Yamaha RX-V685 vs Pioneer VSX-934

Here we are comparing Yamaha RX-V685 to Pioneer VSX-934 to reveal their common strengths and weaknesses as well as the differences between them which will help you in making a correct decision before the purchase. Both receivers have 7 channel amplifiers with Yamaha RX-V685's being more powerful.

Now that we've looked at the most essential specifications and gained a basic understanding of these receivers, we can delve into more details and see the differences between them.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Yamaha RX-V685 over Pioneer VSX-934.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Pioneer VSX-934 over Yamaha RX-V685.

We already listed pros and cons of each model. However, you may also find useful to look at their common strengths and weaknesses shown side-by-side.

Amplifier

Speaker Configurations

Yamaha RX-V685's and Pioneer VSX-934's amplifiers can be assigned for different speaker configurations.

• Dolby Atmos Configurations: The following speaker configurations are supported for Dolby Atmos:
Yamaha RX-V685: 5.2.2 with internal amplifier.
Pioneer VSX-934: 5.2.2 with internal amplifier.
• DTS:X Configurations: The following speaker configurations are supported for DTS:X:
Yamaha RX-V685: The speaker configurations for DTS:X are the same as for Dolby Atmos - 5.2.2 with internal amplifier.
Pioneer VSX-934: The speaker configurations for DTS:X are the same as for Dolby Atmos - 5.2.2 with internal amplifier.
• Configurations without height channels: There are also other speaker configurations available which do not include height channels:
Yamaha RX-V685: 5.2, 7.2 with internal amplifier.
Pioneer VSX-934: 5.2, 7.2 with internal amplifier.
• 2-ch Bi-Amp: Both models are able to bi-amp up to 2 main channels simultaneously. During bi-amplification two amplifiers are used for one speaker. One amplifier powers the midrange and tweeter section of the speaker and another amplifier powers the low frequency woofers. Each amplifier is less loaded and performs better. In order to use this feature speakers must have 2 pairs of connectors.



Dolby Atmos

Yamaha RX-V685 and Pioneer VSX-934 support Dolby Atmos. It is a cinematic audio format in which sounds exist as individual entities, called audio objects. In Dolby Atmos, any sound can exist as an independent audio object, free of channel restrictions. They can be precisely placed and moved anywhere in your room, including overhead, to flow above and around you in three-dimensional space. Through the use of audio objects, overhead sound, and all the richness, clarity, and power of Dolby sound, Dolby Atmos turns your room into an amazing place for entertainment. The format supports up to 128 simultaneous independent audio objects in a mix for rich, realistic, and breathtaking sound. It recreates the director's original concept through descriptive metadata to provide customized playback for home theater and delivers sounds above you through overhead speakers, special upward-firing Dolby Atmos speakers, or a Dolby Atmos enabled sound bar.

• Dolby Surround Upmixer: Both models support Dolby Surround Upmixer. If the content is not mixed in Dolby Atmos then the Dolby surround upmixer will expand the audio to all channels including ceiling speakers. The upmixer has replaced the Dolby Pro Logic II family with improved upmixing algorithms.
• Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization: Pioneer VSX-934 supports Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization which is a digital signal processing solution that leverages Dolby's deep understanding of human audio perception to create the sensation of overhead sound from the listener-level speakers.

DTS:X

Yamaha RX-V685 and Pioneer VSX-934 support DTS:X. A technique used in DTS:X is similar to the one used in Dolby Atmos. Instead of a fixed number of channels, DTS:X defines object locations from the listener in polar coordinates. An a/v receiver then dynamically renders sound according to the current speaker configuration. The speaker layout employed by DTS:X is the sum of Dolby Atmos and Auro-3D. It has standard 7.1 channel base layer, a 5 channel height layer above the base layer on the front and side walls, and 3 rows of speakers on the ceiling.

