Yamaha NX-N500 Speakers (with onboard DAC & DSD) & CA Review

New from Yamaha, the NX-N500 speaker comes with an onboard 32-bit ESS DAC that'll handle native DSD via USB up to 5.6Mhz. Not active, according to the Yamaha website, but offering a lot for the money with trickle down technology from their higher end Soavo range.

Computer Audiophile review here: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/666-yamaha-nx-n500-network-powered-speaker-review/

Yamaha product details below via the link, but these look very interesting for the money (£600/pr):-

http://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/audio-visual/speaker-systems/network_powered_speaker/nx-n500/

 

Not active? Aren't there amps between the digital and line level inputs and the drivers?

 

There would be - look at the heat sinks.

 

I think it depends on the amp arrangement with the crossover. Yamaha has been making actives for years but have specifically not referred to the as such. That said, these do have a 25w driver per tweeter and 45w to each main driver.

The blurb is unclear wrt where the crossover/amp sits however.

 

Agreed but, imho, an active speaker can have a single amp powering one or more drivers. For example, I have built active powered speakers that use passive crossovers.

 

Do we know why they connect to each other with both XLR and a network cable? I checked the manual, and both are required vs. either/or.

 

Sound on Sound's Hugh Robjohns would see your speakers as powered monitors, with "true" actives having a separate amp per driver. Maybe this is a transatlantic terminology difference though?

 

Kal, thought I'd link to the piece I referred to earlier. I've found the Sound on Sound site to be really useful in recent years as my interest in actives has increased, but I'm not going to get too prescriptive about things. They have a very sensible approach to audio that's refreshing from the regular domestic hifi titles I sometimes see.

I'm a beginner in this field of audio for sure. Kudos that you built your own gear! Something that Hugh Robjohns has done too (see said article).

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan06/articles/qa0106_7.htm

 

Very likely. Audio semantics are not codified.