Yes, within ten thousand HK dollars, good sound, fully featured And also a streaming player with balanced output In recent years, it can be said to be highly sought after And the factory has been established for over 50 years It's also a pioneer of music streaming from the veteran British audio brand Cambridge Audio Just a few months ago, they launched a streaming player within ten thousand dollars The CXN 100, which is almost fully featured After its launch, the reviews were very high But it's not winning in specifications, not winning in materials But winning in the most subjective "sound" What's different inside this CXN 100, which looks almost the same as the previous Cambridge Audio? What's different inside it? What does it sound like? What are its shortcomings? Is it to your liking? This video should give you the answer Hello! Everyone, I'm Ken Welcome to feversound.com The product we are testing today is the latest release from Cambridge Audio The value-for-money streaming player CXN 100 Before the formal introduction, let me remind you If you think our video is well made Feel free to like or subscribe to our channel to encourage us The CXN 100 was tested here So we also unbox it here, let's take a look right away OK, some accessories Two Bluetooth /WiFi antennas But it's already packaged, I won't unpack it There is a European power cord A British standard power cord I can't see it has a remote control Can be lifted with one hand There are a lot of things to say at the back Unboxing is over Okay, let's look at the back of the machine First of all, on the left, you can easily see the IEC power plug 100-240V Universal Voltage It is grounded Two antennas Wi-Fi antenna Bluetooth antenna And then it's the RCA control line If you happen to use a Cambridge Audio amplifier Just plug in an RCA cable You can use a remote control to control all the machinery Okay, below is USB Media This can plug in a thumb drive Or low-power hard disk or SSD You can store songs And this is the RJ45 network cable plug And this is USB Audio Most people probably use it to connect to a computer There's also another button This is very important Ground can be lifted And this is Signal Ground It can also be lifted It is lifted by default And this is Toslink optical digital input RCA S/P DIF digital coaxial input Digital outputs of the same specification And then there's stereo analogue output Including a set of RCA stereo analogue outputs And a set of Balance stereo analogue outputs Everyone has a lot more flexibility in connecting Okay, a rich machine back has been talked about Cambridge Audio's latest mid-priced streaming machine CXN 100 price under ten thousand HK dollars The actual price depends on the description column The description column says The new version is the previous generation CXN V2 Launched four years later Redesigned streaming machine The biggest change is from the original use of Wolfson DAC chip Turned into Sabre ESS DAC chip It uses ES9028Q2M Although only one chip is used for two channels But it also has a better sound performance Crosstalk between channels is from the previous generation's -100dB To -120dB The new chip also makes this machine's support specifications even higher Streaming, USB decoding and playing File three aspects Can support PCM up to 32bit 768kHz DSD can go up to DSD512 Of course, it also supports MQA Full Decoder With the new fourth-generation Stream Magic streaming module Supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz dual-band Wi-Fi transmission And higher specification wireless transmission Such as Bluetooth 5.1 and so on Also supports Hi-Res MPEG DASH network radio broadcast Can play more radio stations with the highest sound quality 320kbps In addition, the size of this machine is shown in the picture Weight 3.55kg So it means you can lift it with one hand Everyone can see that there are many vacancies here The power supply is Swtiching Mode Power Supply But this is Cambridge Audio's own developed power supply It can be customized according to the needs of the audio signal Tailor-made Everyone can see that the power supply and circuit board together make up one layer of the circuit board It occupies about 60% of the machine body Let's take a look at the circuit board The most eye-catching is of course the Stream Magic The fourth-generation streaming module This module also directly receives wireless signals In addition, you will see a Cirrus Logic CS8416-CZZ Digital Receiver Used to receive digital signals In terms of stereo analogue output stage In addition to seeing RCA and Balance are separate and independent Balanced outputs are full four sets of amplification And of course, you will see this ESS DAC chip In addition to seeing some high-quality capacitors WIMA MKP film capacitors You will also see two sets of operational amplifiers Including JRC's NJM8801 And Analog Device's OP275 Mainly so many There is a beautiful colour screen Can display everything Including album covers Also supports multiple languages We choose Traditional Chinese It's not a touch screen Everyone can see There are really many languages We choose Traditional Chinese There are keys on the panel Control basic operations are very convenient The screen display is also bigger It's a 4.76-inch diagonal The resolution is 1280x569 Then the settings are done on the APP We control with the Stream Magic App What can you see Basically, you can change the name In addition, there is one thing I want to say This Roon Ready DSD Mode What is it It's that this machine has a digital output For example, if you upgrade a new DAC later An extra digital output is also very useful This is the digital output of this machine Whether it supports DSD DoP output mode You see I have chosen DoP now Of course, if your DAC does not support DSD You can also choose this Use PCM for Digital Output This device will convert all DSD signals into PCM on the hardware