Cambridge Audio CXA81 --- was 1199€ now 1100€
THE EAR
UNITED KINGDOM,
‘The CXA81 has you instantly hooked and you know you’re in for a great ride.’
TRUSTED REVIEWS
UNITED KINGDOM,
‘Thoroughly enjoyable and convincing sound… currently the best integrated amplifier you can buy for around £1000.’
WHAT HI-FI?
UNITED KINGDOM,
‘Sets a new baseline for integrated amps… a rare product that has the ability to make us switch off our reviewing brain and simply let us be wowed by the music.’
CX SERIES 2. THE SOUND OF PROGRESS.
Half a decade after the CX range redefined performance at its price point, it’s time to reimagine, reengineer and reinvigorate. The all-new CXA61 and CXA81 integrated amplifiers build on the foundations laid (and the Awards won) by CXA60 and CXA80, but with a fresh and progressive perspective.
The CXA81 is poised, effortless and sophisticated. Its 80 watts per channel give it complete authority over music, and it wrings every emotional and musical nuance from your whole collection.
How do you take an admired and successful integrated amplifier, one that’s won respect and plaudits around the world, and make it even better? Well, if you’re a Cambridge Audio engineer, you examine every aspect of the performance – and then you do everything you can to make it ‘more’. More refined, more precise, more engrossing… more musical. The CXA81: it’s everything you loved about the CXA80, but more so.
All the research, all the development, all the time and effort that’s been expended on the CXA81 has been for one reason alone: to make this the most accomplished and absorbing integrated amplifier ever offered at the price. Every component selected, and every engineering decision taken, is based entirely on the desire to progress. The CXA81 has been designed and specified without compromise, in order to deliver the complete musical picture.
Thanks to numerous improvements and upgrades – and thanks to an overspecified toroidal transformer – the CXA81 delivers a prodigious 80 watts of power per channel. This means the CXA81 has complete authority over even the most demanding speakers, it means big dynamic shifts in music are handled with total control, and it means the whole musical picture is available no matter if you’re playing at discreet background levels or at party-time volumes.
tech specs
80W RMS into 8 Ohms, 120W RMS into 4 Ohms
ESS Sabre ES9016K2M
<5Hz– 60kHz +/-1dB
1x balanced XLR, 4 x RCA
1 x S/PDIF coaxial, 2 x TOSLINK optical, 1 x USB audio, Bluetooth (integrated)
TOSLINK optical: 16/24bit 32-96kHz PCM only, S/PDIF coaxial: 16/24bit 32-192kHz PCM only, USB: audio profile 1.0/2.0 (default 2.0), up to 32bit 384kHz PCM, up to DSD256 or DoP256, Bluetooth: 4.2 A2DP/AVRCP supporting up to aptX HD (24bit 48kHz)
Yes
Yes
Speakers A+B, 3.5mm headphone, Preamp Output, Subwoofer Output
Yes
750W
<0.5W
115 x 430 x 341mm (4.5 x 16.9 x 13.4”)
8.7kg (19.1lbs)
CXA81 Integrated Amplifier, Power Cable, 3 x AAA Batteries, Remote Control, Control Bus Cable
