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

By Kris Wouk Published August 30, 2016

Yamaha R-N402 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

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.”

Recommended Videos

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.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

Audio / Video

The powerful Xgimi Horizon smart projector is 30% off from Amazon

The Xgimi Horizon projector on a white background.

Families who are looking for projector deals that will transform their living room into their personal movie theater should look no further than Amazon's offer for the Xgimi Horizon. From its original price of $999, it's on sale for a more reasonable price of $700 following a 30% discount. There's no telling how much time is remaining on this bargain. So, if you don't want to miss out on the $299 in savings, the only way to make sure of that is to go ahead with your purchase for this projector right now.

Why you should buy the Xgimi Horizon projector
Xgimi is one of our most trusted brands for projectors with its multiple entries in our roundup of the best projectors, which include the Xgimi Horizon Ultra and the Xgimi Horizon Pro. The Xgimi Horizon is slightly less powerful than these two models, but it's still an incredible addition to any living room with its native Full HD resolution and support for up to 4K Ultra HD resolution at 60Hz. You won't even need to connect it to speakers for the full cinematic experience, as it comes with built-in dual 8W Harman Kardon speakers.

Audio / Video

Panasonic TVs are back in the U.S., and the W95A is still on sale for Cyber Week

Panasonic W95A

I honestly wasn't sure that it would ever happen, but Panasonic finally returned to the U.S. television market this fall and I was -- perhaps excessively -- excited. Even though Panasonic TVs have been available in Europe for a while (and selling very well), it's been more than 10 years since they've graced this side of the pond after the company ended production of its plasma TV line. For us videophiles who loved those Panasonic plasmas of old, it's been long time coming, but the company is back with both the Z95A OLED and the W95A mini-LED. And they're already on sale during Cyber Week for up to 33% off.

Panasonic has a long pedigree in the world of TVs. Not only did it produce the best plasmas the planet Earth has seen -- even better than the Pioneer Kuro, according to many of us -- but a string of excellent CRT displays before that. It stood alongside the likes of Sony Trinitron, Toshiba, and ProScan (a premium sub-brand of RCA). It's a lot to live up to, but so far it's delivered.

Audio / Video

Apple Music Replay 2024: where to find it and how to see your listening stats

Apple Music Replay 2024

One of the earliest signifiers that the end is nigh (of the year, that is) is when the major music streaming services start releasing their fun and interactive lists of all your listening stats for the year. Spotify has its annual Wrapped (arguably the most popular), Amazon Music has its Delivered, and Apple Music has its Replay 2024, which was released to its subscribers today.

I'm not trying to be cheeky -- I actually love these year-end roundups that offer a personalized and detailed data-driven account of the artists, albums, songs, playlists, genres, and stations that each user has listened to over the course of the year. But it doesn't stop there, as the major streaming player also compiles a year-end list of top-ranked music globally that includes cool stats such as most-played songs, albums, and artists of the year, as well as some fun additions like most Shazam-ed songs (Apple owns the music identification service) and most-read lyrics.