Yamaha R-N803 one of the best values in high-end audio?
I’ve now lived with the Yamaha R-N803 STEREO receiver (it is not an audio/video receiver) for over 6 months. I believe it’s one of the best values in high-end audio. For $750, you get a preamp, amp, phono preamp, DAC, and Wi-Fi streamer (Tidal, Spotify, Pandora, etc) all controlled by Yamaha’s excellent Android/IPad MusicCast app. The amp is a discrete 100 wpc into 8 ohms with two pairs of binding posts for each channel. The DAC supports up to DSD 5.6 MHz and the internet connection can be wired or wireless. It has the YPAO (Yamaha Parametric Room Acoustic Optimizer) which is an automatic speaker calibration system. Its well engineered and made. I’ve read reviews of other All-In-One (AIO) units with various problems such as supposedly having Wi-Fi streaming but it never materializes or doesn’t work, or having insufficient power, or hum problems. The Yamaha has non of those problems.
The sound quality is excellent right-out-of-the-box but (as with a lot of gear) an upgraded power cord, footers and fuse (please don’t go off on "the fuse debate") substantially improved its sound quality. The soundstage width, depth and height is excellent. The midrange clarity is very, very good as well as the control of the bass. The treble improved the most with the upgrades but is now excellent.
I don’t know of any AIOs, or even systems, anywhere near $750 that does all of this so well. Have others tried this unit? What do you think? Are there better ones out there in this price range with the same or more functions?
