Cambridge Audio CXA81 Integrated Amp Review w/ Upscale Audio's Kevin Deal
Vložit
- čas přidán 1. 07. 2024
- upscaleaudio.com/products/cam...
A classic British hi-fi brand with a storied reputation, Cambridge Audio is renowned for super high value through great engineering and build quality. Find out why Kevin is impressed by what has been left out, rather than included with the CXA81. This integrated amp has a built-in DAC and in addition to high-quality digital and analog inputs, it offers Bluetooth for home-use convenience. - Zábava
This is how you make gear and how you sell it! Excellent product and excellent sales/ owner.
Just got mine today. It is paired with a set of Dali Spektor 2's and JVC subwoofer. I only have a small apartment, so they are more then capable enough to create awesome music.
I now own the whole Cambridge CX 2 series (CXA81, CXNv2, CXC) and they team up very well. I also love the fact that they can be controlled by a single remote controller. But I now have 3 of those remotes. Luxuary problem I guess. 😅
Spot on and great job with your review Kevin. I run this Cambridge CXA81 amp and it is absolutely fantastic in the way it renders music ... it's the music that matters. Right!
Love these videos so much, I subscribed twice. Thanks Kevin!
Thanks for the speaker balance tip Kevin, that was very helpful. Cheers
Hi Kevin - You're a really good presenter and your reviews are very entertaining and informative.
Agreed!
Loved the video!
I love my CXA81 and it pairs beautifully with my KEF R3s.
Have had this for over a year now. Such a great amp. Its strength is dynamics and PRAT. l have paired them with Proacs tablette 10 signature, proac 1 sc, tannoy xt6f, energy veritas 2.2 and so many other speakers, the instrument separation, soundstage, tonality, prat is just so much fun. Have never felt the need to upgrade. So happy this was my first two channel amp and I got it so right
What is PRAT??
@@carlosquijano2827 pace, rythym, attack and timing
How did the Cambridge work with the Tannoy's ? I am interested in that combination. Or what speaker did it match up well with in your environment? Thank you
@@steventsimtsos4029 That seems ages back. Since then i have changed so much in my setup. Currently, am using cxa 81 to drive my proacs tablette 10 signature. Lumin T2 > YBA passion integre from year 2001 > Tannoy xt6f in my living. Also in my living, Lumin T2 > Schiit Saga+ Lexicon GX7(biamped) > Energy Veritas 2.2(biwired with Kimber and QED)
Also in my
Hey kids let me clarify on 500 hours. That's a general rule. Leave it on 24/7 for a month. I've had some products that take that long, and others that don't. I'm trying to make a point. Don't take things literally.
Great intro !!!
Haha! Good man. Not doing the like and subscribe crap. Your vids just moved up a few notches because of that, and I already liked them! Cheers and Happy Listening!!
Well I’m sorry… I subscribed a while back and I liked the video. You always bring great equipment into your business. I really am eyeing either the EVO 300 or 400. The Cambridge sound has always been described as warm and neutral. Something I would consider if I was going the solid state route.
This is the best review. Not only product well explained but also educated on speaker position and apparently people don't use vinyl anymore so nicely explained inclusion of DAC and removal of phono stage.
Good to finally know the source of my stereo imbalance with my Sonos arc. Was worried it was a faulty unit or that my left ear’s hearing was going bad ;)
Unfortunately can’t easily resolve soundbar balance issue with speaker placement :P .. My living room has a double sized open doorway into the kitchen on the right side - but the right channel closest to the doorway is the one that sounds loudest.
Hi Kevin, You did a fantastic video on the Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio where you mentioned a modification to the in car stereo equipment, have you got any specific details ? Cheers Maz
Would love to see your take on they Edge W & NQ pairing.
Very nice. Next you’ll want to get some Cyrus amplifiers and CD players talk about good sound
Hahaha great start that was funny. Great job with being assertive! :) Can you tell me what are you recording with. I like the quality of your videos and im sure the camera and lense are awesome. What are they?
This guy is the best
Im loving this!
Can anyone recommend the best speakers and sub for this baby for my TV setup and cd player usage please???
Also. What cd player do you recomend
Not everyone have perfect hearing in both ears so balance control is essential. Moving your speakers will partially solve the problem for one person and is very time consuming and imprecise.
I have the CXA 61 just great to, but no turntable connection and a different DAC but this DAC from the CXA 61 is also VERRY GREAT! If you don't play records anymore take this one it's cheaper for a great quality sound. My opinion. I paid € 860 (Cool Blue) here in Belgium. Connected with KEF LS50 classic, Rocket 11 speaker cable (Award winner What Hifi) and SVS SB 1000 Pro subwoofer .........it's HEAVEN.
