I have owned it for 5 years now. It drives tower speakers from a local manufacturer with Peerless 8-inch drivers and Fountek ribbon tweeters. First of all, the build quality is impeccable as you would expect from Yamaha. The 501s is an entry-level budget HiFi amplifier with 85w per channel. Not 150, not 200, not 300w. Anyone involved with hifi knows that serious amplifiers start from 1500 and above and reach tens of thousands. The sound is good on all levels with a need for slightly better mids, but with amazing highs and good bass control. Overall, it is a completely flat and warm amplifier for my speakers, but with the tone controls you can do whatever you want. Of course, the maximum volume is at 50-60%; beyond that, clipping starts. I never needed more than 50% volume in a 55sqm space, where I listened to over 100db at the listening position (2.5m) with 92db/1w speaker sensitivity. It is not a PA amplifier and it's wrong for some people to buy hifi amplifiers to use them as PA. It is a device that gives you timbres, instrument separation, depth and stage width at reasonable volumes, enough though to annoy neighbors. 1st requirement: room treatment. 2nd: proper speaker placement. 90% have wrong placement without acoustic panels on the walls and blame the speakers and amplifiers. I would only change it if I went for a Yamaha AS1200, Musical Fidelity m5si or m6si, Vincent SV-237MKII, Rotel RA-1572MKII, but I have reservations about the quality of some.

It's a Yamaha, I said okay I'll leave the Chinese and go to a Katty, much better, and Japan, I was wrong, I got Chinese again but very beautiful and a lot of great control at 160 RMS and stage channels together, it might even be real watts, I have no way of measuring it. I've run it with JBL speakers, Gemini, Sansui, JB Systems, Vonyx, Sony Selection SP7, Yamaha, Logitech, Technics separately to see which one plays better. I bought it new for 560 euros and I want to sell it and get a Katty, just like I said before... if you're a fan of old speakers or if you want a machine that you will set very low, Katty of the middle, then you can think about getting such an amplifier. If you want a good Katty and after the middle you can't handle the speakers due to distortion, then think about it carefully. At first, it didn't bother me, but over the years it starts not to produce such good sound. I regret buying it so expensively; the watts are probably genuine, but it just needs good speakers on it, and in some cases, speakers and not Katty of 250 euros new unless you're lucky and find a good Katty unless you have other equipment. But you can't see the difference like LG stereo, Technics stereo, Panasonic stereo, Sony 5.1 DBS 940, Koda AV 1300, Ibiza SA 2000, Ibiza AMB 800 MK1, Logitech Z906, Z5500, Z2300. I'm just a fan of sound systems, but after I got the Yamaha, after 4 months I've given away a lot of what I had. I can't say Katty, just a shame.

it is not powerful and it muffles the sound from 60 percent and above, I don't know if I got a defective piece, it just isn't worth it for me. Of all the machines in the photo, the Yamaha is the only one that does this, my own unit...
So, I'm back again. I mostly deal with professional equipment, professional power amplifiers, and professional speakers. This is the first hi-fi I have bought new. I had others in the past and they were better than this, not in power but in bass, yes.
I have 6 professional 12-inch passive speakers and 2 12-inch vintage Sansui. Now, somehow, it kind of satisfies me. If I put these speakers on another amplifier I had, it wouldn't handle them, but the Yamaha does. If I don't add a subwoofer to the Yamaha, it doesn't give me good bass.
2 Gemini, 2 Vonyx, 2 JB Systems, 2 Sansui
The Sansui are vintage. For subwoofer, I put Z906, then it's okay, but that's temporary. Soon I will disconnect the Yamaha and use it with 2 small speakers and move it elsewhere.
Because obviously someone might say that maybe I don't know anything about speakers, music, or whatever, probably they themselves don't know what Sansui vintage means and not only that.
Before you think and say something stupid, I said my opinion. It's a very beautiful machine, good and powerful, but it's not for me because I expected something different. So, whoever wants to buy it, let them, but if someone has a professional power amplifier—not the cheap brands but the good ones—and wants to go for something more powerful, let them do what they want. My Ibiza SA 2000 burned out and Yamaha took its place, but the Ibiza is still more powerful than the Yamaha. And because I've changed a lot of equipment, I can very easily tell even by the sound if something doesn't please me.

