Verdict
The EXA100 takes everything that the CXA81 MkII does , proceeds to do a bit more and then function on to do it all that little minute better . It ’s a seriously capable amplifier that never loses sight of being an downright delight to heed to
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
When it comes to the business of making integrated amplifiers , Cambridge Audio has a passably unnerving track disk . It ’s a category that the companionship has been active in for 10 and they ’ve turned out some in truth spectacular model in that time .
The EXA100 is the latest reaching and its role is pretty aboveboard . Cambridge Audio makes the ( excellent)CXA81 MkIIat £ 1000 and it also makes the ( no less excellent ) Edge A at a rather more important £ 4800 . The EXA100 is intended to bridge that opening , compound a little of both good example to give you a taste of Edge ownership at less than half the price . That ’s a pretty alluring proposition .
The catch to this is that the reason the Edge A costs a portion of money is because it ’s very , very complex . Counterwound transformer , direct coupled outturn , curved casework and integrated bulk and input controls are very nerveless thing but they all contribute to the asking price .
There ’s also the small item that the EXA100 look … quite a lot … like the CXA81 MkII ( so much so , I took picture for this review in a different position to the CXA81 MkII images to taste and make certain they did n’t seem too likewise ) . Is this an affordable A feign to be something else or the unexampled sweet spot of the kitchen range ?
Availability
The EXA100 is useable now and in the UK it is yours for £ 1999 . In the USA , it is available for $ 2199 ( a verbatim gross sales model helping to keep pricing especially not bad in this case ) . In Australia , the price is $ 3799 AUD and it is listed as being available in the neighborhood already .
This is a fair amount of money for an integrated amplifier but , as I shall cover , the amount of additional equipment you would need to build a organisation around the EXA100 pauperism not be very across-the-board at all so you would be capable to hive off the better part of your budget towards it if you want .
Design
Let ’s cut mightily to the pursuit on this one . The EXA100 looks a fortune like the CXA81 MkII ; quite a lot more than it looks like an Edge A anyway . The two amps are the same size , have the same basic layout and the same controls .
What might not be conveyed terribly well in the photo though is that the EXA100 feels considerably brawny than the CXA81 MkII . The front panel is thicker and more substantial and the volume node is more tactile . The effect is still that of a CXA81 MkII that has had a glow up but that glow up is more effective than you might think .
One feature film of the design is divvy up with the CXA81 MkII and that is a very welcome one . This is an amp with no less than ten comment ( do n’t vex , I ’ll cover them all in the next part ) andevery single one of themcan be take flat from the front instrument panel and the remote control . This sounds very nonaged but it is actually a pretty rarified matter in this day and age .
It ’s very unlikely you will utilise all ten inputs on the amp and it ’s equally unbelievable that they ’ll all be next to each other on the rhythm so this gives you the substance to go direct to the connection you actually use . What ’s more you could do this on the supplied remote French telephone as well .
The large black strake at the front of the EXA100 is the major visual difference to the CXA and this look good than I thought it would . In recent twelvemonth , Cambridge Audio has stop offer product in black and silver and alternatively moved to a ‘ one shade fits all ’ grey . I ’ve mixed impression about this ; while I call up that Cambridge Audio products are good look things , they do n’t tend to couple other equipment that well . That fatal section on the EXA100 means it does a better job of model with black devices than either the CX or the Edge models and that ’s no unsound matter .
Features
If you are looking for mountains of redundant ability from your extra spending , you have derive to the wrong place I ’m afraid . Power rises slightly to 100 watts into 8 ohms and 155 watts into 4 Ohm . These are good number than the CXA81 MkII ( and more than enough for domesticated purpose ) but it ’s not exactly a dramatic gain . The issue do n’t tell the whole account though .
The EXA100 use a undivided shielded toroidal transformer mount up in the centre of the chassis which is flanked by heatsinks and it ’s still an passing substantial quantity of amplifier , backed up by improvement to the components in the output stage . It retains the same A and B switchable talker outputs too which is potentially ready to hand .
The EXA100 features a digital card that is fairly much a thoroughgoing carry over from the littler CXA81 MkII . Built around an ES9018K2 M DAC , it offer up two ocular , two coaxial and one USB B input , together with support foraptX HD Bluetooth . Maximum sample rate handling is via the USB input signal and stretchiness to PCM at 384kHz and DSD256 which is slightly less than dedicated Cambridge Audio streamers but still pretty respectable number and more than enough for most needs .
The significant addition to the EXA100 is anHDMI eARCconnection . This makes connecting a TV much sluttish and I have to say that this is one of the best implementations I ’ve ever tested . The Cambridge Audio will take up every time a TV is power on no matter of the remark that was pick out when it was switched off and the volume sync is consummate .
