What constitutes a budget stereo amplifier? It’s a tricky question to answer, and one where the responses from hi-fi manufacturers and the average customer seeking to invest in an entry-level system are likely to differ.
Regardless, the market for sub-£200 integrated amps is thinly populated, and it has been a good few years since we last had a new one to review. So, we were eager to welcome the Yamaha A-S301 into our testing rooms, and even more pleased to report that it sounds good.
The cheapest such product to which we dished out an Award in 2018 was Marantz’s PM6006 UK Edition at £329, and not since Onkyo’s A-9010 – a three-time Award-winner from 2015 – have we really loved anything for around this price.
Build
The A-S301 certainly doesn’t look or feel like a budget component. Its thickset dimensions may put off those seeking to hide their system away, but we’re big fans, especially given the bold and hugely tactile mono-brow of dials and switches punctuating its face.
Those dials are for volume, input selection, left/right balance, loudness, bass and treble adjustments. At the front, you’ll also find the power switch, headphone output, A/B speaker selection and a button for turning on Yamaha’s Pure Direct mode, bypassing tone controls and sending the signal via the shortest circuit route.
Features
As well as a range of RCA analogue inputs, the A-S301 covers digital with one each of coaxial and optical connections, as well as having a phono stage built in for turntables with a moving-magnet cartridge.
These are all found at the back of the unit, as are the amp’s two pairs of speaker terminals and subwoofer output, 5V DC USB power socket and selectors for high or low impedance and switching on or off the Yamaha’s timed standby mode.
Despite being a little lightweight, we can’t complain too much about the one-size-fits-all remote Yamaha has packaged with its amp; getting anything extra with an amp at this price feels like a steal. Bluetooth costs extra via an add-on – Yamaha suggests its own £90 YBA-11 module – but that is hardly a criticism.
Besides, filling the A-S301 with much more technology could run the risk of degrading what we like best about it: its sonic performance.