I returned it, tried it on a computer, same thing. After 50 it muffles a lot, above 70 I can't turn it up because it will burn the speakers. You can't listen to music, you can't understand what's playing from this mess it produces on the speakers, I'm sorry... it ruins the sound. I connected headphones to it and said enough, on headphones it sounds 10 times worse, you can't listen to music at all, even in Chania, even at 5 percent, the headphones sound terrible. I put the same headphones on a Technics 790, incredible difference, the headphones were perfect. At the first opportunity, I will sell the Yamaha for €200 at most, otherwise I'll throw it in the trash.
Maybe I got a defective unit...

A year after I bought it, it might only work with optical, all the other inputs don't work properly, only the optical and that barely...

I have had it for 5 to 6 months.
WHOEVER CONNECTS THEIR PHONE AS AN AUDIO SOURCE AND SAYS (OH, THE SOUND IS NOT GOOD)
THEN THEY DON'T KNOW ABOUT SOUND.
To notice a difference in sound, you need to have a good ear and a good audio source. The amplifier is incredible, I admit that I don't have good speakers, but it even brings my average speakers to life. The bass has tripled, and if I raise the volume above the halfway point, the speakers will blow.
Zero distortion in the sound, NO MATTER WHAT YOU THROW AT IT, IT WILL HANDLE it with 2-ohm speakers and 12-ohm speakers without any issues or distortion.
I love the fact that even though it claims to play from 20Hz to 100KHz (pure direct), it can go as low as 1Hz in songs that have been created with effects, for example, "Used to Be - Rasster Remix."
Overall, it is a good amplifier for relatively large rooms, but I bet that with a fan cooling it down, it could even run a small concert. Overall, for entry-level sound amplification, it truly does not disappoint.

I have owned it for about four years. For the money, it is a very good choice, that is, value for money. It mainly serves the purpose of having many inputs to connect everything from a turntable (phono) to optical fiber. I have connected an analog tuner, tape deck, CD player, subwoofer, coaxial TV decoder, optical Android box, a Bluetooth receiver powered by USB from the amplifier itself, an Allen and Heath mixer, an equalizer, and of course, above all, a turntable with a tube preamp. The sound it produces corresponds to what you give it as a source. The sound is also attributed to the built-in DAC that converts the signal from digital to analog. If you give it a movie from cinema, it will deliver as much as the optical fiber, etc. I have connected it with 4 bookshelf speakers because it offers pairing options (A+B), specifically with the Pro-Ject Speaker Box 5 at 4Ω plus a Cabasse Santorin 25 sub in a 20 sqm room. The result is that if I turn up the volume above 40%, the house will shake with the 120W it delivers per channel at low impedance settings. Additionally, the loudness switch is convenient, especially when I listen at night and don’t want to strain the volume. An important feature is also the pure direct button, although I don’t use it often anymore because it makes the sound too bass-heavy, and I prefer to lower the bass and listen to a balanced sound rather than muffled. The 2 (!) outputs for Rec out also provide an opportunity for external recordings, and personally, I send audio even to live streaming through the mixer (I make the amplifier a source this way) and then to my mobile phone (with IRig Stream 2). The remote control is a plus; I can easily switch sources from my couch. In short, it’s a gem for 500€, and no matter how much I look around for other models of integrated amplifiers, no one has all these features packed together at this price. Ideally, I would like it to have a detachable rather than an integrated power cable.

At first, I didn't like it at all. I've had it for almost a year now and I've fallen in love with it because of the brand and the power and quality of construction. Compared to the Ibiza SA2000, the Yamaha is a bit more powerful but gives me the same echo quality. I suggest you go for a better one with that money.....

