Cambridge 840C, YES it is as good as the reviews

P.S....Dazzdax, you're a bit wrong about giant killers not existing in High End audio.

Try listening to a pair of Antique Sound Lab Hurricanes and then say that again with a straight face. The Hurricanes are quite dazzling amplifiers, especially back when they were $4400. Their sense of "life" was -- and is -- exceedingly high. To do better would be a very, very expensive proposition, their (very slight) darkness notwithstanding. That's why, 5 years later, HP still has them on his list. Seen anything else,other than the Goldmund Reference, The Infinity IRS, Jadis JA-200, and the Alon Grand References last that long on his list?? I haven't. And for 30 years worth of reviewing, that's a pretty short list. There most certainly ARE giant killers, but, as in fairy tales, they happen only "once upon a time..."

It is hardly surprising the the 840 Azur sounds great, since the Cambridge is using the Anagram technologies processing inside, it's bound to be good. Some of the best players in the world for the last eight or nine years used Anagram - like the Audio Aero he mentioned in his previously-owned list.
Perhaps the technology is less expensive now and is trickling down to lower priced units?

I concur, Golden ears.
I can understand the cynicism about "giant killers." 20 years ago, the most expensive amp was the JA-200, a mere $10,000. Now, they're up to $100,000+ ??? It seems absurd.

And TAS, for whom I once wrote, recently wrote up the RMAF event, and in their "mid-priced" section, they mentioned $10,000 integrated amps. They've lost their (collective) minds, although I can understand that they're simply reporting facts. Nonetheless, to say ANYTHING that costs $10,000 comes in the "mid-priced" section is absurd, although I doubt that the individual writer used that headline.
So, to have a component, that, like the Antique Sound Lab Hurricanes, which cost $4,400 5 years ago, but sounded so spectacular that HP Himself (!!!) posited that he wouldn't have been surprised to see a $20,000 price tag on them, come around in digital is bound to cause controversy, regardless of its (technological) pedigree. I've seen people compare it to the Rega Saturn and say the Saturn sounds superior. It's more of a reaction to Robert Harley's review. Like an "American Idol" contestant, people want to see him eat his words. Frankly, I don't. If he found something that can compete -- and in many, many categories -- with components $3-5k higher priced, that is cause for rejoicing. It means that there is a company who has decided that they can sell hundreds more at $1,499.99 than $4999.99, which is wonderful. It is positively appalling -- and exciting -- to see a new surge in high quality components, but MUST it cost so much more than 20 years ago? This surpsasses the rate of inflation by multiple hundreds of percent. I suppose it can be put down to R&D, but really!! -- High End is reaching levels of price gouging equivalent to the distance in height between the Empire State Building and Valhalla.
So, I'm pleased about the Cambridge.
And by the way, I bought a brand new one yesterday. For something with a mere 24 hours on it (started at 3pm yesterday, and it's now 3:28 pm), it's doing pretty damned good. And this on an Arcam FMJ 22, not the best component for microdyanmics, "sweetness," musicality and soundstaging. I purposely read while I was listening to the Mercury CD The Firebird, and I have never looked up more often, hit "pause" and then rewound. In fact, I listened to the whole symphony and it was over before I knew it. This thing is GOOD, real, real, real, real GOOD!!!