SPOTIFY! Streaming Music the HiFi Way! CAMBRIDGE AUDIO CXN v2 Review

Hey everybody, welcome back. My name is Andrew Robinson. I am a recovering audiophile, and if this is your first time to my channel, I would just like to say welcome. Welcome to the place where we talk about all things hi-fi, music, art, and design. But if you're one of my subscribers, you already knew that, so welcome back and how are you? Special shout out to all of our new channel members. Thank you all who signed up this week and joined our membership program. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should click the join button next to the subscribe button down below and learn all about our membership program. But thank you again to everyone that signed up and became a member of this channel. Christy and I really, really appreciate it. Today's review is unique because I'm going to kind of pulp fiction it just a little bit and give you my recommendation before getting into the review itself because this review is very, very niche. That is to say that it is likely going to appeal to a very niche customer, one of which I'm not. So if you are somebody that is looking for a digital music streamer with a built-in DAC and the ability to connect analog components, the product you should be considering is the Cambridge Audio Azure 851N. But if you think analog is for suckers, then I have the product for you. That means we are reviewing the Cambridge Audio CXN V2 today. Let's get into it. So like I said in the intro, the CXN V2 is a very niche product. That is, it is aimed at a very, very niche customer and we're going to talk about who that person is. But if you are like me and you have analog sources, I am talking about a turntable and you want to be able to connect the turntable to a product like the CXN V2, then the product you should look at is the Cambridge Audio Azure 851N, which I will link to down in the description below. And I will be linking to everything that I talk about down in the description below. Don't forget, it is a resource for you to do your research and follow up on the stuff that we talk about here in these reviews. So do be sure to check out those links down below. But let's get back to the CXN V2 and what exactly it is and why it's so niche. Well the CXN V2 is a network audio streamer and this is a big market, a growing market in the specialty AV space. But I'm going to try and make this as simple as possible because this is not an educational video about network streamers. So a network streamer is a source component that enables you to connect to either your locally stored music, that is music that you have on a hard drive in your house that you have ripped yourself, or it connects via Wi-Fi or an Ethernet connection to the Internet and accesses a third-party service such as Spotify or Tidal. That is what a network streaming device does and that is what the CXN V2 is. On top of being a network streamer, it is also a very capable DAC, arguably one of the best DACs at its price point that I have ever heard. And so a DAC enables you to connect other digital components to it, i.e. say a transport or CD player. So if you already own a nice transport or CD player, you can connect it directly to the CXN V2 via its digital inputs and that too is a huge benefit because it takes advantage of the awesome DACs already inside. Taking it one step further, the CXN V2 is also a digital preamp, which means it has volume control and the ability to switch between its digital inputs. So this enables you to connect it to an amplifier of your choice, then go out to the speakers of your choice and have a very simple, if not streamlined, two-channel all-digital audio system. And this is precisely how we are going to be reviewing the CXN V2 today. We will be looking at it as the centerpiece of an all-digital, two-channel stereo setup. But before I get into that, you know that we don't do a lot of deep dives into specs on this channel, but I understand that specs are very important, especially when it comes to digital components like the CXN V2. So for those of you that want to know the specs, here they are. So with all of the specs out of the way, how does the CXN V2 sound? In a word, brilliant. As a digital preamp or as the centerpiece of an all-digital, two-channel system, the CXN V2 at $1,099 makes imminent sense and I absolutely love the thing. Connected to my XTZ Sound Class D amplifier, the combination of the CXN V2 and that amplifier gave me a sonic presentation that rivaled far costlier components. I'm talking about components costing up to three times as much. And that's high praise because here is the one thing about the CXN V2 that I took away from my time with it. As a digital preamp, i.e. a digital volume control with some measure of customization, it is among the more transparent preamps I've ever heard. I'm not talking about neutral, I am talking about transparent, i.e. you don't hear it in your signal chain. It gives you all of the control of your digital components as well as the built-in network streamer but it itself does not color the sound one bit. And the internal DACs, the fact that they upscale everything that they're fed to the highest possible quality means that you are treated to an incredibly detailed and nuanced, if not completely and wholly enjoyable digital presentation from the CXN V2 through and through. I