Cambridge Audio Topaz Cd10 Premium Cd Player Review

I rambled on at great length near the heritage of Cambridge'southward Audio's AX range and the company itself in my AX series summary, so I won't rehash that hither. Instead I'll dive direct into the subject of the forthcoming paragraphs, the AXC35 CD thespian. This is the better of the two CD players in the AX lineup, though aside from a coaxial digital output in that location's nothing to set them apart.

That coax output allows you to use the AXC35 as a digital transport into an external DAC should you so wish, though information technology is designed to exist paired with one of the matching amplifiers which are strictly counterpart in their input options, or with one of the receivers which do have digital inputs but of no obvious advantage over the CD actor'due south digital hardware. In essence what nosotros accept here is nothing more than the most basic CD player, but that'south no bad affair.

Many CD players these days, especially upkeep models, pile on actress functionality for people who don't actually want to play CDs, and would probably have been better off with a streaming solution or a DAC to improve the sound of their smartphone when fed into an amplifier. These extra features include digital inputs to utilise the CD player every bit a DAC for external digital sources – a Blu-Ray player, a Tv set, a games console or a reckoner for case. Some – models from Marantz, Yamaha and Denon to name just a few – implement primitive USB playback functionality, whereby the player can directly access digital files on USB storage media albeit with the obvious limitations of a traditional CD player's user interface.

This all makes perfect sense. Afterwards all, the DAC within even the near basic of modernistic CD players is up to the job of handling streams of a far greater resolution than a sixteen-bit, 44.1kHz CD. Simply often CD playback becomes an reconsideration; and if there's one thing that older, simpler CD players do really well, it is playing CDs.

These latest models from Cambridge are certainly more akin to no-frills CD players of onetime, and are very reminiscent of a fourth dimension when the visitor produced some cracking upkeep CD players that were as simplistic as they came, and cost piffling more than the cheaper DVD players of the time. Just simplicity means cypher if the thespian doesn't substitute a shortened feature list for heightened performance.

I owned a Cambridge CD-36 for a short while when I had my Cambridge A5. I bought it used and it wouldn't be unfair to say it had graphic symbol. It was a relatively well congenital unit with an attractively-styled fascia, though the buttons required pin-point precision and jackhammer forcefulness to become any response. At times the tray would squirt at supersonic speed and at others it would crawl from the airtight position with a squeal of dodgy belts and a death rattle. Information technology often needed the assist of what I like to call 'percussive therapy' (a expert whack) on its front console to get the disc seated properly in the mechanism. It always played perfectly though, and information technology was a dynamic heed that had me run the A5 wide open on more than one occasion. I loved that player.

It'due south ever interesting to observe evolution even in the instance of a tech product. At the £299 asking price of the AXC35, dodgy drawers and temperamental buttons would be unacceptable. Neither of those traits are evident here. Cambridge had a reputation for many years equally a budget brand of the Richer Sounds retail outlet, and it wasn't until the Azur lineup, in particular the 6, 7 and 8 series that they started to flex their engineering might and demonstrate the benefits of a team of fine engineers and far-eastern industry.

Build quality of those products was, and still is, leagues alee of what they were producing in the budget loonshit for obvious reasons, and exceeded a lot of the boutique high-end kit also. A lot of that has trickled downwards into the budget ranges over the concluding 15 years or then to the bespeak where the AX models behave more than of a physical resemblance to the CX range than any of their predecessors.

The most obvious styling queue taken from the CX range is the floating chassis design, with a front foot spanning nigh the full length of the unit of measurement set dorsum from the front console simply enough to disappear into its own shadow. The AX models come more smartly dressed than their predecessors too with a new 'Lunar Grey' stop and chunky casework synthetic in a way that affords natural damping. The case screws are set back in deep recesses to hide them from view when the player is in situ.

Though light, the CD actor feels substantial. The buttons accept a hefty click to them and at that place aren't many of them, just basic transport controls and a ability button. Even the tray fascia is aluminium, and the tray, despite being plastic, feels and sounds well fabricated. In some areas its build quality betters my Cambridge CXC which is a £400 CD transport with no inbuilt DAC.

Elevator the hat on a modern budget-level CD actor and you'll find little more than a box of air. Most of the command and servo logic has been implemented into single chips so you won't observe boards blimp with detached components like yous would only a decade agone. The digital to counterpart conversion and output line stages accept been similarly condensed. Such simple circuitry doesn't identify any great demand or dependence on the power supply, so a small-scale switch-mode unit is perfectly sufficient to become the chore done and inexpensive plenty to keep profit margins high. It's not uncommon for the master circuit board of a electric current budget hi-fi CD player to be smaller than the disc itself.

Inside the AXC35 is a digital to analogue conversion stage based around the WM8524 from Wolfson Microsystem electronics. The line output stage is based around the NJM 4580 op-amp particularly designed for use in audio circuits. The player uses a universal disc bulldoze which, if I had to estimate judging by the sound its optics make, is of Sanyo origin.

