of the volume control.


As far as I have seen, the popping sound only happens when using a flavor of Dolby: Digital or Digital+. I can run Internet radio all day (I do) using nine channel stereo through all 11 speakers in my 7.2.4 system and all we hear is great music. Not a peep of a pop.

BTW the receiver is cooled with an AC Infinity Aircom T8 and runs at 86 degrees max.

If I am streaming YouTube videos via ARC from my Sony XBR-65X930E, where the sound comes through PCM rather than Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus, the sound is perfect. However, when I use an app like HBO Max or Disney Plus that uses a Dolby format via bitstream I get the pop. I tried switching from a Certified 4K HDMI cable to a Certified 8K HDMI cable between the TV and receiver and that didn’t make a difference.

All cables are Monoprice Certified.

The same goes with watching cable TV. When the cable box is set to output Dolby Digital and the receiver decodes Dolby, I get the pop. I tried:

• Switching cable boxes – no difference
• Switching HDMI cables from Certified 4K to Certified 8K – no difference
• Switching from HDMI to optical cable with Audio Select – no difference
• Switching from HDMI to analog cable with Audio Select – no difference

I finally gave up and am sending a stereo signal from the cable box rather than Dolby bitstream and set the Yamaha to 9 channel stereo so we can enjoy watching TV without fear of a startling pop.
What else have I tried?

• I plugged the Yamaha power cord into an outlet on a different circuit – no difference
• I plugged the Yamaha power cord into a Monster Power HTS2500 – no difference
• I plugged the Yamaha receiver into a CyberPower UPS – no difference

I have been using receivers with a flavor of Dolby Digital since before the turn of the century including a Sony STR-DA80ES, Denon AVR-3803, Onkyo TX-NR737, Onkyo TX-RZ830, Yamaha RX-A800 and Yamaha RX-A3000 and have never encountered this issue. Ever.
Am I missing something? What should I do?

 

[EEE272]

I read about this before. If I remember correctly, they had to change the board.
I will try to dig it up to verify...
Fortunately, I never had that problem with none of my Yamahas.

 

[iraweiss]

I read about this before. If I remember correctly, they had to change the board.
I will try to dig it up to verify...
Fortunately, I never had that problem with none of my Yamahas.

TY
Knowing which board if possible will help when I contact Yamaha support.

 

[EEE272]

TY
Knowing which board if possible will help when I contact Yamaha support.

I found the thread. They said it is the "DSP logic board". This problem seems to apply to one batch.

 

[jonfitch]

One thing I like about high end/flagship Yamaha amps is power supply noise is very low, compared to Denon, Marantz, Onkyo receivers of the same class, at least this was the case from my receiver shopping experience circa 2010-2015. You get very little coil whine or amp hum. If you are sitting near the receiver, like in a nearfield, small room setup, it's a plus. If you don't, then obviously this point matters very little.

Yamaha since 2010 has implemented aggressive power limiters on their receivers in multichannel mode (since the RX-Ax000 series), so if you run 7 channels or more the power will clip at around 50W/channel. So unfortunately you will lose some dynamics and I would avoid their stuff for larger home theaters, but strangely they actually put up the highest 2 channel power output numbers with their receivers.

 

[SynthesisCinema]

Yamaha since 2010 has implemented aggressive power limiters on their receivers in multichannel mode (since the RX-Ax000 series), so if you run 7 channels or more the power will clip at around 50W/channel. So unfortunately you will lose some dynamics and I would avoid their stuff for larger home theaters, but strangely they actually put up the highest 2 channel power output numbers with their receivers.

The real world tests tells different story. ACD test playing sine wawe vs. watching a movie with powered subwoofers is very different scenario, there is even article talking about this which i remember reading and Gene from Audioholics has warned not to read too much to those numbers! Yamaha A30x0 hasn`t been lacking powering 9 speakers at very high SPL in comparison to other brands by either reviewers or by regular Joes, this has been talked years ago at AVSForum but certain people just don´t understand how flawed the ACD testing is vs. using real world program material as you aren´t taxing all channels other than very short times and there is healthy power for sudden peaks. Yamaha has been bashed for years for ACD tests, but suprisingly no one is noticing any of these silly claimes in real world like losing dynamics, sound hardening up, shutdowns which we see with "cheaper" Arcams and Nads. I also posted measurements for the RX-A3070 which are comparable/higher than competitors with 7channels powered (4ohm) so not sure is there some differences in testing methods.

