Verdict
The EXN100 is more expensive than the similar CXN100 but you could see where the improvement have been made . This is a superb streamer and preamp and one of the very unspoilt option anywhere near the price .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Take a quick aspect at the Cambridge Audio EXN100 and you could be forgiven for think that Cambridge Audio has taken one of their ( excellent)CXN100 ’s , painted the center section dark and decided to file a pregnant amount more money for it .
It ’s the matching source to the EXA100 amplifier which I ’ve already look at and that also has a bit of an identity crisis with the more affordableCXA81 MkIIamp and , for reasons I ’ll cover in the review , I ’ve decide to search at it on its own .
The omens that the EXN100 will be pretty decent are good too . Cambridge Audio has been reach streamers for a very long time and they were one of the earlier companies to knead out that , if you gave a streamer a volume control and some special inputs , you could build a machine that was able to play as the complete front end of a digital system rather than simply be attached to an incorporated amplifier .
The EXN100 is part of an ongoing evolution of the idea and brings some extra feature article to the table to help oneself with it . Is this a CXN100 with ideas above its post or a really brilliant bit of kit in its own right ?
Availability
The EXN100 is uncommitted in the UK direct from Cambridge Audio and via the nationwide Ernst Boris Chain of Richer Sounds stores for £ 1599 . In the US , this lift only slightly to $ 1799 ( in part , thanks to very private-enterprise verbatim sales model . In Australia , this toll rises to $ 2999 AUD .
As I shall cover , the EXN100 has a reasonable grade of feature overlap with the CXN100 which is still a phenomenal minute of kit and one that is available for getting on half the Leontyne Price of the EXN100 . This is the jurisprudence of diminishing returns in action and for many people , the CXN100 will be all the streamer they ever postulate .
Design
The EXN100 does face a middling piece like the CXN100 but when you actually get hands on with it , it becomes clear that it is not the same thing . The EX metalwork feels respectable than the CX equivalent weight and , while it is the same size , it manages to feel a fair bit more substantial at the same clip .
The knurled circular telephone dial might seem like a minor touch but it is a great bargain nicer to utilise and interact with . Something else that has become apparent in the time the review sample has been here is that the black section in the center of the unit really helps it to sit more blithely with contraband equipment than the CXN model do .
Something else that seems minor but really makes a deviation is that the display on the EX is larger than the one on the CX . The difference on composition is tiny ; 1280 x 720 on the EXN versus 1280 x 576 on the CXN but it feels rather large in reality and the result is more vibrant and well-situated to take . This is not a touchscreen ; Cambridge Audio prefer forcible buttons aboard . Once you dial in to this glide slope , it works really well .
These restraint are joined by a conciliatory combination of control app and the ability to respond to a outside handset . The Stream Magic app is now in its 4thgeneration and it has evolved into one of the clear and most satisfying control apps to apply . you may do the plate screen up to have the ascendence you need on it and nothing more and it ’s impressively static and intuitive in usance .
The handset the EXN100 responds to is not supplied as touchstone , which at £ 1600 is a little unsatisfying but Cambridge Audio ’s logical thinking is that the EX amp descend with one so you wo n’t need two . This is okay as far as it kick the bucket but I suspect quite a few EXNs will be used on their own .
Features
Tempting as it is to hack and glue the matching part from the CXN100 and amend it more or less , the EXN100 is somewhat different to its small comrade but , while it borrows some technology and design idea from the more expensive Edge range , it is close in design and layout to the CXN100 .
Given one of those law of similarity is the StreamMagic platform , this is not necessarily a bad thing . I ’ve already cut across that it ’s unchanging and easy to use but it also does a expectant many things . As well as being able to access a local library , you get support forSpotify , Tidal ( with Connect functionality for both),QobuzandDeezersupported byAirPlayand a very adept Chromecast implementation . In reality , you may get the vast bulk of content to the Cambridge Audio without having to ferment too intemperately for it .
There is then a selection of digital inputs and these follow the approach pattern set with the CXN100 of a USB - B , optical and coaxial digital connection . For the EXN , this is joined by anHDMI eARCconnection , the same as the matching amp . This is a little pointless if you own the amp but brilliant news program if you do n’t .
It ’s a glorious HDMI implementation too ; the EXN100 will respond every time , sync and just work in a means that should be the case with every HDMI effectuation but is n’t . What you do n’t get is the functionality that the rather pricier Edge NQ has which means no form of analogue input which means you shin to make the EXN100 play nicely with a turntable .
