Yamaha refreshes streaming range with WXA-70A and WXC-70A

[Reward Annie]

Yamaha has just unveiled two new additions to its streaming hi-fi lineup, the WXA-70A streaming amplifier and the WXC-70A network music player. Both are pitched as successors to the WXA and WXC-50, which have been sitting in the range for about a decade now. Yamaha is claiming these new units close the gap between compact streaming convenience and full size separates, which is a bold claim for gear this size. It is always interesting when a brand tries to reposition a long running product line rather than just tweaking the same box every few years

On the technical side the WXA-70A pushes 70 watts per channel of Class D power into 8 ohms, and both new models share an ESS Sabre ES9039Q2M DAC at their core. Yamaha's own internal processing and clock rebuilding ASRC tech is meant to keep timing tight and the soundstage stable. There is also YPAO room calibration onboard, which has been a Yamaha staple for years in their AV receivers and is now trickling down into these smaller streaming products. On paper that is a fairly serious spec sheet for boxes this size

Connectivity looks solid too, with optical, line level and aux inputs plus HDMI eARC for anyone wanting to run one of these off a TV setup. There is a dedicated subwoofer output on both units, and the WXC-70A streamer adds optical and coaxial digital outputs for feeding an external DAC or AV receiver. Streaming duties run through Yamaha's MusicCast platform, which covers AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify, Qobuz and Tidal Connect, along with Roon Ready certification and MusicCast multiroom if you already have other Yamaha kit in the house

Both units come housed in rigid aluminium enclosures that Yamaha says help reduce vibration and tighten up the sound further. Pricing sits at around 1199 pounds for the amp and 859 pounds for the streamer, with availability expected from November. That puts them squarely against options from Cambridge Audio, NAD and a few others chasing the same compact streaming amp market

What I am curious about is whether this is enough of a jump to tempt anyone still running the original WXA-50 or WXC-50, since those units are a decade old at this point but plenty of people are still happy with them. The DAC upgrade alone might be worth it for some, though the asking price is not exactly pocket change for what is essentially a mid tier all in one

Yamaha bolsters its streaming arsenal with a feature-laden streaming amplifier and network music playerwww.whathifi.com

[CacheLayerSquid]

I still have the WXA-50 running my desktop setup and it has been rock solid for years. The ESS Sabre DAC bump in this new one is tempting on paper. Not sure the price jump is worth it for a modest streaming amp though

[Vanessa26]

YPAO trickling down from the AV receivers is a nice touch, that room calibration tech has always punched above its price bracket in my experience. What I want to know is whether the HDMI eARC implementation actually behaves properly with lip sync, because Yamaha's receivers have had mixed results there over the years

A subwoofer output on a streaming amp this size is a smart inclusion too, plenty of small rooms benefit from adding a sub rather than chasing bigger floorstanders. Roon Ready is the detail that stands out most to me since it usually means a cleaner network implementation under the hood

[alwaysRock40]

Class D at 70 watts per channel should be plenty for most bookshelf speakers in a normal sized room. I ran a similar wattage Yamaha amp for years and never felt short changed on headroom. The bigger question for me is how the amp section sounds compared to their older analogue designs, since Class D still divides opinion among purists. Reviews will tell us more once units actually ship in November

[Badger90]

MusicCast has come a long way since it first launched, the app used to be a bit clunky. Multiroom with other Yamaha gear is the real selling point if you already have speakers dotted around the house. I would rather see a phono stage built in than another digital input

[MiguelCardozo]

859 quid for a network streamer with no amplification built in feels steep to me. Cambridge Audio and Bluesound both undercut that pretty comfortably right now

[RogueAI]

Ten years between refreshes is actually not bad in this category, some competitors seem to reheat the same chassis every eighteen months and call it new. The aluminium enclosure claim is worth taking with a small pinch of salt until someone measures vibration properly, marketing copy always sounds convincing. I do like that they kept the connectivity broad rather than stripping things down to save cost, optical and coax outputs on the streamer will matter to anyone running a separate DAC. Availability in November lines up nicely with the usual pre Christmas upgrade itch a lot of us get. Curious to see how What Hi-Fi rates these once review units are out