New update after a while since I have the speakers along with the Ibiza SA2000, no, it's not more powerful than the Ibiza, they are almost equal; it's just that the Yamaha produces more decibels. I still haven't managed to connect speakers that don't cause the machine to distort, but I have managed to set it up so that it doesn't distort at all. However, it is much weaker than the Ibiza. I have 12-inch professional speakers on it, the same ones I had on the Ibiza, but on the Ibiza, they played cleaner and louder due to the mixed sound I had on the Ibiza without giving more from the mixed. Their power is relatively close; I will probably return when I find a solution for the distortion.

I have owned this amplifier for about 2 years and I can confirm that it is a beast.
First of all, I wanted to get an amplifier for my turntable and vinyl listening. I wanted to have high volume and also clean, realistic sound. I wanted to hear the true sound of vinyl and not the extra effects of some amplifier or I don't know what.
So, I haven't tried the amplifier for any other reason, like connecting a CD player or something. I saw that it has many inputs and maybe my purchase was a bit excessive for what I needed, but I preferred to spend 100 euros more in case they could be useful for other things in the future.
1) The power of sound it delivers is simply excessive. I have medium-sized speakers and I never needed to turn the amplifier up more than half of its volume. I did it once in the beginning when I first tried it and it resulted in damaging my left ear. Literally, the volume overwhelmed me. So, there is no problem there.
2) However, the sound quality is something else. I have tried speakers of all kinds and I had incredible sound. Also, I connected the speakers directly to the turntable alone and the difference was chaotic compared to the sound I had with the amplifier and the record player speakers. If I connect serious passive speakers to the amplifier, the result is terrifying. The sound is crystal clear and no matter how much you increase the volume, the quality of the music doesn't change at all.
3) The construction of it seems excessively serious and sturdy. All the buttons are solid and stable. They don't wobble or make you afraid they will fall off your hand or anything. Also, the volume meter (as it's called) that you use to increase the volume is very stable and doesn't lose anything. Just a tick to turn it and it responds fully. The amplifier seems very well-made. Also, it doesn't heat up easily. I listen to music for 3 hours a day, every day, at a fairly high volume, which is logical to draw more power, and it has never exceeded a temperature of 40 degrees. And I'm talking about summer when it's over 30 degrees outside.
4) And I will mention the remote control because I saw some comments about it. Over the years, I have bought several devices that had remote controls. Stereos, speakers, etc. I bought a Sony stereo that cost twice as much as the amplifier and the remote control didn't work if I wasn't in front of it. Also, even at 6 steps away, it still didn't work. The remote control of this Yamaha catches from any angle. Even if I go to the lower floor of my house, it still catches. Maybe the amplifier itself plays a big role in this, but the remote control seems serious. It's not flimsy. As for the buttons, it has many and as a remote control, it's quite big. Maybe some people don't like that it's not convenient. But as a construction, it's the best I have ever held in my hands.
In short, for its price, the amplifier is incredible. I hope to make better use of it in the future because for now, I feel like I'm wasting it.

Very powerful and clean. It supports 4Ω (I have 4Ω speakers) and has a subwoofer out (I'm not sure if it has a crossover, I doubt it has a cutout adjustment for the Klipsch sub I have). It has optical and coaxial inputs and can power a USB device (I have a AptX HD 5.1 Bluetooth receiver connected).

A bit cold and dry, I would prefer a slightly warmer sound but it might be the combination with my speakers (d330 Wharfedale). Once the amplifier warms up a bit, it corrects this quite a bit though.

The remote control is a bit awkward, it has a lot of buttons, not all of them are used, and the ones that are used are not grouped together and not in a convenient place: for example, the power and source select buttons are at the top, while the volume control, mute, etc. are at the bottom.

In terms of quality, it's okay with some flaws: the binding posts are not very sturdy, I replaced the solid core cables I had because they exerted a lot of pressure and I was afraid the posts might break. The round volume and input select switches are fantastic, but the "thin" bass, etc. switches are plastic and not particularly high quality.