Yamaha R-S202 Receiver Review

[AudioSceptic]

I know it's a Yamaha branding thing, but what does Natural Sound mean?

It's just a slogan they've always used. I suppose it implies "high fidelity".

 

[TonyJZX]

where i am AM isnt a 'thing' unless you are like older than boomers and still listen to right wing radio... OR its horseracing OR its the "dags" ie. greyhound racing... OR you are regional

FM isnt really a 'thing' either given its most very very MoR breakfast radio... you know... Nickelback, Taylor Swift....

DAB didnt take off here... it just mirrors FM... ie. they rebroadcast FM in 80kb/sec (!!!)

I keep saying... I've bought cars that I never bothered to auto tune the radio... sold the car with an untuned radio... and this was decades ago!

For this unit I suspect adding in a cheap BT receiver w/ inbuilt low end dac is cheaper than copying whatever phono they have in the AS201... and guess what people will use these days.... even if its a cheap BT 4.2 unit with only SBC/AAC...

 

[DSJR]

I use AM in the car for BBC radio 5 Live (I don't have mobile data as I don't use my phone 24/7 as many do. Most domestic receivers of old had terrible AM reception far worse than the format could allow.

This model is nearer £300 in the UK and £350 or so for the DAB version.

I know it's not for 'us' here as it seems the far eastern dinky boxes with suspect long term reliability is more the thing here (I ain't complaining), but I do like the way this model could be serviced if anything went wrong and in fairness, if it runs cool enough as a 'radio' in whatever situation it finds itself in, it should last decades I'd have thought

 

[Sokel]

this!

1. the level of precision/detail of the manual
2. now show me the service manuals of "baby" brands! [if there are any]

The "baby" word triggered me so I did a size comparison to see how "much" stuff you get of each:

(the Topping one is PA5 II )

I think that a lot about price depends of the networks of each manufacturer,I trust that Topping (or whatever small company) would have to up a considerable cost to circulate such sizes around the world.
What's fair is fair.

Edit:z

 

[pavuol]

The "baby" word triggered me so I did a size comparison to see how "much" stuff you get of each:



View attachment 352899

I think that a lot about prize depends of the networks of each manufacturer,I trust that Topping (or whatever small company) would have to up a considerable cost to circulate such sizes around the world.
What's fair is fair.

I meant "young companies" but I get your point Now can you post a service manual of that Topping model chosen?

 

[TonyJZX]

well to me a device should be able to justify why its friggin' 19" x 19" x 2 ru

you either dont do much but you do it so well you dont have much to argue about... ie. a high performance power amp

OR

you do a lot in that 19 x 19, ie. a 7.2 atmos receiver with all the trimmings

and so this $200 box???? its neither here nor there

i could almost get behind that $99 Sony DH190 receiver but even that... why do i need something this mediocre and yet so large?

but yeh the chinese really have got us kind of used to small boxes that do a lot quite well

 

[Sokel]

I meant "young companies" but I get your point Now can you post a service manual of that Topping model chosen?

Ask @gamerpaddy

 

[JeremyFife]

"Old School" : decent and probably a safe buy. Quite nice for the money.

 

[DSJR]

What's the 'old school' UK alternative apart from a 201 or 301 (AB with conventional transformer based supply) - Rega Io?

Oil get me coat...........

 

[ZolaIII]

What's the 'old school' UK alternative apart from a 201 or 301 (AB with conventional transformer based supply) - Rega Io?

Oil get me coat...........

If you can find one disregarding of market A-S 700 and totally old school as amplifier only of course.

 

[Multicore]

Aw man, I was so looking forward to see how Amir tests AM and FM tuners. That would be swell.

Actually what surprises me is no phono input. This box is perfect for vinyl revivalists into the retro fashion but who don't want to deal with vintage electronics.

 

[JayGilb]

well to me a device should be able to justify why its friggin' 19" x 19" x 2 ru

you either dont do much but you do it so well you dont have much to argue about... ie. a high performance power amp

OR

you do a lot in that 19 x 19, ie. a 7.2 atmos receiver with all the trimmings

and so this $200 box???? its neither here nor there

i could almost get behind that $99 Sony DH190 receiver but even that... why do i need something this mediocre and yet so large?

but yeh the chinese really have got us kind of used to small boxes that do a lot quite well

A lot of us like the standard 19" size and it is most likely audible transparent.

 

[Hiten]

Noise performance could be due to opamps used ? tone circuit I presume is in front panel. Could be IC based or discrete, so a loose/not proper capacitor etc ?

 

[calugg]

I have a soft spot (soft head?) for Yamaha gear. The make fine to outstanding musical instruments (former musician here), and the audio gear has always been "good enough" for starving musicians. I'm glad to see the company is continuing in that tradition.

 

[Multicore]

well to me a device should be able to justify why its friggin' 19" x 19" x 2 ru

So you can put another 19" unit on top of it. We used to stack gear. Today we use shelving or lay them out side by side?

 

[SnufsASR]

Specs are pretty good, but I don't see why you would get this over for example the recently released Loxjie A40 (which sadly hasn't been reviewed yet), unless AM/FM
support in a big box is what you're looking for. Happy to see this measure pretty well though!

 

[Bob101]

The japanese Yamaha website does not even bother to mention this device. Guess, they don’t want to humiliate themselves.

Yamaha does not sell their whole range in all regions.

 

[Bob101]

Trying to think if Yamaha is the only Golden Age hi-fi vendor that hasn't repeatedly traded hands, gone defunct or just broken up for parts. Denon and Marantz merged and were bought out. Pioneer came apart, the home audio part merged with Onkyo, that's been passed around and is barely hanging on. What's left of Harman is under Samsung. Sony remains, but Sony Home Audio is barely a going concern. Kenwood merged with JVC but I don't think they've made home stereo gear for decades.

Maybe the secret is also selling pianos? Outboard motors?

My Yamaha outboard engine has outlasted several hifi-components. Still sounds great.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Jeez. I think I paid $200 for my very first receiver in 1972. It was a Lafayette LR 1500 TA, and it only put out 50 wpc, not 100. So this plus $100 DAC, plus Goodwill find speakers equals one of the best systems in the dorm for l.t. $500.

 

[mdsimon2]

Was hoping for some specifics there. Can't say I've had any particular issues with my 2x4s....

SHARC based miniDSPs show an elevated noise floor at high input levels when low frequency filters are applied. The issue is worse with plugins that run at 96 kHz. See below for a summary table of the degradation by DSP platform.

And an example FFT from the 2x4HD showing no filter (blue) vs sub low pass x-over + PEQ (red).

In addition, the gain structure has the ASRC upstream of the volume control which makes them susceptible to clipping from intersample overs.

I think the audibility of these issues is very questionable, especially on platforms like the 2X4HD which have high analog noise floors, but they are measurable.

Michael