Yamaha wxc50

That still wouldn’t get me a dac for anything not CCA. My tv, or my MacBook for instance, or my Blu-ray player.

The WXC begins to make a bit of sense.

Hi @paul777x Do you connect your MacBook directly via USB or though the headphone optical out or just AirPlay?

Thanks,
Joe
 
HI joe. I had it connected through the optical input.

I didn’t try it through the usb input. I did use the USB for an SSD full of music though and when I got used to the idea it was very useful.

I would have preferred two optical inputs so I’d have one for the Blu-ray/tv. But I had a spare optical switcher anyway so it wasn’t a problem.

Top class item the WXC50.
 
Well, update from me on WXC50 - didn't go that route in the end. Purchased the Audio Pro Add-on 10 with their £100 link. Has fewer options but does what I need and the Audio Pro speaker is frankly brilliant for a wireless speaker:)
 
HI joe. I had it connected through the optical input.

I didn’t try it through the usb input. I did use the USB for an SSD full of music though and when I got used to the idea it was very useful.

I would have preferred two optical inputs so I’d have one for the Blu-ray/tv. But I had a spare optical switcher anyway so it wasn’t a problem.

Top class item the WXC50.
Agreed. I thought long and hard about purchasing the Yamaha WXC50. It has many competitors. Apart from the obvious multi-room/app stuff it has a digital out for connection to a decent dac – a crucial feature that is omitted from so many other music streamers/servers at this price point. I've lived with it for a few months now and the sound quality is extraordinarily good (with external dac!).
 
Hi

I've been recommended the wxc50 as a pre-amp to to run an old Technics SEA1010 power amp - it seems to do all I need to utilise this spare amp - ie stream digital music and connect a CDP either via the analogue input or digital (and use my cdp purely as a transport). I'm not at all upto speed with pre / power set ups (I originally partnered mine with the matching pre amp) - can any Pre amp be connected to any power? Or is there other considerations - such as input/output voltages.

Has anyone use their wxc50 to run a power amp?
 
can any Pre amp be connected to any power? Or is there other considerations - such as input/output voltages.

You're wise to consider this aspect of matching pre to power amps. Some products don't conform to the 'normal' hifi line-level voltage outputs and inputs. And then there's the professional line-level (or whatever it's called) equipment that usually works at higher voltages.

According to the specifications, it's good news in that the Yamaha pre amp outputs a nominal 2V (with low output impedance of 470 Ohms) and your Technics amp requires only 1V (with a high input impedance of 20 kOhms). That's a decent match in my book as I use DAC's with outputs of 1.2V and 2V into my active speakers (effectively a power amp input with input level control) that require 0.775V for full output.

You probably won't use the second half of the Yamaha's volume control much.
 
You're wise to consider this aspect of matching pre to power amps. Some products don't conform to the 'normal' hifi line-level voltage outputs and inputs. And then there's the professional line-level (or whatever it's called) equipment that usually works at higher voltages.

According to the specifications, it's good news in that the Yamaha pre amp outputs a nominal 2V (with low output impedance of 470 Ohms) and your Technics amp requires only 1V (with a high input impedance of 20 kOhms). That's a decent match in my book as I use DAC's with outputs of 1.2V and 2V into my active speakers (effectively a power amp input with input level control) that require 0.775V for full output.

You probably won't use the second half of the Yamaha's volume control much.


Thanks - Pretty much confirms what my thinking was. Unless something else crops up before Thurs Peter Tyson will be delivering a new Yamaha ready to start running in over the weekend.
 
Thanks - Pretty much confirms what my thinking was. Unless something else crops up before Thurs Peter Tyson will be delivering a new Yamaha ready to start running in over the weekend.

I'd be interested to hear what you make of it - assuming you go ahead with the purchase.
 
I'd be interested to hear what you make of it - assuming you go ahead with the purchase.

