Cambridge Evo 150 SE streaming amplifier
Launched with its new branding to the fore, sans Audio, the Cambridge Evo 150 arrives sporting an SE suffix as a new version of this ‘all-in-one’ streaming amplifier in a condensed package bristling with digital and analogue facilities. But does new branding come at the expense of the sonics?
Cambridge
The Cambridge brand goes back to 1968 when it was a division of Cambridge Consultants and its first product was the 20W/ch P40 integrated amplifier (one of the first to use toroidal transformers). The firm became Cambridge Audio Labs based in nearby St. Ives where, in 1970, the 50W/ch P50 was put into mass production. In 1971 the business was sold to Colin Hammond who, at the time, handled Revox. Cambridge Audio Ltd was created and Stan Curtis became its technical director as the St Ives facility was extended to house 300 employees; virtually everything was made and tested in house.
1985 we saw the world’s first two-box CD player, in the Cambridge CD1, before Hi-Fi Markets acquired the brand but sold to Wharfedale two years later when production began in Leeds. In 1994 the company was bought under the Audio Partnership umbrella where it now produces a wide range of audio equipment including headphones, lifestyle systems and separates, designed in the UK and made in China to keep pricing competitive. Earlier this month a rebrand saw the ‘Audio’ part of the brand dropped to become just Cambridge and a swanky new look and feel for the marque which promises to “break out of the traditional hi-fi world and step into something more expressive, more contemporary and more emotionally resonant”.
Among the first products to sport the new livery, alongside a revamped website and new-look apps, is the SE version of the Evo 150 which can be seen as a complete audio solution. Add an internet connection and either headphones or loudspeakers and, hey presto, you can play music from a plethora of sources.
Design
A compact box, measuring just a foot square, it comes supplied with swappable magnetic side panels to give either black or wood-effect cheeks and caters for almost all imaginable digital inputs as well as turntables thanks to an MM phono stage.
The front panel is dominated by an easy-to-read display although this lacks touch-screen control which is a shame. The back is festooned with connectors for a huge array of in/outputs including HDMI ARC to connect a TV, balanced XLR, phono stage, ethernet, two optical and one coaxial digital input, connectors for up to two pairs of loudspeakers (A and B) and streaming options galore. We have aptX HD Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Roon Ready, Apple Airplay 2 and Google Cast, with other streaming services and internet radio accessible via the Stream Magic app, including, I am delighted to say, Qobuz Connect.
The Evo 150 was already a popular unit but now in Evo 150 SE form it has three major upgrades. Firstly, Cambridge’s engineers have upgraded the DAC circuit which is now built around an ESS Labs ES9018K2M chip. Secondly, the amplifier has been rejigged around a pair of Hypex NCore X modules which Cambridge have ‘tuned’. Thirdly, the price has been adjusted to sit below the all-important £2,000 tag (€2.399 or $3,299).
Set up
Thinking that only three digital inputs was rather skimpy I soon realised that because the Evo 150 SE has internet radio available (via the app) I didn’t need to connect my tuner. Ditto my streamer because we have Qobuz Connect at hand. And even my satellite receiver didn’t need an optical connection because the TV can be connected via HDMI. So it’s a breeze to set-up the Cambridge unit which is small enough and light enough (thanks to Class-D circuitry) to fit easily into modern living rooms. No bulky hi-fi rack needed here. Noting that the Evo 150 SE will cope with lower impedance loads (4 Ohms is mentioned in the manual) I connected my 6 Ohm Revival Atalante 3s and settled down. I used ethernet in preference to the wi-fi option, if only because I have it wired, but the option of both is a nice touch.
App action
Cambridge’s Stream Magic app is a joy to use. I found it so when looking at the EXN100 streamer and was somewhat disappointed to find it wasn’t available with the otherwise superb EXA100 integrated amplifier. Installing the app on an iPhone and iPad (where it works better upright rather than landscape), it’s a doddle and a delight to control the Evo 150 SE. I was soon logged in to my Qobuz account, excited to find Airplay 2 as well to access the hours of my own recordings stored in the cloud. Internet radio is something I often have playing in the background and was soon adding my favourite global stations to the presets for quick and easy access. My dry cleaner popped in and we delved into the array of radio stations on offer from his native South Africa, it’s just so simple to navigate and adjust setting such as volume and tone, if required.
