New Yamaha WXC-50

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

Need wireless connection which irdac doesn't offer, wxc-50 seems to tick all the boxes for me.

just wonder how good the dac is in comparison to irdac.

first step would be to sell the irdac or see if i can get a part exchange deal on it, any dealer you guys can recommend?

Where abouts in the UK are you?

good old birmingham, by the QE hospital.

A bit too far for me (Sheffield). I would've been possibly interested thought ideally was looking to get a second hand m-dac.

My advice would be to post it on Gumtree. Make sure you don't put your phone number on the ad unless you want spam calls and texts.

Yes, there are lots of timewasters on there too but no fees to pay and generally can get a better price than eBay. Although dacs sell well on eBay.

No dealer will offer you anywhere near that price.

yes, i will put it on GT as soon as i get a minute. It's in pristine condition with all the original packaging , i have even got the thin plastic wrapping on it, still under warranty from peter tyson, may be 6/8 months left. £275 would be a good price.

the Yamaha uses a ESS Sabre9006AS DAC which I think is used in the new Arcam ir dac 2 and most of the Yamaha top of the range gear .

thats brilliant, i wasn't too sure how wxc50 would compare to irdac interms of SQ.

need to have the irdac sold fast.

I can not promise that the sound will be even better with the Yamaha WXC-50 then what you have now .

I would say the would be very small differences between the Arcam ir dac and the Yamaha and considering that the Arcam cost more when it first came out .

No I do not think that the Yamaha will support any older apple products that did not have Bluetooth or airplay . Sorry

I had the same issue with the iPad 2 which apple no longer do updates for it anymore so I had to give it to my little one and I had to buy a new one .

Thats the trouble with apple products

thats a shame.

so i cannot connect my ipod classic thru the usp port? I don't mind not being able to access my ipod playlist thru musiccast but having my ipod classic connected is a must.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

i could be wrong i am not a 100% sure

one issue with the Arcam ir dac was the power cord if the cord lay over your speaker cable it used to make interference

 

[paulkebab]

you are correct, not to derail the thread here but Arcam should've shipped a far better power supply with the iRDAC which is the easiest upgrade for that particular unit.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

you are correct, not to derail the thread here but Arcam should've shipped a far better power supply with the iRDAC which is the easiest upgrade for that particular unit.

the Arcam ir dac was a good bit of kit but I felt that the cheap power cable they stuck on it was rubbish why they could not put a proper power cable on it I do not no .

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

you are correct, not to derail the thread here but Arcam should've shipped a far better power supply with the iRDAC which is the easiest upgrade for that particular unit.

the Arcam ir dac was a good bit of kit but I felt that the cheap power cable they stuck on it was rubbish why they could not put a proper power cable on it I do not no .

for £400 you would have thought they'd supplied a better PS, it actually blew once, good job it was still under warranty.

i have sent an email to yamaha regarding ipod connectivity. Lets see what they say.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

you are correct, not to derail the thread here but Arcam should've shipped a far better power supply with the iRDAC which is the easiest upgrade for that particular unit.

the Arcam ir dac was a good bit of kit but I felt that the cheap power cable they stuck on it was rubbish why they could not put a proper power cable on it I do not no .

for £400 you would have thought they'd supplied a better PS, it actually blew once, good job it was still under warranty.

i have sent an email to yamaha regarding ipod connectivity. Lets see what they say.

it's a good honest bit of kit it does what it says on the tin very well

I think you will like the Yamaha it's very easy to setup and I have never had a sound drop ones with it yet .

And you can listen to the radio too if you wish

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

Yamaha is bit slow to respond.

i emailed them yesterday regarding the ipod classic connectivity, still waiting to hear from them.

not had any responce from gumtree ad either. If i can't sell the irdac i guess i have to buy icybox wifi music reciever which also had a built in apple airplay.

 

[cmag]

Hello, could someone advise about how this compares to a mini PC with audio outputs?

 

[insider9]

Could anyone comment whether the unit requires any "running in"? If so how long and what improvements in SQ can I expect.

My first impressions are very good. Nicely laid out app. Decent build quality. Wifi needs good signal so positioning is key. In first hour of listening I've noticed that cymbals sound particularly different... I can only compare it to playing with nylon drumsticks. The sound is completely different to wood. Sounding sort of more digital in a way. Midband is clear, low rather nice. Soundstage seems a little bit flat and not as wide as I was expecting. Not massive differences but noticeable unless I'm just super critical of new kit.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Could anyone comment whether the unit requires any "running in"? If so how long and what improvements in SQ can I expect.