know that Cambridge's own marketing materials like to refer to the Wolfson DACs that are found inside the CXN V2 as being a little bit on the warm side. I did not find this to be the case, at least in my listening sessions. I do consider the CXN V2 and its DACs to be really transparent. And so if you're looking for a device that's going to color or otherwise warm up the sound, you need to make sure that the amp you pair the CXN V2 with is that tone control, if you will, for you because you're not going to get it here. For a lot of digital purists, myself included, this is a good thing. This is an incredibly good thing because when you start using components as tone controls, you start running into areas where you're now mixing and matching based on the certain tones and sounds of what came before it, where it is kind of just nice to know that if you have a device in the CXN V2 and you know that it's just largely transparent to the source that you don't have to then worry about cooling it down with this amplifier or warming it up with this. It is what it is, and what it is is fantastic. So in terms of bass, mid-range, and treble, what's in the recording is what you are going to get. Like I said, we are talking about transparency here. In terms of dynamic, soundstage, things like that, again, transparent. What is in the recording is what you are going to hear. So therefore, the only thing that the CXN V2 really does bring to the party is this added sense of texture and detail. And again, we're not talking about like, oh, before I had the CXN V2, my music sounded like I was trying to listen to it through a pillow. It's not that dramatic, but it is noticeable. So while in my previous DAC review of the Shid Audio Modi 3, which I'll link to in the description below, I talked about it being an incremental improvement over, say, the built-in DACs or sound card in your computer. The CXN V2 is more than just an incremental improvement. It is noticeable, and it is noticeable more of the time. And that's what you're looking for from a product that costs $1,000 like the CXN V2. Because at this price point, if it was incremental, that kind of would defeat the purpose, or it wouldn't be as great of a value. But I do think that the DAC that is built into the CXN V2, whether you are using another third-party component plugged into it, or simply upsampling the streaming signal coming into it, it makes a radical difference in the fact that the digital preamp section of that is so transparent, that is not coloring or altering the signal or sound in any way, is a huge, huge attribute. And therefore, in order to create a very straightforward, simple, if not marginally minimal, two-channel stereo system, albeit one that is entirely digital, you only need to add an amp and speakers to the CXN V2, and you are up and running. And in that respect, I absolutely loved the thing. And living with it day-to-day, using it day-to-day was a real treat because the StreamMagic app, which is free and developed by Cambridge Audio, is very intuitive, very nice to use, and it is a great way to interface with the CXN V2 from your phone. Now you don't have to use your phone because the CXN V2 does have a screen on the front, and it enables you to interact with your music streaming service of choice, or switch inputs, anything like that, that you may want to do up close and personal or via the remote. And that is a welcomed feature. It's not the greatest screen I've ever seen in a device like this, but for what it is at this price point, it is very good, incredibly functional, and even readable from distances of four to six feet. So with all that said, what don't I like about it? Well, for starters, for being an all-digital component, for being aimed at someone that just forgoes analog in all of its forms and sticks solely to the latest and greatest, the CXN V2 is lacking one very important key input, and that is HDMI. Had the CXN V2 had an HDMI input with ARC capability as a digital front-end or a digital preamp, it would arguably, in my eyes, be perfect. But it lacks an HDMI input, and I kind of see why perhaps Cambridge left it out, because they did include it in their higher-end network streamer slash preamp. And obviously, that is something that sells that particular product, but it would have been nice to see it here, and especially at this price point. I do think that when you start talking about a product at around $1,000, you should have every available possible input, at least within your wheelhouse, i.e. digital, available to you, and HDMI sadly is missing here. And lastly, the only thing that I really don't like about it, and it's not really that I don't like it about the CXN V2, it's just I perhaps went into the experience of using the CXN V2 with the wrong expectation. Let me explain. I thought that by having the CXN V2 in my system, that my phone was likely going to stay in my pocket, and that a tactile quality was going to return to my digital playback. That is to say that I was going to be able to go up to the player, access all of my music, interact with it, do that sort of a thing. And for all intents and purposes, you can do that. You can operate the CXN V2 in this way, and it does succeed in that respect. But let's not mince words here. The user experience is greatly enhanced and made better by the presence of the StreamMagic app, and therefore