Yamaha RX-V685 Review

Yamaha’s RX-V685 AV Receiver offers a staggering amount of cutting-edge technology, such as Dolby Atmos, Multiroom connectivity, MusicCast and an option to use wireless rear speakers, but also provides old-school options like phono inputs and FM Radio.

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The receiver comes with a remote control and batteries, the YPAO microphone, FM and AM antennas, and a Quick Start Guide. If you want the Owner’s Manual you’ll have to download it from Yamaha’s website.

Features & Build Quality

As usual, not much has changed in the looks department compared to previous generations and we doubt that this unassuming AV receiver will win any design awards anytime soon. The only thing that have changed is the remote, which looks a little less cluttered and more user-friendly compared to previous models.

The front panel is split into two sections, the lower half slightly larger and has that brushed aluminum look, although we’re not sure that it’s actually aluminum. In the lower section you’ll find, from left to right, a headphone output, input selectors, tone control, program selectors, Straight (Connect) button, USB input, 3.5mm AUX input, and a large volume knob. Just above these, in the center, are four SCENE buttons.

The top half is covered in what we assume to be transparent acrylic (Plexiglass) hiding a dot-matrix display. Just below the display you’ll find ten small buttons with various functions and to the left you’ll find the Standby button and YPAO microphone jack, to the right the Pure Direct button that allows you to play back the selected source with the least circuitry.

A quick look at the back reveals a fair amount of in- and outputs; HDMI (5 in/2 out), Network port, two optical inputs, two coaxial inputs, component video inputs, phono input, three aux inputs (RCA), one composite video input, zone 2 out, pre-out (front, 2 subwoofer), remote in/out, trigger out, FM an AM antenna inputs, and nine (9) pairs of speaker terminals (front, center, surround, surround back, presence). The surround back terminals also functions as output for Zone 2 (or bi-amp), and the Presence terminals can also be used as Zone 2 output. And a non-detachable power cord.

If you’re not using the Zone 2 or Presence speakers and have front speakers you can bi-wire the 685 gives you the option to do so. This brings some extra benefits – usually a tighter, firmer and better defined sound. If you’re less experienced in setting up AV receivers we also recommend calibrating the receiver using the YPAO mic. We got really good results and it gives you a good starting point for additional tweaking, if necessary.

The RX-V685 has a decent build quality and feels very well put together. A look inside tells us that Yamaha’s engineers have once again done a solid job and the choice of components is nothing short of impressive at this price point; we can see separate digital and analog sections with four Burr-Brown PCM5102A two-channel 32-bit converters, Sanken’s A1695 and C4468 output transistors, and Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors. All the electronics are cooled down with the help of large heatsinks.

The RX-V685 can pump out 90 watts per channel (8 ohms, 0.06% THD) and supports just about any format you can think of (MP3 / WMA / MPEG-4 AAC: up to 48 kHz / 16-bit, ALAC: up to 96 kHz / 24-bit, FLAC: up to 192 kHz / 24-bit, WAV / AIFF: up to 192 kHz / 32-bit, DSD: up to 11.2 MHz). It also supports 4K Ultra HD, HDR (high dynamic range) video including Dolby Vision and Hybrid Log-Gamma, and of course Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

If you’re into streaming you can connect to your network either by cable, WiFi or Bluetooth. You can choose between a variety of streaming services, such as Pandora, Spotify, SiriusXM Internet Radio, TIDAL, Deezer, Napster and more…

Speaking of streaming, the MusicCast functionality allows you to use Yamaha’s MusicCast 20 and 50 speakers as wireless surround speakers – a very nice feature if you’re not that into wires cluttering your living space.

Finally, the RX-V685 comes with Alexa voice control integration, meaning that you can now control certain functions with your voice.

Sound Quality

We were instantly impressed with the sense of power and size this relatively modest AV receiver provided – it had no problem filling our fairly large listening room with an open, detailed and direct sound. This gave the movies we watched a rich, three-dimensional soundscape with very well placed sound effects. Combine this with excellent speed and dynamics, and it won’t take long before you’re completely sucked into the movie – regardless of genre.

Music is presented with the same character – clean and clear, detailed and defined (especially using the Pure Direct mode) – although it does lack that last ounce of color and texture you may find in a dedicated two-channel amplifier in the same price range. Stereo playback have come a long way in the last few years when it comes to AV receivers, and there’s no doubt that the RX-V685 does a great job at conveying the emotional intent behind a song.

The 685 sounds even better when you listen to high-resolution formats, like 192 kHz/24-bit for example. This brings even more details and clarity to the mix, so to speak. In addition, we can also recommend using the Compressed Music Enhancer as it does a pretty decent job at adding some extra life to compressed audio files.