Onkyo Y-50 Amplifier Review
Here’s our review of the new Onkyo Y-50 Integrated Amplifier:
It’s fascinating to see just how much the streaming amplifier category has evolved over the past decade. Only ten years ago, most streaming amplifiers came with questionable DACs and offered little more than Bluetooth for wireless playback. Today, the category is more exciting than ever, with brands like Eversolo and WiiM driving innovation; and while they produced some excellent products, few have successfully combined serious amplification, streaming capabilities and a vintage-inspired design — which is exactly the gap Onkyo is stepping into with the new Muse range. This range brings together all the features you’d expect from a modern streaming amplifier, wrapped in a design that’s stylish enough to display in your living room rather than hide away in a cabinet.
Background and Range Overview
Here is the background: Onkyo has been in the audio business since 1946, meaning the company celebrates its 80th anniversary this year – in 2026. Interestingly, Onkyo has been part of Klipsch Audio Loudspeakers since 2021, a company that is also celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. Klipsch is best known for its stereo products, so this has helped steer Onkyo back toward two-channel hi-fi. Even though many people still associate Onkyo with AV receivers, the products introduced over the past two years make it clear that the company is placing a much stronger emphasis on dedicated stereo equipment, and that looks set to continue in the years ahead.
The new Muse range consists of two integrated amplifiers: the Y-40 and the Y-50. From a technical standpoint, the two models share much of the same architecture and many of the same components, with the Y-50 offering a little more power and a few additional refinements. Since it’s the flagship model in the range, we’ll be taking a closer look at the Y-50 in this article and hopefully answering the question of whether it’s heritage actually shows up in the box, or whether it’s just a good story.
Design
Let’s talk about the design first. You don’t often see an amplifier with VU meters at this price point, and Onkyo has done a great job with them. There’s a 5.46-inch colour screen display with analogue-style VU meters that are elegant rather than flashy, giving the amp a refined look that one could say reflects Japanese design sensibilities. It’s a really nice touch and it gives the Y-50 a bit of personality on your shelf, rather than just being another black box with a volume knob.
The unit itself feels like a solid build, and one of its biggest selling points is its compact size. Unlike a traditional full-width amplifier, this one is much easier to fit into smaller spaces, making it a neat and practical addition to a desk, shelf, or media cabinet.
Another nice touch is the top part of the Y-50 above the aluminium front panel. It’s ventilated for cooling, but instead of using a plain grille, Onkyo has incorporated the traditional San Kuzushi pattern into the design. If you’re not familiar, it’s a traditional Japanese design, and it’s a nice little nod to Onkyo’s origins while at the same time adding character to the amplifier.
But then again, it’s not just for looks either – that aluminium front panel adds real rigidity to the chassis, which helps cut down on vibration from the speakers feeding back into the amp and affecting the sound. And to top it up the amp is fanless too – which sounds like a small thing, but it really isn’t – you get no fan noise humming away in the background.
Features
At its core, the Y-50 is an all-in-one: amplifier, DAC, network streamer all in one box. So the idea’s simple: all you have to do is add speakers, and that’s basically it.
On the streaming side, it comes with all the usual suspects: Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect, AirPlay 2, Google Cast and more – all of which you’re able to connect to over Ethernet or Wi-Fi. You also have the ability to play media right off a USB stick using the dedicated USB-A port on the front panel of the Muse Y-50. So really, wherever your music lives, this thing can pull it in directly, no phone required if you don’t fancy it.
With that said, all of these options can be controlled through Onkyo’s own Controller app – so you can browse your music, switch inputs, and adjust settings all from your phone, rather than getting up to use the front panel every time. It’s also where you’ll set up things like the Room EQ which is a neat feature that measures your room and automatically corrects the sound to suit it, so you’re not fighting a boomy corner or a dead spot straight out the box.
Looking at the back of the Y-50, we find the usual connectivity options. In the Audio In section, you get a Phono input supporting both Moving Magnet cartridges (MM) for entry to mid-level setups and Moving Coil cartridges (MC), if you’re running a more expensive cartridge on your turntable, along with the ability to connect up to three additional devices using Analogue RCA inputs. You also get two options for Digital Inputs – one Optical (TOSLINK) and one coaxial input usually referred to as S/PDIF. On the Audio Out side, if space allows for one, you can also connect the Y-50 up to a subwoofer using the subwoofer pre-out. There’s also HDMI ARC, so it doubles as your TV’s sound system, plus a separate HDMI input for consoles – so this can genuinely sit at the centre of your living room, not just your record collection. There’s a couple of other things worth mentioning too while we’re on the subject of connections – there’s a 6.3mm headphone jack if you want to listen privately, and proper bass and treble tone controls if you want to shape the sound to your room or your taste.
Inside the Amplifier & Sound Impressions
The engineering behind the Y-50 is where Onkyo’s amplifier pedigree actually gets to show off a bit. The Y-50 runs on an Axign Class D amplifier with a MOSFET output stage, rated at 125 watts per channel into 8 ohms. This means this isn’t just enough power for a pair of small bookshelf speakers – it’s enough to properly drive demanding, harder-to-power speakers too. And that matters, because a lot of streaming amps in this category start to struggle the moment you move beyond compact stand-mounts.
Some people might still be thinking – Class D amplifiers have had a bit of a reputation over the years for sounding a little sterile or harsh at the top end. But that’s really an older criticism at this point. The tech has advanced a lot, and the Axign design in this amp is a good example of that. In most controlled listening tests, Class D amplifiers perform just as well as traditional Class A and B designs, so you can expect excellent sound quality at this price.
In terms of sound, think of the Onkyo Muse as musical rather than clinical. It doesn’t exaggerate detail or bass – instead, it presents music with excellent balance, natural tonality. Instruments have realistic body, vocals sit beautifully in the mix, and there’s enough clarity and separation to reveal subtle details without ever sounding harsh which historically been the case with Class D amps.
Conclusion
In the UK, the Y-40 is priced at £849, while the Y-50 comes in at £1,399. There’s also a special 80th Anniversary Edition of the Y-50 due to be released later this year. It features a slightly different appearance from the standard model and will retail for £1,599 here in the UK.
It’s probably not the cheapest option in this category – WiiM’s Amp Ultra and the Marantz M1 both sit in and around this space, and both have picked up some serious praise for what they offer. So the Y-50 isn’t really trying to win this on being the budget choice.
What it’s arguing instead is this – the built-in Moving magenet and Moving Coil phono stage, HDMI ARC and HDMI input for a proper TV and console setup, and eighty years of amplifier-building experience behind the circuit design. So if you want your streaming amp to also be your vinyl setup and your TV’s sound system, without adding another box, that’s where the Y-50 makes its case. So…can 80 years of amplifier heritage hold its own against the streaming-native brands that built this category? Having spent some time with the Y-50, we think the answer’s yes – not because it’s doing anything wildly different, but because it does the fundamentals – power, build, connectivity – with a level of confidence that comes from actually knowing how to build an amplifier for decades.
