Review: Cambridge Audio CXU

Introduction and features

Since most Blu-ray players are sold on price, there are few extras, and little attention paid to audio. Cambridge Audio's CXU $1,299 (£899, AUS$1,747) player changes all that by being both hugely impressive and massively expensive.

From the off, the heavyweight (five kilos!) CXU's brushed black aluminium chassis screams quality, and is a sign of the treasures inside. Audio-wise, it's Cambridge Audio's own ATF (Adaptive Time Filtering) up-sampling that takes all music to 24-bit/192kHz quality. But the CXU is primarily about home cinema; cue Darbee Visual Presence video processing for the images and a Wolfson WM870 DAC for each of the surround sound channels.

Naturally, the CXU – a universal disc spinner if ever there was one – plays nicely with Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio soundtracks found on Blu-ray discs.

Ins and outs leave nothing to chance either. Alongside one HDMI input and two outputs (both Audio Return Channel-compatible) are both digital optical audio and digital coaxial audio outputs, Ethernet LAN, two USB slots, an RS-232C port, stereo audio outputs, and a full suite of 7.1 analogue audio inputs.

The front panel is sleek indeed, with a large screen surrounded on one side by discreet logos, and flanked on each side by just a couple of small buttons (standby, scan, eject and play/pause). On the right-hand side is a fourth HDMI slot (MHL-ready, so able to take a feed from a phone or tablet) and a third USB slot.

The CXU also works as a music streamer, streaming MP3, WAV, FLAC and ALAC music files across a home network. There's no app (it's all configured on the front-panel's screen) and there's not even Wi-Fi as standard, though an optional dongle is available.

Who wants to buy a dongle?

Apple AirPlay or even just Bluetooth wouldn't go amiss at this price either. That third USB slot works as a home for a dongle, though it's perhaps best reserved for either a USB stick full of digital files (though forget 4K video – the CXU doesn't support them) or for recharging a phone or tablet.

Performance

The CXU will play almost anything chucked its way. Thanks to the latest Mediatek chipset, it supports a dizzying array of discs from 2D and 3D Blu-ray and DVD to AVCHD and HDCD (as well as Kodak Picture CD, CD-R/RW, DVD+-R/RW, DVD+-R DL and BD-R/RE, though not HD-DVD).

This being Cambridge Audio, it also supports some of the hi-res audio discs that the mass market has forgotten, namely SACD and DVD-Audio. Fans of classical music, particularly, continue to rave about these formats, though players that handle them are rare. No mainstream deck from the big Asian brands has supported them for almost a decade.

Meanwhile, the CXU's user interface is basic, yet clean, though the presence of a couple of apps – YouTube and Picasa – merely serve to highlight the CXU's deficiencies when it comes to other apps. If you're not offering Netflix and/or Amazon Instant, you probably shouldn't bother.

Picture and sound quality

The CXU also plays CD, which is where I start with a copy of Bob Dylan's Shadows In The Night, featuring smooth top-end and impressive depth. Next it's on to an ageing SACD of Holst's The Planets, where during Neptune the mystical voices in the background are revealed by the CXU much earlier than on the CD version.

Finally it's over to multichannel with REM's part-audio, part-video Reveal on DVD-Audio, which bridges the gap between hi-res audio and video. The CXU draws out some previously inaudible underlying harmonies in the song Imitation of Life, which is hyper-detailed, yet warm.

While the Mediatek chipset inside the CXU handles all of those formats, it's Darbee Visual Presence video processing that's the backbone to the CXU's startling video performance, which even extends to upscaling Blu-ray discs to 4K quality.

A spin of a DVD of anime classic Spirited Away shows the CXU's clean, contrasty and noise-free upscaling to hi-def, while a play of Jurassic World on Blu-ray demonstrates easily visible extra detail, and even shadow detail within blocks of dark colour, while toggled to 'Full Pop' mode using the Darbee Visual Presence on-screen menu. The 3D version impresses, too, with zero crosstalk evident.

With such depth and detail delivered in a clean and precise manner, the CXU's video or audio performance is outstanding. But can it match cheaper 'smart' Blu-ray players for pure convenience?

Verdict

When it comes to serious home cinema devices, like a universal media player, you want it to cover all the bases. And when you're paying out such a significant sum for the privilege that's not an unreasonable hope.

But then there are some products which compensate for anything they're missing. The Cambridge Audio CXU is one of those. Where it might miss out in terms of overall connectivity, making it seem a little behind the times technologically, there's no doubting its incredible audio visual credentials.

We liked

It's images, film soundtracks, and most of all, music that impress on the CXU. It's all very hard to fault on its core duties.

The remote control is also worth praising; its sleek, black aluminium body matches the CXU, with clever design continuity and an easy to use layout. The cherry on top is that it's not only backlit, but illuminated in red to help preserve night-vision in your theatre blackout.

Another nice touch is that the USB slot on the front of the machine will refuel a smartphone or tablet, which is not a bad idea given that you're going to be sat beside it for a couple of hours … and possibly far longer given the sheer quality on offer.

We disliked

This may be a hugely impressive deck, but there are a few tiny niggles about the CXU that could be corrected.

While the backlit remote control is excellent, the slight drawback is that the illumination lasts only a few seconds before it deactivates. It's also not the quickest to exchange commands with its mothership.

However, the main gripe about paying such a high price for the CXU has got to be that it comes with just YouTube and Picasa apps, and doesn't even offer Wi-Fi. The lack of connectivity is a little surprising, particularly as one of its competitors in the 'universal' disc player space, the Oppo BDP-105D, includes the likes of Netflix and BBC apps, while the Arcam UDP411 offers a simple control app for the iPhone.

The CXU could certainly benefit from some kind of app to oversee its music streaming; that it's all done on the player's front-panel is too manual. Bluetooth and Apple AirPlay would be nice, too, as would support for 4K MP4 files.

Verdict

The CXU is aimed squarely at both home cinema perfectionists and audiophiles after a do-it-all machine. As such it barely puts a foot wrong, though the absence of the likes of Netflix, Amazon Instant and the BBC iPlayer – when its competitors have those apps – makes it seem old-fashioned.

So too the lack of WiFi and manual music streaming, though does a superbly built, pitch-perfect performer need such frivolities?

While it excels with Blu-ray and even DVD, the CXU's handling of music in all its guises and formats is exquisite. It may not be the smart hub it could have been, but this universal machine has core quality like you've never seen – or heard – before.

from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1PxNMZA