MusicCast MCR-N870

MusicCast employs a high performance wireless network to deliver music and audio enjoyment. It can stream digital music content from your smartphone, PC or NAS to other MusicCast devices in your home. Audio content from Bluetooth®-connected smartphones or tablets can also be streamed to MusicCast devices in multiple rooms.

The CD player is equipped with a network player function that greatly expands your enjoyment of music: from streaming services and other internet music contents to NAS (Network HDD) or your personal computer-based music library. Consider internet radio broadcasting for example. By pre-selecting your favourite radio stations on vTuner—which provides simple access to Classic FM and radio stations around the world—you can easily enjoy the varied contents of a variety of musical genres, just as if you were listening to an FM broadcast. It features compatibility with high-resolution WAV/FLAC/AIFF 192kHz/24-bit music sources. Moreover, it has a built-in USB jack on the front panel, and can also be linked to AirPlay, for limitlessly expanding your world of music on a single device.

* Music service availability varies by region and may change or be discontinued without notice.

In order to vividly portray absolutely everything in various high-resolution sources—from the most delicate performance nuances to the highest energy-filled dynamic musical passages—Yamaha has built into this amplifier a digital power amp that outputs a maximum 70 watts/channel and features powerful drivability. Natural PWM type digital modulation with an extremely simple circuit configuration provides both natural, uncoloured sound quality as well as high efficiency. And the low-pass filter of the latter part of the power amp, which significantly influences the sound quality, is a large coil made of low-loss, low-distortion OFC (oxygen-free copper) wire material. This simultaneously maintains the purity of high-resolution sound sources, while enhancing the power of the bass and ensuring warmth in the mid- and high-frequency sounds—all to deliver the best quality sound reproduction, rich in musicality. The component also features a Pure Direct Switch, which bypasses the tone/balance controls and back buffer amp to improve the purity of sound.

Built into the unit is an exceptionally high-grade USB DAC which can reproduce high-resolution sound sources with all their original quality. It is compatible with native playback of the DSD 5.6MHz (DSD128) format or 384kHz/32-bit playback which records music information with extraordinary detail by sampling up to a massive 5,644,800 times per second. The D/A converter is the 32-bit/2-channel specification, high-performance SABRE 32 (ES9010K2M) from the U.S. company, ESS Technology, and its USB device controller IC is the latest product from XMOS, the semiconductor firm. By restricting shutter noise through asynchronous transference, this delivers pure reproduction and optimum sonic quality.

The uncompromising work done in producing a Yamaha piano finish spares no effort or time. For example, each process in the overall coating procedure, the under-coating and top-coating, is further divided into three or four repeated coatings, while controlling the membrane thickness at the micro-order—with the total process actually having fourteen coatings. Naturally, the drying periods between coatings are also strictly controlled, and grinding and polishing are repeatedly done with care before and after each coating step. And more than half of the process is completed by hand, using the skills of experienced workers. The rich, lustrous appearance with such profound depth is the crystallisation of craftsmanship nurtured by the art of piano-making.

The diaphragm of the 13cm (5-1/4”) woofer is made of quality aluminium that is over 99% pure. Its light weight and high rigidity obtain a superior response for rich and high-density delineation of the texture, atmosphere and tone colour of each musical instrument. Another major feature is the capacity for delineating details in the natural sound image, even including depth—such as the positional relationship of each musical instrument in a jazz piano trio. The 3cm (1-1/4”) soft dome tweeter, made by coating the diaphragm and applying unique molding technology, delivers both exceptionally high-range reproduction capability and a rich breadth of sound from high-resolution sound sources.

It features a highly rigid cabinet with full three-way mitered-joint construction that connects all angled parts that are crucial to cabinet strength based on the wedge principal. Yamaha’s traditional know-how nurtured by its long history in musical instrument manufacturing skillfully controls reverberations of the sound indispensable for music, while achieving high rigidity that prevents unwanted resonances. And following the meticulous polishing carried out to make invisible the joints between surfaces, the unit is given a beautiful piano finish.

Sections of the network circuit and the internal wiring are composed only of the highest quality parts and materials, carefully selected by meticulous listening tests. Moreover, large speaker terminals compatible with banana plugs have been gold plated to suppress transmission loss and change over time.