In May, Yamaha debuted three audio/visual receivers that were good enough on their own but also were the first to carry the company’s MusicCast Surround technology, which lets you connect your surround speakers wirelessly, meaning you don’t have to deal with messy, complicated cable runs. Now the company has taken that package and put it into a space-saving package with the new RX-S602 Slimline A/V receiver.
The RX-S602 stands just 4.5 inches tall, meaning not only will it easily fit into your entertainment center, but it will also fit into A/V racks, which is handy for the more serious home theater enthusiast. Yamaha says not only does this make it perfect for small apartments or offices, but also less traditional environments like motorhomes and camper vans.
In addition to MusicCast Surround, the RX-S602 also supports a standard 5.1-channel wired speaker setup. It also supports Amazon Alexa voice control, though it isn’t built-in, so you need a device like the Amazon Echo or Echo Dot. All the major standards are supported like 4K video at 60 frames per second and high-dynamic range, including Dolby Vision and Hybrid Log Gamma.
A bunch of wireless technologies are supported, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay, and Spotify Connect. Spotify isn’t the only service supported though, with built-in support for Pandora, Deezer, Napster, Tidal, SiriusXM Internet Radio, and hundreds of online radio stations. Zone 2 audio is supported as well, letting you play audio from one source in your main room while sending audio from another source to speakers in a different room.
When it comes time to set up the receiver, the RX-S602 features YPAO auto-calibration, which measures your room acoustics and adjusts settings accordingly for the best possible sound, though more hardcore home theater types will likely want to manually calibrate their system anyway. The receiver also features Cinema DSP 3D, which lets you re-create the sound of actual movie theaters or concert halls in your home.
The RX-S602 Slimline A/V receiver will be available beginning in August and will sell for $650. For more information, see the Yamaha website. In the meantime, take a look at our list of the best speakers you can buy to pair with the receiver or browse through our list of the best A/V receivers to see what other options are available.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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