 

[iraweiss]

I found the thread. They said it is the "DSP logic board". This problem seems to apply to one batch.

Thanks for finding this for me. Now I have to mention this to Yamaha support. I hate to use the word "confront". BTW do you have a link to the thread you discovered?

 

[iraweiss]

The real world tests tells different story. ACD test playing sine wawe vs. watching a movie with powered subwoofers is very different scenario, there is even article talking about this which i remember reading and Gene from Audioholics has warned not to read too much to those numbers! Yamaha A30x0 hasn`t been lacking powering 9 speakers at very high SPL in comparison to other brands by either reviewers or by regular Joes, this has been talked years ago at AVSForum but certain people just don´t understand how flawed the ACD testing is vs. using real world program material as you aren´t taxing all channels other than very short times and there is healthy power for sudden peaks. Yamaha has been bashed for years for ACD tests, but suprisingly no one is noticing any of these silly claimes in real world like losing dynamics, sound hardening up, shutdowns which we see with "cheaper" Arcams and Nads. I also posted measurements for the RX-A3070 which are comparable/higher than competitors with 7channels powered (4ohm) so not sure is there some differences in testing methods.

Please add a link to your measurements of the RX-A3070.

 

[rammster]

I had a Yamaha RX-A2030 and wanted to measure its power.
Once, when I got an oscilloscope and several 8 ohm 100W rated resistors, decided to act.
I did not have any THD measuring arsenal, only visual observation of sine wave shape was indicator of clipping or distortion.
Front L and R channels were able to show 140 watts continuous, but center and rear channels could not go higher than 50 watts. Results did not depend on single channel or all channels simultaneous usage.
I expected the power transformer to be the limiting factor, but looks like Yamaha has integrated some limiting circuit, although they use same transistors for all channels.

 

[jonfitch]

The real world tests tells different story. ACD test playing sine wawe vs. watching a movie with powered subwoofers is very different scenario, there is even article talking about this which i remember reading and Gene from Audioholics has warned not to read too much to those numbers! Yamaha A30x0 hasn`t been lacking powering 9 speakers at very high SPL in comparison to other brands by either reviewers or by regular Joes, this has been talked years ago at AVSForum but certain people just don´t understand how flawed the ACD testing is vs. using real world program material as you aren´t taxing all channels other than very short times and there is healthy power for sudden peaks. Yamaha has been bashed for years for ACD tests, but suprisingly no one is noticing any of these silly claimes in real world like losing dynamics, sound hardening up, shutdowns which we see with "cheaper" Arcams and Nads. I also posted measurements for the RX-A3070 which are comparable/higher than competitors with 7channels powered (4ohm) so not sure is there some differences in testing methods.

Yeah I remember reading that article ages ago. Funny enough Gene's opinion has changed since then and now he says avoid Yamaha if you want more sustained power and go Denon or Onkyo instead in his recent A6A review. He says its just not worth dealing with the power limiter and loss of dynamics.

 

[peng]

Yeah I remember reading that article ages ago. Funny enough Gene's opinion has changed since then and now he says avoid Yamaha if you want more sustained power and go Denon or Onkyo instead in his recent A6A review. He says its just not worth dealing with the power limiter and loss of dynamics.

I don't remember him saying it. Did he say that in the Youtube video review?

 

[iraweiss]

I don't remember him saying it. Did he say that in the Youtube video review?

I didn't see it in the written review either. It could be in a response to comments.

Putting this whole watts thing into perspective, my first amp was a Dynaco SCA-35 that was charitably rated at 17.5 watts per channel but really put out 15. It got really good reviews from the audio press of the day and I never felt it lacking in power. My Marantz 2270 stereo receiver put out a bit more than 70 watts per channel. It was an enormous power rating in its day.

Jumping to the present, until I got Outlaw 2220 200 watt amps for the L-C-R channels go accompany my RX-A3080, I was using an Emotiva A100 that outputs 50 watts per channel for the main L-R channels. I never felt that amp was lacking for power even when playing Dune and other great movies. While it would be great if Yamaha receivers put out in excess of 100 watts per channel on every channel all channels driven, do we really need it?

On the other hand I reread Gene's review of my defunct RX-A3000 and pointed out to him that the distortion of that first generation Aventage receiver is much lower (10X) than that of his recently measured RX-A6A. The older receiver produced distortion on the level of the current Denon and Marantz models. Distortion that gets worse in newer models, although not audible, is not acceptable.

 

[EEE272]

I don't remember him saying it. Did he say that in the Youtube video review?