I shall def report back. At this point the yam is looking the best option - unless a late model Tag 32R crops up for sensible money beforehand, and I can afford to be picky as i've still power amp no3 that will need a pre at some point. The only downside at this point for the yamaha is cosmetics - though it's small enough I can hopefully hide it behind the power amp and everyone will be happy.
 
Thanks - Pretty much confirms what my thinking was. Unless something else crops up before Thurs Peter Tyson will be delivering a new Yamaha ready to start running in over the weekend.

They are very good machines, I only sold mine to head into MiniDSP land.

I’d strongly recommend you turn off all the gunge that comes set as standard though. It’s god awful and worse than useless.
 
I've now accepted that I'm unlikely to ever wirelessly connect my daughter's Yamaha WXC50 to my VAULT2 so will need to share my music files by using the Yamaha's USB port instead. The largest memory USB stick available appears to be 128GB. Does anyone know of a USB device with a larger memory – that might work with the Yamaha? Many thanks in advance.

The issue here is that the Bluesound acts as a file-server whereas the Yamaha is expecting a media-server. The relevant difference here is the latter builds an index, so you can navigate by Artist, Album etc.

If you can find a friendly geek to help you (or if you are a friendly geek), it would be quite straightforward to deploy a Raspberry Pi on your network to access the Bluesound file-server and present it via DLNA.

Mount network share:
Mapping a network drive to a Raspberry Pi (with automount) | Code Donut

Serve via DLNA:
MiniDLNA - Community Help Wiki
 
OK - Finally had time to set this up as a Pre amp with the Technics SEA1010 power amp coupled with my Tannoy Signature Revolution DC6T's.

Fed from my Marantz CD spinner - on simple listening quality indistinguishable from the Technics pre-amp.

Fed from Spotify via wifi - a big improvement over using any of my devices via a hard wire connection to the Technics.

But.....

Volume is an issue - in two ways - firstly even on max it's probably only 60% of the output using the technics pre-amp. Dissapointing. Secondly there's nowhere enough fine control over volume using the app (using the front volume knob seems slightly better) - it's either nothing, near silence, quiet , ok or full on. Each 'step' is a big jump from the previous, especially once past half way.

I'm hoping there' some more tweaking / setting up to be done via the web based interface rather than the app.
 
Just a quick note for anyone who might be thinking of buying one of these and using the Musiccast multiroom feature; Yamaha has now released firmware versions for some Musiccast devices that are incompatible with others.

This is inexcusable, but that's Yamaha for you. I have 5 Musiccast devices and now 2 of them are incompatible with the other 3 and vice versa. In practice, this doesn't mean a whole lot since their multiroom feature is too buggy to use anyway... but taking away features post-purchase is not acceptable either.
 
Is that the firmware update 2.60? I have a single WXA50 which works fine but I haven't begun to look at multiroom yet. I was looking for acceptable speakers to use with the musiccast. i might need to look again at that...
 
77B0718D-4F80-4255-9620-FF52BAC0C47D.png
53DED8E1-C31B-4344-A3F6-3F830330E608.png
OK - Finally had time to set this up as a Pre amp with the Technics SEA1010 power amp coupled with my Tannoy Signature Revolution DC6T's.

Fed from my Marantz CD spinner - on simple listening quality indistinguishable from the Technics pre-amp.

Fed from Spotify via wifi - a big improvement over using any of my devices via a hard wire connection to the Technics.

But.....

Volume is an issue - in two ways - firstly even on max it's probably only 60% of the output using the technics pre-amp. Dissapointing. Secondly there's nowhere enough fine control over volume using the app (using the front volume knob seems slightly better) - it's either nothing, near silence, quiet , ok or full on. Each 'step' is a big jump from the previous, especially once past half way.

I'm hoping there' some more tweaking / setting up to be done via the web based interface rather than the app.

The WXc is best used as simply as possible. That means almost every ‘enhancement’ utterly done away with. Forever.

