If you’re a company with a successful product in your catalogue, it must be tempting to leave well alone, and just enjoy the benefits of the continuing sales. That could be the case with the Cambridge Audio CXA81, an excellent integrated amplifier with plenty of power and flexibility, and a beautifully ‘no-frills’ look in its well-chosen Lunar Grey finish. Offering fine value in the sub-£1000 amplifier arena, thanks to manufacture in Cambridge’s own factory in China, it would be hard not to conclude that this is all the amplifier most of us would ever need.

Or rather it was just that, for now the engineering team at the company’s London HQ has come up with a Mk II version of the amplifier: the price is the same £999 at which the original was launched, and the CXA81 Mk II looks identical to its predecessor, and has just about the same roster of features, but under the lid there’s been some serious reworking to enhance performance. None of that means the CXA81, launched a couple of years ago, is in any way obsolete or ‘broken’, and indeed it offers fine value at its current £799 run-out price: it’s just that the new model offers wider digital capability, thanks to an enhanced version of the ESS ‘Sabre’ digital-to-analogue conversion with which it’s fitted, and improved overall performance via changes made to the analogue section decided in the best possible way – by listening.

The CXA81 Mk II is the range-topping amplifier in the company’s mainstream hi-fi range, which sits in a catalogue ranging from fine in-ear headphones to the high-end Edge audio components and the superb EVO all-in-one network systems, and – despite that simple fascia layout, with little more than a silky-smooth volume control and a panel of small buttons for input and speaker selection – it’s comprehensively equipped.

It has four line-level analogue inputs, with one having a balanced in option, and four digital, including a USB-Type B for a computer source, the new ESS ‘Sabre’ ES9018K2M digital-to-analogue converter giving it the ability to handle both files up to 384kHz/24-bit and DSD256. There’s also Bluetooth with aptX HD capability, handy for portable devices and, as the company points out, its own Alva wireless record players.

Twin sets of speaker outputs are fitted, with A/B/A+B switching, and there are preouts to feed an external power amp, and a mono subwoofer feed filtered to pass only frequencies below 2.3kHz, keeping the signal fed to a sub as clean as possible. Meanwhile there’s also an array of control connections including the usual 12V trigger ports and the company’s own control bus, for which a cable is provided in the box. System control is available using the CX system remote provided.

Input selection and speaker output choice is carried out using that remote or the little panel of black buttons at the centre of the front panel, with illumination to show what’s been selected, and there’s also a 3.5mm headphone socket.

The output stage here sticks to traditional Class AB working, delivering 80W per channel into an 8ohm load, and 120Wpc into 4ohms: while many other companies have moved over to Class D amplification, Cambridge sticks to Class AB as it knows it best, and feels it offers the best sound. Similarly, the choice of digital-to-analogue conversion, while a step up from that used in the original CXA81, is a tried and tested solution, and the improvements to the analogue section, running to the changing of ten op-amps, were made after extensive ‘swap and listen’ sessions, and are said to give the amplifier ‘even greater clarity and musicality’.

PERFORMANCE

The CXA81 Mk II impresses immediately on first listening, with a sound combining richness and detail, and it’s a presentation the appeal of which grows with extended use. There’s no edginess or forwardness to the way this amplifier plays music: rather the bass weight and solidity is appealing in the warmth it brings to recordings such as the recent Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Honeck recording of Bruckner’s Seventh on Reference Recordings, but this scale is never delivered at the expense of refinement in the way the soundstage and recorded ambience is delivered. Instrumental timbres and dynamics are consistently convincing, and there’s a real sense of orchestral power even at modest listening levels.

This isn’t one of those amplifiers requiring lots of level to be heard at its best: yes, it can play very loud when required, especially with speakers of reasonable sensitivity such as the PMC Prodigy 5 floorstanders I used for much of my listening, but almost more impressive is the openness and free-breathing quality of its sound at very modest levels. Use the remote or the nicely weighted volume control on the amplifier to turn up the level, and all that happens is that the sound gets louder, with no significant tonal shift, which is just as it should be.

There’s no shortage of detail, whether with large musical forces or smaller ensembles, as is clear with the Rachel Podger/Brecon Baroque ‘The Muses Restor’d’ release on Channel Classics, which the CXA81 Mk II delivers with a lovely lightness of touch and speed, really bringing out the superb quality of the performances, and the superb recording engineered by Jared Sacks in the generous acoustic of St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood, not so far from the Gramophone offices.

In the same way it sounds wonderfully vibrant with the voice of Magdalena Koená on her Czech orchestral songs recital for Pentatone, showcasing the colours of her phrasing against lush accompaniment from the Czech Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle to fabulously dramatic effect. Depth, richness and space – it’s all there, and with no sense of hardening even on the highest notes at relatively high playback levels, showing just how well this amplifier maintains its control while letting the music shine through.

The original CXA81 was an excellent amplifier, both for its simplicity and its performance; this new version takes that sonic ability to an even higher level and, given its refinement of both styling and sound, proves to be an even more compelling buy.

This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Gramophone. Whether you want to enjoy Gramophone online, explore our unique Reviews Database or our huge archive of issues stretching back to April 1923, or simply receive the magazine through your door every month, we've got the perfect subscription for you. Find out more at magsubscriptions.com