There have been some bold claims about the Cambridge unit topping some very expensive gear. My conclusion is maybe. I did not hear this type of performance, but I have limited options in terms of speaker pairing. Ultimately a huge factor is speaker choice and your personal preference.
First thing to note is that it is decidedly bright and a bit cold sounding even after a week of burn in. Maybe it needs more burn-in time. After a week, I would say that you need to be very cautious in your speaker choice and I would lean toward speakers that are warmer and more musical. Harbeth, Spendor D/Classic might be good options and maybe Wharfedale.
Soundstage size is gargantuan. If size of image is a priority, this thing delivers. It rivals Rockna in terms of image size.
Overall tonality in not just forward, but to me sounds a bit unnatural. Instrument decay is a challenge, particularly in very complex moments. I am not shocked this is a truly digital amp. With a colder more analytic speaker, this is painful. A more musical speaker mitigates this issue. That said, I do not have a price appropriate speaker here other than the B&W M1s which I am not prepared to run this test on. That is a brighter speaker and I doubt would lead to a favorable outcome. The next least expensive speakers I have to test on list for $8K a pair which is an unlikely pairing with this amp.
Finally, impedance appears to not be an issue. I paired with easy and difficult speakers and bass remained crisp an accurate, even on Kaya 45s which have a minimum impedance below 3 ohms in the bass region.
My initial reaction was fresh out of the box with my Verdant Blackthorn speakers which are carbon fiber cabinets with a magnesium driver and a ceramic magnesium tweeter. These are very revealing speakers with a focus on detail and are a hair forward. At low volumes, it was nice. It sounded good. As I got to reference levels, this became unpleasant. It was time to change speakers quickly.
I switched to my more standard reference Vivid Kaya 45 and the sound improved dramatically. That said, this speaker is still not a good match. I did my full listening test - Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, In a Sentimental Mood, Sting, Be Still My Beating Heart, Anette Askvik, Liberty, Bozio Levin Stevens, Duende and Berg String Quartet No 14 in G Major.
The soundstage width on In a Sentimental Mood is wonderful. The saxophone comes in a solid 4’ to the left of the left speaker. Good instrument separation and great detail. Drum roll is wonderful and separation is brilliant. Soundstage is huge on Be still my Beating Heart. Separation of the bells is good but Stings voice seems sibilant. Moments of complexity toward the end are awful, cold, bright and unnatural. During Liberty there are a few moments that were unpleasantly forward and there is a fundamental lack of instrumental decay. This comes through massively in Duende. Instrumental decay is not missing but sounds unnatural. And the Berg piece is not pleasant. Cold. Good instrument separation. No massing but it sounds artificially big and the strings lack warmth.
In comparison, I ran an NAD C 368 into its digital coax input. This is a pretty fair comparison as this unit retails for $1199 without the BluOS module. With the exception of instrumental separation at the beginning of Duende where the DAC on the NAD is just outmatched, I found it to be a more pleasing and enjoyable amp with the Vivids. There is a musicality and sweetness to it that is wonderful. You hear sparkle in piano and saxophone is smooth and analog sounding. No sibilance in Be Still my Beating Heart. Decay sounds smoother and more natural in Liberty and Duende and the Berg piece is pleasant. There is some massing of string but it sounds smoother and more like strings in a small space rather than in an operating room. This unit lacks the absolute scale of the Cambridge but it still sounds big and more than makes up for the slightly smaller image with improved musicality.
The NAD uses a Hypex module and they don’t publish what chip is in it but I would assume it is either a Cirrus Logic or Wolfson.
Side by side, I would take the NAD with either the Vivid or Verdant speakers. It is warmer and a better match.
