Cambridge Audio - Music Streaming Setup - First Impressions

[admin_exported]

Hi There,

I've been pondering over Sonos and Marantz CR603 based systems for a while. But having already got good digital sources [Mac Mini, Sky HD, Spotify Premium, iTunes, Internet Radio etc] I decided my limited budget would be best used on a solid amp and speaker setup - aided by a Beresford or CA DAC. I was also fairly limited by speaker size due to the having to position them on an existing oak AV cabinet.

So having not been able to locate any stock of my first choice speaker [Q Acoustic 2020] I settled on an all Cambridge Audio setup of a Azure 350A amp, DACmagic, and S30 Bookshelf Speakers. So having agreed a decent discounted price in the Romford RS store I returned home to cable up. As I had all the interconnects I needed to get this up and running from previous AV setup I didn't buy any new cables - i'll come back to that...

Set up complete I can say the build quality of the CA kit appears to be very good and solid. The S30s are a revelation [see my comments on WHF review]. The DACmagic is exactly that... taking the DAC out of the loop leaves all source material sounding pretty dull and average sounding. Back through the DAC and the sound is big, open detailed and very precise - all said it just sounds quite amazing to my ears. Which brings me back to my old cables... so the optical cable from Mac to DAC is cheap CA from a few years back, the interconnects are no brand chunky affairs [probably from Comet or somewhere - I just had them spare] and the speaker cable was some Hitachi [pretty heavy stuff - not bell wire but no pedigree]. And despite all this the setup sounds superb!

The dilemma was how quickly [if at all] to spend the £150+ to upgrade interconnects and speaker cables to Chord or the like... I'll never forgive myself if I can release even more performance from the setup so the order is placed. I can't wait to see the difference this makes!

In summary if you are looking for a great looking, feeling set-up for an average sized room for digital sources then don't overlook Cambridge Audio kit - especially used together where unsurprisingly they appear to be perfectly matched. Happy to answer any questions about my setup.

Thank you to Richer Sounds - especially Romford for having stock.

 

[manicm]

What is your source for streaming?

 

[Anonymous]

Primarily Spotify or iTunes from Mac Mini, but internet radio from the Mac too - surprisingly good when pushed through the DAC.

 

[nij_1]

Hi mrwozza70

I can't emphasise more, the difference high quality cables make. Trust me, I have several different makes and types of interconnect and they all give totally different results. Van den Hul are my favourite with 'The Name' being the best budget ones and 'The Wave' at the upper end. Both flesh out the mid-range and give more detail than interconnects for say the £20 to £30 range (freebee ones are best put in the bin).

It's the same for speaker cables. The QED silver anniversary are good (much better than 49 or 79 strand standard cable) but the Chord Oddysee 2 are much better and cost more.

I used to be a cable sceptic but I now understand the huge difference they make. Swapping them about is like listening to a totally different system each time!

Hope this helps.

 

[Overdose]

IMO, £150 would be best spent by selling your amp and putting all the cash together to get a higher quality used one. I personally wouldn't get sucked in to the cable upgrade route route, unless your current ones are wispy hair-thin affairs.

 

[Anonymous]

So, I spent £90 on Chord Crimson Plus Phono Interconnects, True Colour Industries Coral Optical Cable, Chord Carnival SilverScreen Speaker Cable. All highly recommended products but entry level much like the rest of my system. I'll be keeping a keen ear on the difference each makes - although I suspect the difference whatever that is will be perceived as improvement. At least I won't die wondering 'If I had...'

 

[Overdose]

Keep us updated, I for one would like to know your thoughts, even subjective, on the improvements or otherwise.

 

[Overdose]

When you said that you removed the DAC from the loop, I take it that you just connected the Mac using analogue cables to the amp?

 

[Anonymous]

Overdose - yes just connected it using analogue cable.

Update... and I know this is subjective and probably psychologically I want to hear improvement but... when given some complicated material I used 'Chase & Status - No More Idols' that previously sounded a little out of time and jittery it seemed to be more sorted and assured - less jitter. Live acoustic stuff just seems to sound that much more 'real' and bass seems punchier than before.

I hope this will only improve through burn in etc? In the meantime, for now at least I can sit back and enjoy the setup with all the emerging digital source material.

p.s. if anybody can recommend a decent internet radio website or application that would provide a more slick front end to radio listening rather than going to each stations home page etc - I would be very interested. I will start a thread as well if there isn't already one out there.

 

[Anonymous]

... of course there are loads of threads. Now dabling with www.radiotime.com