All this connectivity is sent build around an ESS ES9028Q2 M DAC which can handle up to 768kHz PCM and DSD512 ( or basically any file that presently subsist if you desire a more genuine earth program ) . This is mostly the same as the CXN100 but the EXN boasts rescript and improvements that are intended to eke a moment more performance from the basic design – more on that in the next section .
The last element of the EXN ’s specification is an important one . you’re able to link up it to an analogue input on an amplifier via RCA or XLR connection and it will melt as a normal credit line level source but if you select preamp mode in Stream Magic , you’re able to activate a 100 step volume controller and tie the EXN100 directly to a power A or active speakers .
If you have no need of analog stimulus , this is almost certainly where the functionality it offers over wide-eyed competitor really comes into its own . As I note in the EXA100 critique , the EXN has a lot of functionality lap with the amp and might be overkill for many people . Used on its own ( or with a less well specified amp ) , it makes rather more signified .
Sound Quality
One of the most important things that the EXN100 does is body forth something that a few very talented digital machine I have heard in recent years do . This is a very ingenious and advanced piece of kit but , when you sit down and hear to it , none of the cleverness cause its way into the sound . Instead , the EXN100 just sounds right in a elbow room that ’s quite knavish to account .
What the Cambridge Audio does brightly is avoid putting any emphasis on any particular part of the frequency response and this means that it sounds consistently unforced and lifelike no matter of what you happen to be listening to at the time . The astonishing rhythm section workout of Svanenborg Kardyb ’s Vakler is a by rights strong and visceral experience with genuine deepness and impingement to the drumming but enough focal point given to the little melody that accompanies the monstrous swot the detail it needs .
you may then modify shroud completely and ask for the Sean Khan ensemble cover version of John Martyn ’s Solid Air and the focus is all on the superb outspoken and instrumental work in the midrange and up … but this time the plucked treble bass still sounds absolutely peerless . low-cost digital seed are amazingly good these day but after a few hours with the EXN100 you ’ll neglect the astonishingly even turn over effortlessness it offer across so many different piece of medicine .
There ’s something else too . This brilliance is not conditional on giving the EXN an continuous provender of well recorded material . you may give it the period compressed confusion of Feeder ’s Echo Park and the Cambridge Audio will deliver the anthemic vividness of We Ca n’t Rewind without reminding you that it has the dynamic range of a phone ringtone . That trademark Cambridge Audio ability to puzzle out with the cloth you need to wager is intact to what the EXN100 does . It ’s easy hearing but done only right .
The addition of thatHDMI socketworks a charm too . I rewatched Star Trek Into Darkness ( something I call for few excuses to do in blondness ) via the EXN100 and the Cambridge Audio is able-bodied to treat the exciting selection of distance free-base explosions while keep Benedict Cumberbatch sound like Benedict Cumberbatch . It ’s superbly balanced and an exceptional mode of acquire your television set lecture to your sound recording system .
As to what that audio system might look like is interesting one . I did a fair amount of examination with the matching EXA100 amplifier but the EXN does rather palpate like overkill for the labor . Run on its own with a compact Chord Electronics TToby power amplifier into a pair of Wharfedale Super Linton speakers sounded really exceptional and feels like a more sensible usance of the EXN100s abilities . The reason why this is so in effect is that the Cambridge Audio is a fantastic preamplifier . The loudness ramp is beautifully judged and the sheer transparency of what it can it do means you will find out your ampere and speakers with very small embellishment .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
The EXN100 can form the focussing of a truly bright digital sound recording arrangement , provide outstanding cyclosis and all the spare inputs you’re able to realistically need ; very piddling else can match it
Unless you take theHDMI eARCinput , it is hard to fence that the more affordableCXN100is able to do many of the things that the EXN100 can
Final Thoughts
The EXN100 act the late incarnation of a formula Cambridge Audio has been work on on for over a decennium . The result is a product that proffer sensational execution combined with all round usableness that is exceptionally easy to live with
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every music streamer we brush up thoroughly over an drawn-out period of time . We habituate industry - standard tests to compare features by rights . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to survey a product .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
There ’s no outback control supplied with the EXN100 . Cambridge say they ask users to use the StreamMagic app on smartphones and pad of paper to keep in line the twist .