First make sure that whatever kind of speaker you are using, set the ‘speaker type’ to floorstanding. The rest is nonsense.

Next. ‘Enhancer’ = off. Because it doesn’t. It simply muddls the sound. It might, conceivably sound ok on a quick listen, but it is distortion. Nothing else.

Next. ‘Equaliser’ = Bypass. It’s just even more distortion.

Next, ‘Direct’ = on.

This ( Directk on) will/should kill the DSP stone dead anyway. But still kill them all manually. They cannot be killed thoroughly enough.

Next. ‘Input setting’ = off.

And in the section headed ‘Volume’ make sure you have ‘Max volume’ set to 0.0dB and initial volume mode to ‘off’.

It will play at the last volume you used anyway. And, naturally, L/R balance to suit your lay out.

There was no difference detectable with any of four digital inputs I used regardless of the Jitter setting.

It might possibly be useful for an ancient, very early digital player or an errant DAB tuner. Otherwise a gimmick I think.

It’s feasible that you may like some of the ‘enhancements’, but they are poor. They may possibly be ‘useful’ for tiny, cheap speakers, but for even small real ones they merely distort.

A week or so getting used to the WXC-50 as a bare bones machine will quickly make this obvious.

I found it to be a first class preamp (bearing in mind it’s price, but only just) into expensive active speakers that should have been out of its league. A bargain imo.

Hope this helps.
 
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By chance I changed all the settings a few days ago to exactly what you have mentioned above. I found it strange that Yamaha had all the enhancements on, rather than default to off. I found that the bass extension was awful with my MA Silver 1's and the change when I turned it off was really noticeable.
 
Is that the firmware update 2.60? I have a single WXA50 which works fine but I haven't begun to look at multiroom yet. I was looking for acceptable speakers to use with the musiccast. i might need to look again at that...

I don't actually have a WXA-50, rather a selection of other MusicCast devices -- a few receivers and a pair of WX-010s. The firmware revisions of those are all up-to-date, and now some of them report "Not compatible" with others. The point being, Yamaha had to do that intentionally. Also worth noting that Yamaha has history here -- the current generation of MusicCast is their 3rd attempt, and the previous two are incompatible with each other, and the current one.

Attached is an example of what I now see when attempting to link devices.
not-compatible.png


Which units will maintain compatibility with others? Who knows? But that's a significant risk if you are thinking about building a multiroom system.
 
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By chance I changed all the settings a few days ago to exactly what you have mentioned above. I found it strange that Yamaha had all the enhancements on, rather than default to off. I found that the bass extension was awful with my MA Silver 1's and the change when I turned it off was really noticeable.

Yeh, it killed the sound for me. No idea what Yamaha think they were doing... but it didn’t work. And having the crud turned on as default is a bit daft as you say.

Might be worth putting a thread up about that in fact.
 
View attachment 1069936 View attachment 1069935

The WXc is best used as simply as possible. That means almost every ‘enhancement’ utterly done away with. Forever.

First make sure that whatever kind of speaker you are using, set the ‘speaker type’ to floorstanding. The rest is nonsense.

Next. ‘Enhancer’ = off. Because it doesn’t. It simply muddls the sound. It might, conceivably sound ok on a quick listen, but it is distortion. Nothing else.

Next. ‘Equaliser’ = Bypass. It’s just even more distortion.

Next, ‘Direct’ = on.

This ( Directk on) will/should kill the DSP stone dead anyway. But still kill them all manually. They cannot be killed thoroughly enough.

Next. ‘Input setting’ = off.

And in the section headed ‘Volume’ make sure you have ‘Max volume’ set to 0.0dB and initial volume mode to ‘off’.

It will play at the last volume you used anyway. And, naturally, L/R balance to suit your lay out.

There was no difference detectable with any of four digital inputs I used regardless of the Jitter setting.

