Review and Measurements of Yamaha WXA-50 Streaming Amp

[SimpleTheater]

Any chance you could take a screenshot of the additional settings?

Still curious to know what the various speaker type options actually do to the frequency response.

Speaker type options are 1. Floorstanding 2. Bookshelf 3. In Ceiling 4. In Wall 5. Compact. If the 'Auto' setting does anything, it's a black box that only testing could determine if any change occurs at all, though I doubt they'd put it there without making some change to the output.

There's a bunch of stuff here, so let me know if you want a screen shot inside another option.

*NOTE* Yellow pages is the /setup, the other ones are the standard web interface.

 

[SimpleTheater]

Any chance you could take a screenshot of the additional settings?

Still curious to know what the various speaker type options actually do to the frequency response.

I found this on the web:
PAUL RIGBY
10th October 2018 at 11:37 am
And here it is!
“2 settings that I would try, that I cannot see mentioned below would be:
Within advanced settings –
Ultra Low Jitter PLL (1,2,3) 1 sounds faster/better snap vs 3 sounds warmer.
Speaker Type (Compact, Bookshelf, Floor standing, In-ceiling, In-wall) – Please try Floor standing to open up frequency response.
If after these settings are tried & tested and the result is still not favourable. It may indicate that an analogue design would be preferred by the customer whilst just using the WX-C50 as a player/streamer.”

https://theaudiophileman.com/wxc-wxa/

 

[waynel]

Again, like the functionality of this amp but it would be nice if the main outputs could have a high pass filter setting for when using a sub. The Sonos connect amp does this automatically when the sub jack is used.

Hopefully with a firmware update Yamaha could implement (and document this).

 

[Imi]

Dear Professionals,

first of all, nice to meet you, this is my first post. I registered because I need some help from such experienced guys like you, hope you/we can figure out something.

My chain:
WXC-50 - Khadas Tone Board - Rotel RB970BX MK2 - Dali Oberon 3. QED & Audioquest & DIY & Supra & VDH cables (not that the cables matters now ).

My problem is that I can not fast forward in the Yamaha's MusicCast app. I tried other upnp/dlna services, like mConnect (set gapless playback), Audirvana, but doesnt work. Everywhere on the internet people write (even Tidal itself) that alright, use Airplay - but what the hell, we can not use airplay if we want to talk about high quality listening experience. Of course I tried airplay from the Tidal app, but the quality was soo poor compare it to the Musiccast's Tidal solution.

Do you have any idea how to solve it? Thank you guys.

 

[SimpleTheater]

My problem is that I can not fast forward in the Yamaha's MusicCast app.

This isn't your problem, its the crappy interface. You were probably doing what I was trying to do when I first started using MusicCast, which is move the slider in the tracks time length. That doesn't work, even though it does in EVERY OTHER MUSIC interface created since the Civil War.

The solution is to hold (not touch) the Skip Track button down. If you hold it, it won't skip, it will fast forward. Completely stupid and it took me a while to figure it out.

But it ONLY works for me on my local stored music. Doesn't work in Spotify, Napster, Deezer, Tidal.

Hope that's the issue you were having.

 

[Imi]

But it ONLY works for me on my local stored music. Doesn't work in Spotify, Napster, Deezer, Tidal.

Thanks SimpleTheater, but unfortunately I try to find the solution for Tidal streaming on the WXC-50. With the Tone Board it sounds really smooth&clean, all I want to is to be able to fast forward.

 

[xtracrispy123]

Hi, is there any way to get a deeper glimpse of the "input" screen, and the auto-settings in particular?
I couldn't find any information on whether the amplifier is smart enough to auto-detect an input after an amount of inactivity.
That online manual said that streaming inputs like airplay would wake up the amp, but would optical?

 

[hani_hnt]

hi. first of all sorry for my bad English. I registered because I need some help. I bought Yamaha wxa-50 I think for 6 month. now I want to have better and stronger sound from it. my question is : can I use aux out ( on my Yamaha wxa-50) to a power amplifier? because I think some of you said volume of aux out cant be adjusted.

 

[SimpleTheater]

hi. first of all sorry for my bad English. I registered because I need some help. I bought Yamaha wxa-50 I think for 6 month. now I want to have better and stronger sound from it. my question is : can I use aux out ( on my Yamaha wxa-50) to a power amplifier? because I think some of you said volume of aux out cant be adjusted.

Correct. The amp can’t be used as a preamp (like the WXC-50 can). It’s not a pre-amp and volume will not effect a connected device. It’s set to fixed level and you would control volume with the connected amplifier.

 

[jhaider]

That online manual said that streaming inputs like airplay would wake up the amp, but would optical?

I do not believe so. We have the preamp version connected to a TV over optical in a secondary system, but use the cheapest Harmony remote to control both components.

