The swiss army knife of digital audio

[oivavoi]

I just became aware of this neat little unit from Yamaha - the WXC-50:

This box basically does everything: It can stream over wifi, it has bluetooth and airplay (which means it can function as a roon endpoint), digital and analog output, AND the volume control is in the digital domain - 48 bits! Should make moot any concerns about digital attenuation. Has a remote also. Seems to me like this box can be the perfect compliment to active DSP-based speakers with digital input. 350 USD.

The Swedish "AES" - Ljudtekniska sällskapet - recently tested it thoroughly through their before/after approach to blindtesting. But using the analog outputs only. They were unable to detect it. Their blindtesting method is probably the most demanding and rigorous out there, and they have been able to detect sonically a lot of devices that frequently go undetected in blind tests (recently they could detect the Oppo Sonica dac for example, and the Sonos connect). That they were unable to detect the WXC-50 is quite a compliment to the engineering skills of Yamaha.

Unfortunately, it seems from the user reviews on Amazon that it can be very glitchy. Unlike Yamaha to release half-baked products. Hopefully Yamaha will release an improved version which doesn't have these glitches.

 

[amirm]

Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Yamaha has been building this type of device for many years. So shame to see software reliability being poor now.

If they are at CES, I will ask them about it.

 

[jhaider]

This Yamaha is a very nice little digital streaming preamp. We have one in our bedroom 2.0 system. I bought the WXC-50 over the WXA-50 (streaming amp version) because I have collected a lot of compact amplifiers.

This system is not set up for critical listening, just TV sound and background music. Initial setup was a pain. You have to use both the Yamaha app and a web browser, and you'll want to look at everything. On the plus side, there is a lot of flexibility in controlling input levels of each source, speaker balance, and so on.

We have not experienced noteworthy glitches, though we do not use the Yamaha app. My wife does not even have it on her iPhone. For music we use it as an Airplay endpoint, and for TV we control it with a Harmony remote. We have a strong mesh wifi network at home, which may be a factor improving its reliablity.

The WXC-50 also has two nice features that set it a little bit apart from the pack. The loudness compensation is well done. Also, it has a 12V trigger output. That is rare in compact components outside of Parasound and Pro-Ject.

On the other side of the ledger, its subwoofer output is the typical useless afterthought: no bass management on the speaker outputs, and I believe the subwoofer output is full-range mono. I think its only serious competitor as an Airplay endpoint preamp right now is the Martin Logan Unison. The Unison was not available when I bought the Yamaha. Comparatively the Unison has a low rent look and feel, but integrates Anthem Room Correction.

 

[beeface]

Looking at the product page on the Yamaha site it appears that the most recent firmware update was in October, so it's possible that the aforementioned issues have since been patched.

Yamaha, TEAC, Technics, Marantz/Denon and Pioneer/Onkyo are all making some nice looking streaming products, and generally at a reasonably price. I get the impression that there is some good engineering that goes into most of these products, as might be expected from these large corporations. What makes me hesitant about them however is my uncertainty about how well the DLNA streaming works. It's possible that DLNA has improved in recent times, but my experience with it hasn't been great - sluggish interfaces when browsing music libraries, no gapless playback, etc.

I understand that

 

[oivavoi]

This Yamaha is a very nice little digital streaming preamp. We have one in our bedroom 2.0 system. I bought the WXC-50 over the WXA-50 (streaming amp version) because I have collected a lot of compact amplifiers.

This system is not set up for critical listening, just TV sound and background music. Initial setup was a pain. You have to use both the Yamaha app and a web browser, and you'll want to look at everything. On the plus side, there is a lot of flexibility in controlling input levels of each source, speaker balance, and so on.

We have not experienced noteworthy glitches, though we do not use the Yamaha app. My wife does not even have it on her iPhone. For music we use it as an Airplay endpoint, and for TV we control it with a Harmony remote. We have a strong mesh wifi network at home, which may be a factor improving its reliablity.

The WXC-50 also has two nice features that set it a little bit apart from the pack. The loudness compensation is well done. Also, it has a 12V trigger output. That is rare in compact components outside of Parasound and Pro-Ject.

On the other side of the ledger, its subwoofer output is the typical useless afterthought: no bass management on the speaker outputs, and I believe the subwoofer output is full-range mono. I think its only serious competitor as an Airplay endpoint preamp right now is the Martin Logan Unison. The Unison was not available when I bought the Yamaha. Comparatively the Unison has a low rent look and feel, but integrates Anthem Room Correction.

Thanks, @jhaider ! Have you checked if the volume control works with the digital out? I would assume so, but you never know...

 

[Wombat]

Is this a hi-level Chromecast Audio type of device?

 

[oivavoi]

Is this a hi-level Chromecast Audio type of device?

