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It is such an exciting time to be a music listener. Thanks to streaming music, we have a seat at a never-ending thanksgiving table, piled high with a world wide musical feast. For some reason, as our music collection began to take up less physical space in our homes so did the devices we use to listen. Decades ago, a fine home stereo system was a staple of any proper household. Now, only 28 percent of households have AV receivers, and only 2 ½ percent have wireless multiroom audio. Some may attribute this to the degradation of audio quality due to digital formats. Listeners have lower quality music and therefore can’t enjoy the benefits of high fidelity systems. Well, it’s high time that technology catches up and delivers a fully integrated wireless high-fidelitymultiroom system.
On August 20th 2015, Yamaha unveiled MusicCast, a new way to wirelessly deliver high fidelity music to every room in a home. MusicCast allows the user to link all audio components together, into one system. This includes your digital library, streaming services, Bluetooth devices, and even external devices connected to MusicCast products, such as TV’s, Blu-ray, CD players, and of course the most coveted among audiophiles, record turntables. Finally, there is a product that can wirelessly play your vinyl collection anywhere in the house in true high fidelity. Your mobile device communicates via Bluetooth to the MusicCast receiver and acts as a remote control. MusicCast talks to all of your other peripheral devices through the home’s preexisting wifi network. This allows you to unlock your phone, access your favorite artist’s debut album that is stored on your desktop or flash drive, and with the flick of a finger, find and stream that artist’s new album on Spotify through the same sound system.
MusicCast can support Hi-Fi digital files such as ALAC, WAV, FLAC, and AIFF as high as 192 kHz / 24 bit. All of this power is controlled in a streamlined app that is available for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets. MusicCast incorporates Pandora, Spotify Connect, Rhapsody, and Sirius XM Internet Radio streaming services, as well as many other local and international internet radio sources. MusicCast products utilize Bluetooth playback, so just about anything can be played from your mobile device. Within the MusicCast app, you can control different rooms within your house. You can even use custom photos to personalize these rooms within the app. The user can play a different song in each zone, combine rooms into clusters, or unite the home with the same jam in every room.
Bob Goedken, general manager, AV Division, Yamaha Corporation of America, speaks about the new line, “MusicCast is the wireless multiroom audio system for those who want more than just background music. Now you can build the ultimate home theater or Hi-Fi system in your main entertainment room and expand it easily with wireless speakers, sound bars, or additional receivers in other rooms, like a kitchen orbedroom, with a single app to control it all. Or you can start with a single wireless speaker and expand over time. No other system provides access to all your content and such a wide range of listening experiences.”
All of the latest Yamaha network AV receivers will be compatible with MusicCast. Owners of the recently launched RX-V-79 and AVENTAGE RX-A-50 will be able to perform a firmware update to access MusicCast capabilities. Other supported receivers include the RX-V479, RX-V579, RX-V679, RX-V779, RX-A750, RX-A850, RX-A1050, RX-A2050, and RX-A3050 . Yamaha’s YHT-5920UBL 5.1 channel home theater in a box system will also support MusicCast for an affordable and self-containedhome theater experience. Yamaha will release new receiver models in the fall that will provide more options for the state-of-the-art listening ecosystem.
In October, Yamaha will release the MusicCast Wireless Speaker. This elegant 2-way design features Yamaha’s digital sound processing and will offer a listening option with a small footprint – for the room where space is at a premium. If there isn’t enough counter space, the wireless speaker can be mounted to the wall through its threaded mounting whole. Additionally, Yamaha will introduce a MusicCast Sound Bar and a MusicCast TV Speaker Base in September. Both models will offer a solution to improve TV sound without installing a large system. These compact units use multiple speakers in a specific array formation that allows for maximum sound in a minimal enclosure. Yamaha will also offer Hi-Fi and powered monitor speakers for the audiophiles who love the company’s signature “natural sound”. This will include the R-N602 network Hi-Fi receiver and the NX-N500 powered monitors.
There are so many ways to acquire, store, share, and listen to music these days. But, let’s take the time to remember why we listen in the first place. Music helps us feel, and share those feelings with others. It’s easy to lose sight of that when there are so many cables and obstacles in between our music and our ears. Yamaha’s MusicCast gives the world a streamlined and intuitive way for the whole home to enjoy music again, together.
