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When you look at the AXR85 and AXR100, they both look pretty much the same with the exception of the digital input selection buttons on the AXR100. Both have a super clean look with their brushed metal front panel with rounded corners and a very easy to interpret front panel. You’ll find a curved piece near the front which helps isolate the unit from external vibrations but at the same time makes it look like it's floating on the shelf. Everything also has a very solid feel, from the buttons to the nice volume knob. Flipping around to the back of the AXR85 or AXR100, you’ll see something we don’t normally find in receivers in this price range, very nice speaker binding posts! Normally you get those cheap push pin connections for this price level, but Cambridge Audio gives you a connector that will make for a tight fit for your speaker cable. Overall, both of these units are exactly what we have come to expect from Cambridge Audio. They are made far better than you would think for their price range and designed to make operation and set up a snap.
The AXR85 or AXR100 fit the bill for someone looking to put together a great sounding two-channel stereo system for a reasonable price. Both models give you three analog inputs and a moving magnet phono stage input. One of our favorite phono preamps for the money is the Cambridge Audio Solo and you can tell a lot of its great sound made it inside the AXR85 and AXR100. Cambridge Audio used to sell a separate Bluetooth adapter for their amps, but we find it very nice they have included Bluetooth 5.0 with both of these receivers. This opens up the world of wireless music from your smartphone if you wish. The front panel gives you one more analog input in the form of a mini plug and you’ll find a full sized headphone jack on the front.
Finally, since they are stereo receivers, both units include a quite decent AM/FM tuner. If you are assembling an analog only system the AXR85 will give you everything you need, but if your choices for sources might include some digital feeds like a TV optical out or music streamer’s digital out, the AXR100 will give you two toslink and one coax optical inputs. These are not afterthought DAC’s either but high end Wolfson models capable of handling Hi-Res Audio up to 192kHz!. In a nice touch the menu button will bring up adjustments for bass, treble, and balance. You can also access this from the remote control which will allow you to fine tune things from your listening chair.
These units look pretty similar on the inside with the same great toroidal power transformer and discrete boards for the preamp and amp sections. The power supply section is on the far side, with it’s massive and quite heavy toroidal transformer, with the power amp section in the center and the preamp boards all isolated on the other side. We observed nice discrete output devices in the Class AB output section rather than chips and it's pretty impressive to see how well the units are laid out internally. The AXR100 of course also adds a separate digital board. New products from Cambridge Audio have had a history of surprising us when we listened, so we were really anxious to test out these models!
For $400 the AXR85 just simply defies what you would expect to hear for the money. If you need digital inputs, just $100 more gets you the AXR100 with a slight boost in power with digital inputs for TV or streamers. We think if you are just sticking with analog and Bluetooth, the AXR85 is going to be very hard to beat. Many people just getting into the joys of hearing their music sound good on a better system will be looking at components in the price range of the AXR85 and AXR100. If good sound is at the top of your list, you really do not need to look any further. Couple one of these with something like the Paradigm Atom or Klipsch RPM600 and you will have a system that will make you smile for years to come!
15 сен 2024
