Rotel RAS-5000

The Rotel RAS-5000 is a streaming integrated amplifier: network streamer, DAC and amplifier in one case, so a pair of speakers completes the system.

Rotel has a long association with Bowers & Wilkins, and its amplifiers have a reputation for delivering more real power than their price and their modest appearance suggest. The company builds its own transformers, which is unusual at this level.

What Apple Home actually does with it

This is an AirPlay 2 device rather than a HomeKit accessory.

• It shows up in the Home app as a speaker you can play to, and as an AirPlay target in Control Centre.
• You can assign it to a room and group it with HomePods for synchronised multi-room audio.
• Siri can send music to it by room name.
• It can be the audio output in a scene or an automation.

It is not an accessory you switch on or set the volume of from the Home app. Power, input selection and volume stay with the unit, its remote and its own app.

Before you buy

A one-box streaming amplifier competes with a separate amplifier plus a streamer. The one-box route means fewer cables, one remote and nothing to match; the separates route lets you replace the streaming when the platform ages without replacing the amplifier.

Check the input list against your sources, particularly if you have a turntable or want to take sound from a television.

Specifications