Sound Quality
“Iron Man 3″ is a spectacular experience on Blu-ray. The dialogue is great and rich, with clear articulation. The soundstage is massive and there is plenty of power. The intense scenes, like when Tony Stark’s house is bombarded by helicopters, the Yamaha sounds less stressed than both Onkyo and Pioneer. The power is on par with the Harman/Kardon, but with a larger soundstage and a more resolved bass. Muscle strength does not quite reach up to the NAD, but on the other hand, the NAD doesn´t have Yamaha’s transparency in harmonics.
Classic jazz sounds very good too. The resolution of the harmonics seem better than the other receivers we´ve tested, and the piano rings beautifully and different voices are distinguished. The bass sounds natural, with good power. This means that the receiver is well suited to both rhythmic rock and more acoustic tones.
Pure tonally the RX-A1030 pulls in the rich direction, while Pioneer is more neutral and resolved in the midrange. Yamaha, however, is more resolved in the treble and sounds even more entertaining with action movies and rock. Overall, we think that this is the one of the best home theater receivers in this price range.