• DTS Neural:X: Both models feature DTS Neural:X which is an advanced upmixer that can take non DTS:X content and upmix it to the DTS:X speaker layout. It has replaced the DTS Neo family with improved flexibility.
• DTS Virtual:X: Yamaha RX-V685 supports DTS Virtual:X which bridges the gap between DTS:X codec and the reality of so many consumers' homes, allowing you to enjoy multi-dimensional sound regardless of room size, layout, or speaker configuration. If you have a limited speaker setup you will miss a full immersive potential of your entertainment system. DTS Virtual:X adds height and surround audio effect to your system without adding height speakers. It works with multiple configurations and delivers immersive sound experience out of 5.1 or even 2.1 speaker layouts.
• DTS Dialog Control: Both models have DTS Dialog Control. This function adjusts the dialog levels during playback of the DTS:X stream. It allows you to separately increase the dialog levels in contrast with the background sound and hear dialog easily even under noisy circumstances.

Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC)

Yamaha RX-V685 supports Audio Return Channel (ARC) which allows the compatible TV to send audio signal to the a/v receiver through the same HDMI cable which is used to send audio and video signals to the TV. So one HDMI cable is used to transfer audio signal in both directions. New Enhanced ARC will support uncompressed audio formats such as Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio whereas the previous ARC could support only Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, DTS HD, and PCM.




Sound Processing

• Adaptive DRC: Yamaha RX-V685 features Adaptive DRC (Dynamic Range Control) which automatically adjusts the dynamic range of the sound according to the volume level. This ensures that you hear clear dialog and vocals, and all sound effects at comfortable levels. There is no need to adjust the volume level as you listen; everything from whispers to big explosions will be heard clearly and comfortably at the same volume setting. It also tones down loud TV commercials, and is ideal for low-volume, late-night listening, when you do not want to disturb others.
• Compressed Music Enhancer: Yamaha RX-V685 and Pioneer VSX-934 feature Compressed Music Enhancer which enhances the quality of the music files with lossy compression.
Advanced Sound Retriever: Compressed music enhancement in Pioneer VSX-934 is done by Pioneer’s Advanced Sound Retriever. Hear the detail, warmth and clarity, the way the artist intended it, from all of your highly compressed MP3 and WMA files stored on USB, Smartphone and portable media players. By restoring data that tend to get lost in the digital compression process, Pioneers Advanced Sound Retriever Technology enhances audio reproduction all the way upto 20 Khz frequencies.

Room Calibration

Yamaha RX-V685 comes with YPAO (R.S.C.) and Pioneer VSX-934 comes with MCACC room correction system.

• YPAO: The Yamaha Parametric room Acoustic Optimizer (YPAO) function detects speaker connections, measures the distances from them to your listening position(s), and then automatically optimizes the speaker settings, such as volume balance and acoustic parameters, to suit your room.
• MCACC: Pioneer’s exclusive Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration System (MCACC) delivers an easy-to-use, automatic sound adjustment system to precision-tune your Pioneer and Pioneer Elite receivers with minimal effort. Every MCACC system comes with a microphone to measure and analyze reverb characteristics. The equalizer optimally adjusts sound parameters to fit the size and shape of your home environment while maintaining the integrity of high-resolution playback without any degradation to the quality of your music.

HDMI

Yamaha RX-V685 comes with 5 HDMI inputs. It has 2 outputs which work parallelly and output the same signal.

Pioneer VSX-934 comes with 6 HDMI inputs. It has 2 outputs - 1 MAIN and 1 SUB/ZONE 2.

• 4K/60Hz Passthrough: On both receivers all inputs pass up to 4K/60p 4:4:4 video signal.
• 4K Upscaling on Yamaha RX-V685: It can upscale up to 4K 60p 4:4:4 from HDMI and analog sources.
  4K Upscaling on Pioneer VSX-934: It can upscale 1080p to 4K from HDMI sources.
• Analog To HDMI Upconversion: Yamaha RX-V685 supports analog to HDMI Upconversion, so you can input your analog video sources and output them digitally via HDMI. This means that you will need only one HDMI cable to connect to your TV.
• BT.2020 Color Space: BT.2020 or Rec. 2020 is a color standard which delivers a wider color gamut compared to Rec. 709. It covers approximately 75% of the total visual spectrum while the Rec. 709 covers only 35% (available on both models).
• HDCP Copy Protection: Yamaha RX-V685 is HDCP 2.3.0 and Pioneer VSX-934 is HDCP 2.2.0 compliant which is a requirement for 4K/HDR copy-protected content transmission.
• 3D Ready: Both receivers are able to pass 3D video through HDMI.

