Feed it a solo piano work or chamber quartet and it is only too pleased to show you its more caring, gentle side.
The CXA81 perhaps sounds a little forward, but its level of expression is such that it is sympathetic to more minimal, sombre recordings as well. This Cambridge is powerful and weighty in the low end, but lean and agile enough to dance around with the most excitable bass lines, while the treble is left plenty of headroom without sharpness or rough edges. There’s a richness overall to the balance, too. Above it, a full-bodied and expressive midrange deals out melodies that are given space to soar, yet still sound definitively part of a musical whole. Soundįrom the opening bars of whatever piece of music we select, we’re greeted with the same powerful yet punchy, dynamic and astonishingly detailed presentation.Ĭonfidence is key to the CXA81’s performance, hammering out staccato rhythmic patterns with assured conviction, snapping in time and allowing its expert handling of alternately loud and soft beats to lock in a groove.
There are many Cambridge Audio hallmarks here that make this CX amp broadly comparable with the tuning of its last iteration – only this time there has been progress in every regard. Second time around, that is definitely not the case. While the impressive CXA60 won several What Hi-Fi? Awards, its bigger brother was never quite able to harness its extra power and translate it into as cohesive or expressive a performance. Though the need to attach a separate Bluetooth dongle was marginally annoying, features and build were never the areas in which its forerunner, the CXA80, was lacking. In terms of outputs, Cambridge Audio has included those for a pre-amp and subwoofer, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack and space for two pairs of speakers, which can be played either separately or in unison. You won’t find any digital inputs such as these on this amp’s main rival, the multi-Award-winning Rega Elex-R. Meanwhile, the CXA81’s S/PDIF coaxial input will handle files up to 24-bit/192kHz, and its pair of optical connections take that up to 96kHz.
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