I also have CXA 61 with AQ rocket 11 - what a coincidence ! My speakers are Dali Zensor 7, and I'm happy with the sound !
Just get a phono stage
So I have 2 turntables going into my mixer . Then I wouldn’t be able to connect the mixer to this amplifier?
@@laceyadrian54 Yes if you choose the CXA81 (with turntable connection) The CXA61 (don't have this connection)
@@vibesahead Thank you so much
Insira as informações aqui:
CXA 81 VS EVO 4.2
Conteúdo:
Hi. I like very much your insightful videos. Thank you very much for that. I have an question and I hope you can help me.
2 months ago I bought Cambridge CXA81 and combine it with the set of Evo 4.2 speakers. They work really well together, but I need a little bit more trebles from that speakers and unfortunately the CXA81 has no separate trable control.
So my question is: how can I improve the trebles from that speakers? Is there any tricks or some solution I can use to solve this problem, beyond changing speaker's position?
Like using some specific type of cable or some special way of cable connection, or even using some external equalizer? Thank you very much.
P.S. At the moment I'm using silver plated oxygen free 4mm copper cable in bi-wire and bi-amp way.
What if you're hearing isn't balanced, and one ear has more loss than the other? And, some people don't have the flexibility to move one speaker closer to their listening position, based on many factors, space, considerations, WAF, etc.
Great review, I'm getting one. Any recommendations on speakers with it?
Wharfedale Evo 4.2. decent cabling.
I have Focal Aria 936s which lets just say, sound dull, not as clear sounding as my ol sonus faber lumina III’s, I wonder if this amp will help brighten them up more lively ??🤔🤔
Can someone link me to a video on how to properly connect it? For example to a powered sub like the behringer 1200
can this amp drive r3 meta which are 4 ohm 4 Ω (min. 3.2 Ω), or dynaudio evoke 20 6ohm 86 db (a bit chunky speaker)? ....what speakers would you recomend for this amp. I do not like very bright top, prefer bookshelfs with good bass , ...meaning also good quality bass. Price up to 2000 euro. Prefer cheaper af course but if it would be worth it 2000 is ok.
It does not have the basic tone controls .... Not sure why they removed it in the new version .
Kevin❤is the best
i have bought the amp a half year ago, paired them with focal chora 826's .. only problem i have is that the amp has too much power for the speakers so the volume control is really hard to get right and can barely get passed 9 'o clock on most music, any advice? been thinking of getting a external dac to control the volume a bit more..
What kind of amp do you have, those Chora's should be able to handle anything.
@@HeavenReservation i am posting on a cxa81 review so take a geus 🤣 but the speakers are so sensitive i can barely past 9 'o clock
You can't have too much power. The issue is a combination of a high output on your source and the way they set the volume control up. When you put efficient speakers like Focal in the system, you just get a lot of volume right away. You can get a pair of Rothwell attenuators, or a similar product. That will fix it. If you live in the US, give The Cable Company a call. They have a special loaner program. They have demo units of everything they sell, so you can try things in your system first, and only commit to a purchase if you like the product.
Nice stuff. I'm more of a tube guy, but Cambridge makes some respectable equipment.
I had bad experience with sound quality of Cambridge Azure 640, I guess 400hz till mid frequency (vocals ) were very prominent.
Switched to Denon quite happy with overall sound could hear music details now.
The 640 was good but it was also the coming of age amp in a range from Cambridge Audio, under Audio Partnership after the “interesting“ a500 range. It still had a slightly hard clinical sound the 650 improved on it as did the 651 but the CXA60 and 80 were completely different animals, in build and price. They were competing head on against Arcam and Audio Lab. The 640 wasn’t I in the race against those two great makes.
@@psibug565 thanks for this piece of information.
I had the 650A, my first real integrated amp with a pair of Focal 716V’s. It had great punch, but wow those upper mids/treble could get fatiguing with that combo. Nice to read that things have changed a bit with the CX series. Considering this amp for my Lintons.
I had an azure 550 for 12 years, and recently replaced it with the cx81. There is no comparison between these amps. The cx81 is a much warmer, livelier and detailed amp and also runs much quieter in terms of background noise etc. The DAC is pretty good, although I still prefer the schit modi 3 DAC that I was already using (for streaming), and also the on-board DAC in my marantz 6 series CD player. But the sound of the amp itself is the reason to buy this, it's a massive step up from my old azure series amp
I been wanting to compare this one to me audiolab 6000a rated at 50 watts with a 200va toridal and 60, 000uf filter compasitance ! But i think the cambridge would compete with the a8300 proce wise thanks Kevin tubes been working great !
check the E Project
alab 6000a is more neutral, is easy to pair brands of speaker and drive it well.
