Stereo Amplifier CXA60 instantly charms: it has its own energy, smoothness, and a rare enthusiasm. In the list of priorities, he puts the pleasure of listening to music in the first place. This does not mean that the amplifier does not pay enough attention to detail, dynamics, and rhythmic accuracy; and it is easy to cope with complex arrangements and a re-creation of the smallest details.

The famous bass line in the song Seven Nation Army group White Stripes – elastic, lively and powerful – immediately grabs the listener.

Feature of the new Stereo Amplifier from Cambridge

In Stereo Amplifier CXA60 fairly straightforward approach, but not enough to be annoying. Stone and roaring guitar riffs full of different textures and enviable sharpness, irregular and intense vocals of Jack White’s passed with all the nuances. The song makes a strong impression.

The energetic Stereo Amplifier does not pass the border, it can not be accused of lack of control and excessive zeal; Cambridge demonstrates excellent control of the dynamics and rhythms. The compositions of Hans Zimmer from the film “Home” sounds suitably grim, constantly increasing pressure.

String track Time is gradually becoming louder drums adds bleak. Piano notes fade in the final composition hovering over an open soundstage, their lively and exciting sound for a long time remains in memory.

Some competitors – for example, Arcam FMJ A19 for $ 1100 – a little more able to create deep bass, treble and more open even finer details, however, and Cambridge pleases high quality, especially considering the price.

The density of its sound leads the listener excited, but at the same time it is surprisingly easy and enjoyable.

With stylish and modern design, Stereo Amplifier CXA60 looks very attractive. Stereo Amplifier “floating chassis”, durable aluminum body with a black or silver finish and neat front panel. By creating a new amplifier, Cambridge paid a lot of attention to every aspect of it, which will result in a high-quality product.

Display devices – simple and elegant. The buttons are located near the symbols input; their blue color when choosing a connection becomes dark blue. Included there is a button with an icon Bluetooth: CXA60 able to receive music from smartphones using the codec Bluetooth aptX, but for this you have to buy Cambridge BT100 module for $ 100. Ventilation grill on the top cover not only decorates Stereo Amplifier CXA60 – it helps cool the class AB Stereo Amplifier output of 60 watts per channel.

If you look inside, you can see the toroidal transformer, located right in the chassis; in Cambridge consciously chose this position because it reduces the level of magnetic flux, and thus reduces the noise in the signal path.

Among other design features worth noting separate and symmetrical channel paths, minimizing the interference of electromagnetic fields and increasing the stability of the sound.

Manage Stereo Amplifier Cambridge is easy. Responsive panel buttons and the volume knob immediately respond to commands. Regulators channel balance and TONE (designated images violin and bass clef) is also running smoothly. It is worth experimenting with the regime of Direct – he passes a signal in Defeat, making the sound purer.

Strong and sophisticated remote control will quickly become your indispensable assistant.

The same unit can be used to control all models of line CX.

On the rear panel – a large range of digital and analog connections, including four line inputs and two pairs of speaker terminals (can be arranged dual-cable connection or connect a second pair of speakers).

Built-in DAC (24-bit / 192 kHz) supports playback of HD-files via two optical and one coaxial input. It is based on the same chip Wolfson DAC, as the DacMagic Plus ($ 620), received in 2012 a four-star. If you need a USB-port, will have to choose a more expensive model – CXA80 ($ 1200), the next in the line of CX.

The front panel 3.5mm input for MP3-players and smartphones and similar headphone. It can be used as a preamp CXA60 or connect it to a subwoofer for bass support. Cambridge continues to sign inputs in both directions, making it easy to read labels, leaning over the device.

Stereo Amplifier Cambridge CXA60 we love; Stereo Amplifier is great in almost every way. It looks impressive, has a lot of connections, and his strong, detailed and rhythmically perfect sound very pleasant to the ear. And it is easy to manage.

The closest Stereo Amplifier competitor CXA60 – Award awarded amplifier Arcam A19 – boasts a little more mature and sophisticated sound, but it is more expensive ($ 1200), and has no digital inputs. Stereo Amplifier CXA60 is quite competitive at a lower price.