Me neither.
He wrote that one should deactivate the limiting settings like Eco and 6 ohm but I thought then he was happy.
Here are the relevant quotes:
"This unit has some impressive output reserves (if you disable the nannies) and should be able to drive a high quality 9CH speaker system with satisfying results. "
"The RX-A6A has similar continuous power output of the Marantz SR8015 with 2ch driven, but with power sweeps, the Yamaha had a bit more output (282 watts/ch, 2ch 4ohms vs 251 watts/ch on the Marantz). However, the SR8015 didn’t limit power like the Yamaha did with 7CH driven as it was able to deliver 101 watts/ch whereas the Yamaha only put out 52 watts/ch under the same test conditions."
In other words, Marantz offers 3dB more per channel, when all channels are driven. I think, I agree with Gene:
"It’s unlikely you would trip this limiter with real program material, however."

 

[peng]

Me neither.
He wrote that one should deactivate the limiting settings like Eco and 6 ohm but I thought then he was happy.
Here are the relevant quotes:
"This unit has some impressive output reserves (if you disable the nannies) and should be able to drive a high quality 9CH speaker system with satisfying results. "
"The RX-A6A has similar continuous power output of the Marantz SR8015 with 2ch driven, but with power sweeps, the Yamaha had a bit more output (282 watts/ch, 2ch 4ohms vs 251 watts/ch on the Marantz). However, the SR8015 didn’t limit power like the Yamaha did with 7CH driven as it was able to deliver 101 watts/ch whereas the Yamaha only put out 52 watts/ch under the same test conditions."
In other words, Marantz offers 3dB more per channel, when all channels are driven. I think, I agree with Gene:
"It’s unlikely you would trip this limiter with real program material, however."

Thank you, so I guess I didn't miss anything.. Gene has been quite consistent on the "all channel driven" thing and AH has probably more than one article of this topic. If his view has changed on this, he would have some explaining or work to do lol..

 

[SynthesisCinema]

Please add a link to your measurements of the RX-A3070.

Yamaha RX-A3080 Review (AVR)

This is a review and measurements of the Yamaha RX-A3080 Audio/Video Receiver. It was kindly purchased by a member as a refurbished unit and sent to me. This is last year's model and motivation for testing was that it shares the same amplification as this year's models which have very...

www.audiosciencereview.com

You can search from the Audiovision site any competitor Denon X6500H / SR8012 etc. and compare. The measurement graphs are sometimes with poor resolution which is annoying.

@peng didn`t Gene promise to make subjective review of the sound quality of A6A using it in he´s main room? I don´t see the clip yet at the youtube. I would be very suprised if he wouldn`t like what he is hearing. I know persons who has had the earlier version and many other brands in same room for comparison. Yamaha isn´t lacking in real world power compared to similar priced competitors. We don´t know the power supply VA rating for Yamaha, but RX-A6A uses two 18,000uF caps where as Denon X6700H uses two 15,000uF (750VA E-Core). RX-A8A has 2x 22,000uF caps same as Marantz SR8015 (835A toroidal).

 

[iraweiss]

Yamaha RX-A3080 Review (AVR)

This is a review and measurements of the Yamaha RX-A3080 Audio/Video Receiver. It was kindly purchased by a member as a refurbished unit and sent to me. This is last year's model and motivation for testing was that it shares the same amplification as this year's models which have very...

www.audiosciencereview.com

You can search from the Audiovision site any competitor Denon X6500H / SR8012 etc. and compare. The measurement graphs are sometimes with poor resolution which is annoying.

@peng didn`t Gene promise to make subjective review of the sound quality of A6A using it in he´s main room? I don´t see the clip yet at the youtube. I would be very suprised if he wouldn`t like what he is hearing. I know persons who has had the earlier version and many other brands in same room for comparison. Yamaha isn´t lacking in real world power compared to similar priced competitors. We don´t know the power supply VA rating for Yamaha, but RX-A6A uses two 18,000uF caps where as Denon X6700H uses two 15,000uF (750VA E-Core). RX-A8A has 2x 22,000uF caps same as Marantz SR8015 (835A toroidal).

Please provide a link to the Audiovision site mentioned.

 

[SynthesisCinema]

Please provide a link to the Audiovision site mentioned.

I just did that which lead to my old post which had the link. But here you go:

Yamaha RX-A3070 (Test)

audiovision.de

 

[iraweiss]

I just did that which lead to my old post which had the link. But here you go:

Yamaha RX-A3070 (Test)

audiovision.de

TY