The Yamaha MusicCast 50 speaker is a wired home speaker with a slightly boomy, well-balanced sound profile with its 'Bass Booster' feature enabled. You can connect it to other MusicCast-compatible speakers and soundbars, and there's even a multi-room feature you can use to listen to different audio across different rooms of your home. While it doesn't have any built-in voice assistants, the manufacturer advertises that it can be connected to other Google Assistant or Alexa-enabled speakers, though we don't test for this. Unfortunately, it struggles to reproduce low-bass. That said, there's a graphic EQ and presets you can use to tweak its sound to your liking.
Our Verdict
The Yamaha MusicCast 50 is decent for music. With its 'Bass Booster' sound program enabled, it has a well-balanced, though slightly boomy sound profile, making it suitable for listening to a wide variety of audio content. It has a fairly balanced mid-range, so vocals and lead instruments sound clear and present in the mix. However, it lacks some low-bass, so you can't feel the deep thump and rumble in bass-heavy music like EDM. Fortunately, its MusicCast companion app features a graphic EQ and presets you can use to tweak its sound to your liking.
- Graphic EQ and presets.
- Little compression at max volume.
- Poor directivity.
- Lacks low-bass.
The Yamaha MusicCast 50 is fair for watching videos and movies. While it has a well-balanced, though slightly boomy sound profile with its 'Bass Booster' sound program enabled, it still struggles to reproduce the deep thump and rumble typically present in action-packed scenes. It also has a poor Bluetooth latency performance with iOS and Android devices, so your audio and video may be out of sync. However, some apps compensate for latency differently, and your experience may vary.
- Graphic EQ and presets.
- Optical port.
- Gets loud.
- Poor Bluetooth latency with iOS and Android devices.
- Poor directivity.
- Lacks low-bass.
The Yamaha MusicCast 50 is passable for podcasts. It can get loud with little compression at max volume, so your audio sounds mostly clean during louder listening sessions. With its 'Bass Booster' sound program enabled, the MusicCast has a balanced mid-range, so voices accurately reproduce in the mix. However, the overemphasis in the treble range can make higher-pitched voices and sibilants like S and T sound a bit harsh. It also isn't very portable due to its wired design. That said, there's a multi-room feature you can use to listen to different audio content across different rooms of your home.
- Little compression at max volume.
- Multi-room.
- Isn't very portable.
- Poor directivity.
The Yamaha MusicCast 50 doesn't have any built-in voice assistants. You can connect it to Google Assistant or Alexa-enabled speakers to use voice assistants, though we don't test for this since it requires the purchase of a third-party device.
The Yamaha MusicCast 50 speaker is a wired-only speaker that isn't designed for outdoor use.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Yamaha MusicCast 50 comes in three color variants: White, Black, and Birch. We expect these variants to perform similarly. We tested the White variant, you can find its label here.
If you come across any other variants, let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.
Popular Speaker Comparisons
The Yamaha MusicCast 50 is an oval-shaped speaker with a well-balanced sound profile overall. Like many home speakers, it isn't very portable due to its wired design and needs to remain plugged into a power source for it to work. You can use the graphic EQ and presets in its MusicCast companion app to customize its sound to your liking, and can also use the app to pair it to compatible MusicCast devices like the Yamaha YAS-408, though we don't currently test this.
See also our recommendations for the best Bluetooth speakers, the best home speakers, and the best Alexa speakers.
The Denon Home 350 is a better speaker than the Yamaha MusicCast 50 overall, though they have different strengths. With its default settings, it has a better-balanced sound profile that can produce much deeper bass than the Yamaha. It can also get a bit louder than it. The Yamaha has less compression at max volume, resulting in cleaner sound at louder volume levels. It also features a graphic EQ and presets you can use to customize its sound to your liking.
The Amazon Echo Studio (1st generation) and the Yamaha MusicCast 50 are similar speakers. The Amazon speaker offers excellent voice assistant support with Alexa built-in and does an excellent job of understanding your commands from far away. It has better directivity, resulting in a wider-sounding soundstage. It also has a built-in Zigbee hub, so you can connect it to compatible smart home devices like lightbulbs or thermostats and control them using Alexa. You can connect the Yamaha to MusicCast-compatible devices like MusicCast soundbars. It can also get louder than the Amazon and is more customizable thanks to the graphic EQ and presets featured in its MusicCast app.
The Yamaha MusicCast 50 and the Harman/Kardon Aura Studio 3 are similar speakers with different strengths. The Yamaha can get louder with less compression present at max volume. It's compatible with the MusicCast app, which you can use to pair it with compatible speakers and soundbars. It also features a graphic EQ and presets to customize its sound profile to your liking. That said, the Harman/Kardon has better directivity, resulting in a wider-sounding soundstage. Some users may also prefer its unique, dome-shaped design with pulsing ambient lights.
