Cambridge Audio 651A and 851A amplifiers

[Longjohn]

Dear all,

The above amps have received excellent reviews in other HiFi mags, especially HiFi N & RR. The 651A costs around 450 GBP, has an on-board DAC, was praised for its sound quality and was considered to be on par with a Cyrus 8a (costing 1200 GBP).

The 851A costs around 1200 GBP and was classed as outstanding in the previous months's edition of the same magazine.

Is 'What HiFi' going to review these amps?

Has anybody tried these amps and can they comment on their performance?

Kind regards, LJ

 

[chebby]

Is 'What HiFi' going to review these amps?

http://www.whathifi.com/review/cambridge-audio-azur-651a

 

[John Duncan]

I'll be along shortly...

 

[Longjohn]

Is 'What HiFi' going to review these amps?

http://www.whathifi.com/review/cambridge-audio-azur-651a

Thanks for that, Chebby - much appreciated. However, I would very much like to hear some user comments on the both the CA 651A and 851A.

The latter amp is a reworking of the 840A and one recent reviewer commented on the 851A's significantly improved performance, and gave it 5 stars for everything. This review also included the CA 851C CD player.

By the way, the review I mentioned in my opening shot compared 6 amps, including the Rega Brio-R. The Brio did not come out as well as the Marantz PM-KI, the CA 651A or the Cyrus 8. There's food for thought!

Look forward to hearing from someone soon...

John

 

[John Duncan]

Sorry I started a reply last night and then got distracted.

I can't speak for the 851A as I haven't heard it, though it does appear to be getting good reviews. However, if I was paying 1200 quid for an amp I think I'd have wanted them to redesign the front panel to match the newer 6 and 5 series, which look nicer.

I've had the 651A for a while and I like it a lot. The review here kind of matches how I've found it, with nice weight in the bass (I'm not sure I'd call it 'tubby' as they do) but a slight tendency to get ragged in the treble. In that respect I can see how somebody might compare it to Cyrus I compared it recently to a SuperUniti and I have to say the Naim smokes it, so to my mind it's not a "pay £450, get two grand's worth" amp.

Whilst I think it's a great budget amp, the Cambridge 6 series has been creeping up in price over the last couple of iterations and they're not as spectacular value as they used to be. I think the Marantz 6004 pair are a bit better in this respect, though more or less comparable in performance (IMO). Which you buy may come down to how you feel about their relative aesthetics, subjective nuances of presentation, or whether you need the extra power of the Cambridge (of which there is a lot). I personally got mine because I had a 751BD and Stream Magic, and I wanted my rack to look the same (and to integrate remote functionality) :-D

 

[Longjohn]

Summary of review which gave CA 651A much praise:

http://www.otest.co.uk/a/amplifier/magazine/hi-fi-news-9-2012/332204.html

Best regards, John

 

[matthewpiano]

The 651A is a great amp but whereas CA gear used to be very competitively priced, I too feel that price increases through recent model changes have actually made it a bit on the expensive side. To me, the 651A is an excellent £350 amp, not a £450 amp. If the internal DAC offered the flexibility of optical and coaxial connections I could understand the £450 price point, but with only a USB input I don't think it adds a huge amount of value. With performance comparable competitors coming in at less money (Marantz £299, Rotel RA-10 £349, and NAD C326BEE £309, Yamaha A-S500 £239) I really do wonder about CA's pricing now. For performance per pound I'd look at one of those other four amps.