Yamaha A-S301/501/701/801 Integrated Amplifier Preview

What’s old is what’s new again.  Time-warp back thirty or forty years ago and the dominant audiophile component was the trusty integrated amplifier.  An integrated amplifier combines a preamplifier and amplifier into a single chassis.  Manufacturers could then optimize the two parts to work together.  Unlike a receiver that normally included an AM/FM tuner, an integrated amplifier was honed for one purpose: the purest possible audio reproduction. 

Fast forward to today and one would think that the future of sound was in multichannel, immersive audio.  Although Yamaha stays on the bleeding edge in home theater advancements, they do so while still staying true to their audiophile heritage as evidenced by their new lineup of integrated amplifiers.

The new Yamaha integrated amplifiers come in either black or silver brushed aluminum finish.  Pictured is the A-S301

Yamaha has come out with a solid lineup of integrated amplifiers geared towards soothing the two-channel audiophile in all of us. If you think that these integrated amplifiers are your father’s or grandfather’s integrated, you’d be sorely mistaken.  Yamaha has gone to great pains to outline the company’s rich heritage in the integrated amplifier market and show how today’s integrated amps link tradition to tomorrow.

These new affordable integrated amps from Yamaha are bringing vintage back to modern times.  The A-S301 ($399.95),  A-S501 ($599.95),  A-S701 ($899.95) and A-S801 ($999.95) will deliver the goods for any budget.  From the A-S301 to the A-S801, these integrated amps are meaty, ranging from 60W to 100W and able to drive loads as lows as 2 ohms.  They have a beautiful brushed aluminum faceplate, dual heatsinks with 4 output devices/ch and a big power supply, conservative power ratings and a variable loudness control (this was a hallmark of Yamaha amps and receivers back in the day).  Are you a vinyl lover?  Rejoice because these integrated amps feature a high quality phono preamp section.

Unlike the integrated amps of yesteryear, these new models have been designed for the modern audiophile.  All models have a subwoofer out, optical and coaxial digital inputs.  The major difference between the A-S301, A-S501, A-S701 lies in their amplification stage.  

Once you jump to the A-S801 you get some high end DAC features.  The A-S801 has a premium ESS Sabre 32-bit DAC (ES90110K2M) with USB input.  The A-S801’s USB DAC will handle native DSD (2.8 MHz / 5.6 MHz) and PCM (384 kHz / 32-bit).  We’re planning on reviewing the A-S801 later this year and suspect it will bust the 100 watt power rating on our bench.  

Rear Panel of the Yamaha A-S801 Integrated Amplifier, featuring a USB input with ESS Sabre 32-bit DAC

Integrated amps are all about performance, not stickers.  You’ll never see an integrated amplifier look like it’s just come out of a logo tattoo parlor.  For good or ill, there are no gimmicks here.  There is no access to streaming services; no DLNA access; no HDMI connectivity and no funky DSP processing.

You can, however, add the optional YBA-11 Bluetooth wireless adapter to stream music wirelessly from your mobile device or computer.  The YBA-11 connects to the Yamaha’s digital coax input and supports the aptX® audio coding algorithm for CD-like sound quality.

We’ve put together a comparison table below so that you can see the similarities and differences between the different models.

Long Live Two-Channel Audio

If there was any doubt about the future of two-channel audio, these new units from Yamaha prove that two-channel audio is alive and well. These are really exciting products for the two-channel crowd and Yamaha is poised to give you your stereo fix.  If you’re a hard-core audiophile or someone who just loves great sound for music or home theater but won’t go past two-channel audio, we think you should give these new integrated amps from Yamaha serious look.  

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.