HDR (High Dynamic Range)

Both receivers support HDR10, Dolby Vision and Hybrid Log-Gamma.

High dynamic range video has greater dynamic range than standard dynamic range (SDR) video with brighter whites and deeper blacks. The result is greater contrast and more details in dark and bright areas, better color and depth.

• HDR10: HDR10 uses the wide-gamut Rec. 2020 color space. It sends static metadata via video stream to the TV which calibrates its screen brightness and color according to that. HDR10 supports 10-bit color which corresponds to 1024 shades of the primary RGB colors. It is technically limited to a maximum of 10,000 nits peak brightness, however common HDR10 contents are mastered with peak brightness from 1,000 to 4,000 nits.
• Dolby Vision: Dolby Vision is a set of technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories for high dynamic range (HDR) video. It covers content creation, distribution, and playback. Like HDR10+, it includes dynamic metadata that are used to adjust and optimize each frame of the HDR video to the consumer display's capabilities in a way specified by the content creator. Dolby Vision allows for a maximum resolution of 8K up to 12-bit color depth, maximum peak brightness of 10,000 nits and a color gamut up to Rec. 2020. It uses Dolby's proprietary dynamic metadata defined in SMPTE ST 2094-10.
• Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG): The Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) is a transfer function developed mainly for HDR live video feed and over-the-air broadcasts. It is an HDR format that uses BT.2020 color primaries and a bitdepth of 10-bit. It is backward compatible with the transfer function of SDR and is designed to be better-suited for television broadcasting, where the metadata required for other HDR formats is not backward compatible with non-HDR displays. HLG defines a non-linear optical-electro transfer function, in which the lower half of the signal values use a gamma curve and the upper half of the signal values use a logarithmic curve.

Audio

• Phono Input: There is an MM phono input on Yamaha RX-V685 and Pioneer VSX-934 with built-in phono stage for connecting the moving magnet cartridge output of the turntable directly to the receiver.
• Analog Pre-Outs: Yamaha RX-V685 has 2.2 preamplifier outputs which allows you to connect the receiver to the external power amplifier. You may want to use a high quality external amplifier for certain channels, usually for front L/R and center, and use the receiver to power the rest. Also, both receivers have 7 channel processing but have only 7 channel amplifiers, so they need external amplifiers connected to the analog pre-outs in order to reach their maximum speaker configurations.
• Analog Line Inputs: There are 4 pair of line inputs on both receivers for connecting sources with analog outputs.
• Digital Inputs: 2 optical inputs and 2 coaxial inputs are available on Yamaha RX-V685 and 1 optical input and 1 coaxial input are available on Pioneer VSX-934 for digital audio connections.
• Headphone Output: There is a 6.3 mm (1/4") headphone output jack on the front panel of each receiver.

Video

• HDMI:
Yamaha RX-V685
Inputs: 5   Outputs: 2
8K Inputs: 0.
Pioneer VSX-934
Inputs: 6   Outputs: 2 (1 MAIN, 1 SUB/ZONE 2)
8K Inputs: 0.
• Composite Video: Connect you VCR, Laserdisc player and other old video equipment with composite video cables.
Yamaha RX-V685
Inputs: 1   Outputs: 0.
Pioneer VSX-934
Inputs: 0   Outputs: 0.
• Component Video: Component video connection gives you the higher quality video compared to the composite video connection. So in case your old DVD player and other equipment do not have an HDMI output but have Component video output use this connection over the composite one.
• Yamaha RX-V685 supports up to 480i/576i resolution on Component video connectors. resolution on Component video connectors.
Yamaha RX-V685
Inputs: 1   Outputs: 0.
Pioneer VSX-934
Inputs: 0   Outputs: 0.

Front A/V Inputs

• Yamaha RX-V685: USB, mini-jack Audio
• Pioneer VSX-934: USB, Mini-Jack

Yamaha RX-V685

Pioneer VSX-934