Yamaha R-N602, R-N402, R-N803, R-N303 owners unite!

jregel

Despite advertising these hi-fi components as currently available models on their website, Yamaha appear to have taken the decision not to upgrade them to support any new features. In the case of AirPlay 2, this may be a limitation in the network chip they are using, but other features, such as Spotify Connect for Free Spotify Accounts, and the newly added Amazon Music support, seems more arbitrary.

The Yamaha release plan is available online here: The products receiving new features through firmware update or app update - Yamaha - Other European Countries

If you would like to see support for Spotify Connect for Free Spotify Accounts and/or Amazon Music support, then please send a support request to Yamaha using the following page:

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Contact Us                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        member.europe.yamaha.com                                                                               
Select question type 3 ("I have a question about the operation of a product"), and tell them you want to see your device updated.

While it's far from assured that Yamaha will respond positively, if enough of their customers contact them, they may do something about this.

larkone

You are expecting Yamaha to change this when they have the opportunity to up sell you to a new, improved model. They will balance the loss of a few disgruntled customers against all of those that will pay to get the new services.

Good luck with it though.

jregel

Genuine question: What are the new, improved models that I could buy to get that functionality?

Based on the Yamaha link, some of their AV receivers and the standalone speakers (MusicCast 20 and 50) have got support for the new features, but nothing in their hi-fi separates range. In other words, the products listed in this thread are the current models.

BlueWizard

It seems very unlikely that this is a case of Yamaha being stubborn or obstinate. It seems far more likely that there is some legitimate technical reason why they can't  do this.

The mentioned models do support what we would now call AirPlay-1, so it would seem you are not completely lost in this regard assuming Apple continues to support AirPlay-1.

Give that Yamaha already has the software, available for MANY models, there is no reason not to deploy that software unless it doesn't work in the particular models listed in this thread.

And, this only matters if you happen to be an Apple Fan-Boy. From what I can gather, not being an Apple Fan-Boy, this comes into play when you are trying to broadcast from Apple iTune Player to your audio system. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

DLNA should give you all the Streaming function you need. Just not uniquely Apple based streaming. Though if Apple continues to support AirPlay-1, you can still do that.

I suspect if it could be done ... it would be done.

Steve/bluewizard

larkone

Genuine answer - they will always have new models in plan - just because they are not announced yet or on a website doesn't mean they are not coming.

Sam Vimes

As I'm resistant to all Apple products, I couldn't care less about Airplay 2. However, as an owner of a similarly afflicted Yamaha product, I'd have certainly appreciated proper functionality for Spotify Free. However, I don't see Yamaha as the enemy. I may not be being cynical enough, but I'd prefer to believe that if Yamaha could have done it with a simple firmware update, it would have been done. In the same vein, I'd prefer to have the dual band wi-fi that could have made Airplay 2 implementation possible. However, the chipset they've used is limited to the single frequency. I don't see much point in complaining about such things, nobody forced me to purchase. No one promised that functionality would ever change from the day of purchase. I got exactly what I paid for at the time. The fact that Apple introduced Airplay 2, or Amazon came up with a new streaming service, after the date of purchase is not really Yamaha's problem. The same issues can apply to any manufacturer you care to mention. You simply can't support every last bit of third party software out there and it's impossible to make hardware that's totally futureproofed when it is interoperable with devices from third party manufacturers.

titibxl

I have two r-n602... really sad to see they don't have the airplay 2 update :/

BlueWizard

If they could .... they would.

Yamaha has a very long list of products that they are upgrading, but the key is dual band streaming. If a product wasn't made with dual band streaming, then it can't work with Airplay-2.

If they could .... they would.

But as I said, that only matters if you are an Apple Fanboy. For a majority of people, this simply is not going to matter.

Steve/bluewizard

titibxl

I am everything BUT an apple fanboy.
I just so happen to have a lot of iDevices that were given to me for free, and airplay devices exist for at least a decade before google cast was introduced.

BlueWizard

The question is - will Apple Airplay (not airplay-2) still be supported, if so, they you have Apple Airplay (single band).

One assumes one of the Two Bands will be the original Band, so one also assumes Single Band will continue to work.

Steve/bluewizard