Yamaha WXAD10 Wireless Streaming Adapter

I purchased this to use with my iPad and iPhone as an AirPlay receiver. Set-up was straightforward using the MusicCast app - no issues at all. Once done you don’t need that app ever again, and given how clunky it is to use, that’s a good thing. Open any app on your IOS device and select the the AirPlay option, and it will simply appear as a potential output device, just like a set of AirPods for example. For apps that have a cast button, just select AirPlay. What this means is that the device can be used with everything you have installed on your device. So it WILL work with YouTube, YouTubeMusic, Amazon Music, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Apple Music, Spotify etc. You do NOT need any subscription to these services for it to work. Even apps that don’t have a cast option will work, although you have to make the switch first, in an app that does. So I tested a video editing app (LumaFusion) which was quite happy to play audio through the device. Sound quality is outstanding. I have a pair of mid-range near-field powered monitors, and I discovered a set of capabilities I didn’t know they had. Bass extended lower, was cleaner and tighter, and the overall sound was less muddled. In fact, what I really discovered is that I need to go out and pair a much better pair of speakers to take full advantage of Apple Master Quality (or Tidal/Deezer equivalents) music! Previously I had been using a Chromecast with an HDMI stripper, and as others have said, this little box is so much better. It’s worth pointing out that if you use the RCA outs, you can only control volume on your amp. If you use the 3.5mm jack, then you control volume from your iPad. With the correct toggle set in MusicCast (it’s a bit buried) you just use the volume buttons on your IOS device, or the onscreen slider where the app has that. Not all apps do, so it is important to track down this setting first. You would only use the optical out if you are certain the DAC in your amp is better than the one in this box. Overall, this is a brilliant little receiver.

This piece of kit is a really, really good streamer. The positives - The sound it produces is top notch - way better than any other similar piece of kit I've used before. I remain highly impressed by it even after a few months use. It'll meet all your sound / tone needs providing you don't need headache inducing bass performance. Furthermore, contrary to what lots of other reviewers say, the phone app works fine for me. The streamer is dead easy to set up and you can airplay your podcasts or music through it effortlessly. The negative - It's not a good looking piece of kit I'm afraid (it's just a grey box) and the on off-switch being located on the bottom of the unit can be a bit annoying ........ but doesn't change my overall conclusion that this box is well worth attention if you are looking for a quality streamer at a reasonable price. Hope that helps.

The sound quality of this little box is very impressive. It gets you into 90% audiophile territory. That last 10% will cost you ten grand so better to be happy with what you get for just over £100. Connecting through WiFi refused to work, but I hear if you keep trying five or six times it will finally connect and be very reliable. I ended up just plugging in a cable. The Yamaha app is basic but solid, tons of radio stations to choose from and the usual streaming services. DNLA support is good and you can stream your files smoothly with gapless playback. It sounds great to me. I'd say the limiting factor for most people would be your amp and speakers rather than the DAC included in this unit. If I had to be hypercritical, I'd say that it could be cheaper. But the competition is charging far, far more for products that don't do as much.

I bought this to avoid having to avoid the necessity to run a computer all the time (with associated fan noise) running Airserv to provide Airplay facilities. I read a review of it in Gramophone magazine, whose reviews I respect, which was very complimentary. I wanted a good quality receiver to integrate streaming music into my elderly but high quality HiFi system and this does exactly this and does it well. The Yamaha MusicCast system is a bonus if I ever buy any other MusicCast devices. I currently have it connected by stereo phono leads to my Arcam Alpha 8 stereo amplifier. I bought it from Amazon warehouse at a low cost and although it came in the original packaging, the setup instructions were missing. This was no great problem; I simply downloaded them from the Yamaha website. Getting it onto the WiFi WLAN is a bit odd but it works well enough after a couple of attempts when the "connect" time expired. Once connected it does, as they say, exactly what it says on the tin. The Airplay facility works flawlessly and provides lossless playback. The net radio facility is great and I was able to add favourites like BBC Radio 3 and France Musique. The device supports streaming from a number of providers like Spotify, Deezer, Qobuz, Tidal etc but this is the one area where I was slightly disappointed to find that Idagio, my lossless classical music streaming provider, is not supported. No matter, I just stream it to Airplay from an iPad or iPhone. I am hoping that they will add Idagio in due course. All in all, a great device that does exactly what I wanted.