Unused sources on the Evo 150 SE can be removed from view and each assigned a user name, so no need to remember what’s plugged into each socket. There’s an optional equaliser, for those who are that way inclined, and even balance and room compensation settings to hand. Needless to say, I left then all ‘flat’. Auto power-down can be set to a predetermined time from five minutes to two hours of inactivity. There’s even an ability to name the device, adjust the display brightness, download firmware and set a volume limit. Truly it is one of the most comprehensive and easy-to-use apps I have encountered.
Class D tuned
With Naim’s Classical internet radio station playing the app helpfully tells me that it’s a 44.1kHz/16-bit stream but doesn’t offer track details, the sound via my Revival monitors is warm, inviting and melodic. I have to check the Cambridge website to remind myself that this is a Class-D amplifier.
Class-D has had a lot of bad Press and, yes, I agree that some implantations are not great but Cambridge seem to have licked the technology into audiophile quality shape in the Evo 150 SE. In crude parlance, Class-D means a design where the transistor output stages are operating as electronic switches, converting the signal into a stream of pulses. The circuitry brings many benefits such as high efficiency with low heat dissipation. Such amplifiers are therefore lighter and run less hot. They also offer high power for a competitive price.
Sound quality
My usual diet of Radio Suisse Classique (128kpbs MP3) allows the app to identify the music; Scarlatti’s keyboard Sonata in G Minor K8, as I write which comes across with finesse and neutrality and makes the piano sound very natural with sparkling articulation. Dynamic contrasts are layered in a most pleasing and enjoyable fashion with the overall sound clean and unaccented, even with the MP3 compression.
Moving to high-quality streaming from Qobuz and a return to a track I used with the Cambridge EXA100 review for comparison. Yet again, Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding’s Miracle confers the electronics’ ability with modern rhythms as this trance anthem’s big, bold chorus was driven along superbly by the Evo 150 SE. It delivers punch and pace in abundance while the treble is crisply detailed while t the recording’s complexity caused no problems whatsoever.
Impressed by this I moved to another track that’s become something of a test reference, Semisonic’s Little Bit of Sun. The presentation was slightly more forward than I notice with my usual steaming integrated but not in an offensive way, it just brought the singer slightly closer to my personal space. The Revival monitors can cope with this and the result is impressively engaging. The bass lines were faithfully reproduced while the ethereal quality of the tune was retained such that I could almost feel the performer’s breath on my face. That’s realism for you. The timing was spot on and my foot began tapping as the Evo 150 SE got the monitors showing their abilities with pace and rhythm.
The Evo 150 SE was in my hands as the 2025 Proms season got underway and, via my satellite tuner, BBC Radio 3 brings us every minute. I was very much immersed in Mahler’s Seventh (BBC Philharmonic under John Storgårds). I have always rather enjoyed this fragmentary, sometimes disjointed work with its Bruckner-like stops and starts. The orchestra and Storgårds managed to forge what can sometimes become a ‘bitty’ work into a convincing whole but without smoothing the dissonances. The Evo 150 SE brought the performance venue into my listening room and I felt I could hear every detail, each thrill and all the climaxes. The sonic balance was extremely realistic, from the flawless tenor horn, to the athletic timpanist, to the principal trumpet and all the French horns. The soundstage reproduced was huge, during the inner movements I felt and heard the vast array of cowbells spread across the back of the stage. Low-level detail was also handled well as I witnessed the soft guitar and mandolin which so often are masked by the violins and harps. Dynamics were handled with aplomb as the orchestra played their hearts out to create a convincing, satisfying and enthralling performance.
Conclusion
That so much can be included in such a compact package at a competitive price is testament to contemporary design and manufacture. The fact that the Evo 150 SE sounds as it does is testament to Cambridge’s longevity of audio designs plus the experience and knowledge of its design team.
There is hardly anything to criticise about the Evo 150 SE itself, either sonically or the way it operates, nor that glorious app which is just a delight to use. The remote handset is best glossed over although I am sure others will find it no handicap in daily use.
Cambridge has said it intends to break out of the traditional hi-fi world and so we see in the Evo 150 SE a move away from standard, full-width, full-depth separates which have dominated the market. I recall the rather short-lived emergence of both mini- and midi-systems but perhaps their time was not right. I feel we are on the verge of an exciting new era in home audio and Cambridge seem ready to grasp it. Exciting times lie ahead for this brand, that’s for sure.