Yamaha RX-V373
Price: $515
Rating: 5/5
Yamaha made quite an impact on last year’s
home cinema amplifier scene. It stormed our Awards and beat regular winners
Onkyo, Pioneer and Sony to win two of the four gongs, including Product of the
Year for the Yamaha RX-V673.
The cheaper RX-V373 picked up the Award for
best budget AV amp and it’s now even cheaper still, offering an outstanding
value-to-performance ratio. It’s ‘only’ a 5.1 system (100W a channel), so you
don’t have quite the flexibility for your speaker set-up as with the other amps
here, but at the level it’s aimed at, this is unlikely to be a huge issue.
Yamaha
RX-V373
There are four high-speed HDMI inputs,
offering 3D support and future-proofing 4K pass-through technology. There’s a
USB port in the front for plugging in your iDevice or thumb drive for music
playback, but you won’t find networking options on board for any wireless
streaming here. That might be expected at this price point, but we do find the
lack of video up scaling disappointing – it’s a feature you’ll find in some of
its competitors.
Another niggle is that there’s only one set
of binding-post connectors for the front speaker channel. The rest of the
channels make do with spring-loaded connectors. It’s a cost-saving exercise, so
not something unseen on kit at this price, but it’s something the other
amplifiers on test manage to avoid.
Still, what it might lose out on in the
battle of the spec sheets, it more than makes up for in performance. Setup
isn’t quite as easy as for the other two amps on test, but once done (and you
do have to do it only once, after all), you’ll reap the rewards with every
listening.
Big sounding, yet subtle
During the opening scene of The Dark
Knight, the Yamaha picks up subtleties that had been lost or less defined when
listening to the same scene with the Sony. As the camera pans over the city
buildings, the faint hum of traffic is heard all around you, the uneasy single
note of the soundtrack drawing you into the action that’s to come. Then, the
weighty thud of the glass window being blown out, packing enough punch to make
even a veteran watcher of this scene jump.
2012’s
Best Buy in this category, the Yamaha proves it’s still a top contender in this
class
It’s ‘big-sounding’ for its price, and it
spreads sound smoothly and expressively around the room – so much so that you
don’t really miss the rear surrounds of a 7.1 system. From the voices of the
Joker’s minions to the soundtrack underneath, you feel involved in every
uncomfortable minute of the bank robbery as, one by one, the sound of tight,
controlled gunshots pierce the mix.
The Yamaha is a master of dynamics too.
When playing Beyoncé’s live Blu-ray, all the nuances of her voice are conveyed
well and with enthusiasm, with impeccable timing and a strong, well-balanced
connection to the instrumental accompaniment beneath. CD performance offers
more of the same, with great rhythm and impressive separation.
This is an accomplished addition to any
entry-level home cinema setup. It might not be the most stylish or best
specified option here, but its excellent performance speaks for itself. It
remains a worthy five-star.
USB connection
The Yamaha may be a stripped-down affair
but it still allows direct connection of an iPod/ iPhone to its front panel USB
socket. This is a direct digital connection, making the most of the sound
quality of your iDevice, and it will charge you’re portable even if the Yamaha
is switched off. A USB thumb drive can also be connected.
A
USB thumb drive can also be connected
Rating: 5/5
For: Impressive dynamics and detail; 4K
compatible; an immersive, expressive sound
Against: Only 5.1 channels; no 1080p video
up scaling; spring-loaded connectors
Verdict: Produces a dynamic, exciting sound
not often heard at this level. A class act
Yamaha RX-V373 specs
·
Channels/power: 5/85W
·
HDMI in/out: 4/1
·
Component in/out: 2/1
·
Optical digital in: 2
·
Ethernet/Wi-Fi: No/No
·
Tuner/presets: FM/ 40
·
Video Up conversion: No
·
Auto set-up: Yes
·
3D/4K capable: Yes/Yes
·
Weight: 7.5kg
·
Dimensions (H x W x D): 15 x 44 x 32cm
The winner
Pioneer VSX-922 - Rating 5/5
A massive price slash means it’s
impossible to look beyond Pioneer’s super performer
Perhaps a rather predictable winner of this
test: the features and performance of the once Pioneer VSX-922 are just too
much for the true entry-level options on test to compete with. That’s not to
say it was a complete whitewash.
The Sony STR-DH820 loses a star, but it
remains a capable choice for those looking for a well-featured budget
seven-channel amp. Unfortunately, two years on from release, its sound quality
can no longer quite hold its own.
The Yamaha showed exactly why we picked it
as an Award winner. What it may lack in the style department, it more than
picks up where it counts – in its performance. A genuine entry-level option, it
offers class-leading sound and the best handling of dynamics here, conveying
subtleties that some higher priced amps can’t manage.
The
winner is Pioneer VSX-922
But it was the Pioneer VSX-922, with all
its mid-range bells and whistles, that won us over in the end. The array of
features offered with at cheaper market prices is really quite extensive – in
particular its network connectivity that adds evens more functionality to your
system. Of course its performance, which saw it lost in the competitive
mid-range marketplace, shines at its new price point, offering a big, detailed
and accurate sound that’ll place you right in the middle of the action during
those ‘show-stopper’ moments.
A predictable winner it may be, but it’s
also a reminder that it’s wise to consider better-specified, discounted kit
when looking at equipment in your price-point. The Pioneer VSX-922 is proof
that you don’t always get what you pay for sometimes, you might just get more.
