Vital stats Cambridge Audio Edge
Cambrid e Audio Ed e
Hooray for these high-end hi-fi honeys
from £2500 / cambrid eaudio.com
Cambridge Audio marks its half-century by unwrapping some tasty high-end hi-fi ● Many happy returns Most people celebrate their 50th birthday with a nice meal or a new set of golf clubs, but Cambridge Audio isn’t a person, it’s a hi-fi company. So instead, half a century of aural existence is being commemorated with three slices of sonic excellence. Named after Professor Gordon Edge – the man behind Cambridge’s first ever product, the P40 amp – the new Edge range of products has been three years in the making. ● Money no object So what took them so long? Well, rather than starting out with boring things like budgets, blueprints and product road-maps, Cambridge set out to make the absolute best kit it possibly could. The result is two different amps and a streamer, each costing more than some of us would spend on a car.
● The shining path Yeah, we know, it all sounds very chin-strokey. And that’s because it is. The signal path of each product is as short as possible to reduce interference: the Edge W power amp sends your music through just 14 components compared to the usual 30+. The engineers have also used clever techniques such as twin toroidal transformers with opposing symmetry to ensure minimum noise. Essentially, if you listen to music via your laptop speakers, you should have stopped reading a while ago.
● Beyond your wildest streams But just because these products are for purists, doesn’t mean the Edge range is stuck in the past. The Edge NQ has Cambridge’s updated Streammagic platform on board, which means support for all the major streaming standards, while aptx HD Bluetooth opens the door to 24-bit hi-res audio.
SIGNAL PATHS ARE AS SHORT AS POSSIBLE: THE EDGE W POWER AMP’S HAS JUST 14 COMPONENTS