it's made better by the presence of my phone. So if I was looking to kind of get rid of my phone or maybe leave the phone in the pocket or in another room and just get on with playing music, sadly, it's possible, but it's not the best way to have the best experience with a device like the CXN V2. And that's not really necessarily a downside, maybe just something that I thought I was going to be able to take away from, and ultimately, I guess I changed my mind or I didn't get that from the CXN V2. And I don't know if that's necessarily its fault. Nevertheless, it is a device that is aided by the presence of your phone and not one that lets you wholly get away from it. As I said in the beginning of this review, network audio streamers and DACs, it's a booming market segment within specialty AV. So naturally, there is going to be a lot of competition that the CXN V2 faces off against. And one of them is within Cambridge Audio's own lineup. Again, that is the AZER A51N, which in reality is basically the same product as the CXN V2. It only enables you to also connect analog components like a turntable or reel-to-reel if you have one of those things or whatever analog device you may still have kicking around in your system. It allows you to connect to it and gives you all of the digital connectivity and gives you all of the network streaming and has basically, near as I can tell, the exact same screen and user interface as the CXN V2. So if you are looking for a kind of all-in-one digital streamer DAC preamp that also has analog inputs or analog capability, then the Cambridge Audio product that you probably should look at and lean towards is their AZER A51N. But getting away from Cambridge Audio, what other products are similar or compete with the CXN V2? And the first one that comes to mind is Marantz's own NA6006. Now, the 6006 is a network audio streamer. It retails for between $600 and $700, depending on where you're shopping, and it too has largely the same functionality of the CXN V2. It lacks the screen, but you still can work with it with your phone. You can stream to it via your phone, control it via your phone or via remote, and it is a standalone device. Whether it sounds as good as the CXN V2, I can't say. We did not have the 6006 here for a direct head-to-head comparison. Suffice to say that on paper, the two do seem to be comparable. Now, you can take things a step further and get a true all-in-one device, that is to say a network streamer, preamp, DAC, and amplifier all-in-one, in which case the one that we directly compared the CXN V2 along with the XTZ Sound amplifier, that combo with or to is the Name Unity Atom. Now, the Name Unity Atom is $3,400 to $3,600, depending on how you have it configured. So we are talking about serious money here. And full disclosure, the CXN V2 with the XTZ Class D amplifier, that pairing gave the name a run for its money. The two sounded remarkably similar, with the edge still going a bit to the name, but on a whole, if I'm being honest, the CXN V2 with the XTZ amp sounded very close, indeed. In which case, you're talking about a relative bargain, because that pairing is a third the price of the Name Unity Atom. But the Name Unity Atom has everything, all-in-one box, and its user experience is superior to that of the CXN V2 in every way. Just know that you are going to pay for it, and pay for it dearly. And lastly, for a bit of an experiment, we even used the CXN V2 connected to our vintage Pioneer receiver, which I have reviewed on this channel and will link to in the description below if you haven't checked that out. And this was a way to add a little bit of remote functionality to the Pioneer, which was awesome, because we were able to set the volume on the Pioneer to full and then control it via the CXN V2, if you want a little bit of old school meets new school. It was fun, and it sounded remarkable. And again, spoke to the transparency of the CXN V2's preamp section, because all of the sound qualities that we love and cherished about the Pioneer were present and accounted for. And what's not to like about that? So anyway, that is my review of Cambridge Audio's CXN V2. Again, this is not a product for everyone, but for the right one, for the right person, it's arguably one of the best out there on the market today. And at $1,099 is a relative bargain, especially if you are someone that values digital playback at the highest levels. So while not perfect, it is worth your consideration. So that's it, everybody. That is my review. What did you guys think? Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know down in the comments below. If you like this video, do please give it a thumbs up, like, and subscribe. If you're interested in joining and becoming a member, click the Join button. Read all about the perks that we offer there. Follow me on Instagram at Recovering Audiophile. And that's it. That's all I got. Thank God. We have reviewed this several times, and we've done many, many takes. Anyway, I'm out of here, guys. Remember, the only person that has to like the sound of your system is you. So happy listening, everybody. Thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you on the next video. Oh, my God. Thank God that's done. Please tell me that was right. You liked it. It was good. Finally. But let's end this so I can edit it and maybe get it out today. Bye.