Wireless audio streaming

Bluetooth is a wireless connection technology that is now featured on hundreds of millions of devices, from smartphones, tablets and computers to televisions, watches, even cutlery and toothbrushes! The prevalence of Bluetooth on music storage devices such as phones, tablets and computers has stripped away the hassle of wires between those devices and speakers and headphones, meaning reliable, convenient access to music anywhere.

What is the advantage of Bluetooth?

Unlike network based protocols such as UPnP and AirPlay, the point to point nature of Bluetooth means that it is incredibly easy to get your music from your phone or tablet to portable speakers or headphones. This ease of connection between two devices, and the low power requirements of Bluetooth has meant we are able to produce compact battery powered speakers such as our Go and G2 models that offer great sound quality and long running times. The ubiquity of Bluetooth on devices has opened up a world of new possibilities; making the enjoyment of music from many devices a quick and easy process in places it simply isn’t possible to take a traditional hi-fi system.

Wireless audio streaming

AirPlay is a technology that allows you to stream music from iPads, iPhones, Mac and Windows computers running iTunes to speakers such as our Air100 and 200 models and our 851N and CXN hi-fi network streamers. Built into iTunes and iOS, it offers quick and easy playback of any media in iTunes or from your iOS devices with no configuration necessary. AirPlay makes it exceptionally easy to get your media from your handheld device to your speaker or hi-fi streamer with minimum fuss.

What is the advantage of AIRPLAY?

AirPlay is designed for ease of use. Speakers and devices are automatically discovered on your network, and with a quick swipe up in the Control Center on iOS devices and a tap on the AirPlay icon, those devices are displayed ready for instant playback of any media on your device. Many different apps support AirPlay, meaning it is simple to play back media in great quality through your Cambridge Audio devices yet retain control in the user interface of your apps.

Using AirPlay from iTunes even lets you select multiple playback devices for simultaneous audio playback (though there is no synchronisation). AirPlay devices also offer a simple setup option, where iOS devices and Mac computers running OS X can automatically detect new speakers and add them to your existing wireless networks.

AirPlay is built right in to the latest Cambridge products, allowing iOS and iTunes users to effortlessly stream their music and play it back in amazing hi-fi quality.

Fast food might well be quick and convenient but it’s not necessarily what your body needs to thrive. To get full nutritional value from your mealtimes, you may need to make a bit more of an effort from time to time.

The same could be said for how we consume music in the digital age. Music streaming services offer instant gratification. They are a brilliant way to discover the next big thing, try out a recommendation from a friend or rustle up a playlist of your favourite tunes.

But when you discover your next melodic fixation (or rediscover an old one), is your streaming service delivering at a high enough quality to properly nourish your new-found appetite? Some “high quality” streams carry just a quarter of the information found on a CD and standard streams less than a tenth. Enough to enjoy a taster maybe, but are you getting a completely wholesome musical experience?

To get the most from the music you love, you may choose to invest in something with more of the good stuff left in. That could well take the shape of a high-resolution digital download.

For both convenience and quality, there’s no question that a hi-res download is an attractive option. Storage is only limited by easily expanded hard drive space rather than finite shelf space and – when played back on good hi-fi equipment – the extra information captured within means voices and instruments can take on an improved clarity and depth of tone. Compared to standard quality streaming, think of hi-res in terms of ordering a sirloin steak rather than a burger.

The only downside can be getting your music player to not only recognise, but actually play the wide variety of available file sizes and formats. Imagine ordering that steak and not being given a steak knife! That’s why Cambridge Audio created the award-winning StreamMagic platform to power our range of networked music players. Not only does StreamMagic easily deal with standard quality digital music files from your favourite streaming services, it can also identify, unpack and decode a vast range of different hi-res file types, making it nice and simple to order from the higher quality section of the musical menu.

Of course, you can still enjoy fast food – we wouldn’t tell you otherwise – but how much better is a sit-down meal in a good restaurant? StreamMagic guarantees your reservation.

