Multi-room audio is no longer a one big brand monopoly, there are now plenty of companies who have thrown their hat into the ring. I’m here to discuss Yamaha’s latest offering, the WXAD10.
For those of you familiar with Sonos products, this is the equivalent to the CONNECT. The WXAD10 ultimately allows you to introduce multi-room capabilities into your existing system; be it your pride and joy from childhood, a unit handed down to you, or even the latest high end Hi-Fi. Whatever it is, the WXAD-10 has you covered.
A minuscule little cube, roughly the same size as two match boxes, this discrete little number connects to your existing Hi-Fi, or mini Hi-Fi system via RCA phono or AUX connection around the back of the unit. Alongside that you will see a mains connection and a dedicated Ethernet connection for those of you wishing to hard wire the unit to your network. For those of you not willing to connect the WXAD-10 to your router you can of course take advantage of the built in wifi.
Take your existing Hi-Fi system to a new dimension, with the Yamaha WXAD10 MusicCast streamer.
Set up is incredibly straight forward, but to take full advantage of the product you will need to download the Yamaha Music Cast app on your Apple or Android device. Through the dedicated application you will have full control over the digital source of music you wish to play as well as volume, and of course should you already own another music cast product, you can use these together for a full multi-room system, very similar to Sonos.
The application can be the weak link in a multi-room system, but the Yamaha one is straight forward and very user friendly. Fresh out of the box I had music cast running in no time.The sound of course is entirely limited to the Hi-Fi you’re playing the product through, as the WXAD10 is merely a networkable add on and doesn’t produce any sound by itself.
Taking the cost into consideration it’s difficult to see why the Sonos alternative is so expensive in comparison. I can only put that down to how well the Sonos Application works. It sounds strange but Sonos really have hit the nail on the head there.
But if you’re just looking for a means to introduce networking to your system and not so fussed about the multi-room side of things , this is an absolute no-brainer.
Click to find out more about the Yamaha WXAD10.
Author: Garrett, Plymouth store
