Yamaha Musiccast - experience and app issues...

I have about 1TB of FLAC files (@320 mp3 right up to 24/192 Hi-res) on my NAS, and I recently switched from using:

Bluesound Node 1 through Marantz amp.... to..... Yamaha RN602N (combined amp and streamer).

Generally I'm happy with the switch, the sound quality of the Yamaha is to my ears as good or near to the Bluesound and Marantz combo. The Yamaha Musiccast control app however is not such a good story...:

First the good news, the app is really easy to use, much easier than the Bluesound in some ways, connection to Wi-Fi and the NAS is very quick and easy and just works. Also the reliability is better than the Bluesound for me, less drop-outs over Wi-Fi and the app has worked without any issues, where the Bluesound I found could freeze on me and fail to show my NAS files sometimes.

So far so good....BUT:

First problem is you can't browse and order by Album Artist. This is frustrating as it means that compilations are broken up into artist folders. You can still navigate to the compilation through the Album browser of course, but I find the Artist list is cluttered by artists with one track on a compilation. I'd rather use Album Artist to browse where I can set 'Album Artist' to 'Various Artists' for compilations and view them there.

Second problem, a bigger issue: Musiccast app has no search function and I mean no search function at all. This baffles me completely. So if I want to find a particular artist, album or song from the files on my NAS, I have to navigate to it through the artist/album/song menu (scroll, scroll, scroll......endless scrolllllllll ). Which by the way has no way on skipping to a particular letter of the alphabet, only a separate browse section where artists are grouped under "ABC" / "DEF" / "GHI" etc....

Musiccast apparently has compatibility with Amazon Alexa allowing you to request songs etc in voice command, so it must be able to search, but for some reason this is not a function of the app! bizarre.

I have contacted Yamaha many times (and through many routes, various website contact us sections, and even the app developers direct email - no response and Twitter - no response) about this to ask why and when/if an update with search is coming, but all I get are standard replies that they welcome my feedback but no detail on if it's even being considered.

It seems such an oversight, and Yamaha seem committed to the Musiccast concept as they are adding it to more and more of their devices, so it seems odd to ignore the issue.

Anyone else with Musiccast find this an issue? Any general thoughts on your experience with Yamaha/Musiccast? any workarounds anyone is aware of?

 

bump

 

I bought a Yamaha WXC-50 a couple of weeks ago and have just returned it. My issue was the same, the lack of a search function made it almost unusable when used to play from a NAS with thousands of files. I did also have an issue with the Android App occasionally failing to connect, but that could have been related to my somewhat complicated network setup. The hardware itself was excellent and the WXC-50 or the WXA-50 (with built in 70w per channel amplifier) would probably work well for Spotify, Tidal and Bluetooth streaming.

I am now considering a NAD C 368 amplifier with a BlueOS module but will have to sell my Kef LS-50 wireless first - but that's another story

 

I've only used the app for Tidal, and the search function is within the Tidal menu. It's not like Sonos where one search brings up the artist from all sources (NAS, Tidal, Amazon, Pandora, etc.). In fairness though, Bluesound only lets you search one library or streaming service at a time.

 

True, search is fine when in any of the streaming apps, but there's no search function in the 'Server' function - which sadly for me is where I do 90% of my listening as I have a loaded up NAS drive of lossless files.

 

I’ve just jump onto MusicCast only because I purchased a Yamaha WXC-50 to use mainly as a budget preamp as my Rotel seems to have gone to poo, until I have the funds for something else. But yeah for the price the built in DAC is very decent; but as others said, the MuiscCast app is something to be desired.

I also have all my flac on the NAS and the lack of search is an absolute pain. I’ve been busy on the AppStore feedback and emails, hopefully this and other issues will get fixed.

 

How do people find the AirPlay functionality within the app? I haven’t tried it myself yet.

 

I know some people are unwilling to drop a ton of cash on software, but the frustration I felt from the competitor's offerings was too much to deal with (as you're finding out). Roon is an endgame music app for me and I can't recommend it enough. I spend 99% of my time listening now instead of struggling to find and play what I want all the time. There are a lot of Roon ready endpoints to choose from also. I love the music discovery feature, artist radio, and the ability to play music in sync in multiple rooms. I bought a lifetime pass after my free trial and have no regrets.

 

Forgive my ignorance, but is Roon something I could use with my Yamaha RN602 Musicast?

 

Unfortunately not, but there are a plethora of endpoints out there at reasonable price points. IMO, it's worth having an extra box to be able to use Roon. It was an absolute game changer for me and has improved my user experience like nothing before.

 

Spoke to Yamaha online chat about something else and while I was there asked to pass on the feedback for search. The lady on chat said it is a highly requested feature and that it is in the works with the dev team. So we will see ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Yeah, fine, no lag and and volume response is super fast.

From basic A/Bing the audio seems a little warmer from my NAS then the airplay version. But that’s Apple AAC vs FLAC possibly.

