Cambridge Audio EXA100 Review | Trusted Reviews

Decision

The EXA 100 takes whatever that the CXA 81 MkII does, continues to do a little bit much more and after that takes place to do all of it that little bit better. It’s a seriously capable amplifier that never forgets being an absolute happiness to listen to

Intro

When it pertains to the business of making integrated amplifiers, Cambridge Audio has a quite formidable record. It’s a group that the firm has been energetic in for years and they have actually ended up some genuinely superior models in that time.

The EXA 100 is the current arrival and its duty is quite straightforward. Cambridge Sound makes the (superb) CXA 81 MkII at ₤ 1000 and it also makes the (no much less outstanding) Side A at an instead more considerable ₤ 4800 The EXA 100 is planned to bridge that void, integrating a little of both versions to give you a taste of Edge possession at less than half the cost. That’s a quite luring recommendation.

The catch to this is that the reason the Edge A costs a great deal of cash is due to the fact that it’s really, very complicated. Counterwound transformers, direct coupled outcome, curved casework and incorporated volume and input controls are extremely great things but they all contribute to the asking rate.

There’s also the little detail that the EXA 100 appearances … rather a great deal … like the CXA 81 MkII (a lot so, I took pictures for this review in a various location to the CXA 81 MkII photos to attempt and see to it they really did not look also alike). Is this a cost effective amp claiming to be something else or the new sweet place of the array?

Schedule

The EXA 100 is available now and in the UK it is your own for ₤ 1999 In the USA, it is readily available for $ 2199 (a direct sales design aiding to maintain prices specifically eager in this circumstances). In Australia, the rate is $ 3799 AUD and it is provided as being readily available in the region already.

This is a fair amount of money for an integrated amplifier yet, as I will cover, the amount of extra equipment you would require to construct a system around the EXA 100 need not be extremely substantial at all so you would have the ability to draw away the better part of your budget towards it if you wanted.

Style

• Considerable, all metal casework
• Direct input option
• Grey … with a hint of black

Allow’s cut ideal to the chase on this set. The EXA 100 looks a whole lot like the CXA 81 MkII; fairly a great deal greater than it appears like an Edge An anyhow. Both amps coincide size, have the same fundamental design and the exact same controls.

What might not be conveyed awfully well in the images though is that the EXA 100 feels substantially heftier than the CXA 81 MkII. The front panel is thicker and a lot more significant and the volume knob is extra tactile. The impact is still that of a CXA 81 MkII that has actually had a radiance up however that glow up is much more efficient than you may assume.

One attribute of the layout is shown to the CXA 81 MkII which is a very welcome one. This is an amp with no much less than 10 inputs (don’t worry, I’ll cover them done in the following section) and every one of them can be selected straight from the front panel and the remote control. This appears really small but it is in fact a pretty unusual point in this day and age.

It’s very not likely you will certainly make use of all 10 inputs on the amp and it’s just as unlikely that they’ll all be alongside each various other on the cycle so this gives you the ways to go direct to the connections you in fact use. What’s more you can do this on the provided remote handset also.

The huge black strake at the front of the EXA 100 is the significant aesthetic difference to the CXA and this looks better than I thought it would certainly. Over the last few years, Cambridge Sound has stopped offering products in black and silver and rather transferred to a ‘one shade fits all’ grey. I have actually mixed feelings about this; while I assume that Cambridge Sound items are good looking points, they do not often tend to match various other devices that well. That black area on the EXA 100 means it does a far better task of sitting with black devices than either the CX or the Side versions which’s no negative point.

Functions

• 100 watts of power
• Digital input board- now with HDMI eARC
• Analogue inputs and results yet no phono stage
• Still needs a digital resource … and the matching one is possibly overkill

If you are looking for hills of extra power from your additional outlay, you have actually pertained to the incorrect place I’m afraid. Power rises a little to 100 watts right into 8 ohms and 155 watts into 4 ohms. These are better numbers than the CXA 81 MkII (and ample for residential use) but it’s not exactly a remarkable rise. The numbers do not tell the entire tale though.

The EXA 100 makes use of a solitary shielded toroidal transformer mounted in the centre of the chassis which is flanked by heatsinks and it’s still a very substantial quantity of amplifier, supported by improvements to the parts in the output phase. It retains the very same A and B switchable audio speaker outcomes too which is potentially useful.

The EXA 100 attributes an electronic board that is basically a complete rollover from the smaller CXA 81 MkII. Developed around an ES 9018 K 2 M DAC, it offers 2 optical, 2 coaxial and one USB B input, together with assistance for aptX HD Bluetooth. Optimum sample price handling is by means of the USB input and extends to PCM at 384 kHz and DSD 256 which is slightly much less than devoted Cambridge Audio banners yet still pretty respectable numbers and ample for most needs.

