Review and Measurements of Yamaha WXA-50 Streaming Amp

[amirm]

Such a list would be highly appreciated. Maybe if you avoid direct rankings on the list you retain a level of objecitivty while still steering people towards products that deserve praise and have measured well.

Understood.

 

[Percheron]

Question, I’m new to this website after being guided here by Eric at Gig Harbor Audio. I was looking at this unit to replace a Parasound DAC. On Amazon the Yammie has some negative reviews, is there anything in your testing that would justify that? You seem pretty positive about it, but there are some pretty harsh reviews. I’m looking at the preamp model.

Thanks!

-Derek
Gig Harbor

 

[amirm]

Welcome to the forum Derek. Do you need networking/streaming features in the DAC? If not, there are far better choices.

 

[Percheron]

Welcome to the forum Derek. Do you need networking/streaming features in the DAC? If not, there are far better choices.

I would like the streaming capability for sure, it would simplify some things. I know there are better choices, but being a bit of a Yamaha fan boy, I was hoping it would be better than my Parasound zDac v2, which I’m becoming less happy with after finding it was the cause of a pesky ground loop. I was able to get it quiet, but it kind of soured me on it. My budget would ideally be under $1k as I have babies and a wife to feed.

I have a Dynaco st70 clone with KT77’s, Yamaha C-60 pre and Klipsch Forte II’s. CDs and Spotify are my sources.

Thanks for the warm welcome, btw. I’m more of a lurker as I’m pretty satisfied with my system, but this site is great!

-Derek

 

[amirm]

Thanks for the kind words. Take a look at the reviews of other streamers in our master index: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...master-index-for-audio-hardware-reviews.8184/

 

[Alex Yan]

Thank you for your review. I have bought WXA-50 few days ago for mu HOME DLAN DAC player and using RCA out to my headphone amp JDS ATOM. However, I found that the sound is thin and bass is little bit poor. EQ setting also can't help in this case, seems EQ not effective in RCA output.
Could anyone let me know if I am overlooked something or they are not good to work together as of a DAC Headphone amp? Thank you very mucf for your help.

 

[Willem]

You are probably wrong to blame either the Yamaha or the Atom. My bet for an explanation would be either your headphones or your expectations of how music should sound.

 

[BillG]

However, I found that the sound is thin and bass is little bit poor. EQ setting also can't help in this case, seems EQ not effective in RCA output.

I'd suggest letting it "burn-in" for a week, not that it'll actually do anything, other than get your brain acclimatized to the new sound...

 

[Alex Yan]

Thank you for your help Willem and BillG, I will letting it "burn in" first. Btw, my headphone is also new 2 weeks ago and it has already burn it over 150 hours. I love it so much and it is Meze Empyrean.

 

[Tangband]

It would be very interesting with a test of Yamaha wxc50 , the preamp model. LTS ( soundtechnicalsociety in sweden ) has done some testing of the unit and found it to be undetected with F/E testing ( before and after -listening )

 

[Percheron]

So, does it sound good? Is it worth the price?

 

[Cahudson42]

OK. I'm looking at buying a pair of Maggi LRS. This looks like a great match. Then - the 'dreaded' 'class D' pops up. A total -no no' for Maggi as I have read ad nauseam.

What's to do?

 

[confucius_zero]

So... that's still one of the highest SINAD compact amplifier?

 

[confucius_zero]

Just acquire the amp a few days ago. Quite the keeper (beat out NAD 3020, 3045 and sprout100) in a DB matched comparison.

 

[Percheron]

Just acquire the amp a few days ago. Quite the keeper (beat out NAD 3020, 3045 and sprout100) in a DB matched comparison.

I just bought the preamp yesterday, pretty happy with it so far. Using it as a streaming DAC. The MusicCast app is pretty good and seems to work well. I traded a Parasound zDAC in for it.

 

[Abe_W]

Has anyone pushed this amp to its limits with speaker pairing just for kicks? I have a pair of large Elac Adante AF-61 floorstanders (measurements, impedance graphs, etc shown here, https://www.stereophile.com/content/elac-adante-af-61-loudspeaker-measurements ) paired with a Yamaha A-S2100.

Would this amp struggle to drive something like this? I don't listen at ear hurting volumes. I am just trying to explore the Class D sound (i have no experience with Class D thus far).

 

[peng]

Has anyone pushed this amp to its limits with speaker pairing just for kicks? I have a pair of large Elac Adante AF-61 floorstanders (measurements, impedance graphs, etc shown here, https://www.stereophile.com/content/elac-adante-af-61-loudspeaker-measurements ) paired with a Yamaha A-S2100.

Would this amp struggle to drive something like this? I don't listen at ear hurting volumes. I am just trying to explore the Class D sound (i have no experience with Class D thus far).

It obviously depends on how far you sit and how loud you need. Regardless, the AF-61, according to the specs Stereophile listed:

Power handling: 160W peak (50–160W recommended).

So while it isn't very sensitive, and nominal impedance is only 6 ohms, it is quite limited in terms of power handling anyway.

 

[Abe_W]

It obviously depends on how far you sit and how loud you need. Regardless, the AF-61, according to the specs Stereophile listed:

Power handling: 160W peak (50–160W recommended).

So while it isn't very sensitive, and nominal impedance is only 6 ohms, it is quite limited in terms of power handling anyway.

I sit about 8 ft away. I try not to exceed 80 to 83 dB levels anymore. Theoretically, leaving a 20 db headroom (play it safe a bit), i would need approximately 60Watts/channel. Without considering headroom, i'd be at 100dB. But, i'm hoping it doesn't crap on me if i get it and try to run these speakers. It is not exactly cheap (500 bucks).

 

[peng]

I sit about 8 ft away. I try not to exceed 80 to 83 dB levels anymore. Theoretically, leaving a 20 db headroom (play it safe a bit), i would need approximately 60Watts/channel. Without considering headroom, i'd be at 100dB. But, i'm hoping it doesn't crap on me if i get it and try to run these speakers. It is not exactly cheap (500 bucks).

If you won't exceed 80 dB average, 100 dB peak then I think you have sufficient headroom for the unexpected. 80 dB average would be too loud for me, but if that's what you need I think this thing is not going to work well in the long run. The WXC-50 + a 2 channel power amp would be a much better solution. The WXA/WXC do have very good measurements on the ACR bench.

 

[Abe_W]

If you won't exceed 80 dB average, 100 dB peak then I think you have sufficient headroom for the unexpected. 80 dB average would be too loud for me, but if that's what you need I think this thing is not going to work well in the long run. The WXC-50 + a 2 channel power amp would be a much better solution. The WXA/WXC do have very good measurements on the ACR bench.

20 dB headroom considers the worst case headroom required on some classical pieces. For rock/pop, headroom rarely exceeds 12 to 14 db, for instance. The amp is rated for 70W/ch at 6 ohms. As i mentioned on my earlier comment, it would take 60W/channel on my 6 ohm speakers to run at 80db (with 20 db headroom included, i.e., run it at 100 dB). Is it still risky?