The analogue connections are also carried over wholesale from the CXA81 MkII . It ’s equipped with a single XLR input supported by three RCA comment and another RCA input that is shared over input 1 with the XLR connectedness ( which again can be selected on the remote ) . There are freestanding stereophonic pre out and a mono subwoofer out which is usefully flexible . What you do n’t get is a phono stage . Cambridge Audio hold on meet home phono stage some years ago and has n’t been tempted to take up again . If you are a turntable user , the bearing of that input would have me looking at some of the interesting balanced devices bump off the market .
The caveat to this is that Cambridge Audio does n’t make such a thing . In fact in terms of partnering equipment , nothing the party makes is a truly perfect fit for the EXA100 . The phono stages are ripe but really designed for the CX models and the coordinated EXN100 streamer is a superb bit of kit in its own right but doubles up a lot of the functionality that the EXA100 has already . This is the sort of amp that would really profit more from something like the Volumio Rivo , than the pennon notionally designed to partner it .
Sound Quality
I have been favorable enough to have used an Edge A incorporate amplifier as a piece of run equipment for a long metre now . I ’ve notch up literally thousands of hours with it over the years and I know it very well . As such , please do n’t take it lightly when I state that the EXA100 sounds nigher to its big brother than its picayune one , however much it might look like the latter . central to this is a ‘ house auditory sensation ’ that Cambridge Audio products have been shew for a few year now . Like the CXA81 MkII , the EXA100 wo n’t blow you away in the first fifteen minutes but after two hours , you ’ll be altogether onboard .
What make water this amp so likable is how it is able-bodied to treat anything you throw at it without it favouring any one style . you may ask it to playact the modernistic , arty jazz of Portico Quartet ’s Knee Deep in the North Sea and it catch the delicacy and fluidity of the material . Nothing is forced or strained and the level of tonal realism and bold presence on go is enough to make you leave that there are electronics involve in the execution .
you’re able to then , change stable gear completely , terminate up King of the Streets by Lazerhawk in all its schmaltzy LXXX synthy glory and the EXA100 is potent , tight on its feet and genuinely ballistic . It does n’t matter what ’s in your music accumulation , the EXA100 will vocalize skillful with it . This special even handedness is something the company excel at and it ’s very evident here .
Where the EXA100 is more akin to the Edge A is that there is a greater sense of shell and authorisation on offering here that allow big scale material to vocalize more positive and grand . I have used the review article sample distribution with a pair of Neat Petite Classic standmount speakers ; a thick if surprisingly potent little affair . The EXA100 simply extracts more bottom remainder from them than you would reasonably mean is possible . Combine this with that willing presentation and the EXA100 but sound more confident and effortless than the CXA81 MkII does .
Something that is also very welcome is that this belief hold up over both the parallel and digital board . I ’ve tested the review unit via its USB input from a Roon Nucleus , via a matching EXN100 streamer and with a Technics SL-1300 G lazy Susan and iFi ZEN 3 Phono point and , while there are difference reflected in the character of the author , the canonical qualities of the adenosine monophosphate have never wavered . Even using my Oppo sound via aptX HD Bluetooth observe a significant portion of what the amp can do . It does n’t really weigh how you see yourself using the EXA100 , it ’s going to render what it is capable of .
It also works brilliantly as a mate for telecasting and cinema work . you may watch the final city sequence of the original Transformers picture and every moronic syllable of dialogue is intelligible while the ( many ) explosions keep a satisfyingly visceral welly to them . Again , that all circular power shines through here . This is an amp as happy with Taskmaster as it is The Three Body Problem and it further helps the perception that you ’ll use it all the time rather than for special events .
And you will employ it all the prison term because , beyond the user friendliness and even laterality , this A is unmingled and simple good play . At one point , I found myself listen an album by Fingerprintz ; a close forgotten Scottish post spunk dance orchestra called Distinguishing Marks . Until very recently it was only usable on vinyl radical and the combination of Technics 1300 G and the Cambridge was a sublimely enjoyable way of enjoying these effortlessly catchy air .
More than technical excellency , it ’s this power to get you caring about the music that impressment and the Cambridge Audio perfectly stand out at it .
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Should you buy it?
The EXA100 does a huge amount and then goes on to do reasonably much all of it justly . The functionality is extensive and all of it works dead brilliantly . It is a formidable all rounder
If you guess a book by its covering , you might reach the conclusion that the EXA100 is aCXA81 MkIIin a slightly ritzier corner . It is n’t but some people might desire an ampere that costs doubly as much to look a niggling more special
Final Thoughts
The EXA100 close a gap in the Cambridge Audio range and does so in absolutely okay style . This is one of the most capable £ 2000 amps on the market right now and it provide the setting to either be treated almost like an all in one system or for you connect anything you want to it .
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How we test
We test every amplifier we review good over an extended menses of time . We use industriousness - received tests to equate lineament decent . We ’ll always recount you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to review a product .
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FAQs
A remote ascendency is packaged in the box with the EXA100 . The EXN100 , however , does n’t come with one .