The contribution to the EXA 100 is an HDMI eARC connection. This makes connecting a TV much easier and I need to state that this is among the best implementations I’ve ever before examined. The Cambridge Sound will begin every time a TV is powered on despite the input that was chosen when it was turned off and the quantity sync is perfect.

The analogue connections are additionally carried over wholesale from the CXA 81 MkII. It’s outfitted with a solitary XLR input supported by 3 RCA inputs and one more RCA input that is shared over input 1 with the XLR link (which again can be selected on the remote). There are separate stereo pre outs and a mono subwoofer out which is usefully flexible. What you do not obtain is a phono stage. Cambridge Sound quit suitable interior phono stages some years ago and hasn’t been tempted to start again. If you are a turntable user, the visibility of that input would have me considering some of the interesting balanced gadgets striking the market.

The caution to this is that Cambridge Sound does not make such a thing. As a matter of fact in regards to partnering devices, nothing the firm makes is a genuinely excellent fit for the EXA 100 The phono stages are great however actually designed for the CX models and the matching EXN 100 banner is an excellent little bit of package in its very own right but doubles up a great deal of the capability that the EXA 100 has already. This is the kind of amp that would truly benefit a lot more from something like the Volumio Rivo, than the banner notionally created to partner it.

Audio Quality

• Supplies the Cambridge Audio ‘residence sound’
• Exceptionally regular across electronic and analogue inputs
• Exceptional with TV and Movie
• Truly great enjoyable

I have been lucky sufficient to have used an Edge An incorporated amplifier as a piece of test devices for a long time currently. I’ve notched up essentially hundreds of hours with it for many years and I understand it quite possibly. Therefore, please do not take it lightly when I state that the EXA 100 noises closer to its huge brother than its child, nevertheless much it may appear like the last. Trick to this is a ‘home noise’ that Cambridge Sound items have actually been showing for a few years currently. Like the CXA 81 MkII, the EXA 100 will not blow you away in the very first fifteen minutes however after 2 hours, you’ll be totally onboard.

What makes this amp so appealing is just how it has the ability to handle anything you throw at it without it favouring any kind of one design. You can ask it to play the modern-day, arty jazz of Walkway Quartet’s Knee Deep in the North Sea and it captures the delicacy and fluidness of the product. Absolutely nothing is required or stressed and the degree of tonal realistic look and large presence on offer is enough to make you forget that there are electronics involved in the performance.

You can then, transform tack entirely, fire up King of the Streets by Lazerhawk in all its gaudy eighties synthy magnificence and the EXA 100 is potent, fast on its feet and really ballistic. It doesn’t matter what remains in your songs collection, the EXA 100 will sound good with it. This remarkable even handedness is something the firm succeeds at and it’s really evident here.

Where the EXA 100 is much more comparable to the Edge A is that there is a better sense of range and authority on offer below that permits bigger scale material to seem more certain and extensive. I have actually made use of the testimonial sample with a pair of Cool Tiny Classic standmount audio speakers; a small if remarkably powerful little point. The EXA 100 simply essences a lot more lower end from them than you would sensibly believe is possible. Combine this with that said spontaneous presentation and the EXA 100 simply seems more positive and simple and easy than the CXA 81 MkII does.

Something that is likewise extremely welcome is that this impact stands up over both the analogue and electronic boards. I’ve tested the review device through its USB input from a Roon Nucleus, through a coordinating EXN 100 banner and with a Technics SL- 1300 G turntable and iFi ZEN 3 Phono stage and, while there are differences mirrored in the character of the sources, the fundamental qualities of the amp have never fluctuated. Even using my Oppo phone by means of aptX HD Bluetooth keeps a substantial part of what the amp can do. It does not truly matter how you see yourself making use of the EXA 100, it’s going to deliver what it can.

It additionally works brilliantly as a partner for television and film job. You can watch the last city series of the original Transformers film and every moronic syllable of discussion is intelligible while the (several) explosions preserve a favorably natural welly to them. Again, that all round capacity radiates with right here. This is an amp as pleased with Taskmaster as it is The 3 Body Problem and it better aids the assumption that you’ll utilize it all the moment instead of for special events.

And you will utilize all of it the moment because, beyond the customer kindness and also handedness, this amp is plain and straightforward great fun. At one factor, I discovered myself listening a cd by Fingerprintz; a near failed to remember Scottish blog post punk band called Distinguishing Marks. Till very just recently it was just offered on vinyl and the mix of Technics 1300 G and the Cambridge was a sublimely pleasurable way of enjoying these easily appealing songs.

More than technological quality, it’s this capacity to get you respecting the music that excites and the Cambridge Audio definitely stands out at it.

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