It does what the Chromecast does, but in addition it can function as a dac and preamp for other sources, with a physical volume knob and a remote. Plus it has a built-in equalizer and tone control, which can come in handy.

 

[Burning Sounds]

The Swedish "AES" - Ljudtekniska sällskapet - recently tested it thoroughly through their before/after approach to blindtesting. But using the analog outputs only. They were unable to detect it. Their blindtesting method is probably the most demanding and rigorous out there, and they have been able to detect sonically a lot of devices that frequently go undetected in blind tests (recently they could detect the Oppo Sonica dac for example, and the Sonos connect).

They have a few devices on their list that I would be interested in seeing the test results for. Is it possible to purchase individual tests or do you have to have a subscription?

 

[oivavoi]

They have a few devices on their list that I would be interested in seeing the test results for. Is it possible to purchase individual tests or do you have to have a subscription?

Subscription. And only in Swedish. A pity, because they are among the most thorough blind testers of electronics out there.

 

[jhaider]

Thanks, @jhaider ! Have you checked if the volume control works with the digital out? I would assume so, but you never know...

I haven't had reason to test the digital output, but I will see if it's fixed or volume-controlled. Ping me if you don't see a post here about it by Sunday afternoon.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Subscription. And only in Swedish. A pity, because they are among the most thorough blind testers of electronics out there.

Did they determine what about the Oppo or Sonos was making it audible? I would subscribe, but don't read Swedish. At least in their few online articles I can google translate.

I have read how they did amplifiers. I did the same thing and found it highly effective as a way to hear differences.

How do they test these DACs? Do they do an AD conversion and use the DAC on the DA side? Then compare to straight wire or what is their methodology if you don't mind taking a few minutes to describe it to us.

 

[oivavoi]

Did they determine what about the Oppo or Sonos was making it audible? I would subscribe, but don't read Swedish. At least in their few online articles I can google translate.

I have read how they did amplifiers. I did the same thing and found it highly effective as a way to hear differences.

How do they test these DACs? Do they do an AD conversion and use the DAC on the DA side? Then compare to straight wire or what is their methodology if you don't mind taking a few minutes to describe it to us.

With amplifiers, they do the before/after test, which is by far the best blind testing method I know of. Just double checked, and they don't do this for DACs. They could of course test the DA/AD chain through a before after test, in dacs which have analog input. But what they seem to do with dacs and streamers is to only A/B test the DAC part. So what they do is they compare the DUT to a reference - which is a system with very high grade components which is deemed to be as transparent as they can get it. This way, they don't know if a device is really "transparent", of course. They only know that "this device doesn't sound audibly different from super duper expensive component X which we know from both measurements and listening tests is as good as it gets".

Will get back to you for the Sonos and the Oppo!

 

[Blumlein 88]

With amplifiers, they do the before/after test, which is by far the best blind testing method I know of. Just double checked, and they don't do this for DACs. They could of course test the DA/AD chain through a before after test, in dacs which have analog input. But what they seem to do with dacs and streamers is to only A/B test the DAC part. So what they do is they compare the DUT to a reference - which is a system with very high grade components which is deemed to be as transparent as they can get it. This way, they don't know if a device is really "transparent", of course. They only know that "this device doesn't sound audibly different from super duper expensive component X which we know from both measurements and listening tests is as good as it gets".

Will get back to you for the Sonos and the Oppo!

Thanks for the info.

 

[Burning Sounds]

Subscription. And only in Swedish. A pity, because they are among the most thorough blind testers of electronics out there.

Ah, thank you, I thought that would be the case. What is the subscription cost?

It's the only place I've seen a test of the Mytek 8x192ADDA which I have.

 

[oivavoi]

Ah, thank you, I thought that would be the case. What is the subscription cost?

It's the only place I've seen a test of the Mytek 8x192ADDA which I have.

Not expensive. If I remember correctly it's 300 SEK a year, roughly 30 usd. They send their magazine abroad. But it's print only, so difficult to google translate it unless you have sophisticated software for generating text from scans...

 

[oivavoi]

I haven't had reason to test the digital output, but I will see if it's fixed or volume-controlled. Ping me if you don't see a post here about it by Sunday afternoon.

Did you have a chance to check if the volume control works on the digital out yet, @jhaider ?

 

[jhaider]

Did you have a chance to check if the volume control works on the digital out yet, @jhaider ?

Thanks for the reminder. It prompted me to run the test tonight.

Confirmed: volume control works on the optical output. At least with an AirPlay stream as the source.

 

[oivavoi]

Thanks for the reminder. It prompted me to run the test tonight.

Confirmed: volume control works on the optical output. At least with an AirPlay stream as the source.

Great! Thank you so much!