Yamaha has now released their full AV receiver range for this year and it is full of all the usual goodies we’ve grown to expect, with some exciting additions.
The RXV681 follows on from previous models and includes features such as Bluetooth capability and Yamaha’s MusicCast multiroom technology. One of the very exciting changes from the RXV681’s younger sibling from last year, the RXV679, is the introduction of Dolby Atmos and DTS-X. Yamaha has been a little behind with their previous units with introducing this technology but it’s very exciting to see them finally catch up with the likes of Onkyo and Denon, who have been including this technology in their ranges for the last 2 years.
As well as the introduction of Dolby Atmos and DTS-X, Yamaha has introduced a more sophisticated 2 zone technology, making it easier than ever before to switch between the 2 zones to set different moods in different rooms. They’ve also crammed in a moving magnet phono stage as well, for all you vinyl fans out there. And the cherry on top of this fantastic package is Yamaha’s brilliant MusicCast technology, which can be viewed as a rival to Sonos’ multiroom offering. Available on a range of all in one speakers and across most of their AV receiver range, MusicCast gives you the ability to send music wirelessly over your network to your system, to as many speakers as you have on the network.
As expected from any of the 6 series in the Yamaha AV receiver range, it sounds fantastic for both movies and music. Taking advantage of the Apple Airplay, I put on Iron Maiden’s ‘Number of the Beast’. It shook our entire demo room to pieces and the Yamaha didn’t struggle at all. It’s not all shouty and noisy either. I went in a different direction with Lucas Graham’s ‘7 years’ and calmed the volume right down. I was really impressed with the level of detail that the Yamaha brought out of the music at much lower volume.
I rigged up the RXV681 into our Dolby Atmos system with a Panasonic DX902, DMPUB900 UHD Blu-ray player and also paired them up with Monitor Audio’s incredible Radius speaker package. I popped in a copy of San Andreas. which is by no way one of the greatest films of all time but it sounds amazing. The RXV681 gives you an incredible degree of separation and really gives you an incredible home cinema experience as well as proper hi-fi sound, which to be honest, is now expected from Yamaha.
I really couldn’t begin to praise this unit enough. My only qualm with the RXV679 was the lack of Dolby Atmos and DTS-X, but they’ve now filled that void with this receiver and it is truly one of the best buy units for its price point.
To find out more about the Yamaha RXV681, click here.
Author: Garrett, Plymouth store
