The present review is aimed to compare two AV receivers - Pioneer VSX-935 vs Yamaha RX-V485BL that are meant to satisfy the needs of cinema and music lovers.
A significant difference between the receivers in the number of channels, Pioneer VSX-935 has 7.2 versus 5.1 for Yamaha RX-V485BL. Regarding power, then VSX-935 has such a W/Ohm ratio - 80/8, 170/6 when RX-V485BL has a power of 80/6. The THD is 0.08% for the VSX-935 but 0.09% for the RX-V485BL.
Characteristics of digital to analog converter (DAC) are different, 192 KHz/24-bit for VSX-935 and Burr-Brown 384 KHz/32-bit for the RX-V485BL. Both the VSX-935 and the RX-V485BL support Bi-amping. The Yamaha RX-V485BL can transmit an audio signal directly to the amplifier and bypasses any DSP processing.
WI-FI modules have the same characteristics: 2.4/5GHz. Rivals from our review have Bluetooth support. The Apple Music service is implemented on considered devices: AirPlay, AirPlay 2. Spotify can be used on each receiver.
HDMI signal transmission in standby mode is implemented in each of the devices. Both rivals can scale the resolution of the incoming HDMI signal. The HDR standard - Dolby Vision is supported by these receivers.
The Pioneer VSX-935 has 6/2 HDMI inputs/outputs versus 4/1 HDMI connectors of the Yamaha RX-V485BL. The HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) feature supports both devices. HDMI eARC is available in each model. Of the two receivers in our comparison, HDMI CEC is present only in the RX-V485BL. The VSX-935 supports the protection of digital content of the standard HDCP 2.3, versus HDCP 2.2 in the RX-V485BL. The VSX-935 has a built-in phono stage for connecting a vinyl player.
Each of the AV receivers from our review supports 2 Multi-room zones. The VSX-935 supports voice control via Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, Josh.AI, and the RX-V485BL - Google Assistant. An ECO mode is only available for the RX-V485BL. Both VSX-935 and RX-V485BL can be configured using the Setup assistant.
Only the VSX-935 has a Dolby Atmos multichannel audio format support. A surround technology DTS:X is supported only by the VSX-935.