Cambridge CXN (V2) next acquisition
Comments
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displayname wrote: »
Turning off the preamp setting is an easy switch in the app settings. I don't use it either. It's there if you do need it, but I only needed the streamer and DAC elements for now. At some point I might only need it for the streaming element.So not needing a new preamp the CXN V2 is the way to go correct?
Do you have the 851 or the CXN?Home Theater
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CXN v2
*Edit - I'd imagine it's the same on the 815N though. Same app, same basic layout. But I can't say for sure.Analog: MoFi MasterTracker > MoFi UltraDeck > Sutherland 20/20
Digital: Cambridge CXC / Streaming > Cambridge CXN v2
MastersounD Dueventi > Rosso Fiorentino Certaldo or Arcam rHead > Hifiman HE4XX
Discogs -
afterburnt wrote: »@audioluvr I am really happy with this piece, I think I may end up running it in my main system. That won't happen for a while but I would love to compare it to my Aries Mini head up.
Curious to hear if you compared against the Aries Mini. Also, are you using the internal dac or external?Living Room
Parasound HINT 6, Yamaha Aventage RX-A 1060, Oppo 103D, Cambridge Audio Azur 851N, KLH Model 5s, Polk CSi A6, Samsung 65" LED
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I am using the internal DAC. I can easily hook up the Mini to test their respective DAC's
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Ok, that would be great.Living Room
Parasound HINT 6, Yamaha Aventage RX-A 1060, Oppo 103D, Cambridge Audio Azur 851N, KLH Model 5s, Polk CSi A6, Samsung 65" LED
Office
Yamaha A-S501, Auralic Aries Mini, LSiM 703s
Douglas Connection ICs and Cables -
I've been letting my CXN V2 stream various electronic music from the Digitally Imported (di.fm) 320kbps mp3 radio stations during the day while I'm at work, and then actually doing serious listening later on in the evening with Tidal when I get home. I would estimate that I have about 30 hours play time logged on it now.
The internal DAC seems to be opening up/settling in nicely. Despite your personal feelings on upsampling, it would be hard to argue against it with the way that Cambridge has implemented it here. Smooth, coherent, and musical are the top three words I would use to describe it's sound. I would not say it's the last word in detail, as some of my other DACs seem to beat it in that regard. I believe they voiced it to have a slight edge in musicality, at the expense of some detail.
If I had to compare the quality of Tidal on the CXN V2 to CD on my Marantz CD6004, I would say you're getting about 97% of what a CD gives you. To my ears, it's not quite as good, but just about. However, there are a lot of variables to consider here. Is it Tidal itself, such as a smoothing filter, EQ, or other proprietary algorithm that gets applied to all music in their library? Or is it just a characteristic of the CXN's DAC? The "3% difference" is only really noticeable on tracks that I know very well and have listened to a lot of times.
Moving into some physical elements of the CXN itself, it feels pretty good for your $900, and I believe it's a good value for the money. Fit and finish are nice, as well as the packaging and overall presentation of the unit. It is lightweight (8lbs), but still feels solid. The main rotary knob has a slight lateral wobble to it if you press on it a certain way, but it's actual turning action and feel is good. That being said, it's mostly a non-issue since you'll ideally be controlling the streamer with the excellent and snappy Cambridge Connect app on your smartphone. I've only been using it a few days, but I find it a pleasure to use and it's very easy to navigate. I've not experienced any app crashes or hanging/lagging at all.
Which brings me to usability/features and the main attraction or value of a device like this. In my opinion, it's the ability to stream a lossless music service like Tidal, and specifically the way it has been integrated so seamlessly into the CXN. Yes, it can play music stored locally on your network, or connected via USB. It even supports Chromecast, so you can send music to it that way via apps on your phone. But what's most impressive to me is how nicely Tidal is integrated into the Cambridge Connect app. It's really a pleasure to use and browse for songs to set up a one time playlist for your listening session. It adds a certain element of fun to be able to find almost any song you're thinking of and add it to your listening queue. Everything just feels so quick and responsive, that it encourages you to keep browsing and finding new tracks to play. Definitely a much different experience than how I typically listen to CDs/albums from start to finish.
Looking forward to spending some more time with this bad boy, and trying it as a "transport" via AQ Carbon coax into my PS Audio DAC/pre and also my Ruby.
Even after only really using it for a week, I can confidently recommend this product if you are in the market for a streamer. -
Yessir and I echo all those sentiments. Its such a good bang for the buck, and if you are a fan of Tidal - it's such a no brainer. The onboard DAC is sufficient for my listening as this source is not for critical, nothing streaming should be.