My first impressions are very good. Nicely laid out app. Decent build quality. Wifi needs good signal so positioning is key. In first hour of listening I've noticed that cymbals sound particularly different... I can only compare it to playing with nylon drumsticks. The sound is completely different to wood. Sounding sort of more digital in a way. Midband is clear, low rather nice. Soundstage seems a little bit flat and not as wide as I was expecting. Not massive differences but noticeable unless I'm just super critical of new kit.

no running is needed with a pre-amp unless your talking about the dac inside

I have mine connected to my cdplayer and using the on onboard dac on my cdplayer so I can not help in what the Yamaha SQ like on its own .

I have mine hard wired to the internet and no issues with drop outs . the only issue I have had sometimes is when I want it to connect to iTunes on my iMac sometimes it takes its time trying to find the Yamaha w50 on airplay but ones the two are talking it's ok

 

[insider9]

Could anyone comment whether the unit requires any "running in"? If so how long and what improvements in SQ can I expect.

My first impressions are very good. Nicely laid out app. Decent build quality. Wifi needs good signal so positioning is key. In first hour of listening I've noticed that cymbals sound particularly different... I can only compare it to playing with nylon drumsticks. The sound is completely different to wood. Sounding sort of more digital in a way. Midband is clear, low rather nice. Soundstage seems a little bit flat and not as wide as I was expecting. Not massive differences but noticeable unless I'm just super critical of new kit.

no running is needed with a pre-amp unless your talking about the dac inside 

I have mine connected to my cdplayer and using the on onboard dac on my cdplayer so I can not help in what the Yamaha SQ like on its own .

I have mine hard wired to the internet and no issues with drop outs .  the only issue I have had sometimes is when I want it to connect to iTunes on my iMac sometimes it takes its time trying to find the Yamaha w50 on airplay but ones the two are talking it's ok 

Yes, I am talking about the dac. Got it as an alternative to my pc. Was going to get Mdac but for the money Yamaha gives so much more. Will see whether sq improves over the next week although I think after a couple of hours the cymbals sounded ok. Difference is subtle and maybe I was just hoping for more will do some proper tests on Sunday.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

I think the Yamaha WCX 50 is very good value for money

its amazing what it does really internet radio , streaming , on board dac which is a good one

you can customize the app too . Use active speakers with it or passive speakers ,multi room control of music .

It's a nice little box of tricks for the money

 

[davedotco]

I think the Yamaha WCX 50 is very good value for money

its amazing what it does really internet radio , streaming , on board dac which is a good one

you can customize the app too . Use active speakers with it or passive speakers ,multi room control of music .

It's a nice little box of tricks for the money

But the Raumfeld Connector 2 does much of what the WXC 50 does, just misses out on the Bluetooth and Airplay functionality, usually available at around half the price.

If someone simply wants to play their own library (iTunes etc) or stream Spotify or Tidal, maybe a bit of radio, try a Connector 2 with a decent pair of budget actives, Yamaha HS7 for example, great value at around £500, inc stands and cable.

 

[thewinelake.]

But one other great feature of the Yamaha over the Raumfeld is the volume control knob. I presume it has a remote?

The slight issue with the lack of volume control on the Raumfeld is that the different source apps have varyingly hard to access volume control.

 

[davedotco]

But one other great feature of the Yamaha over the Raumfeld is the volume control knob. I presume it has a remote?

The slight issue with the lack of volume control on the Raumfeld is that the different source apps have varyingly hard to access volume control.

Is buried in the back of the cupboard with my router. Everything works from my iPad, no issues whatsoever. I paid £119 a few months ago.

 

[insider9]

Agreed, Yamaha is great value so is Raumfeld Connector quite different units. Yamaha offers more granted at a higher cost.

Yamaha does sound better with more listening already. The app is superb and the remote with presets is very good. The fact you can skip tracks when using Spotify connect is particularly pleasing. Also playing Spotify connect track will wake the unit from sleep.

Preamp section is really well designed also, with adjustable gain levels per input.

 

[muljao]

But one other great feature of the Yamaha over the Raumfeld is the volume control knob. I presume it has a remote?