So, I have another speaker here that is warmer than either Vivid or Verdant. The Perlisten S4b. Despite the Beryllium tweeter, it is a neutral to warm and surprisingly musical speaker. This is much better with the Cambridge. Everything sounds a little softer and more musical. Separation of instruments remains. Soundstage is huge but instrumental decay sounds much more natural on In a Sentimental Mood. Toward the end of Be Still My Beating Heart there are a few moments I winced as this remained forward and a hair digital sounding at moments where there was a lot complexity. Almost like the amp/DAC was overwhelmed with data. Overall, much more pleasant than with the Vivid or my Verdant Speakers. Liberty and Duende sound much more natural. There are moments the piano sounds a touch colder than it should in Liberty but other moments it sounds flawless. The Berg piece sounded natural and musical.
In comparison, the NAD sounds a bit dark and recessed on the Perlistens. Piano lacks sparkle and is quite flat. Everything sounds like the tweeter is slightly muffled. Separation and detail are relatively poor but it still sounds musical. That said, NAD vs Cambridge with Perlisten, it is easy to pick Cambridge.
The improvement from Vivid to Perlisten was so great it is what is driving my "maybe" above. I do not have a speaker here that is quite the right fit. I do think it is possible to get a lot more performance out of this amp. Alternatively, I think that I extracted every drop of performance possible from the NAD in its test with the Vivids.
Now, for the less fair comparison. Since it has been claimed this can replace a $15K system, I decided to run it vs an AGD Alto Preamp ($5K), Tempo Amp ($5500) and Chord Hugo 2 DAC w/ 2Go which retails for $4500. Given the poor performance on other speakers, I chose to do the comparison on the Perlistens. AGD pioneered the utilization of GANFETs in audio and make a very musical and engaging amp.
The Cambridge delivers more scale in terms of soundstage. It is inferior in every other way. Soundstage depth and stability is better with the Chord. Instrument separation, decay sounding natural, noise floor, and general musicality of the sound is far superior with the Chord/AGD combination. If you are familiar with my review of these DACs, the critique of Chord is the scale of the soundstage. The image doesn’t extend well beyond the boundary of the speakers but it is incredibly musical and detailed and no one is better between the speakers than Chord. That holds here. If you are a junky for soundstage scale, this would disappoint but it is much more enjoyable in every other way.
To get less fair, I also have an Oppo Modwright UDP-205 here being fed by the 2Go/2Yu. This is a DAC that is currently selling in the used market (new units aren’t available) for between $4k and $4500. This unit mods the Oppo to add an outboard power supply and a tube based output stage.
I will be updating the audio shootout because this DAC is great. With 2Go/2Yu feeding it, the price is $6500 to $7K putting it in the beefy part of relevance for this thread. This unit is phenomenal. At least into the AGDs and Perlisten speakers, Soundstage is BIG. Maybe lacks the raw scale of the Cambridge but the image extends well beyond the speakers. Separation of instruments is great and depth is very good. Detail is maybe not at the same level as Chord but probably the same as Audiobyte. The liquidity and musicality of this combination is stunning. This is so far superior to the Cambridge, it is difficult to explain. In fairness, this AGD/Perlisten/Oppo-Modwright combo is unusually good and feels like a system that is delivering above its pricepoint.
In conclusion, I will continue to run the Cambridge to see if additional burn-in time helps. I am not prepared to call this a giant killer as I just haven't heard it. When put up against well matched systems at higher price points, the Cambridge does not compete.
Everyone has their own taste, and I would recommend this amp. Just to specific tastes with specific speakers. The soundstage is massive and detail is impressive and these two things can lead to short term wows but this unit struggles at moments. I would say the same thing about the NAD and it struggles as well. It is far from the ultimate amp to drive Vivids. The Cambridge seems like a fairly priced amp that I believe will pair well and deliver with class appropriate warmer speakers.
Finally, I will follow up with a test of this amp on my Wilson Benesch Discovery 3Zeros as they are definitely a neutral speaker but my hunch is this won’t go well. I think the Cambridge needs a warm but slightly forgiving speaker to make it shine like the sun. One thing the WBs are not is forgiving.