CXA81 is brighter frm mid - high range of frequency, sometimes, 1st impression determine the market and key consumption. I believe the measurement of 1k is high. It provides more details, but not precisely and not accurately. It sounds attractive but not my tea.
@@ngsam3362 thanks Ramin
A lot of hype here to me, can you please address the output stage to go along with that sweet and sexy toroidal? Nice MOSFETS or standard cheap JFETS or really cheap NPN/PNP banks?
Just purchased CA cxa61, curious to see how it sounds.
How do you like it?
@@cpg8000 sounds great, clear crisp with good bass.. no complaints at all. Need to buy a phono pre-amp to test my records but the DAC works well with my digital media.
I have this amp and it beats everything I’ve ever owned 5 times the price …if your after a one stop amp this is it
You need to take a look at Audio science review of it !.
Don’t look at the audio science review if you like it. It will just upset you. Look at the professional Stereophile magazine test of the amp, which is positive. Many don’t think the audio science test was done fairly or correctly, whereas there are countless positive reviews from long time owners, store owners, and professional reviewers.
@@r423sdex he's full of crap sorry to say that but that's the truth
@@r423sdex You need to wake up lol. do you really think that this amp is so bad just because of one person on the internet says so.
There are some, self-proclaimed experts that go around debunking products just to bash them. there is simple ..(NO EVIDENCE).. that this amp has bad measurements. It was ASR test that was faulty. His test was simple unreliable and even irresponsible.
Hmmmm
I actually like the wolfson sound?
👍👍👍
How will this amp perform with Sonus Faber Venere 2.0? Your reply will be deeply appreciated.
Ive had this for about a year now and only thing I don’t like is that I can’t control the volume from the remote or my phone, other than that I love it!
If you add the CXNv2 streamer you can adjust volume with the stream magic app
@@robertschischka4370 yeah I’m getting a streamer but for a completely separate setup in my living room, this will stay paired with some kilpsch bookshelves in my room and maybe I’ll get the CXN for it down the line.
You can control the volume with the included remote!
Ok I subscribe
Transformer coupled balanced in - expensive? Probably about $5 worth of components.
Arcam SA20
Had both on a 2 week audition, not even close, more power and so much more detail at lower volumes.
Arcam was better at lower volumes? I'm looking at these two as well. Is there a tone control on Arcam?
@@rustypipe No tone control on the SA20.
I had a Cambridge Audio Azur Stereo Amp, I had to sit a pc fan on the lid because it over heated all the time, then the volume dial started turning it up when you turned it down. Finally it melted wires all together inside and shorted out. I sadly placed it in the bin because all the tracks had lifted off the circuit board and it couldn't be repaired. Can't help but feel it got its ass handed to it by my brothers Yamaha home theatre amp that was half the price and has many more channel. Would never buy Cambridge again.
A sound demo is heaps more useful than all the banging on in the world...even over CZcams.
You sure spew irrational stuff.
Just not motivated to.
A sound demo would go some way to alleviating that.
It's 2021... not 1990.
And then you are hearing his speakers, and not the amp.
Has anyone hooked up a headphone amp to the unit ?
Yeah, I was surprised by how good it sounded. Lively. I'm not a headphone guy but it was a lot better than the Cambridge 851a headphone or Marantz PM8006 headphone.
Hmmm ive borrow cxa81 from friend recently and have to say that the way it sound is not for every one. !!! Even my friend owner of this cxa81 he ran away to rotel instead and ultra happy with the way rotel sound!!!!!
Ive try cxa81 with my Elac Unifi and Debut Reference for a week now. Yes it is powerful amp, never feel not enough power for any of those two. Anyhow Rotel sound more musical and wamer at the bottom. Cxa81 sound synthetic. Together with elac it not that bright as AJ speaker alway trend to roll off on the top end haha
Cxa81 pro : powerful / clean
Con : it clean but not clear at least for this 2 speaker
which rotel model are you refereeing to ?
most parts is from Japan spicaly output transistor I don't know why if this brand UK brand . most important parts Japanese company's only name UK
Why are the balanced xlr ins female? The standard signal flow is always a female connector for an in. Now I need to either buy a male to male adapter or track down a high quality male to male xlr cable. It's ridiculous.
You are confused. You have it backwards. This input is female which is correct just like every other amp.
500 hours divided by 60 days means you have to run them for more than 8 hours a day for 60 days just to reach 500 hours, so you obvioulsy need a longer return period
I say 500 hours in general because if I'm lucky people will go 100. I'm trying to make a point. Leave it powered up 24/7 for 30 days. That's 720 hours. It does not need to be playing.