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I've been letting my CXN V2 stream various electronic music from the Digitally Imported (di.fm) 320kbps mp3 radio stations during the day while I'm at work, and then actually doing serious listening later on in the evening with Tidal when I get home. I would estimate that I have about 30 hours play time logged on it now.
The internal DAC seems to be opening up/settling in nicely. Despite your personal feelings on upsampling, it would be hard to argue against it with the way that Cambridge has implemented it here. Smooth, coherent, and musical are the top three words I would use to describe it's sound. I would not say it's the last word in detail, as some of my other DACs seem to beat it in that regard. I believe they voiced it to have a slight edge in musicality, at the expense of some detail.
If I had to compare the quality of Tidal on the CXN V2 to CD on my Marantz CD6004, I would say you're getting about 97% of what a CD gives you. To my ears, it's not quite as good, but just about. However, there are a lot of variables to consider here. Is it Tidal itself, such as a smoothing filter, EQ, or other proprietary algorithm that gets applied to all music in their library? Or is it just a characteristic of the CXN's DAC? The "3% difference" is only really noticeable on tracks that I know very well and have listened to a lot of times.
Moving into some physical elements of the CXN itself, it feels pretty good for your $900, and I believe it's a good value for the money. Fit and finish are nice, as well as the packaging and overall presentation of the unit. It is lightweight (8lbs), but still feels solid. The main rotary knob has a slight lateral wobble to it if you press on it a certain way, but it's actual turning action and feel is good. That being said, it's mostly a non-issue since you'll ideally be controlling the streamer with the excellent and snappy Cambridge Connect app on your smartphone. I've only been using it a few days, but I find it a pleasure to use and it's very easy to navigate. I've not experienced any app crashes or hanging/lagging at all.
Which brings me to usability/features and the main attraction or value of a device like this. In my opinion, it's the ability to stream a lossless music service like Tidal, and specifically the way it has been integrated so seamlessly into the CXN. Yes, it can play music stored locally on your network, or connected via USB. It even supports Chromecast, so you can send music to it that way via apps on your phone. But what's most impressive to me is how nicely Tidal is integrated into the Cambridge Connect app. It's really a pleasure to use and browse for songs to set up a one time playlist for your listening session. It adds a certain element of fun to be able to find almost any song you're thinking of and add it to your listening queue. Everything just feels so quick and responsive, that it encourages you to keep browsing and finding new tracks to play. Definitely a much different experience than how I typically listen to CDs/albums from start to finish.
Looking forward to spending some more time with this bad boy, and trying it as a "transport" via AQ Carbon coax into my PS Audio DAC/pre and also my Ruby.
Even after only really using it for a week, I can confidently recommend this product if you are in the market for a streamer.
Excellent write up and review.Living Room
Parasound HINT 6, Yamaha Aventage RX-A 1060, Oppo 103D, Cambridge Audio Azur 851N, KLH Model 5s, Polk CSi A6, Samsung 65" LED
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Douglas Connection ICs and Cables -
One thing I forgot to mention in my review is that I was getting immediate and palpable stereo imaging effects on some drum n bass tracks.
When I hear these despite my less than ideal speaker placement and room setup, I consider it a testament to the quality/performance of a DAC. -
joecoulson wrote: »Yessir and I echo all those sentiments. Its such a good bang for the buck, and if you are a fan of Tidal - it's such a no brainer. The onboard DAC is sufficient for my listening as this source is not for critical, nothing streaming should be.
I use streaming all the time for demos and have no complaints. I even had two clients seriously consider dropping vinyl to get into streaming after hearing my system.
To each is own. -
I wouldn't drop vinyl, but that's because I like the vinyl hobby. But I do think it's much more affordable to get MUCH higher up in the streaming world. The tech has come a long way, and by comparison it's pennies on the dollar for a killer streaming front end in my opinion. Not arguing which is better overall, but I do think digital is lowering the barrier of entry to really world class audio.Analog: MoFi MasterTracker > MoFi UltraDeck > Sutherland 20/20
Digital: Cambridge CXC / Streaming > Cambridge CXN v2
MastersounD Dueventi > Rosso Fiorentino Certaldo or Arcam rHead > Hifiman HE4XX
Discogs -
@displayname try this track on your CXN, I was blown away with how good it sounded. Literally gave me goosebumps: Fracture, Taso: Lose You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8kDBXaRVA0 -
Noted, I'll give it a spin once I'm back home.@displayname try this track on your CXN, I was blown away with how good it sounded. Literally gave me goosebumps: Fracture, Taso: Lose Youhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8kDBXaRVA0Analog: MoFi MasterTracker > MoFi UltraDeck > Sutherland 20/20
Digital: Cambridge CXC / Streaming > Cambridge CXN v2
MastersounD Dueventi > Rosso Fiorentino Certaldo or Arcam rHead > Hifiman HE4XX
Discogs -
joecoulson wrote: »Yessir and I echo all those sentiments. Its such a good bang for the buck, and if you are a fan of Tidal - it's such a no brainer. The onboard DAC is sufficient for my listening as this source is not for critical, nothing streaming should be.
