The CXA81 is part of a second series of CX components that was originally launched by Cambridge Audio in 2014. As well as this integrated amplifier, the line-up also includes a second amp, CD transport and a network audio streamer. According to Cambridge Audio, the second generation CX Series has been re-engineered to bring “full-fat” […]
For a small island, Great Britain has an extraordinary number of very accomplished manufacturers of excellent audio equipment. In recent years many famous brands have been taken over by foreign conglomerates, but some have remained proudly British in both their design and manufacture. One such company is Exposure, who have been proudly creating and building […]
With audio just part of their electronics portfolio, Trigon is a German brand with top engineering credentials. Trevor Butler takes a look at the latest design, the heavyweight Exxceed integrated amplifier. Having relied on Trigon monoblock amplification in my main system for several years now I was interested to see the release in Munich last […]
A friend has described (on more than one occasion) the times he lay on his teenage bed playing Close to the Edge through headphones and feeling like he was levitating, such was the potency of that classic Yes album. I didn’t do that, no headphones for a start, but if the Moon homepage is any indication it seems that […]
I originally heard about this beefy integrated in discussions with Rega’s electronics guru Terry Bateman in mid 2018, but the Aethos didn’t make a public appearance until the Bristol show in February 19, and even then was only at the prototype stage. It took another eight months to go into production, clearly Rega doesn’t like […]
Back in the first decade of this century before the advent of the Supernait 3, I was a well-paid employee of a well known high tech firm, that’s when I bought my first piece of Naim equipment, a CD5X disc player. Within five years that had somehow grown into two racks of Fraim, with a […]
One of my very first reviews for the Ear, almost a year ago, was of the YBA Passion IA350 integrated amplifier and the matching CD430 disc player. I was very impressed with them and so when the UK distributor asked if I would like to hear the most recent Heritage amplifier, the A200, it was a pleasure […]
I have always been a sucker for Constellation Audio, before I even heard one I was smitten. There are many ultra fi electronics brands in the high end omniverse but none makes products that look as good as a Constellation. The Integrated 1.0 is the most affordable complete amplifier in the range yet it still […]
When I interviewed Naim designer Steve Sells a few years back I asked which amplifier he used at home, he said the Supernait. It’s perhaps surprising that the man who developed the Statement, Naim’s most ambitious amplifier ever, uses one of the more modest models for his listening pleasure, but there’s nothing like a good […]
YBA. Am I the only one who thought Young British Artists? Tracy Emin and unmade beds, Damien Hirst and pickled sharks? Wrong answer. In the context of good music reproduction, YBA can only mean Yves-Bernard André, whose initials grace the brand he launched way back in 1981. Since then he has been dedicated to combining […]
AVM announced their 30th anniversary last year with a new entry level range and at this year’s Sound & Vision Bristol show I asked MD Udo Besser how he got into the hi-fi business, his jokey response was: “Very easy, I just filled in a form, it was the wrong form!”. He went on to describe a […]
ATC aren’t into change for changes sake, they won’t revise the range every year or so just to refresh its profile in the market, indeed even when they give something a major overhaul as is the case here the appearance remains much the same. The only external difference between the new CDA2 and its predecessor […]