The Yamaha MusicCast 50 is a bit better than the Klipsch The One II. The Yamaha has a more neutral sound profile with 'Bass Booster' enabled and comes with a graphic EQ to tweak its sound to your liking. It also has less compression present at max volume, resulting in cleaner audio when the speaker is pushed to its louder volume levels, and you can connect it to multiple other MusicCast-compatible speakers and soundbars across your home. That said, the Klipsch can get louder than the Yamaha and has lower Bluetooth latency with iOS and Android devices.
Test Results
The Yamaha MusicCast is a sleek, oval-shaped speaker meant to sit horizontally. It has a plastic, glossy finish on its top, and its touch-sensitive controls and indicator lights are on its matte plastic rim. You can find the MusicCast in three colors, 'White', 'Black', and 'Birch'.
The Yamaha MusicCast 50 isn't very portable. While it isn't very large or heavy, it needs to remain wired to a power outlet for it to work, so you can't easily take it outdoors with you.
This speaker's build quality isn't bad and feels nice and solid. There's a metal grille protecting its drivers, and the speaker sits on a silicone base with four small feet. Its inputs are located on its rear, and its tactile controls are on its top. That said, the glossy plastic finish atop it doesn't have a very premium feel and may be prone to collecting fingerprints. It also doesn't have an IP rating for dust or water resistance, so it's best to avoid using it around sources of water.
This speaker has poor controls. Its touch-sensitive controls are located on its top and are pretty easy to use. While there are indicator lights that turn on depending on your chosen settings, the controls themselves aren't backlit and don't light up, which can make them difficult to locate in darker environments. That said, you can press the Power/Connect button to turn the speaker on and off and hold it to enter Bluetooth pairing mode. There are also buttons you can use to switch between your inputs and your volume. However, while there aren't any physical controls you can use to backtrack or skip tracks, you can still do so through its companion app.
This speaker has an alright frequency response accuracy. With its default 'Bass Booster' sound program enabled, it has a slightly boomy though well-balanced sound profile overall, making it suitable for listening to a wide variety of audio content. Its balanced mid-range ensures vocals and lead instruments are clearly reproduced in the mix. That said, it lacks a deep thumpy and rumbling low-bass, and the overemphasis in its treble range can make some higher-pitched voices and sibilants like S and T sound a bit harsh. Fortunately, its companion app features a graphic EQ and presets you can use to tweak its sound to your liking.
This speaker has an okay soundstage similar to that of the Denon Home 350. The MusicCast can play stereo content without downmixing it to mono. However, it has middling directivity, so your audio may not sound as clear from all angles. For a home speaker with better overall directivity, check out the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin 2021.
This speaker's dynamics are very good. It can get pretty loud with little compression at max volume, so your audio sounds clean during louder listening sessions. For a home speaker that can get even louder, check out the Klipsch The Three II.
The Yamaha MusicCast 50 speaker isn't battery-powered and needs to remain plugged into an outlet for it to work. That said, the speaker will enter standby mode if left inactive for 20 minutes. You can enable and disable this feature by holding the 'Alarm Logo' on the control panel for three seconds.
While it doesn't have any built-in voice assistants, the manufacturer advertises that the MusicCast can connect to speakers with Google Assistant and Alexa built-in, though they would both need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network. However, we don't test for this since it requires the purchase of a third-party device.
This speaker's companion app is superb. It features a graphic EQ and presets, so you can customize the speaker's sound to your liking. You can also use the app to connect the speaker to other MusicCast-compatible speakers to create a stereo pair or when you want your audio to cover a large room. There's also a multi-room feature that can come in handy when you want to play different audio content in different rooms across your home simultaneously. You can add the speaker as a rear unit to a MusicCast soundbar and can also use the app to set up the speaker's alarm function. You can connect and control music service applications like Spotify or Pandora via the app and can also use it to turn the speaker On/Off and skip your tracks.
Aside from its power input, this speaker features an AUX input you can use to wire older devices to it. There are also red and white RCA inputs, an ethernet port you can use to connect it to your network, and a digital optical port to wire it to a compatible soundbar. While there's a USB port, it's only for servicing the speaker.
This speaker offers fair Bluetooth connectivity options. It has extremely high negative latency with iOS and Android devices, which can cause you to hear your audio before you see its matching visuals on your screen, so it isn't suitable for watching videos and movies. That said, some apps compensate for latency differently, and your experience may differ.
This speaker has great Wi-Fi compatibility. It has low Apple AirPlay latency, making it suitable for watching videos and movies over this connection, though some apps compensate for latency differently, and your real-world experience may vary. Unfortunately, while it's compatible with Google Assistant speakers, it doesn't support Google Chromecast, which may disappoint some Android users.