Cambridge Audio Evo 150

londonguy

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Ive asked this on the article feedback thread but as no-one seems to actually read those ill ask on a seperate thread....

Does this play gapless? either natively or through the stream magic app? Also i assume it can shuffle play the songs on my NAS?
 
I have seen several reviews now and I think it would have been called out if it didn’t stream gaplessly. Not to do so would render it next to useless imo. It might be ok for a £30 discontinued Chromecast Audio but not a brand new multi-thousand £ streamer/amp!

I don’t use a NAS so can’t help there, sorry.
 

londonguy

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I have seen several reviews now and I think it would have been called out if it didn’t stream gaplessly. Not to do so would render it next to useless imo. It might be ok for a £30 discontinued Chromecast Audio but not a brand new multi-thousand £ streamer/amp!

I don’t use a NAS so can’t help there, sorry.
Yes ive read a few reviews and no-one mentions it which id have thought would be quite a big thing to do so. It SHOULD support it but as no review seems to mention it and i cant find it mentioned in the Cambridge Audio manual i downloaded id rather know for definite it supports it before dropping 2 grand on something
 
Yes ive read a few reviews and no-one mentions it which id have thought would be quite a big thing to do so. It SHOULD support it but as no review seems to mention it and i cant find it mentioned in the Cambridge Audio manual i downloaded id rather know for definite it supports it before dropping 2 grand on something
Perhaps an email to manufacturers is required for definive answer
 
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I agree.

I’m tempted to say it’s a bit like emailing Ford to ask does their car come with a gearbox, but I realise I have strong views about failure to offer gapless! :)
It's a particular issue these days when manufacturers try to cram everything into one box and then leave out a function that is vital to many. So much easier in the days when you had a source and knew exactly what it was capable of.
It should obviously be a function of whatever app Cambridge use to actually play the music rather than the item itself so perhaps they need to issue more information on what this particular app can do.
 

jamesrfisher

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Very old article


But given they introduced it for their products in 2012, would hope so.

Maybe owners of the 851 or CXN will be able t ohelp
 

skinnypuppy71

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Wouldn't a shuffling feature via a nas drive not be governed by whatever server you are using via the Cambridge app......on my Naim Superuniti and my primare np5 streamer, I use plex to access my music on a synology nas drive...I don't dabble with shuffling songs but I don't recall seeing such a feature....I think I can make playlists but they have to be made on the pc beforehand I believe.
 

Samd

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This was the situation pre the release of the EVO series, taken from CA website - can't believe the EVO's wont match - can you? We'll soon see.

Network Players - Gapless Playback
Relevant Products: EDGE NQ, Azur 851N, CXN v1 & v2, Stream Magic 6 v2
Gapless playback is the uninterrupted playback of consecutive audio tracks. This means relative time distances in the original audio source are preserved over track boundaries on playback.
Our range of Network Players support gapless playback across all format types, but the files will need to be gapless and be streaming from a NAS/UPNP server that also supports gapless playback.
 
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londonguy

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Did you ever get a proper reply?
I got the below reply and nothing since. I can't believe they need an engineering team to work out if gapless works via NAS. Also nice of them to give the final patronising explanation of gapless as if I don't know what it is. The spelling mistakes also aren't very professional.


"We can confirm that our products have supported gapless playback thorughout the years, however, in order to give you the most accurate answer we can give, we need to clarify the information with our engineering team. For instace, your primary source of music reprodution comes from a NAS Drive. Do you use any UPnP server? He need to establish if gapless is supported in these circumstances.

It is important to point out that the absence of gapless playback is only a source of annoyance to listeners of music where tracks are meant to segue into each other, such as some classical music (opera in particular), progressive rock, concept albums (The Wall, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway), electronic music, and live recordings with audience noise between tracks.

As soon as our engineering team comes back to us, we will contact you immediately. "
 
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shadders

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I got the below reply and nothing since. I can't believe they need an engineering team to work out if gapless works via NAS. Also nice of them to give the final patronising explanation of gapless as if I don't know what it is. The spelling mistakes also aren't very professional.


"We can confirm that our products have supported gapless playback thorughout the years, however, in order to give you the most accurate answer we can give, we need to clarify the information with our engineering team. For instace, your primary source of music reprodution comes from a NAS Drive. Do you use any UPnP server? He need to establish if gapless is supported in these circumstances.

It is important to point out that the absence of gapless playback is only a source of annoyance to listeners of music where tracks are meant to segue into each other, such as some classical music (opera in particular), progressive rock, concept albums (The Wall, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway), electronic music, and live recordings with audience noise between tracks.

As soon as our engineering team comes back to us, we will contact you immediately. "
Hi,
Something i did not realise until it was stated, is that CD's are just one continuous track. The gaps you hear when playing a CD is a silence in the recording, and not because the tracks are separated. Without the lead in and lead out of a track, then it woud sound unusual playing gapless.

Regards,
Shadders.
 
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Hi,
Something i did not realise until it was stated, is that CD's are just one continuous track. The gaps you hear when playing a CD is a silence in the recording, and not because the tracks are separated. Without the lead in and lead out of a track, then it woud sound unusual playing gapless.

Regards,
Shadders.
In that sense it’s not much different to an LP, though obviously it’s harder to ‘see’ the tracks/bands on a CD. Early CDs were often made from analogue masters and some mastering switched off the tape noise between tracks, dropping you into a digital silence devoid of any ambience or hiss. Digital masters didn’t suffer the same way, but canny engineers retained ambience noise in say a Classical CD to avoid that ‘deathly’ digital silence. More akin to a pause between movements in a real hall.

Inability to play gaplessly on the streamer is unforgivable today, in my view.
 
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RoA

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I've got to say the absence of gapless on a CCA has never bothered me. The faultless performance of the device in other respects, small size, affordability and the ability to use the native music streaming apps outweigh that.

If I'd listen a lot to opera and similar I'd may feel different but as is, no hardship.
 

manicm

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London guy - here's a simple test. Rip a test classical/rock cd with bleeding tracks e.g. Dark Side Of The Moon in FLAC format, and copy onto USB stick.

Connect the USB stick to the EVO and post your results here. If it doesn't play gaplessly then CA engineers need to hang their heads in shame - any cheap Denon HEOS-enabled system can do this, so excuses from a high-end manufacturer is unacceptable.
 

londonguy

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London guy - here's a simple test. Rip a test classical/rock cd with bleeding tracks e.g. Dark Side Of The Moon in FLAC format, and copy onto USB stick.

Connect the USB stick to the EVO and post your results here. If it doesn't play gaplessly then CA engineers need to hang their heads in shame - any cheap Denon HEOS-enabled system can do this, so excuses from a high-end manufacturer is unacceptable.
Thanks but i dont have the EVO. i was asking as a prelude to a potential purchase.

As it is im sticking with my Naim Atom. Have changed my speakers now and happier with the sound it gives. If Cambridge Audio could have answered my question then i may well have bought one and taken a punt on it but i wont bother now.
 
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