Like someone said in the past : " this Guy can sell even shoes to snake " 🤣👌
"No. I am *not* doing that." :D :D :D
Common Kevin let’s have Naim NOVA review 🤗
Yes uniti nova
500 hrs. of break-in? Kevin, Kevin, Kevin....please! I'm a loyal customer of yours, but you're on the verge of losing all credibility with the 500 hrs. of break-in comment.
Well it helps the return policy expire
He wants to make sure you dont return this cheap built noisy ass unit back. Check ASR they just did measurements of this thing and its really bad.
well it;s wolfsons in the CXNV2 so remember not to complement that piece
The DAC chip is not as important as the components that use it, so it doesn't matter so much.
Popularity? Is this how we judge audio equipment? Audio Science Review just hooked this thing up to the O-Scope and guess what, its a dirty POS. This amplifier is anything but well designed, from the ultra cheesy binding posts, non Tiffany RCAs, to the high noise floor its just NOT good.
Yep just watched the video. This thing is a pos. Also shows that all these "reviewers" are nothing but grifters
His test was a joke. I'd never take one man's word on the intenet, over hundreds of others.
@@alanjipy55 Sound quality can be subjective but not build quality. Theres so much cheap junk passed off as high end audio gear.
@@freeradical431 ASR. Debunked him-self on distortion. I bought this amp 2nd hand over a year ago. I dont think the build quality looks bad. It does sound good though. Hooked up with Tannoy revolution xt 8f speakers, with a Pioneer UDP-LX500. Blu ray player, with a high-precision DAC and a direct mode on its stereo analog audio output.
I also have 3 budget amps that are over 30 years old.
This Cambridge Audio bears little to no resemblance to the original UK brand of the same name. In 1994 Richer Sounds, a budget chain of box shifting high street audio stores in the UK bought the brand and since then all products have been manufactured in China. I am a Brit living in the USA and would never purchase anything by Cambridge Audio in the USA, I just don’t see the value per performance level once you add import costs.
And recent measurements just proved what you said. This is one of the worst measuring devices measured by ASR
@@sergeysmelnik There are some, self-proclaimed experts that go around debunking products just to bash them. there is simple ..(NO EVIDENCE).. that this amp has bad measurements. It was ASR test that was faulty. His test was simple unreliable and even irresponsible.
Is the reviewer deaf? No offense.
But has anybody seen the abysmal bench test of this amplifier from ASR ?
The noise and distortion measured is off the scale , crap build quality and lacking in features
Try and sell this on the 2nd hand market $300 tops
A great UK name built in China -
You think he listened to this? This is just a freaking ad. These so called reviewers are a joke. ASR is one of the only real review channels/forums for these electronics. The rest are just talking heads trying to cash in. This cambridge measured absolutely horrible and has terrible build quality.
Why is it’s measured performance so bad, with all the parts and engineering should be better !. Shambles !.
This just shows you these talking head reviews are nothing but adds for these products. ASR just tested this unit and its absolute trash. Super noisy unit with not the greatest distortion measurement either. I think it got a sinad rating below 70 which is laughably low. One of the worst things is the channel imbalance as well. Cheap crappy binding posts in the back. No real display in the front. Bad designed unit overall.
Agree on the binding posts, could be lot better, disagree on noise level, it is super silent, no noise at all. The sound is clean and punchy, great sound stage, have owned it for 8 months now.
ASR found something wrong and new tests are very different ....
@@CatwalkPhoto The only thing wrong was ASR faulty test.
ASR reviewed this product a second time with a new unit and the issues vanished. (it may have been a faulty unit)
Made in China
Airbus have a factory in China, as do Nikon, Canon, BMW etc, etc, etc. Cambridge has its own staff in China to manage quality, the design and engineering is done at their HQ in London as are the component specifications. It is NOT a Chinese product. It is merely screwed together there due to labour costs - same reason as the aforementioned companies.....plus a thousand more.
Like most of the gear nowadays
This guys the joke of the industry. Worst type of used car salesman. Odd that every piece he sells there’s a video about why it’s the best lol..
And recent ASR measurements just proved what you said
Médium beaucoup trop présent, agressif, criard, l'équilibre sonore n'est pas bon et aucun réglage ....
Ecoute fatigante au bout de 30 minutes alors que j'écoutait 3 ou 4 heures sans soucis avec mon ancien ampli.
Un ampli vraiment surcoté ! 👎
Le plaisir d'écouter la musique s'est envolé avec l'arrivé du CXA81 😭
N'écoutez pas les conseils de ce genre de vidéo, allez éccouter avant d'acheter !
CXA81
Node 2021
BW603 S2
You are unqualitied to review anything. This device sucks big time
I see youve seen the recent ASR measurements too. This used car salesman is no different than the other clowns like guttenberg and so on. Its all about the money. They could care less about the shitty noisy sound, channel imbalance and overall cheap build quality. I cant stand these people
Can I get it in black?