Yamaha A-S701 Stereo Amplifier Review

[pma]

The point is what happens if CD or DAC sends standard 2V to Yamaha. You have not replied the question and you should - readers need to know. I tested AX-396 and agree with @restorer-john , the input stage clipping is near 2V regardless volume knob position, because volume is placed behind the input stage. In many cases you permanently refuse to make technically meaningful measurements.

 

[restorer-john]

Unfortunately there is no pre-out so I can only test digital input when going through the amplifier.

It has twin tape outs (Line 2 and 3). Whatever source you select will be sent to those rec-outs. That way, you can test the D/A converter and the phono stage properly.

 

[JSmith]

DAC and Phono measurements added to the review. Sadly both are subpar.

That's unfortunate... vote changed from great to fine and bordering on not terrible.


JSmith

 

[jmtabernero]

Thanks @amirm for the effort of testing the DAC and phono stage sections.

 

[amirm]

The point is what happens if CD or DAC sends standard 2V to Yamaha. You have not replied the question and you should - readers need to know. I tested AX-396 and agree with @restorer-john , the input stage clipping is near 2V regardless volume knob position, because volume is placed behind the input stage. In many cases you permanently refuse to make technically meaningful measurements.

Nothing happens at 2 volts input:

It only saturates at 2.4 volts which is better than the spec of 2.2 volts:

Any other suggestions to take away time from testing the next product?

 

[JeremyFife]

Many thanks for another interesting review.

Surprisingly hard to vote - illustrating how pointless it is to try to boil a review down to a single measure!
Looks like a very nice Amp indeed. Perhaps having the additional features of DAC and phono (however niche) measured would help describe the full capabilities of this as an Integrated amp, rather than just the power amp section.

Are we spoiled / expectations skewed by very high SINAD figures now?
Is that giving us an unrealistic view of what an amplifier should do? This has power, it's pretty much load and frequency independent (within practical limits), better than audible dynamic range and it looks awesome. Minor question over crosstalk.
The DAS is probably transparent, hopefully the headphone stage is good and the phono stage is probably fine too. That's a lot
It's a tried and tested design too, reliability is likely to be good

What am I trying to say? I voted "fair", it's probably much better than that.

Update ... DAC and Phono stage don't look that good after all (thanks for the additional testing Amirm). Fair seems fair overall

 

[holbob]

So stick with a-s700 if you can find a good example then?

 

[ZolaIII]

So stick with a-s700 if you can find a good example then?

If you can find R-S 700 second hand in a very good condition for cheap it's a winner, up to late last year I could find A-S700 new with regular warranty for 470€.

 

[Borko]

It is not arbitrary. My new standard for amplifier gain is 25 dB. Getting 5 watts output then requires 0.245 volts. And this amp clips at 1.6 volts input at that gain. This is into 4 ohm. My old standard was 29 dB which was NOT in keeping of much higher output voltage we have available from our sources.

My calculus says its 251 mV
(0.251V x 10^(25/20))^2/4 = 4.98W

 

[amirm]

My calculus says its 251 mV
(0.251V x 10^(25/20))^2/4 = 4.98W

The channels don't match so I try to pick a compromise. And impedance of the load is not exactly 4.000 ohm.

 

[dzerig]

This is fantastic for an all in one solution. The looks are great and the performance is going to be as good as separates measuring far better for 95% of your entertainment listening.

 

[Ajax]

Interesting comments from members of an "objective" forum. It appears there is a real love of the appearance of vintage gear irrespective of overall performance, which I believe is just fair now we have the DAC measurements.

If you compare this Yamaha objectively with what is readily available today for a front end, say a Buckeye 502 (200 watts into 8 ohms) combined with a number of Topping DACs for less than $1k, both of which receive excellent reviews from Amir, then looks do play a large part in our decision making.

Just saying.

 

[AnalogSteph]

DAC performance is likely to be indicative of "regular" line-ins that do not benefit from the CD Direct feature. In Yamaha amps, CD Direct generally provides some gain for the CD input while reducing it after the volume control. The A-S701 uses a modern take on the idea by using a pair of channels on the PGA volume control, effectively a shift of 6 dB. The result should be reflected in noise floor, so a difference of at least 3 dB is entirely expected (possibly up to 6 if there's PSRR-related issues).

The DAC itself is not the limiting factor in this case, not at the 5 W level anyway. It may contribute a bit of H2 as PCM5102s usually do but the rest would be all PGA volume control noise.

 

[Peib]

great review

 

[Pinkynator]

DAC performance good enough for me. I'm not a bat-eared audiophile, I don't think I could hear a difference between this and something else, so no point in spending money on an additional device I think anything above 80 is more than fine.

 

[Timcognito]

Thanks for resounding to the request for additional testing Amir. Your timely interaction is one of the many reasons to come here and in my case, DONATE.

 

[holbob]

Interesting comments from members of an "objective" forum. It appears there is a real love of the appearance of vintage gear irrespective of overall performance, which I believe is just fair now we have the DAC measurements.

If you compare this Yamaha objectively with what is readily available today for a front end, say a Buckeye 502 (200 watts into 8 ohms) combined with a number of Topping DACs for less than $1k, both of which receive excellent reviews from Amir, then looks do play a large part in our decision making.

Just saying.

The amplifier section measures superbly, what's wrong with it? It's ncore performance but is also easily fixable if anything fails. Over 100 sinad is not the only goal. I had a Nad C372 until relatively recently myself - I still would if the energy prices wern't so sky high in the UK.

 

[antcollinet]

Interesting comments from members of an "objective" forum. It appears there is a real love of the appearance of vintage gear irrespective of overall performance, which I believe is just fair now we have the DAC measurements.

If you compare this Yamaha objectively with what is readily available today for a front end, say a Buckeye 502 (200 watts into 8 ohms) combined with a number of Topping DACs for less than $1k, both of which receive excellent reviews from Amir, then looks do play a large part in our decision making.

Just saying.

No-one has ever said it shouldn't. Objective audio performance is only one factor in the purchase decision. Aesthetics is another important one, as are feature set, brand reputation, pre and post sales support etc etc. In fact, for me - audio performance is the least interesting - as long as it is good enough. (Normally blue/green sections of the chart)

 

[GandalfTheAudiofool]

Interesting comments from members of an "objective" forum. It appears there is a real love of the appearance of vintage gear irrespective of overall performance, which I believe is just fair now we have the DAC measurements.

If you compare this Yamaha objectively with what is readily available today for a front end, say a Buckeye 502 (200 watts into 8 ohms) combined with a number of Topping DACs for less than $1k, both of which receive excellent reviews from Amir, then looks do play a large part in our decision making.

Just saying.

But in this thread several are commenting that they like low volume listening at night. I like defeatable controls during the day but I also listen at night and it's hard to beat loudness control on an AB amp when you also listen at low volume.

I considered a class D amp with balanced inputs (there are cheap, excellent ones that have been tested here) but then I've got to find a pre-amp which has loudness controls and balanced out. And that's, what, McIntosh territory then?

I'm a newbie though: I don't know how you'd objectively measure how things sounds at lower volumes... But I sure know several of those fancy McIntosh owners do swear by (defeatable) loudness control and so do many Yamaha owners.

As someone contemplating buying a Yamaha amp right now, I admit I love the vintage look. And I want defeatable loudness control.

 

[laudio]

So the DAC measurement include the amp right? No directly comparable maybe to other DAC measurements on the forum.