66 February 2013 the absolute sound
EQUIPMENT REPORT
C
ambridge Audio’s Azur 840C CD player made quite a
splash back in 2007. In my review of that device (Issue
174, September, 2007) I was shocked not only by the
advanced technologies and build-quality of this $1499 player,
but more importantly by how good it sounded. The 840C,
I concluded, was one of the great bargains in high-end audio
despite several price increases that brought its final cost to $1795.
After a ve-year run—an eternity in digital audio—Cambridge
Audio has nally replaced the 840C with the more capable and
sophisticated 851C. This new $1999 machine looks and operates
much like the 840C and is based on a similar technology platform,
but offers an upgraded feature-set to accommodate the needs of
today’s digital consumer, notably a USB input. The 851C has multiple
digital inputs with source-switching along with variable analog
output to drive a power amplier directly, making the player a digital
hub for a variety of digital sources. These sources now include an
iPod/iPhone/iPad, although Apple connectivity requires a separate
dock, Cambridge Audio’s ID100. An Apple product connected
via this dock can be controlled by the 851C’s remote control. (If
you have ever wondered why docks for Apple products are always
small add-on devices rather than built into the products themselves,
it’s because Apple gets a percentage of the product’s list price as a
royalty. The royalty difference between a $100 dock and a $2000 CD
player makes Cambridge’s decision a no-brainer.)
The other digital inputs include AES/EBU as well as two
additional inputs, each selectable between RCA coax and
TosLink optical. Analog output is via a pair of RCA jacks or
balanced XLR connectors. As I mentioned, you can set the 851C
to xed-level output mode when using a preamplier, or forego
a preamplier in your system by engaging the 851C’s integral
volume control. The digital inputs can be named by the user.
Three digital outputs are also provided, one each on TosLink,
coaxial, and XLR jacks. A well-thought-out remote control
completes the package.
The USB input doesn’t require a driver download for
Windows machines, but is limited to 96kHz/24-bit data. A
driver download from Cambridge, however, will increase this
gure to 192kHz/24-bit. Mac users can simply select the 851C’s
“USB 2.0” setting and decode les up to 192kHz with no driver
downloads. The owner’s manual says that the 851C “should also
work with the new USB 3.0 ports where the PC will simply treat
the 851C as if it were a USB 2.0 or 1.1 device.” The new USB
3.0 protocol is a signicant revision of the current USB 2.0
standard, with higher transfer rate (5 gigabits per second) and
two-way communication via dual unidirectional data paths. USB
3.0 is backward-compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1, which
means that USB 2.0 DACs won’t become obsolete when USB 3.0
is implemented. It’s likely that the dual unidirectional data paths
of USB 3.0 will be utilized for separate clock and data lines, with
the DAC clocking the source computer.
The 840C’s core technologies—a custom digital lter and
upsampler from Anagram Technologies, dual-differential DACs,
and a custom transport—remain, but all implementations have
been upgraded in the 851C with the latest Analog Devices AD1955
DACs, Anagram’s new upsampling algorithm (to 384kHz/24-bit),
and a revised custom transport. The Anagram Technologies digital
lter runs on a 32-bit Blackn DSP chip, and offers three different
lter types (linear-phase, minimum-phase, steep) so that you can
Cambridge Audio Azur 851C
CD Player/DAC
The Apple Sometimes Falls Far From The Tree
Robert Harley
(16 pagine)
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