Yamaha A-S701 Stereo Amplifier Review

[amirm]

For sure, a good amp all around. For me, the only thing missing is good old peak power or VU meters!

@trl did a nice teardown of this model in 2019;

YAMAHA A-S701 - tear-down, thoughts about the internals & few measurements

I bought this amplifier with built-in DAC over 1 year ago from Amazon and had no issue using it several hours per day. My kid is using it daily on TV and XBOX over the SPDIF input, I'm using it couple of times per week as well and it works as expected, as in day one. It's barely warm during...

www.audiosciencereview.com

... so I'll just post these images here and members can look at the other thread for the balance of images;

View attachment 375885

View attachment 375886

Good to see this tested on the AP, thanks Amir and to the member that loaned this unit. These amps are fairly well priced for what one gets.


JSmith

Must be some crusty old engineer still designing these, seeing all those jumpers to avoid having a 2-sided PC Board!

Forget to reserve a post slot for the Manufacturer Specifications. Here they are:

 

[Rja4000]

Nice amp !
Thanks for the review.

 

[pma]

Must be some crusty old engineer still designing these, seeing all those jumpers to avoid having a 2-sided PC Board!

My guess - they just took something from the historical archive and wiped off the dust. That's how big companies do it.

 

[Pinkynator]

I have the S501 precisely because of this:

For kicks, I tested the loudness response as you see above. I have never used an amp with variable loudness. The ones with switches made things louder, not less loud.

Admit it - the variable loudness is effing awesome

And yeah, too bad the internal DAC wasn't tested. I use it, but I have no idea if it's any good.

 

[jmtabernero]

I've owned this integrated amplifier for the last two years, and I could not be happier. Bought it second hand for €500 and they're well worth it.
I must say that the phono stage is pretty decent (moving magnet), I'm running a high output moving coil cartridge turntable through it, and despite having to raise the volume to almost half, the system output does not seem to add any perceptible noise to the signal (I'm 47 years old... take that into account for the high frequencies hearing loss).
It would be nice if @amirm had the time and product availability to measure it. I'm intrigued by what the results would be.

 

[Haskil]

My guess - they just took something from the historical archive and wiped off the dust. That's how big companies do it.

The same board with the same PCB color and the same large tin bars are found in Yamaha integrateds from the 1990s...

 

[Sokel]

I have the S501 precisely because of this:



Admit it - the variable loudness is effing awesome

And yeah, too bad the internal DAC wasn't tested. I use it, but I have no idea if it's any good.

That's PCM5102A (the DAC used if I'm not wrong) performance,I would say it clears CD quality but it's far from the new ones:

https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/pcm5102a.pdf?ts=1718693004356&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.ti.com%252Fproduct%252FPCM5102A

 

[Tell]

Good looking thing with good enough performance, but way to big imo. They should've gone class D

 

[Doodski]

Good looking thing with good enough performance, but way to big imo. They should've gone class D

This model and it's mates in the Yamaha series are not about class D. They are about a proven design philosophy with decent parts for a decent expense to the buyer. Like it's older mates that are now up to 45 years old give or take this model too will maybe last as long?

 

[voodooless]

My guess - they just took something from the historical archive and wiped off the dust. That's how big companies do it.

At least this time they opted for the premium price, back-colored PCB

I still find it curious. The price difference for double-sided vs single-sided isn't very big, especially with the numbers these things sell in. One also has to account for the more complex work of adding all the bridges and more complex soldering.

Still, excellent performance and a really nice design!

 

[Doodski]

At least this time they opted for the premium price, back-colored PCB

I still find it curious. The price difference for double-sided vs single-sided isn't very big, especially with the numbers these things sell in. One also has to account for the more complex work of adding all the bridges and more complex soldering.

Still, excellent performance and a really nice design!

I've seen this utilization of the bars in several manufacturers' models. I don't know why they don't go double sided PCBs either.

 

[pma]

The same board with the same PCB color and the same large tin bars are found in Yamaha integrateds from the 1990s...

Yes.

Review and Measurements of vintage Yamaha AX-396 integrated amplifier

Review and Measurements of vintage Yamaha AX-396 integrated amplifier This review shows measurements of Yamaha AX-396 integrated amplifier, ser. no. Y399871TV, made in Malaysia. I bought this amplifier in the year 2002 and have been using it shortly. Then it was sleeping in my stock and 5...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[pma]

I still find it curious. The price difference for double-sided vs single-sided isn't very big, especially with the numbers these things sell in. One also has to account for the more complex work of adding all the bridges and more complex soldering.

I thing they still have the old production technology somewhere. So why not use it. It is in fact a piece of commercial garbage product .

 

[PuX]

The Yamaha A-S701 is a beautiful integrated amplifier with a lot of functionality. Its design is very robust and is cable of easily exceeding its specifications. Overall ranking is at the high-end of "very good," bordering on excellent. All of this comes at a reasonable cost.

it all becomes less impressive when you consider that NAD C320 is next to it in the ranking, while being a quite an old design/model and a budget one to begin with.

I think we set the expectations for amps way too low nowadays.

 

[CedarX]

For sure, a good amp all around. For me, the only thing missing is good old peak power or VU meters!

@trl did a nice teardown of this model in 2019;

YAMAHA A-S701 - tear-down, thoughts about the internals & few measurements

I bought this amplifier with built-in DAC over 1 year ago from Amazon and had no issue using it several hours per day. My kid is using it daily on TV and XBOX over the SPDIF input, I'm using it couple of times per week as well and it works as expected, as in day one. It's barely warm during...

www.audiosciencereview.com

... so I'll just post these images here and members can look at the other thread for the balance of images;

View attachment 375885

View attachment 375886

Good to see this tested on the AP, thanks Amir and to the member that loaned this unit. These amps are fairly well priced for what one gets.


JSmith

Bottom picture is from a different model (AS501?)

 

[Doodski]

NAD C320 is next to it in the ranking, while being a quite an old design/model and a budget one to begin with.

It was offered from 1998 thru 2001 and cost US $399. That is not budget pricing for a 40 Watt /ch amplifier at that time.

 

[Kolllak]

Ironically their top A-S3200 isn't measured that good. Just to compare:

SoundStageNetwork.com | SoundStage.com - Yamaha A-S3200 Integrated Amplifier Measurements

www.soundstagenetwork.com

 

[theREALdotnet]

And yeah, too bad the internal DAC wasn't tested. I use it, but I have no idea if it's any good.

To alleviate doubt and uncertainty you could just Blu-Tack a SMSL SU1 to the back of the Yammy, which conveniently has 5V USB-A DC out.

 

[Scytales]

Yes.

Review and Measurements of vintage Yamaha AX-396 integrated amplifier

Review and Measurements of vintage Yamaha AX-396 integrated amplifier This review shows measurements of Yamaha AX-396 integrated amplifier, ser. no. Y399871TV, made in Malaysia. I bought this amplifier in the year 2002 and have been using it shortly. Then it was sleeping in my stock and 5...

www.audiosciencereview.com

View attachment 375908

In fact, the AS-701 is a more recent version of a lineage of integrated amplifiers which began with the AX-590 :

Elektrotanya for electronics experts

Electronics forum for electronics experts to repair defective appliance.

elektrotanya.com

The lineage continues with the AX-592, AX-595, AX-596 and AX-597, all predecessors of the AS-700 and AS-701.

 

[bbrrtt]

Is this a beauty...? Is should be think.