level and then output through two digital outputs Very convenient Additionally, there is a preamp function here Once turned on, you can control the volume The volume has 100 levels Much more detailed than the previous generation's 30 levels But be aware of this volume control If you turn it too low It could actually affect the dynamics of the sound So you can use it But if possible, don't use it Entering this interface Everyone will see the switch To set everything on this device Below are different sources Actually, this device has a huge amount of sources For everyone to choose from You can see here There are really too many Whether it's physical inputs Or wireless transmission Such as Bluetooth, Airplay 2 And Chromecast, etc. Or some streaming platform inputs You will see Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify Tidal Connect Or if you have your own files Such as media library (UPnP), Roon Ready, etc. Let's see how it supports Roon You will see that it already supports Roon Ready Enable it and you're good to go We give this device a name The supported specifications are also very high You will see Support for DSD512 32bit 768kHz files will be supported Really, that's all Now recording for Cambridge audio's CXN 100 This is a streaming device Directly connected to my reference preamp here Gryphon's Pandora Then it's directly connected Everyone can see This ATC SCM110 ASL Pro active monitor The control platform I also use Roon Because I have always used Roon I will continue to use it this time Let's talk about the sound The sound quality of the CXN 100 is very pleasant to listen to. It's the kind that you can listen to for a long time without feeling tired. The dynamics and analytical power are also very sufficient. Especially the three-dimensional sense of the sound field has made a great improvement compared to the old model. For example, in orchestral music that focuses on big sound scale. Or live recorded jazz music, etc. They can all be played very well. And this improvement, I think the fourth-generation Stream Magic module has made a great contribution. Because after all, this module is in charge of the sound quality of streaming music As for the tonal balance, it is neither thick nor thin. It's not like the previous entry-level Cambridge Audio machines that tend to please users with a slightly thicker sound. And now, I think it's more accurate to describe the sound of this machine with the words more calm, smooth, and rich. However, it still adheres to the so-called British sound tuning characteristics. It's a bit more introverted, strong musical sense, and as for sound effects, it is totally fine. That is to say, if you like some sound "effect", or if you want to listen a very "sharp" imaging The sound of this player may not suit you. But if you like to listen to music, no matter what type Want a sound that is infectious and feels comfortable for a long time Then this machine, you must have a listen, you can't miss it. In addition, besides its stable support for Roon and good sound quality Its own Stream Magic App to control this machine is also smooth and responsive. There will be no lag And this is also the result of the perfect integration of the manufacturer's own operating system and exclusive App for many years. It's a real advantage that enhances the user experience. Alright, after praising it for so long, what are some shortcomings? As a multi source player, it could actually have more features. Like adding a set of analog stereo inputs, add a set of HDMI ARC inputs. Or it could provide digital EQ functionality. Or it could allow users to add built-in storage. And support more music streaming platforms, etc. Also, its analog output gain is definitely enough. But if everyone wants to hear its highest sound quality, The volume control is still recommended to be turned to the maximum for the best. And the last shortcoming, which many people may have mentioned, is This machine does not have a physical remote control. If you really want a physical remote control, You can use Cambridge Audio products with a physical remote control. Like an amplifier. It can become the best partner with CXN 100, the Cambridge Audio system's dac-amplifier That is CXA81. By the way, let's talk about this CXA81. It has also just launched what I think is called a Facelift new version. Called CXA81 MkII. The main change is the upgrade of the internal DAC chip. From ESS9016 to ESS9018K2M. Let's go back to CXN 100 You might think that it's not using a toroidal transformer, it can't produce this sound, Or it's not using a more advanced DAC chip, it can't produce this sound, But this time the actual test, it really produces a sound that is better than you imagine or Better than I imagined. In the past, we often said that whether a sound system sounds good or not, we can't just look at the materials, But we can't just look at the materials, we also have to look at the design and the manufacturer's sound tuning. The manufacturer says this product uses hundreds of hours to tune the sound Change the circuit path and components to meet their requirements. Now when I hear this sound, I think this sentence is more credible. Alright, our Q&A, also about this Cambridge Audio product This CXN 100 is also called a traditional standard width device But in recent years, more and more audio equipment products are not using standard width design Those will be half-wide, will be square In fact, the Cambridge Audio EVO series machines are the same Not doing standard width If the shape of player does not affect its sound, nor its function and the price Just talking about preferences, do you like a piece of audio equipment to be narrower, or standard Width? Feel free to leave a comment and tell everyone your opinion Next time, I will introduce some different types of interesting streaming players to everyone See you next time, yes, goodbye. Subtitle editor: Ken