It might possibly be useful for an ancient, very early digital player or an errant DAB tuner. Otherwise a gimmick I think.

It’s feasible that you may like some of the ‘enhancements’, but they are poor. They may possibly be ‘useful’ for tiny, cheap speakers, but for even small real ones they merely distort.

A week or so getting used to the WXC-50 as a bare bones machine will quickly make this obvious.

I found it to be a first class preamp (bearing in mind it’s price, but only just) into expensive active speakers that should have been out of its league. A bargain imo.

Hope this helps.

Thanks - i'd already killed off the enhancements, or thought I had! I don't recall speaker type setting or a max volume so I think there the things to check. I've also got to make sure the router assigns a static address as I hope this will solve the issue where the app won't find the device 9/10 - yet spotify has no problems doing it direct.
 
Excuse the double post.

Problems solved - when I first accessed the web set up it was via the app - inputting the IP direct into a PC browser and i've more options. All the enhancements we're off but i've altered the volume step to 0.5 db and there was also a trim of - 6.0 db on spotify input.

All good now, acceptable volume and 50% and 70% is pushing the set up. More than happy, thanks all.
 
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This is kind of a nitpick, but I believe it's germane to the problem at hand. Yamaha Musiccast devices are fully DLNA compliant and Sonos partially so. It appears that Bluesound is the outlier here, which is a bit surprising, since they are the most expensive of the three.

I am currently taking advantage of the DLNA support in Yamahas to avoid having to use Yamaha's exceedingly poor control software. I am using (free) 3rd-party control software (which is far superior ) and sending the music over DLNA to the various Yamahas around my house, and bypassing Musiccast protocols entirely.

Your point about Yamaha and Sonos not having much incentive to support DLNA is valid, though, and I'm an example of why. If I were shopping for a device now, I'd have little to no reason to buy a Yamaha versus anything else that supports DLNA. That said, if Yamaha hired one or two competent software engineers ( to go along with their excellent hardware teams ) and fixed Musiccast, they could keep customers like me from straying.
What 3rd party control software are you using instead of Musiccast?
 
What 3rd party control software are you using instead of Musiccast?

MediaMonkey, and associated the MM Remote app and MediaMonkey Remote Server.

It's far from perfect, but it's a damn sight better than anything Yamaha has ever come up with. Yamaha can build audio hardware, and engines, and musical instruments... but they have no idea whatsoever when it comes to software.
 
Here's a question for you knowledgeable folks..
I have thousands of CD's in flac files on a NAS, and my only real other source is Radio Paradise, which I have a 320 kbps feed for.
I use a Sonos connect into a power amp with the app to control everything.
I also own a Yamaha WXC-50 which I'm trying to sell, but am wondering if there is any good reason to keep it. I don't plan to use Tidal or Qubuz, nor get any other sources, but would the WXC-50 give me any improvement in sound quality from my NAS ?
As a side question, are there any audible differences between my old NAS and a newer one. I have an 8 year old QNap TS-410 which works perfectly, but obviously newer models have better processors and more RAM but is there anything that would improve the SQ..?
I'm loathe to plug in my WXC-50 as it is unused and I'm selling it as such, but as there has been limited interest I may just keep it if anyone can give me a reason - over to you !

EDIT - I ought to add that I have a couple of Sonos play speakers for other rooms so keeping it simple for my wife and kids to use is important..
 
My initial thought on the NAS is that the only difference a new one should make will be in boot up speed and possibly access times unless you are getting significant buffering which you suggest you aren't.

All of the difference in sound qualify come in the machine that is doing the decoding and pre-amplifying (an arguably the power amp but there is a monster thread on that elsewhere, worms back in the can) which is in the Sonos/WXC50 in this case and not the NAS. Irrespective of the NAS, the same digital data is being transmitted to the renderer so the data from both generations of NAS reaching the Sonos/wxc50 should be the same. I am happy to be proved otherwise but this would be my initial thoughts.
 

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