I have a Yamaha V6A and when I turn it up to -25dbs, let alone -15dbs, it's way too loud for comfort.. so it's safe to say that the distortion is only a problem in certain contexts, i.e. if you're using it to drive massive speakers in a proper home theatre, in which case you'd probably purchase a flagship denon anyway and not the entry level yamaha.
Apart from that it offers great connectivity via spotify and airplay 2 and the 'pure direct' mode is great for driving my loudspeakers into oplaying music.
Andrew is nothing but a talking head.
I think that he's actually OK for a channel that probably makes all of his money from you know what.
This "reviewer" rarely has a problem with any gear
I actually thought the same, but then i realised that he does indeed say exactly what his problem with a piece of gear/equipment it.
For example you can watch his review on the yamaha 3200 amp and he will tell you exactly what he does not like about it, amongst many other reviews.
He did say what he doesn't like and what he thinks about the receiver - the thing that people don't understand about reviews is that some details have nothing to do with what another person might think, so they are pointless to discuss.
I recall watching a guy review the new samsung tab 8 ultra and say how he dislikes the antenna on the back - and i just sat there thinking what that has to do with anything? That's literally just his opinion and many people might not even notice that particular detail.
I feel the same way about people saying the V6A is ugly and lacks buttons on the face, when in reality i don't even touch the receiver and instead use the web-based app to make any and all adjustments - you can literally turn it on and off from the browser. The only caveat here is that you require a network/wifi or ethernet connection.
This might be surprising to somebody who is more seasoned in the field of avrs and hifi, but IMO this receiver is perfect for an entry level home theatre enthurist, especially because it can be bought rather cheap - apart from this alleged distortion, it does everything it claims, more or less.
Just bought this last week. Chose the Yamaha over Denon X2700H because of the US$200 price difference (from discount) and the fact that Yamaha offer superior after sales service here.
Quite happy with it, especially for the music performance when using Pire Direct. I pair it with Elac DBR62, and will add more speakers overtime.
Btw this is my first AVR. I'm coming from Sony soundbar.
Same here - had it for 2 months or so.
Music on pure direct is quite amazing on my wharfedale towers.