Yamaha's MusicCast-enabled lineup continues to expand with the R-N402 receiver

By Kris Wouk August 30, 2016

Yamaha R-N402

A/V receivers featuring Dolby Atmos or DTS:X might be all the rage these days, but for music lovers, a simple but solid stereo receiver is still a beautiful thing. With its new R-402 hi-fi network receiver, announced on Tuesday, Yamaha is embracing that simplicity, but giving it a touch of modern convenience with support for high-resolution audio and the addition of MusicCast multiroom audio streaming.

“The R-N402 hi-fi network receiver redefines the hi-fi experience through the addition of our state-of-the-art MusicCast wireless multiroom audio system,” Bob Goedken, Yamaha Corporation of America AV division general manager, said in a statement. “This groundbreaking experience bridges the simplicity and sophistication of hi-fi listening with the exciting lifestyle enhancements provided by Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay, and MusicCast wireless multiroom audio technologies.”

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The R-N402 offers 100 watts per channel, more than enough to power even large speakers. In addition to the standard analog input for CD players, both coaxial and optical digital inputs are provided, making for crisp, clean playback of your favorite music. Digital playback is also supported from USB flash drives thanks to the built-in USB port.

If you’d rather connect wirelessly, the R-N402 offers a wide range of options. In addition to Bluetooth and AirPlay, the receiver supports streaming audio over Wi-Fi from DLNA servers. Wireless streaming is supported from a number of services including Spotify, Pandora, Rhapsody, Napster, SiriusXM internet radio, and vTuner.

Introduced last year, Yamaha’s MultiCast has shown up in most of the A/V products the company has launched since. A number of speakers, sound bars, and other devices support the format, meaning that audio from the R-N402 can easily be streamed simultaneously throughout your home, without the need for a Sonos-style hub.

For the audiophile set, high-resolution audio is supported in a number of formats. This includes AIFF 192 kHz/24 bit, FLAC 192 kHz/24 bit, Apple Lossless 96 kHz/24 bit, and WAV 192 kHz/24 bit, as well as playback of the DSD 5.6 MHz format.

The Yamaha R-N402 has a retail price of $450, and will be on sale beginning in September. For more information, see the Yamaha website.

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