 

[SPOautos]

Does anyone know if the non amplified version (WXC50) has analog in/out that just passes through with no 'coloring' of sound or loss of detail? I'd like to run a phono pre through it then to the power amp. I dont want the wxc50 do anything to the sound except be able to control the volume.

Also, would I be able to hook up a USB harddrive up too it that's loaded with music? If so, how would I go about browsing through a thousand music files? Would I see the entire library through the phone/tablet app?

 

[SimpleTheater]

Does anyone know if the non amplified version (WXC50) has analog in/out that just passes through with no 'coloring' of sound or loss of detail? I'd like to run a phono pre through it then to the power amp. I dont want the wxc50 do anything to the sound except be able to control the volume.

Yes, as long as the player is set to “player” you can’t modify the sound output. See my
screenshot.

Also, would I be able to hook up a USB harddrive up too it that's loaded with music? If so, how would I go about browsing through a thousand music files? Would I see the entire library through the phone/tablet app?

Yes. Hopefully you would have organized the files by group, as I did to make it easier to find a track. See screenshot.

 

[SPOautos]

THANKS! So in the preamp mode, its basically just a pass through and only allows volume control, correct? That's how the screenshot appears to be.

On that USB connection will it allow you do things like let it continue playing in a random order and create playlists? (You can create playlists on the USB but if the app allows it them different people can have different playlists without having to duplicate music files....rather the app just played them in a certain order).

Since this has been out for nearly 5 years, are there any others similarly priced that may be better?

 

[SimpleTheater]

THANKS! So in the preamp mode, its basically just a pass through and only allows volume control, correct?

On that USB connection will it allow you do things like let it continue playing in a random order and create playlists? (You can create playlists on the USB but if the app allows it them different people can have different playlists without having to duplicate music files....rather the app just played them in a certain order).

Since this has been out for nearly 5 years, are there any others similarly priced that may be better?

The opposite. In “player” mode it’s just a pass through, in preamp it handles the sound internally.

USB doesn’t work that smoothly. If all the files were in the root (no group folders) then you could randomly play files.
It won’t play a playlist file, but you can create your own (see screenshot).

As for better, if the only reason for this is to play USB there are a lot of better and cheaper alternatives, but they are cumbersome. You’ll need a DAC , a laptop or TWONKY (or some other software on your usb drive) that turns it into a media sharing device.

But if you want simplicity , whole house audio capability, wireless streaming of online sources, then this is a great solution. I would recommend SONOS, but I don’t know if they still make a product with usb input.

 

[SPOautos]

The opposite. In “player” mode it’s just a pass through, in preamp it handles the sound internally.

USB doesn’t work that smoothly. If all the files were in the root (no group folders) then you could randomly play files.
It won’t play a playlist file, but you can create your own (see screenshot).

As for better, if the only reason for this is to play USB there are a lot of better and cheaper alternatives, but they are cumbersome. You’ll need a DAC , a laptop or TWONKY (or some other software on your usb drive) that turns it into a media sharing device.

But if you want simplicity , whole house audio capability, wireless streaming of online sources, then this is a great solution. I would recommend SONOS, but I don’t know if they still make a product with usb input.
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Thank you for the great info! I think I need to get one of these. I see them pop up on FB for $200ish, sounds like something good to use.

Can you play other things from your phone through it... say music on YouTube that you pull up on your phone and play it through the wxc50?

 

[SimpleTheater]

Thank you for the great info! I think I need to get one of these. I see them pop up on FB for $200ish, sounds like something good to use.

Can you play other things from your phone through it... say music on YouTube that you pull up on your phone and play it through the wxc50?

It has Bluetooth, so if you switch to that input, you can play anything through your phone or other bluetooth product.

 

[jhaider]

Can you play other things from your phone through it... say music on YouTube that you pull up on your phone and play it through the wxc50?

Yes. Airplay is included and the implementation works reliably.

 

[SPOautos]

In this original review/test there is a image of many many different devices all compared. Do any of those have the same type of music streaming features that this Yamaha has? Being able to play Spotify, Pandora, anything on my phone, usb drive, as well as a input/output that I can run a phono pre through?

 

[SPOautos]

@SimpleTheater @jhaider
Do you guys know if a USB with a ton of music is attached to the wxc-50 is it possible to listen to that music on the phones that have the app or will it only play that music to the stereo that's attached to it?

I read that it can collect music from all the connected devices but I'm not sure if it can serve them back to others. Another scenario is if my daughter has music on her phone that is synced up to the wxc-50, would my son be able to see that music on his phone (through the yam app) and play it??

Thanks!

 

[jhaider]

@SimpleTheater @jhaider
Do you guys know if a USB with a ton of music is attached to the wxc-50 is it possible to listen to that music on the phones that have the app or will it only play that music to the stereo that's attached to it?

I expect only on the connected stereo. However, I only use mine to stream music from a Mac on the network over AirPlay, and play TV sound, so not positive.