YAMAHARX-A4A AVENTAGE 7.2-Channel AV Receiver – 8K and 4K/120 HDMI, eARC, Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Auro-3D, Surround:AI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, MusicCast

It's a Yamaha, it just works. I've been buying Yamaha ever since getting burned by no less than 4 Onk0 products, one Integra and three Onkyos. HDMI boards in each went south.But enough of that, this is a Yamaha review after all. HDMI switching is as quick as you could want, sound quality is very good, and I have very revealing speakers with RAAL ribbon tweeters. I don't really care for the 24 or so sound effects stuff Yamaha includes in most or their AVRs, but it's no big deal since they don't get in the way of what I want, which is nice clean sound. And that is where this Yamaha shines.What I don't like is that great big volume knob on the front of this thing. Couldn't look more ridiculous if they had pasted a big red rubber clown nose on it! All to hide the fact that they cheaped out with that itty bitty display window that is difficult to read without binoculars!

I have used a few different brands and models, and couldn’t be happier with this YAMAHA RX-A4A. Awesome sound and power. It delivers crisp and clear sound with the punch that you need for home theater. I love the PURE DIRECT mode that delivers the power you need for karaoke. You have to spend a little more to enjoy the music and audio experience. I tried the RX-A2A and that does not have enough power and the sound is not to my expectations. I highly recommend this YAMAHA RX-A4A for your home theater and music listening. At least the RX-A4A or A6A.

The RX-A4A is very easy to use via either the remote control or the MusicCast iOS app. The front panel of the unit has only two dials (volume and input selector) and four buttons for selecting pre-programmed inputs. Plus front panel connectors for USB and a headphone. Missing is a front panel connector for HDMI which is unfortunate because there are still times I want to connect a laptop to the receiver using my traveling HDMI cable. Now I have to dedicate an HDMI cable connected to a back panel HDMI connection.My previous AV receiver was the RX-V2095 purchased in 2007. That has pretty good audio but the RX-A4A noticeably improves upon that unit especially on the predefined audio and video settings for concert halls and Sci-Fi movie content. Most interesting is the Artificial Intelligence surround sound choice. It does a decent job of determining the best distribution of voice and instrumentation to the speakers based on the source. But I do find I don't like the AI distribution on older audio content that originated from the early days of stereo. Too much of the voice is pushed to the center speaker on that old content which indicates the AI is working as programmed but I'm more used to the 60's and 70's music being evenly distributed between two front speakers. So the best choice, as it was with the RX-2095 was to evenly instruments and voice to all speakers. In my case 7 channel stereo. Otherwise I am pleased with how the AI Surround works.Video management is much easier than the RX-2095 and there is no degradation of video quality that I'm seeing but I'm also not doing any detailed analysis on that.So overall I am very pleased with the RX-A4A. Easy to use and outstanding audio.

Right before the advent of HDMI into the zeitgeist of AV I upgraded my entire home theater. I got a multichannel DVD player that would also play SACD and DVD-Audio and a Pioneer Elite receiver that could use its mini-1394 interface. That mini-1394 interface kept me from upgrading for years. I just loved the sound of multichannel SACDs. Then Oppo came out with a multichannel universal player was a little out of reach. Then when I was about to pull the trigger on an Oppo they stopped making their AV components. Well a few years passed and things have changed a little. I still wish I could have gotten my hands on that Oppo unit.Then I bought this Yamaha receiver. One of the main reasons I purchased this unit was the ESS Sabre ES9007S DAC it had. I also had prior positive experiences with Yamaha receivers which helped too. But I first learned of the ESS Sabre DACs when drooling over Oppo components. This as a significant part of the Yamaha component has been amazing. It can play lossless files from my NAS, which has been glorious. And it even does a great job decoding my SACDs fed by my new Sony Universal player. I have also been blown away by how awesome the unit has made films. I viewed The Green Knight, and Dune in the past week and it was incredible. Does a great job processing the Atmos soundtracks into an encompassing experience. I really wished I had made this switch sooner, but it always seemed that my requirements for price and features just wasn't there. But now I couldn't be happier with my home theater's sound.

I was not thrilled about mail ordering this product. UPS in my area has a bad reputation. They lived up to this in so many ways. I changed the shipping date because they told me I had to be there to sign for it. But delivery day came and I was informed that my package was “ miss-sorted” and would be delivered on a day to be determined. I called UPS and was told to just relax and it will be delivered soon. When it was finely delivered the outer box was opened and flapping. The inside box was still sealed. And the driver didn’t need a signature. So keep this in mind if you have to order from Amazon. It was in sale for what I thought was a good price so I ordered.The Yamaha A4A is larger than the old Yamaha amplifier I had for eight years. It set up easy enough and I had things going in a few minutes. I ran the Ypao calibration and did some tweaking right off the bat. It took me a few days to get things right. At 110 watts a channel this amp sounds much larger. Very clear upper end and deep fast base. The Aventage line has a web editor if you type in your units IP Address on a tablet, phone or computer making it very simple to dial everything in. So far I love the A4A.