“A particularly adept performer”

FOR Detailed yet warm sound; times well; Musiccast AGAINST Bettered by the class leaders in dynamics

If, as a child, you bolted toward the Woolworths pick ’n’ mix with any other mentality than that of cramming at least one of everything into a paper bag, you were doing it entirely wrong.

We might have lost that High Street favourite, but there are alternative means to sate that innate human desire for variety and abundance. One such takes the shape of Yamaha’s CRX N470D, a mini hi-fi system with more features than a Dr Dre album.

Traditional and modern

There’s a healthy abundance of the more traditional – a CD player, and FM and DAB digital radio as well as USB, RCA and 3.5mm analogue inputs – washed down with Bluetooth, Airplay, wi-fi and DLNA, internet radio, Spotify Connect and Qobuz for all your wireless needs and wants.

But the function Yamaha offers that its competitors cannot (due to it being a proprietary technology) is Musiccast. Effectively that’s shorthand for the ability to connect multiples of the company’s hi-fi and A/V products to work in unison.

In the case of a micro-system such as this, it’s made particularly freeing by the fact that, in theory, you’re no longer restricted to traditional stereo speakers.

The comforting Wilderness

We do connect traditional speakers to the CRX N470D, however – a pair of Q Acoustics 3020s – and begin playing a CD of Explosions In The Sky’s The Wilderness. There’s a comforting, analogue warmth to the synthesisers that open the record, and the Yamaha comes across as a tender, sympathetic performer. The level of detail, as other instruments join, is satisfying.

We’re welcomed with a sense of the CRX N470D’S scale as the soundstage opens at the crescendo of the first track, around three minutes in. It’s reassuring the only diminutive aspect of this system is its physical stature.

The decent sense of timing and dynamics means the Yamaha is able to portray the more boisterous character of later tracks such as Tangle Formations and Logic Of A

Dream. There is a vivid understanding of the atmospherics of the record, which the CRX N470D renders without division.

Vocal appreciation

The system is bettered sonically when we switch to Denon’s Award-winning D M40DAB – widely available for under £300 with speakers. Most noticeable when playing an album with vocal depth, in this case Savages’ Adore Life, the Denon offers a more subtle appreciation of dynamics.

The Yamaha is by no means lethargic, but it doesn’t capture the momentum or the animosity in Jenny Beth’s voice quite as well. The Denon’s performance is more urgent than the Yamaha manages – forceful even. It’s perhaps not such an easy listen in absolute terms, but one more befitting the character of the record.

Arrangements seem better organised with the Denon too. There’s probably more space to work in the Yamaha’s soundstage, but instruments aren’t as well tethered one to another. Again, the N470D dishes out a cohesive performance, just one perhaps not quite as adept as that of its Denon rival.

Compare with care

We wouldn’t give too much consideration to the price difference between the two, because it’s somewhat offset by Yamaha’s functions. In an era of multi-room, the benefit of Musiccast can't be overlooked. But the sonic benefits of the D M40DAB marginally outweigh the enhanced functionality of its rival.

Regardless, the CRX N470D is a particularly adept performer, with a plethora of features, that offers foundation for a hi-fi system with scope to grow.

“We’re welcomed with a sense of the CRX-N470D’S scale as the soundstage opens at the track's crescendo. It’s reassuring that the only diminutive aspect of this system is its physical stature”