The slight issue with the lack of volume control on the Raumfeld is that the different source apps have varyingly hard to access volume control.

Is buried in the back of the cupboard with my router. Everything works from my iPad, no issues whatsoever. I paid £119 a few months ago.

I wont say buy one over another, but I bought one of these Raumfelds the other day,for the money it is a great little piece of kit. The volune control is your phone/tablet app, obviously if going through a regular amp you can just set it full and use amps controller. Most important to my not really audiophile ears is the sound, which this unit delivers in spades, whether it spotify connect or a flac file over wifi or a usb stick. add in tunein and an 8 week trial period and surely this unit has earned its place on the "worth a look" list

 

[tino]

Both the Teufel Raumfeld Connector and Yamaha WXC-50 look like cracking products, although if I were to buy one of them it would be the Yamaha despite the extra cost. I would value the Bluetooth functionlity and Airplay (for friends with iPhones) and the ability to act as a DAC and pre-amp with subwoofer output. It does however not have any Google Cast or Deezer support which could be an issue for some.

I don't think the perfect streamer exists but there are lots of interesting products out there now and for great prices. Most of them live and die by the quality of their control software and commitment from the manufacturer to support them. I wouldn't like to get caught out again by software that becomes obsolete before the actual hardware does.

 

[drummerman]

Both the Teufel Raumfeld Connector and Yamaha WXC-50 look like cracking products, although if I were to buy one of them it would be the Yamaha despite the extra cost. I would value the Bluetooth functionlity and Airplay (for friends with iPhones) and the ability to act as a DAC and pre-amp with subwoofer output. It does however not have any Google Cast or Deezer support which could be an issue for some.

I don't think the perfect streamer exists but there are lots of interesting products out there now and for great prices. Most of them live and die by the quality of their control software and commitment from the manufacturer to support them. I wouldn't like to get caught out again by software that becomes obsolete before the actual hardware does.

Just go with one of the largest companies on the planet ... Google.

Personally I have no use for BT, although convenient it lacks SQ and zI personally don't use AirPlay though I appreciate many do.

 

[muljao]

There are so many brilliant options now, and not all have to cost crazy money. It's more than likely there is a product that suits most people. The software, though, as said is very important, and I think from what I've seen, yamaha have nailed that side of things down very well

 

[thewinelake.]

It's interesting how we all have our own little foibles. I like the Google Chromecast Audio, but find it just generally "trickier" than the Raumfeld - the volume control issue is even more severe (and I don't have the ethernet adaptor so am more subject to Wifi troubles). Don't get me wrong - I can get to the volume control eventually, but I just like to have instant control of it, without having to fiddle with my phone. Anyway, I do have this remote controlled volume now (just need to put it in a case!) that I can use to make CCA or RC2 that little bit more convenient.

 

[massano]

Bought a WXA-50 (the one with amplifier) about 2 weeks ago, and I like it very much. It's small and it works very well. Be aware that the first few hours it sounded awful with some brighter music, but by the second day it started to improve and sound sweet. I feel that it is still improving after two weeks, I use it only about 2/3 hours a day. It's a pity that it still doesn't supports Tidal. The Yamaha site doesn't have any info on that.I also wish it had mono and the balance function could completely silence either speaker, because I would like to put each speaker in a separate room. Looking at internal pictures and a video on the youtube that shows it's inside, you can see that the amplifier module is similar to the Icepower 125ASX2. I recommend it Regards

 

[YOLO]

Hi Massano,

what speakers are you using with the WXA-50? Or with wat speakers did you test the WXA-50 before buying.

Thank you for your reply.

 

[massano]

Hi Yolo, I have been using a pair of B&W M1 (first generation) with an active sub. These are low sensibility speakers and with classical music sometimes I end up using it near the max volume. With "regular" music which is recorded at much higher volume, there is no problem with that. I first heard it in store with current Yamaha top of the line standers. And they played very loud there. I recommend if you like classical music to try speakers with 90db or more. I have kef XQ40 in my main system, and I am going to try those in the future just to see how far the Yamaha can go.

 

[Dav]

I instead bought the slightly pricier Denon HEOS LINK HS2. Similar specs to the Yamaha. Mine's hooked up to an Audiolab M-DAC+. Internal DAC is decent but no match for the Audiolab. Combination sounds great and works well - no issues.