Sometimes, I like to approach a new review product as if I had encountered it in the wild, unawares, even if I know exactly what I’m getting ahead of time. And when I look at the packaging for Yamaha’s R-N1000A streaming stereo receiver ($1799.95, in USD) in that frame of mind, I have to admit that my first thought is to wonder whether this is a piece designed with the A/V market or the hi-fi crowd in mind.
There is, after all, that prominent HDMI badge, as well as the emblem for YPAO—Yamaha’s Parametric room Acoustic Optimizer (aka room-correction system), which we typically see on its A/V receivers. And to be frank, the laundry list of streaming services supported doesn’t do much to hint at the distinction.
Cracking the shipping container doesn’t give away the game, either—at least not at first. The R-N1000A is protected by four pieces of godawful expanded polystyrene (EPS), molded to fit the shape of the chassis, with a handful of cutouts to hold the accessories that don’t fit in the plastic bag with the pack-in literature.
The YPAO microphone even has its own little cubbyhole cutout. That may seem like an odd thing to call out, but I’m glad Yamaha positioned the microphone this way, as I can imagine there’ll be somebody out there who orders the R-N1000A purely on the price and features and strength of Yamaha’s name, without realizing that YPAO is a feature. Given its placement here, it’s hard to overlook. More of this sort of thing, please.
If you’re new here and my rant against EPS seemed a little out-of-nowhere, here’s just one of the many reasons I abhor the crap to the core of my being. In addition to being a “waste nightmare,” and generally bad for the environment in more ways than that, it’s also crumbly and fragile and the sort of sacrificial component you find in cheap surge protectors. In other words, it’s designed to do its job once and that’s that. Just lifting one of the top caps off so I could pull out the receiver caused it to crack at multiple stress points, and I think I might have left behind more EPS than I actually pulled out on my first go. I’m begging companies like Yamaha to stop using this scourge of the earth. But at least the padding did its job—again, once—and protected the R-N1000A on its way to me.
With that out of the way and the receiver out of its packaging, you can see all of the pack-in accessories here, including both AM and FM antennas, a quite nice remote control, the aforementioned measurement microphone, and a two-prong power cable.
And finally, here it is, in all its glory: the Yamaha R-N1000A itself. When we were arranging this review a few months back, Yamaha’s marketing manager asked me if I would prefer the silver finish or the black. I don’t appreciate having my name besmirched like that, and I assured her that I was raised right and would, of course, prefer the silver.
Further communications revealed that she meant no offense—some people do legitimately like the black. But come on. Look at this thing. That’s what stereo gear is supposed to look like. The only things missing are VU meters, and those are uncommon enough at this price that the lack thereof is entirely forgivable.
And it’s more than made up for by those signature thin Yamaha knobs, whose position can be eyeballed from across the room even by old codgers like me.
The black accents along the bottom of the chassis class this joint up and add one of the coolest-looking volume indicators I’ve seen in some time. The volume knob does feel a little hollow for my tastes, but that’s just about my only gripe in terms of ergonomics. Overall, I’m loving the look and design of the R-N1000A, even if it is pretty standard Yamaha fare at this point.
A quick peek at the back panel of the R-N1000A definitely gives away its stereo nature. The A/B speaker-level connections are quite nice, I must say—nicer than I would necessarily expect at this price point. You can also see here that Yamaha has put the HDMI port above the speaker binding posts and away from the rest of the I/O section.
Speaking of which, the receiver also features a USB Type-B port, an ethernet port, one coaxial (RCA) and two optical (TosLink) digital ins, three stereo line-level ins (RCA), a phono input (the product listing doesn’t tell, but the manual confirms it supports moving-magnet cartridges only, unsurprisingly), along with a stereo pre-out (RCA), a subwoofer output (RCA), a 12V trigger out, and AM and FM antenna connections.
Lastly, flip the R-N1000A on its side and you can see its beefy anti-resonance tootsies. They aren’t quite as robust as the feet you’ll find on Yamaha’s step-up Aventage line, nor is there a fifth foot in the center, but these are some pretty stable-seeming feet, and they feel pretty grippy at that.
I have a lot of questions remaining about the R-N1000A. The product page doesn’t explain which version of YPAO is employed here. Is it with multipoint measurements? With Reflected Sound Control? I’m assuming it’s not YPAO with Precision EQ, since I’ve only ever seen that on Aventage receivers. But there are, by last count, somewhere around eleventy-nine bazillion different iterations of YPAO, and it’d be nice to know ahead of time which one we’re getting. At any rate, I’ll dig in and have those answers by the time my full review is published here on SoundStage! Access.
. . . Dennis Burger
dennisb@soundstagenetwork.com