I use streaming all the time for demos and have no complaints. I even had two clients seriously consider dropping vinyl to get into streaming after hearing my system.
I'd drop both of my systems after hearing your rig...no doubt."if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
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@displayname try this track on your CXN, I was blown away with how good it sounded. Literally gave me goosebumps: Fracture, Taso: Lose Youhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8kDBXaRVA0
Ok. So I tried this track and my cat immediately jumped straight up in the air and ran and hid somewhere in the house. I frantically was trying to find the volume control on the remote all the while trying to decide if I should run away too... They should put a warning on that... Guess I'm more of an easy listening kind of guyGustard X26 Pro DAC
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B&K M200 Sonata monoblocks refreshed and upgraded
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Wireworld Silver Eclipse IC's and speaker cables
Harman Kardon T65C w/Grado Gold. (Don't laugh. It sounds great!)
There is about a 5% genetic difference between apes and men …but that difference is the difference between throwing your own poo when you are annoyed …and Einstein, Shakespeare and Miss January. by Dr. Sardonicus -
Yikes. How loud did you play it? haha.
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Loud enough...Gustard X26 Pro DAC
Belles 21A Pre modded with Mundorf Supreme caps
B&K M200 Sonata monoblocks refreshed and upgraded
Polk SDA 1C's modded / 1000Va Dreadnaught
Wireworld Silver Eclipse IC's and speaker cables
Harman Kardon T65C w/Grado Gold. (Don't laugh. It sounds great!)
There is about a 5% genetic difference between apes and men …but that difference is the difference between throwing your own poo when you are annoyed …and Einstein, Shakespeare and Miss January. by Dr. Sardonicus -
That'll wake you up!
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The CXN v.2 was certainly on my radar, but I decided to go with the Bluesound Node 2i. I think the CXN is a GREAT choice if you don't have a good ext DAC, and you're wanting a front display. Neither of these was true for me; I sit about 12 feet away from my equipment, so the display does me no good, and I have an external DAC.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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I purchased a CXN v2 just to compare it to my aries mini. Can it beat the mini? time will tell.
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Seems like this newest update covers some of the issues I was having. Seems it was an IOS compatibility issue not network related in my case.
https://techsupport.cambridgeaudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000258138-iOS-Release-Notes- -
It would be interesting if they released an update to integrate Qobuz into the CXN the way Tidal is integrated. But until that happens I see no reason to use anything but Tidal with the CXN.
The way that it's natively integrated/supported is absolutely sublime. -
Agreed
Just did a test, had the CXN and my Denon 2910 start the same song at the same time. One from Tidal and one on CD. CXN using internal DAC and Denon using PS A DAC. The results were almost identical except for imaging/placement. The CXN seems to accentuate the image slightly - making it seem wider, at the expense of cohesiveness. This is so slight, I had to flip back and forth many times to verify what I was hearing, but this confirms that the PSA slightly edges out the CXN as far as the built in DAC. Not enough for me to stop using the CXN's DAC to listen to Tidal
I tried to make the same comparison with the TT, but the volume has to go so far up on the pre for that low output Cart, that I scared myself s**tless switching back and having it make my ears bleed when pumping the CXN thru at 80%! -
I purchased a CXN v2 just to compare it to my aries mini. Can it beat the mini? time will tell.
OK Boss...times up, what's the verdict.
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Tony, It great delivered on Monday.
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Got it hooked up yet?Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's. -
still on the ups truck
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I’ve installed this in my office to start with musical fidelity ms6si and paradigm s4 speakers. This system is different than the other room. First impressions sound good. I did purchase a refurbished unit for 649.oo and it is in new condition. The new units run. 900.00 so I didn’t care to spend that much to compare. Thanks
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Broad soundstage but lacking depth, not nearly as nimble as the CXN either. It certainly suffers with complex passages. All and all I give it a 5 because it has a good brat snd it's easy to **** to.
https://youtu.be/_3RUADt81x8