Sound
Contents
We listened to this Yamaha Vinyl 500 in our reference system with a significantly higher price tag. The sound quality of vinyl through the built-in RIAA preamp exceeds the quality of many budget class phono preamplifiers. Apparently Yamaha made the right choices and paid a lot of attention to the image and sound characteristics of the built-in phono stage.
The sound quality of digital files and streaming via Bluetooth is also high quality. This corresponds to the sound quality of the previously reviewed WXC-50. In our reference set this streamer delivers such a good quality that we regularly wonder how the Japanese managed this positioning. We’ve also compared the sound quality of our vinyl albums with the playback quality of our digital source files and found that the Vinyl 500 really does deliver remarkable sound quality through its built-in RIAA preamp.
One of the albums we pulled out of the closet is the album In Transit by Saga (Pocket Music 2374-200, 1982). With this symphonic rock album we get an excellent impression of the dynamic properties of the vinyl turner in question. The album has a sublime sound quality and the producer (in 1982) is proud that the album has been recorded completely digitally. Things can sometimes go crazy… Despite this album is gray twisted and in her long life has been touched by many strange needles this sounds surprisingly clean and is free of annoying noise. Nothing makes us suspect that we are listening to a record player in this price range, or to a worn out album. The Audio Technica combination scores here so points.
The low rendering of this album is extremely powerful and compared to our digital version on the NAS, the vinyl delivers a higher sound pressure level in the sub layer. We experience above all a spatial, musical and relaxed music reproduction of this live registration. Compared to our digital version on our NAS, the Vinyl 500 delivers only a fraction in openness and transparency. The vinyl album, on the other hand, has much more dynamics, a greater spaciousness and especially more warmth in the reproduction. We expect this to be mainly due to an excellent match between the element and the RIAA correction of the Yamaha.
Now that we’re in a nostalgic retro mood anyway, we pull the beautiful album Human’s Lib by Howard Jones (Warner 240335-1, 1984) in the synthpop category with the enchanting Hide And Seek off the shelf. Here too we experience a high degree of entertainment and musicality. No, the dynamics and sound depth of this studio album are not top-notch, but nevertheless we experience a reasonably layered reproduction of the various electronic instruments and vocals. This is a clean and fairly sterile recorded album that fits the atmosphere of many synthpop albums in the early 80s. Nevertheless, the soundstage is wide and the placement of vocals and instruments precise. With our eyes closed we let the hovering sounds flow into our ear canal and here we imagine ourselves to be an innocent teenager in our parental home again, where we first got acquainted with this beautiful album of this by now forgotten musician.
In summary, the sound of this Vinyl 500 is warm, dynamic and very musical. Voices have authority and weight, without becoming heavy or tiring. Musical instruments have a warm ‘analogue’ glow, sound authentic and have the right size. The entire sound image is spacious, open and precise. The soundstage is wall-to-wall and the sound even goes a long way into the depths. Maybe there are record players in this class that play at a slightly higher level, but they probably don’t have a built-in RIAA amplifier and certainly not a complete and good sounding hi-fi streamer. What else should we say about it. This turntable will amaze every music lover right out of the box with its capabilities and excellent sound quality. And that for just under six hundred and fifty Euros!