For you who are currently walking in confusion for picking the most correct A/V receiver for the best home entertainment, we’re here to guide you. Picking one of out thousand goodies out there could be a pretty challenging, budget breaking mission. There are numbers of identification that you need to know about a good A/V receiver, from the basic one like number of channels to the amount of power, reliability of wireless feature, and overall sound performance that finally lead to the actual value of a receiver.
One thing you should know first, features equal money, so more features will always end up to a more expensive product. Usually you will stand for that idea when choosing electronics like laptops or televisions, but it’s the same with A/V receivers. You need to think about features you need the most, and abandon the rest. Don’t even bother to pay up for something unusable, it’s just a waste of money. Among other important features of characters of a receiver, one thing that’s important is the channel.
Channel on A/V receivers is not the same as channels in televisions. The channels we’re talking about is the ability of one speaker they can power. For example, if a receiver has five channels, that simply means it can power up five speakers, the greater number the better. You can find not only five speakers on the common, but also seven. Usually they are represented as 5.1 and 7.1 channels. 7.1, which means 7 speakers can be powered with connection to one subwoofer. And again, you can also find a greater number of subwoofers out there, which sounds better as expected.
Like all electronics, you need the power inside the receivers in order to give an optimal output. It is usually measured in watts, and just like channels, greater power means a higher amount of budget needed, and you can expect some receivers are “stronger” than the others.
The money that would be spent not only ends in power and channels, but also the quality of sound. It’s not new news that more expensive is generally better in everything. Receivers that have a more affordable price usually have the cheaper components planted in them which is directly reflecting why their prices are so cheap compared to the high-quality ones that have much better components which lead to better audio quality. If you’d like to spend a little more, you may expect a greater improvement in terms of durability and quality, as long as it’s not exceeding your budget.
| Yamaha RX A2080 | Yamaha RX A3080 | |
|---|---|---|
| Best Offer | click here | click here |
  |   |
|
| Product Dimensions | 18.66 x 17.13 x 7.56 inches | 18.66 x 17.13 x 7.56 inches |
| Shipping Weight | 37.5 pounds | 39.9 pounds |
Among other products battling around the market, we currently focus on the Yamaha products that we’re gonna recommend to you, the RX A2080 and its newer version, RX A3080. We can see from the obvious reason, the “3” is greater than “2” in terms of technological advancement since it was launched as a revised version. But is it actually worth the purchase, or staying with A2080 is more than enough? Let’s see about that below:
Yamaha RX A2080 – $1,599
Talking about the design, there’s not so much difference, so both 3080 and 2080 actually look almost identical. The top half of the front side is neatly finished with glossy color with functions displayed right on the center of it, showing the Pure Direct button on the right side and circula power button right on the left.
This receiver has the pure 9.2 channels. What we mean as a “pure” is that, unlike it’s newer 3080, it doesn’t have the 11.2 channels support, which actually a character of Yamaha that’s not meeting the market’s demand unlike the competitors. Nowadays, you can find so many of them, directly supporting the 11.2 channels even without an external amp. On the bright side, 2080’s still able to support Dolby Atmos setup with 7.2.2 or 5.2.4 configuration.
Power is only about 10 watts lower than 3080’s, which is sitting quietly at 140 watts per channel. It’s not that bad actually, and since it carries the pure power, the difference is very slim actually. In this lower price of notable Yamaha’s AV receivers, the users can still get the YPAO calibration system, with different functions and features that highly depend on what model you have.
Good news for Apple users, Yamaha gives you the Airplay 2 feature, which is equivalent to MusicCast and you can connect it to various Apple devices. It also has the wired multi-room capabilities that can support up to 3 additional zones. For streaming, it can support most famous names like Spotify, Pandora, Sirius XM, Napster, TIDAL, and Deezer.
Yamaha RX A3080 – $ 1,999
As mentioned above, the design didn’t get any significant difference compared to the 2080, or even the other older receivers. It’s a newer product, yes, but it’s blending in with its predecessors in terms of design. However, unlike the competitors who give a direct support to 11.2 channels, 3080 is only limited to 9.2 channels with the possibility of 11.2 channels support with the help of additional amp. Just like 2080, users can utilize the Dolby Atmos or DTS:X with 7.2.2 or 5.2.4 audio configuration. Power? 3080 is supported with 150 watts per channel, able to fill up rooms with your desider audio immersion.
You can also get the lovable audio calibration, YPAO with 3D, EQ Calculation, angle measurement, and multi-point. Together with Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and automatic measurements, you can achieve the best audio quality possible. Airplay is still here for content streaming directly from your mobile devices with tons of streaming audio streaming softwares support including Spotify, Internet Radio, Pandora, Napster, Tidal, SiriusXM, Deezer, and TIDAL. Read also: Marantz SR6014 Vs Yamaha 2080.
Yamaha RX A2080 Vs RX A3080
Verdict
As you can see, both are almost like identical twins. They have way too many similarities, like having the Dolby Atmos support, DTS:X support, HDR10, Dolby Vision, Amazon Alexa, Internet Audio, Bluetooth, Wifi, Ethernet Connectivity, up to the support for so many softwares like Pandora, Spotify, Deezer, SiriusXM, and even Napster.
But what we see as an interesting value is, as expected, Yamaha RX A3080 actually delivered with more power capability per channel, better channel processing, greater number of analog pre-outs, and it has both the XLR inputs and pre-outs. Thus, we think the upgrade is actually worthwhile.