Actually this’s the first avr I bought after 10 years for my HT system. I got it in Jan 23, brand new from Richersound - Leeds and using it mainly for movies and sometimes for music via my phone playing Spotify.

But today when connecting my esoteric combo transport/dac to it balanced input then playing some music from Röyksopp, I couldn’t believe how good the Yamaha RX A8A is.

Although I have to acknowledge that the Sigma Acoustic Maat Vector Xac speakers are very sensitive at 102db / 8ohm, so they help the Yamaha massively to do its job, but the punch and dynamic are there as you can tell from the video even recorded via my phone without any professional mics plugged in.

Male and female vocals are really good, the slam is tight even though not as the giant hammer when being played with the Karan kam2000, and instruments sound decent.

I think this should be one in a few AVRs in your shortlist. I forgot to mention that 4k quality and sounds coming from movies of the avr is fantastic too although my pioneer Bluray player and Panasonic tv have done their part in a big picture.