Yamaha MCR-640

Yamaha MCR-640 review

Question: when is a hi-fi separates component not separate? When it's not functional apart from its sibling – which makes the R-840 amplifier a separate but the CD player not. The latter has its own power supply and mains lead but simply refuses to power up when not connected to the amp via the supplied data lead. The amp will work, but isn't so attractive on its own with effectively just the one line input, plus of course digital and analogue radio and the iPod dock. Linked up, the two units form a pretty well-specified system. The CD player carries a USB input for memory sticks etc, and apart from a front-mounted input or a digital input there's not much more one would wish for. Operation is fully traditional, right down to the single-turn volume control, though in the manner of other current Yamaha components the volume knob operates an encoder which controls gain electronically. Tone controls are defeatable by the 'Pure Direct' button which also kills the display. Assembly inside both units is more budget-looking than the other units here, with plenty of loose wiring and cheap circuit board material. You do get a lot of components for the money, though – none of them audiophile-grade but decent enough.