Ane plus in these players' favour is the lack of any adjustments for the laser. Focus, gain, tracking and power are handled by the servo rather than analogue circuits, and won't drift with age equally passive components drift in value. They should also compensate to a degree as the light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation weakens, which means you'll go more than life out of your CD histrion before information technology requires a service.

I'k non in possession of whatever service literature and I don't know whether the AXC35 has a scale process similar some players exercise, and admittedly this is a technical indicate that few will intendance about. But it's a positive of annotation however, particularly years down the line when these begin to require TLC every bit all electronic devices practise somewhen.

Thanks to aggrandizement and the way the market is, 'evolution' makes the AXC35 a slight spec downgrade on the older Topaz model which had a WM8761 DAC, then the AXC35 is more akin to the outgoing CD5. I believe however that the Topaz model used an NE5532 in its output stage so the AXC35 is an upgrade on the analogue front, though I've not had one of those apart myself so I can't say for certain. Unlike the Topaz CD10, however, the AXC35 does back up gapless playback.

The disc drive and servo support ordinary 'ruby book' CDs of form (and hybrid SACDs) merely also finalised writeable and rewritable CDs containing MP3, WMA and WAV files. Nosotros live in an age where most computers lack an optical drive at all, and the power to burn down a CD at home is little more than than a historical landmark in technology. But if you do yet write data to shiny silver circles, or happen beyond a forgotten few in a time capsule, the AXC-35 will play them which is more tin be said for most CD players with dedicated servos, including Cambridge's own.

Around dorsum are stereo RCA outputs and a coaxial digital output. The latter is the just difference betwixt the C35 and the cheaper C25. There'south a figure of eight power inlet for which UK and European-fashion cables are provided in the box.

The presence of the figure of eight connector pleases me for ane reason – at that place isn't an 'audiophile' upgrade cable that I know of with a figure of 8 connector, so newcomers to the game tin't exist fooled by enterprising dealers or the word of 'experts' on hi-fi fora to part with their hard-earned cash on needless garbage like power cablevision upgrades. It would be overnice to come across a basic interconnect included in the box though, if only to moot the possibility of dealers selling 'audiophile' variants of those too.

The remote leaves a lot to be desired. It'south cheap, plasticky and conspicuously a universal design with obvious indents where buttons would get if they were needed. The layout is logical simply the buttons have a mushy, spongy experience to them which doesn't feel premium at all.

Given that the CD player is virtually indistinguishable in build quality from a CX-series component, the remote is in stark dissimilarity to the car. That there is one at all is a plus I suppose, merely it could, and should, be a lot better. Information technology does have finger indents though to make information technology more comfortable in the hand and it takes standard AAA batteries.

The remote transmits NEC codes and a full command protocol is available on the Cambridge website for those who desire to program a universal remote. All key transport functions can be accessed via the CD player's front panel, only repeat, random, remaining fourth dimension brandish, direct track entry and programming functions are found only on the remote.

A press of the open/close button fires the tray forth with gusto. With a CD inserted and the tray returned with equal enthusiasm, the histrion takes a leisurely few seconds to read the table of contents. The transport itself is quiet, though I did detect a ticking of the focus mechanism on discs with modest scratches or dirt.

This is quite common on cheaper CD players and isn't audible unless you're right in front end of the player. In seeking and skipping operations the C35 operates smoothly, quickly and quietly.

By default the C35 has auto power-down enabled, whereby the player will switch to standby fashion subsequently 20 minutes of inactivity. This tin can be disabled past property down the power button until the LED flashes five times (APD enabled) or ten times (APD disabled).

The actor's repeat function operates and displays in two modes – 'RPT ONE' or 'RPT ALL' in which the current track or the entirety of the disc are replayed respectively. The programming function supports the programming of upwards to twenty tracks in whatsoever order. Pressing the remaining time button on the remote toggles sequentially betwixt the remaining time for the currently playing runway, the total remaining fourth dimension on the disc, or the normal display mode.

And the audio? For all intents and purposes it is clean and to the point. Information technology sounds similar a CD actor in the best possible way. Its bespeak to noise ratio exceeds what is theoretically possible from the 16/44.i CD medium, and only its dynamic range falls slightly short of what the CD is capable of. Its frequency response is ruler flat to within 0.06dB from 20Hz to 20kHz.

Considering of its simplicity in design it is essentially void of tonal colour or grapheme. Many CD players are voiced in their output distension stages to sound a certain manner, but the blueprint of the AXC35 is almost as basic every bit it gets.

If you want a CD histrion that sounds a certain way – be information technology 'warm' or 'analogue', this probably isn't the player for you. But if y'all want a CD actor that sounds like a CD histrion – make clean uncoloured and pleasant to listen to, the AXC35 is a fine performer. Its simplistic electronics and quality disc bulldoze should be reliable for many years. It'south well made and smart to look at, and it's not swollen past unnecessary frills. The remote is rubbish and the £70 premium for a digital output is too steep. Merely all things considered it is a great fleck of kit and comes highly recommended.

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Source: https://www.audioappraisal.com/cambridge-audio-axc35-cd-player-reviewed/

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