 

I'm interested to learn the following:

Can you plug a hard disk of, say, 1TB in the front usb port? Will it be recognized and used without a problem?
How would you see/browse its content on a tablet or that's only possible on the receivers display?

 

You certainly can plug in a HD in the front usb port, but I haven't tried it. I have my stuff from the NAS backed up on one so I'll give it a go with that and let you know. I suspect it'll be exactly the same as connecting to a NAS, in that you can use the musiccast app on a phone/tablet to browse - but again likely without the search capability.

 

Thanks. Also interested if it's possible to directly communicate the tablet/phone with the receiver for the above scenario, not using the home network but this so called "Wireless Direct" connection instead.

 

Hi and Happy Holidays to all.

Here are my Yamaha Musiccast - experiences and app issues...

Setup:
Sporting a Yam Rx-V483 with a pair of wired Energy and a new pair of Musiccast WX-021.
Musiccast on Android Note8. and an old Galaxy 3

The NAS interface has worked out great to work around other issues such as the USB.
Re: USB Format Fat32 only sticks, no problem.
I can't see the Usb stick in the room where the WX-021 speakers are. Only in the room where the 483 is,??
I can do net Radio. and the other apps if I want to get busy setting these up. No problem.
Re: BlueTooth: No problem and the only way to get my Google Play music on there. so if I leave the house music stops, hence the old Galaxy...
Re: Bluetooth Headphones: no problem after fiddling with the sync settings.
Pair Stereo: No problem
Re: Home Theatre: I originally was led to believe I could run the Musiccast speakers from my RX-V483 to enhance my Home Theatre and set up the WX-021 as rear speakers.
Can't do that with the RX-V483. Apparently bad research on my behalf and misinformed. I would need to get a soundbar setup or something. That, looks like a marketing ploy...Whatever.
Re: Playlist: The Musiccast app needs more support for third party playlist from the NAS platform and the on the phone. Presently I am testing how the Musiccast app reads the files. File name or Metadata tag info.
Still to come: Can I setup the Musiccast speakers as zone b ? I haven't looked at that yet, but I don't think so.

The Musiccast app is a great feature to Market the speakers. Integrates, so, so , with the main 483 system. The NAS saves the day for me as for the Home theatre...I guess that will wait.
Being a Yamaha guy since 1995, (Yamaha RX-550) I am happy with the Musiccast system and my upgrade to the RX-V483 but YES, there is always room for improvement.

I welcome any comments or/and corrections to my above points. I can use all the support I can get while I setup holiday music!

Cheers

 

Hey, I see Yahama / MusicCast now has the Search Function sorted, but no solution yet to the crazy access to Artist songs ONLY via Album??
Thanks for any feedback in advance!

 

Is it? Where I still dont see it

 

Hi folks.

I’m hoping for some help. I purchased a Yamaha receiver R N303. I use the MusicCast app via iPad. When playing Spotify premium I have issues with volume. When I turn or down the volume via the app what often happens is the volume will keep going down or up to the extreme.
Well this morning it changed on it’s own. I had Spotify playing at a moderate level and decided to take a shower. Halfway thru the shower I hear the music increase in volume where it got so loud I was worried about blowing my speakers so I rushed out of the shower to shut off the receiver.
Note I’m using a newly downloaded version of the app.
Has anyone else had the problem ?

 

When I tried out Roon a while back, it had Airplay built into the app. You could just point it at the Airplay receiver/Yamaha and control everything from an iPad. That may have changed by now, though.

Also, Roon required software to run on a computer. Can it work directly from a NAS at this point without a computer in the process?

 

I just got a Yamaha receiver to set up, and bought it for the functionality to be able to connect to my network. Well, the receiver is connected to the network, and I have Musiccast installed.....I click on server, and it sees nothing but my Music directory on my C drive (who uses that directory anyway??). All of my music is on my network drive, which the app can't see. I can't find anywhere in the app to search the network, thus, making the wifi connectivity and the app useless. I may just get a small PC and connect it to the receiver and play my music that way.

 

Wondering if anyone who still uses Yamaha musiccast to play files from a NAS can tell me if Yamaha have released an update yet that allows search of the files on the NAS?

 

I have the RN402D. The front USB port appears not to provide sufficient power to drive a USB powered WD 2.5” hard drive. It will work with a hard drive with its own PSU. The MusicCast app allows one to browse the contents of the hard drive. I have 500+GB of CD rips plus some higher resolution files attached to mine (3.5” IoMega 1.5TB drive with external PSU).

Edit: sorry, only just seen the date of the original post...

 

Again, RN402D user here. You don’t need the app to use AirPlay. If the amp is plugged in it will show up within iTunes or on any iOS / iPadOS device as an AirPlay receiver. I can’t remember if I used the app or the front panel controls to set it up, but I have renamed the amp to reflect the room it is in. If you select the amp as an AirPlay receiver the amp powers up and plays the music. If the amp is already on it changes source to AirPlay.

 

Still valid, thanks.