Intro
Contents
Japan’s Yamaha Corporation needs no introduction. Since their inception in 1887, they have been making extraordinary musical instruments and audio and video equipment. There is also a branch that makes motorcycles, and they too are among the best in the world. Yamaha has been delivering quality for decades, and today’s test object is no different. This time not a classic integrated amplifier on the shelf, but an old-fashioned stereo receiver. Do those still exist? Yes they do! Meet the Yamaha R-N1000A.
Also for this reviewer, it all started with a stereo receiver (JVC rx-230r) which, by the way, is still in use. JVC, like Yamaha, is a Japanese company that values quality and professional honor. Our JVC may be 25 years old, but it still works perfectly. No creaking buttons or loose wires. We suspect that this Yamaha R-N1000A won’t break down anytime soon either. To give you an example. The chassis of this relatively affordable unit has a two layer bottom. Where else do you see that in this price class?
Other than the lack of VU meters, this is a typical Yamaha product. You have the distinctive balance, treble and bass knobs along with a real loudness knob. The most important button, however, is the unassuming square of the Pure Direct function. With this you turn off all tone control and hear what Yamaha wants to convey with its amplifiers.
At the front we also see the volume control, the input selector, the on/off button and two small buttons with preset and return on for the radio. At the bottom there is a glass surface across the entire width that hides a small screen. Handy.
Jack of all trades
Another example of the meticulous attention to detail are the anti-resonance feet. These do a nice job, even on our Bassocontinuo furniture. Otherwise, the finish on this unit is fine. We like the black version we received more and more over time, although we would choose the silver version. But of course that is personal. We find the remote control less successful. It is rather light and slides easily on our table. A few rubber nubs would make a big difference.
Turning the device over, we see four pairs of speaker connections, an HDMI-ARC connection, four analog RCA connections (one for phono), an RCA pre-out, four digital inputs (USB, coax and twice optical) and the network connection. Added to that are the antennas for radio, bluetooth and wifi. Oh, there’s also a sub-out, of course. A lot of possibilities, in other words.
The heart of the Yamaha R-N1000A is the amplifier that delivers 2x 140 watts class A/B into 8 Ohms. You can also opt for the cheaper R-N800A with the same features but slightly less power.
Besides the amplifier, a lot of attention also went to the d/a converter. The 32-bit dac based on an ESS Sabre chip (ES9080Q) can process normal PCM and also DSD files up to 11.2 MHz (quad DSD). Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz Amazon Music and Deezer are baked into the app as are Apple Airplay and MusicCast. The MusicCast app is stable and very quickly we find our way around it. Since it is a receiver/tuner, of course it also includes a (DAB ) radio which we surprisingly listened to a lot. We also used the Bluetooth function to get lost in all kinds of music on Youtube. And for vinyl lovers, there is the MM phono pre-amp to play records.
Finally, there is the YPAO function that can solve certain acoustic problems in the room. Unfortunately, the microphone was missing and we were unable to test it.