In our current line-up you’ll find StreamMagic powering our Edge NQ, 851N, CXN (V2) and CXR products.

Class XD (Crossover Displacement), a patented Cambridge Audio technology, is a unique amplifier circuit design created to offer the optimum sound quality currently available from existing amplifier configurations, whilst retaining the efficiency and high power levels required for a truly dynamic performance. It was conceived by our London-based engineering team to combine the best of both worlds from Class A and Class AB amplifier operation.

Class A amplification sounds wonderful thanks to its extremely low distortion, but unfortunately it’s horrendously inefficient. We’ve all seen big Class A mono-block amps the size of coffee tables – that’s all costly heat sink, required to deal with the huge amount of heat generated by Class A operation.

Class AB amplification on the other hand is far more efficient but can often have a greater level of distortion due to how fragile the audio signal is when it crosses through the zero crossing point from transistor to transistor. By eliminating this distortion, Class XD, delivers the sonic benefits of pure Class A amplification, combined with the efficiency of Class AB. In turn, this allows us to spend more of the budget on the quality of amplification, power supplies, etc rather than on heat sinks!

Distinct from Class AB, XD moves the controlled current’s crossover point away from either side of zero volume (the worst possible position in terms of distortion) and instead displaces it to a different point where the transfer functions of the transistors are better matched, at a significant output level where distortion is far less audible.

The benefits of this approach give the sonic refinements of Class A operation and the uncompromising efficiency and power of Class AB operation. In fact, the 851A delivers a gigantic 120 watts per channel (into 8 ohms) - enough for the most demanding speaker set-up.

BMR^® is a technology that brings a number of exceptional advantages to audio reproduction. The BMR^® technology provides a full range drive unit that has a similar acoustic behaviour to a point source drive unit where the majority of the audio band is produced from a single membrane, avoiding the common problems associated with crossovers and material change within the audio band.

Unlike traditional pistonic or flat panel speakers, BMRs^® uniquely combine vertical and horizontal dispersion using Horizontal Vibration Modes. This means BMRs^® can deliver a much wider sound stage and a truly room-filling performance.

A BMR^® is a modal loudspeaker which uses a flat membrane, where a limited number of bending resonances are harnessed to produce midrange and high frequencies. The membrane is built into a chassis, like a traditional loudspeaker, with a voice coil, surround and spider to extend the response down into the low frequencies.

The key BMR^® listener benefits are:

• They’re capable of mid-range so they integrate beautifully with a subwoofer unlike most small satellite speakers
• They offer 180 degree dispersion so they’re easy to position and sound great wherever you are. This means there’s no specific sweet spot; instead they offer a coherent room filling sound – perfect for any shape of room, or even bars and cafes too.
• When used in speakers such as the Aero and Aeromax, the BMR eliminates traditional crossover point issues as we’ve moved the crossover point down to 250Hz. This in turn means the Aero and Aeromax speakers can use dedicated subwoofer drivers instead of mid/bass drivers, so they deliver a stronger punchier bass.

Our unique ATF2 (Adaptive Time Filtering) upsampling technology, developed in conjunction with Anagram Technologies, Switzerland.

All incoming audio data such as a CD 16-bit 44.1kHz signal, is upsampled to 24-bit 384kHz using a high-end 32-bit Analog Devices DSP (Digital Signal Processor). "Polynomial Curve Fitting Interpolation" provides a much more accurate upsampled audio soundwave than traditional upsampling processes. And a unique timing system buffers audio data to almost eradicate digital jitter. Vital – as jitter, common in digital audio devices, loses vital detail, often leaving digital audio sounding flat and lifeless.

On products that have ATF, every digital input, no matter where it comes from, wired or wireless, goes through the upsampling and jitter reduction process. From low quality MP3 and internet radio, to high res WAV or FLAC files, everything is treated the same so everything will sound detailed and full.