Hi-Fi Corner: Yamaha’s RX-V379 receiver can power your home theater for less

By Ryan Waniata May 3, 2015

yamaha 300 av receiver rxv379 rx v379 manual — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Normally here at hi-fi corner we showcase top-tier audio gear. But Yamaha’s newest receiver is so affordable, there’s no reason to break out the gold card. The recently unveiled RX-V379 offers Bluetooth, 4K passthrough, 5.1 surround sound, and a bunch more, all for just 300 bones.

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While the RX-V379 sits on the lowest rung of Yamaha’s lineup, it’s loaded with plenty of features — chalk it up to the rewards of evolving technology. Onboard are all the options needed to sail your surround sound ship, including compatibility with high resolution audio (24bit/192kHz) via a Burr-Brown DAC, Dolby True HD and DTS-Master Audio surround sound decoding, and a heap of Yamaha DSP features including 17 presets, MP3 playback optimization, and Yamaha Parametric Acoustic Optimizer (YPAO) to analyze your room for speaker setup.

Device inputs include 4 HDMI with 3D and 4K UHD passthrough up to 60fps, an HDMI output with ARC, 3 digital audio inputs including 2 Coaxial and 1 Optical (though we’d prefer those numbers were reversed), an FM/AM tuner, and of course the aforementioned Bluetooth streaming. The system pushes 110 watts per channel in an 8 ohm setup, and is claimed to be stable enough to output 160 watts at 4 ohms (though we wouldn’t push it).

In addition, the receiver offers easily accessible controls on the front for source switching, plus it’s compatible with Yamaha’s AV setup app for setup assistance via your iOS or Android device, allowing for multiple speaker layouts, source confirmation, a detailed speaker connection guide, and more.

In short, the RX-V379 has just about everything you’ll need to serve as the foundation of your home theater setup, and at a price that allows you to drop a little extra on that bigger 4K UHD TV or some pricier speakers.

Yamaha’s new RX-V379 AV receiver is available now.

Portions of this post first appeared on our “brother site” Digital Trends.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ryan Waniata is an audio engineer, musician, composer, and all-around lover of all things tech, audio, and cinema. Hailing…

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