Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

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Yes.

Posted by KT88 (D) on December 7, 2006 at 07:01:46

In Reply to: Has anyone heard the Cambridge Audio Azur 840C? posted by DSG on December 6, 2006 at 12:50:07:

We have one here and have a local customer who owns it also. We also have the Rega Apollo and the Rega Saturn in the same room as well as a few turntables. We have only had the 840C in one system so far and it sounds very good indeed.

Initially I will agree with others here that it is smooth, easy to listen to but not in a really sweet or a rolled-off sort of way. It has amazing dynamics and excellent bass response. It is as heavy as many amplifiers, way larger and way heavier than any other Camabridge Audio product, no kidding - it outweighs the 640A! The new 840 series is really the first high end products that they have made. Not merely just great performance for the money, they now offer excellent quality and performance when compared to products at any price.

One of the most notable things is the separation of instruments and channels. Very distinct and that shows up in both good and somewhat bad ways depending upon how the recordings were mixed. It is not a flaw by any means as even the real obvious ping-pong stereo type mixing sounds very good when done properly, it just allows you to hear into the mix and if it is done abruptly and at different frequencies, etc then it does almost stand alone. Clarity of vocals, intruments, room ambience, etc is all retrieved very realistically. If there is any flaw, it may be that it is not the most "organic" or "fluid" sort of sound, but really comes close to pulling that off as well. Not too many nits to pick really.

I have the Rega gear in close proximity and they definately sound different and as many would imagine, you get just about what you pay for in each. Each has their own voice and all are very easy to listen to and really advance the digital format to a level that makes analog work that much harder! Probably the very best feature is the almost unique to Cambridge, pair of digital inputs. That allows two additional sources to get the same access to this new DAC as the CD player, so you get three for one here. That tempts me as I have only three sources that I use at home in my main stereo. I combine two by using a DVD player as a dual format unit, connected to my preamps internal DAC, and also have the satellite receiver connected to its other input. This unit would allow all of that but also a dedicated CD player. I would only need to get a decent, affordable DVD player for the video portion. That would allow the use of a tube preamp which does not have a built-in DAC, etc and so open a few new doors (perhaps even a revolving one, argh). I like what I have now, but this is really cool ;-).
-Bill

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