Price: $ 1,000

Rating: 5

PROS: Deep bass, high-frequency control; excellent workmanship; connectivity; expressive dynamics

CONS: No module Bluetooth; It requires attention in the selection of partners

VERDICT: A great amp sounds as cool as it looks

Source: cambridgeaudio, trustedreviews

The post Cambridge CXA60 review: Stereo Amplifier appeared first on Raqwe.

With Blu-ray-player Cambridge Audio, we first met two years ago, but recently this player has undergone significant modernization. Now, in addition to the disc Blu-ray, DVD, DVD-Audio, SACD and CD unit was able to play on a network or connected via USB hard drive a lot of video formats, including “rips» Blu-ray in BDMV format and even ISO-image that previously only able media players Korean and Chinese companies. Of course, these talents Cambridge Audio 752BD (along with multi-zone) are not advertised, so as not to incur the wrath of the various licensing bodies, so the official specification capabilities of the player we do not provide, however, as the company said distributor, the player is capable of anything.

Well, check whether this is so, and at the same time to find out whether the owners Cambridge Audio 752BD can do without additional boxes that give access to the world of “shareware” content.

Of course, unlike the latter Cambridge can not independently download music and audio with Torrent resources, it only reproduces the content that you offer him, by connecting a hard drive or connect it to your home network.

The first option is the easiest and given support NTFS and speed provided by USB2.0, the least problematic: we were able to play HD-video, not only in containers MKV, but also a full (with menus and all the features of this disc) “rip» Blu-ray “Grand Hotel Budapest” format BDMV (with the folder structure of the disc and videos m2ts) and “Prometheus” in the form of ISO-image (both had a weight of about 50 GB). No problems and broadcasting of such monsters on a wired network: to download the video machine took a few seconds – no more than a real disk. No switching chapters, or during rewind unwanted pauses or failures do not occur, while working player never freezes, requiring a restart.

With the wireless network, you have to be limited to “pinched” HD-video in MKV containers or MP4. You lose a disc menu, but the division into chapters, choice of audio and subtitles while watching you are – given an order of magnitude smaller file sizes, the most common and acceptable option today. We will not say that with less “heavy” video in AVI and such player also works. In all cases, the image is displayed Cambridge Audio 752BD as possible, taking into account the quality of the original content, clarity, it is stable and smooth.

Connecting to the network – Cambridge Audio 752BD

Connecting to the network by means of a wire or the supplied Wi-Fi-dongle that can be connected to one of the USB-connectors on the rear panel (the other is designed to connect an external drive). You can install an adapter and a special database with meter USB-cable to improve the quality of communication. In addition, if you are going to use Wi-Fi, we recommend allocating BD752 single access point – this will save you problems with simultaneous operation of multiple computers. Entering the network settings, switching between wired and wireless options are menu.

But what, in our opinion, makes it especially important to use instead of Cambridge Asian counterparts – sound. In the series, BBC «Sherlock» (720p, H.264, MKV) it is much more multi-dimensional, detailed and vibrant. Even for playing music 752BD is very good.

Jacques Loussier jazz interpretations of the baroque theme, Eric Clapton blues sound collected, rhythmic and expressive. Complex choral cantatas Bach also transmitted reliably and only for large symphonic compositions records you definitely need a dedicated audio player.

DLNA or SMB?

Of course, in addition to access to a network folder using SMB, you can use 752BD as a network client architecture UPnP / DLNA. After all, despite the high-speed navigation using the remote control, be controlled by the application much easier. On the other hand, it will require not only network storage but sufficiently powerful server that would provide high-speed processing of video, supports various formats and codecs and steadily worked. And if the task of broadcasting music, many programs handle good, then for movies seems a preferable option with direct access to network shares. And if Cambridge Audio has released an app for the iPad, replacing the remote control Cambridge Audio 752BD, is quite remarkable.

Price: $ 1430

Pros: Fast and stable operation; Support all popular video formats, including BDMV and ISO; excellent, compared with sound – you can listen to music

Cons: Specialized application for this unit would be superfluous

Verdict: With the new firmware Cambridge Audio 752BD claims to be the only media player, allowing you to cancel the purchase of additional video players Asian manufacturers

Source: CambridgeAudio

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