Yamaha Goes Large With Its New MusicCast 50 Wireless Speaker

Multi-room audio is here to stay and all the major manufacturers are trying to muscle in on the act, either by developing their own proprietary systems for distributing music and sound around the home or by opting for open systems like DTS Play-Fi.

Venerable Japanese audio manufacturer Yamaha has chosen to develop its own wireless speaker ecosystem, which it calls MusicCast and now features on many of the company’s audio products. The Yamaha MusicCast 20 wireless speaker was reviewed here a couple of weeks back, and now it’s the turn of its larger sibling, the MusicCast 50, a wireless speaker designed for larger rooms and situations that demand a bit more oomph.

The MusicCast 50 works with Yamaha’s MusicCast system that’s built into many of the company’s music streamers and receivers as well as Yamaha home cinema receivers. MusicCast is there as a wireless system for a home cinema speaker set up as well as for playing general music and audio around the home. For example, you can have a small speaker like the MusicCast 20 in the kitchen or bedroom, while the larger MusicCast 50 would suit a living room or master bedroom. Meanwhile, there might be a main MusicCast streamer or home-cinema receiver in the main living room of a home. You don’t need a piece of Yamaha MusicCast hi-fi to use the system but it does give you options such as being able to send analog music from, say, a vinyl turntable around the home. Also, MusicCast audio units are able to send two separate streams of music to either all, a select group, or a single speaker anywhere covered by a wireless network or where there are Ethernet ports.

As mentioned, you don't need to buy into the MusicCast system big time because any of the standalone Yamaha MusicCast speakers can work alone or in tandem with each other. You can even pair two together in the same room and set up a wide stereo soundstage alongside a TV, for example. The MusicCast system makes sure that if music is being played on more than one speaker, then everything stays in sync all around the home. It’s easy to set up groups of speakers or to simply have a speaker as a standalone unit.

To use the MusicCast system you need an Android or iOS smartphone or tablet running the Yamaha MusicCast app. The MusicCast app is a rock solid piece of software that while not particularly pretty or elegant to look at, it gets the job done without locking up or requiring a reboot of the speaker every time the source is changed from AirPlay to Tune-In. MusicCast is also Alexa compatible so you can issue commands to the speaker via something like an Echo Dot or a smartphone with the Alexa app running on it.

The MusicCast 50 is an oval shaped device about the size of a smallish tray, and it has a glass top bearing the Yamaha logo and a bezel that runs all the way around the edge, bearing touch controls and status lights. The glass oval top is incredibly stylish but can be a bit of a dust magnet so a duster is a useful accessory to have close at hand. The controls include the main power switch up as well as buttons for selecting the various inputs. There are three preset buttons for selecting favorite radio stations or playlists, while next to them are the volume buttons and a button for turning the built-in alarm function so you can wake up to any music source you fancy. The other side of the bezel is home to a line of indicator LEDs to indicate if the unit is powered up, which input is being used, as well as the status of Bluetooth and Wireless.

What you get with the MusicCast 50 is a wireless speaker that can accept Bluetooth or wireless streaming via Apple’s AirPlay. The streaming can accept hi-res files in a whole variety of formats. However, the MusicCast system can’t stream your music around the network in a resolution higher than 48kHz so if you want to listen to music in the maximum quality you’ll need to sit next to the receiving speaker. Frankly, streaming Hi-Res music files on this kind of speaker isn’t going to be worth it. Save your Hi-Res listening to high-end hi-fi and a really good pair of headphones.

There’s no support for Google’s Chromecast, which is something of a blessing in my opinion as I’ve found it far buggier that Apple’s AirPlay, which has its share of problems. The MusicCast 50 can be connected to a wireless network using 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands using a really simple procedure on the app. There’s also Bluetooth capability with SBC and AAC codecs, which means you’re covered for iOS devices and Android, which now supports AAC on the latest software release. In addition, MusicCast devices can also transmit Bluetooth so that you can listen with a pair of wireless headphones or stream to another Bluetooth device. There’s no conventional headphone jack on offer, which is something I’d quite like to have seen for late-night listening without disturbing others or when, say, other people in the room who want to watch the TV when you may prefer to listen to music.

In addition to the wireless inputs, the MusicCast 50 has an optical Toslink port for attaching a CD player or a TV, and there are a couple of analog inputs in the form of a pair of stereo RCA phono plugs and a 3.5mm stereo jack. There’s no USB or memory card slot for playing music from removable media but the app does enable connection to a music server.

When it comes to streaming services, the MusicCast 50 has the lot. You can get it to connect to Tidal, Deezer, Spotify, Qobuz, Tune-In, Pandora, Napster, and Sirius XM. Presumably, there will also be a possibility to accommodate new services via a firmware update. All the music services are controllable from the MusicCast app and it all works really well with stability and speed. Additionally, you can access music stored on a NAS Server and anywhere else on your home network or smartphone. However, what you can’t do is search for music across all sources which is something that Sonos can. That can be a bit of a hassle if there are lots of music stored on a server and you have to go and search manually to find the song you want. There is a workaround in the form of using a DNLA app with search and then streaming via AirPlay.

Built into the MusicCast 50 are two 10cm (3 7/8”) woofers and a couple of 3cm (1 1/8”) soft-dome tweeters. The digital amplifier pumps out 35W to each channel giving a combined power of 70W at 6Ω. The sound is nicely balanced and thanks to the elongated shape of the casing there is a reasonable degree of channel separation, enough to create a stereo soundstage. Positioning is fairly neutral so you can pretty much put the unit wherever you like as long as there’s access to power. There’s no battery facility on board, so this isn’t a speaker for taking out into the garden unless you have an external power socket.

Verdict: Like it’s smaller sibling, the MusicCast 20, the new Yamaha MusicCast 50 is a very capable performer and an ideal wireless speaker for medium-sized rooms. The styling is modern but still blends in with almost any interior decor. The MusicCast 50's audio quality is extremely good and the MusicCast system is easy to use, thanks to an excellent app. All the streaming services you could possibly want are on offer, and there’s a choice of using Apple AirPlay or Bluetooth when streaming from devices like tablets and smartphones. The MusicCast 50 can also stream analog sources around the home thanks to the analog inputs. There’s even an option to stream from other MusicCast devices, such as Yamaha’s new VINYL 500 turntable or some of Yamaha’s MusicCast-equipped pianos.

Pricing: £449.00 / $499.95

More info: yamaha.com

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