This is a matter of personal taste and individual hearing. I like both these amps with the Metas, although their overall balances are almost night and day, and neither are really neutral or balanced by a long shot. The Emotive is leaner, or thinner if you feel inclined, but is far more opened and revealing through the midrange AND treble than the Yamaha. The A-S301 may be slightly more focused in the extreme upper treble, but less from mid treble down. The A-S301 only kicks the TA1's ass in midrange body and warmth, and bass weight, but the 301 exaggerates those things a bit. The TA1 doesn't have enough of those things, but is simply more revealing and transparent above 1Khz to me. The TA1 is also a true challeger to the 301 in the imaging department.
The A-S301 is a typical class AB budget amplifier, fat bass and boosted treble (V curve). The TA1 is different with emphasis on the midrange and more clarity. Both are ok for the price.
There was a time I preferred the A-S301 to the point where I actually bought them. Now, I realize the extra bass slam and warmth doesn't achieve the transparency and clarity that I seek. I think we're more accustomed to having more bass than a little less when this causes a boring sound presentation over time unlike the clarity, and transparency of the Emotiva.
It's amazing to see how much the industry has gravitated to mid-forward designs. The TAI compared to the Yamaha is very mid-forward, almost nasally. Although, listening to a sound comparison via RU-vid, via my own stereo/speakers makes it all but moot. But, to my old-school ears that prefers a hair of a "V" eq, that Yamaha sounds great (with those speakers). And, that Yamaha is VERY affordable. As someone stated below, this will be a taste (or financial) thing. This channel has put out some exception videos. Well done!
Let's start: Most people feel (from my reading...not personal) the LS50 Meta's are bright speakers. Not every speaker pairs well with every amp. And the TA1 would not be a good pairing with them. But what I do hear, to me (long time Yamaham fan back to the 70's, listening throughIFI DAC and Hifiman Sundara so not super high end but pretty good) is the Yamaha does not present the space the TA1 does. ANd really you should not be getting strong bass from the Meta. I have multiple Yamahas and love them but I also have a TA1 and my preferred system right now is using the TA1 with a Aune X8 (Sparkos OPAMP) with Emotiva t0+ and Elac 3010 and a lot of work on placement. It is the first system I have ever had that my wife remarked on.... Simply the mating of the speaker and the amp matter... I would happily have either amp but would work on balancing out their sound.
It's quite easy to find schematics of Yamaha devices. And You can read everything in a schema. The Y amp is a SUPER classical transistor based beatiful analog push pull AB device. The same amp as ever. Clean design. Now offering an old style loudness control like the amps of 80's. But still people pretend to find something as warm response here and there .... ans so on and so forth.... Buy Yamaha AMP like this is like buy a Piano or a classical instrument.... very little changes around....
I'm hearing this through Mac Studio/ USB to Schiit dac/Schiit loki/Schiit vidar/Klipsh 600M. and subwoofer. in my system, the Yamaha sounds more balanced, full and pleasent to hear, mmm some more like a warmish sound, but clear and detail enough to enjoy. On the other side the Emotiva sounds too harsh and lean to highs a lot, the mids sounds clearer on the Emotiva, but not in line with the rest of the frecuencies. Here the Emotiva sounds as a very small portable fm radio. The Yamaha shows more instruments separation, more space. But in this kind of test, everything depends of the equipment that are you listening this. i want to build another system for another room , and I don't want to spend a lot, I want to know which of this two amps sounds better with a Schiit Modi DAC and a pair of sony CS5 ( a little leaned to highs ). Don't know. Maybe the Yamaha compensate the highs of the SONY's for being more warm?. That's the question.
The Emotiva sounds as thin, weak, and dull as always. All mids and no bass, treble, or dynamics. The Yamaha stomps all over it twice, and then comes back and stomps all over it again two more times.
Emotiva by a mile. The Yamaha sounds like there's a pillow on the front of the speaker. I wouldn't call the speakers good for a comparison anyway. Need something with range.
![[Sound Battle] Emotiva BasX TA1 Integrated Amplifier vs Yamaha A-S301 Integrated Amp / KEF LS50 Meta](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