Unfortunately you might not discover the answer to this without buying and trying it. The reason is a serious router compatibility issue which may make it impossible to use the Musiccast app. For obvious reasons Yamaha don’t widely publicise this fact but the Musiccast app is not compatible with IPv6-enabled routers (although they do acknowledge this in the FAQs on their support pages). Without the app functioning correctly it’s impossible to join a wi-fi network, meaning that you have to fall back on Ethernet for a network connection. That in turn necessitates locating the Musiccast right next to the router or extending the wired network with hubs/switches or the like. If that is not feasible, you’re stumped! A question for Yamaha: How many potential purchasers even know about internet protocols, let along how to find out if their router supports Ipv6 as well as IPv4? I have to say though that despite having an incompatible router, I am nonetheless very pleased with my purchase because I WAS fortunately able to connect via Ethernet very easily and I don’t need to use the WXAD10 to cast to other rooms (which also requires the flaky app). I bought the Musiccast to stream music from my NAS UPnPserver (Plex) to a 40-year-old analogue hi-fi amp (NAD 3020). The sound quality is superb, due to its excellent DAC and the fact that the RCA (phono) connections meant that I could hook it up to the amp using high quality audioconnects. Bluetooth pairing can be carried out in the conventional way (press the ‘connect’ button for five seconds to get it to broadcast its Bluetooth device ID). My advice is this: if you don’t HAVE to use wi-fi, and are happy with Ethernet/Bluetooth/Airplay, then don’t bother with the dreadful Musiccast app. You don’t need it as a player when there are much better media player apps out there. MConnect (Apple) and BubbleUPnP (Android) are the ones I use. One final aspect will niggle anyone who (like me) is reluctant (for safety reasons) to leave mains adapters powered on overnight. If power to the unit is interrupted, it must be restarted using the power ‘on’ button, which annoyingly is situated on the underside of the unit. This necessitates lifting it up and turning it over in order to press the recessed button. Ridiculous! In summary: Sound quality 5 stars, ease of use: 1 star.

This little box just does what it was made to do, and it does it well, with no problems so far. It was set up in a couple of minutes. It is feeding my Marantz MCR-610 which i just use as an amp for this MusicCast streamer. My speakers are KEF Q100's so they can pick out bad treble compression and are revealing with low quality audio. I can hear no degradation of sound quality with this unit. Spotify is a great music source for the price but it supports higher quality Qobuz and Tidal if you use them. I have it linked with my WXC-50 MusicCast pre-amplifier upstairs which means i can play my vinyl upstairs and listen to it in the lounge. Very pleased! If you have no need for external inputs into the streamer and just want it for internet radio and spotify etc this is for you. If you want some more inputs such as usb and analogue auxilary inputs or some digital outputs then go for the WXA-50.

I bought one of these on a magazine recommendation and I’ve not been disappointed given it’s low cost. Set up was straightforward and the sound quality (to my ears) is excellent given that it’s playing through a 36 year old NAD3020e amplifier. And that last point is key: if you want to add streaming in a cost effective manner to give an old system a new lease of life you can’t go wrong with one of these little beauties. Everything is controlled through the app which is OK (although not great) and support for mostly music streaming services is available as well as Airplay if you want to stream from your phone’s music library or play podcasts (or anything, for that matter). A no brainer at the price. Whether I’ll feel the need to upgrade to one of the more feature rich and better specified streamers is debatable.

I decided to drag myself and my hi-fi into the 21st Century, and this little box has done just that. I bought this primarily to allow me to stream digital music from my NAS, and it does that. I don't have the files in a lossless format, but even my MP3s sound okay through this unit to my ears. If it only did that, I'd be happy, but to have the Bluetooth and Airplay connectivity, internet radio stations and streaming services is a great bonus. The accompanying app is okay and usable, but is rather basic. I would hope they might update it in the future. It was easy to set up and does what it says on the tin. Great value and good performance.