UK hi-fi specialist Cambridge Audio has brought its latest integrated amplifier and CD playing combo to Australian shores for the new year, with a few sound surprises up its sleeve.
Straight from the UK after a late 2011 release, the Azur 651A integrated amplifier runs at $899 and runs alongside its CD-playing brother, the 651C, for the same price. Both include high quality hi-fi components to match and top some of their rivals, including the latest in digital functionality.
Embracing the digital age in the same way the company has with its DacMagic digital-to-analogue converter (DAC), the 651C CD player is built with the company’s latest DAC design borrowed from the DacMagic.
The 651A, on the other hand, has a USB input for streaming audio from a PC at 16bit/32kHz, 44.1kHz or 48kHz, improving your digital tracks as they run through the carefully crafted innards of the unit.
The 651A is built to perform across the soundstage with a separate transformer tap and power supply for the left and right channels, delivering top-notch stereo sound over 75 watts.
The 651C packs in two audiophile-grade Wolfson WM8742 DACs in a similar configuration to that seen on rival units like those from Rega, ensuring each channel provides superior sound quality.
Practicality meets aesthetics as the amplifier itself is built into an acoustically damped chassis with the soft, plain features of an old-school hi-fi unit in its metal casing. The new units are out now.