Cambridge Audio Azur 640C CD Players
Cambridge Audio Azur 640C CD Players
USER REVIEWS
[Oct 21, 2020]
HI-Fidelity
Strength:
Brought a used one on the basis of the great reviews it has had. Not disappointed, in fact I'm delighted with it. The clarity, timing and dynamics are very good indeed. Very musical i.e. detailed with a nice sense of scale and space, one of those components whereby you just want to sit back and enjoy the music. Weakness:
If I was to be very nit picky I would see timbre leans slightly to the brighter side of neutral, but thats about it. A very classy and detailed player. I can see why it won so many awards when it was new. Price Paid: 120
Purchased: Used
Model Year: 2020
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[Oct 01, 2020]
HI-Fidelity
Strength:
This really is a delightful cd player. I bought it as a stop gap as my Marantz cd63 ki signature had given up the ghost. I never thought it would equal it, however it certainly does! Very adept and musical with an effortless and open presentation is the best way my ears can describe it. It is one of those hifi components where you can just sit back and listen to the music, not look for the anomalies! Instruments appear in real space and separation. Excels with older recordings such as Miles Davies Kind of Blue on Columbia CL1356. Weakness:
I'm sure some would say there are weaknesses. Me? I'm just too busy sitting back, relaxing and listening to judge to be honest. :) |
[Oct 01, 2020]
HI-Fidelity
Strength:
This really is a delightful cd player. I bought it as a stop gap as my Marantz cd63 ki signature had given up the ghost. I never thought it would equal it, however it certainly does! Very adept and musical with an effortless and open presentation is the best way my ears can describe it. It is one of those hifi components where you can just sit back and listen to the music, not look for the anomalies! Instruments appear in real space and separation. Excels with older recordings such as Miles Davies Kind of Blue on Columbia CL1356. Weakness:
I'm sure some would say there are weaknesses. Me? I'm just too busy sitting back, relaxing and listening to judge to be honest. :) |
[Aug 08, 2020]
HOWCO
Strength:
I've had my V2, bought from Richer Sounds, Glasgow Scotland, for about 15 years and have had no problems with reliability. I love the fast tray open and close, together with the coherence of the sound. Nothing stands out as being 'wrong'. It's clear at the top end, without over-brightness, mids are full and rich and the bass is deep and well controlled. Sound-stage is realistic, not overwhelmingly wide. Depth and height are average. I use an Arcam 9 preamp, bi-amped vertically, to two Arcam 9 power amplifiers and have used several different speakers over the years, which all worked well with this system. I have even used headphones connected to the analogue outputs with an Omnitronic in line volume control and my HD800's sound fabulous. Cables are by Audioquest, with Wireworld and Mordaunt-Short for the speakers. Weakness:
None I can think of Price Paid: £240
Purchased: New
Model Year: 2005
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[Feb 20, 2017]
James
Audio Enthusiast
Seeing that the last review was written in 2012, I thought I'd provide some info that might be useful to those considering buying one of these popular old CD players. This is not a review about sound quality, because it is unarguable that this is a decent player. I'm posting this as a warning about failed components. You're most likely going to invest some money and time in repairs and upgrades, so don't spend a lot of money for one, even if it looks mint and comes with the original box.
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[Dec 29, 2012]
twc644
AudioPhile
Sounds ok in stock form.I opened mine up and was shocked at the site of cheap deplorable Chinese capacitors Cambridge loaded on the main,dac,and servo board.Well,I replaced over 90% of the capacitors with much better quality brands.The player now sounds like it should in my opinion Bass is much tighter and smoother.Treble is cleaner and emits more micro detail from recordings.It's really worth the effort to do this with this model cd player due to the dual Wolfson dacs.It has so much more potential now.I'm happy with it and not to mention I increased it's lifespan as well with all the low esr higher ripple caps installed as the circuits are more stable and simply sounds leaps and bounds better. |
[Dec 13, 2011]
MsJ.
Casual Listener
Azur 340 cd player, laser not working after 4years, not often used so looking for a replacement to add to tuner and amp, any suggestions on a cd player that would go with tuner and amp. What brands and good price range. Not confident with Cambridge being faulty after minimal use. Melbourne Australia. jaoc8@hotmail.com |
[Jan 03, 2011]
bossk538
Audio Enthusiast
I was very pleased with the sound - very detailed and clean, with no harshness or otherwise grating high ends, and would give this model the highest rating for value and be 110% satisfied if not for the pesky detail of "product reliability." I would expect the unit to have a lifespan of more than 4 years; instead it simply stopped playing mid-disc (disc appears to be playing fine, but no audio output). Moreover, it has had intermittent problems earlier: about 2 years ago, the pause button would cause the display to read "CLOSE" and the unit would not accept any further controls until the disc was ejected. This lasted about a year before working correctly again. During the past several months, play would do the same thing roughly half the times the play button was pressed.
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[Oct 11, 2009]
Erik1973
Audio Enthusiast
I got the Cambridge Audio 640 v2 range (Amplifier, CD player, DAB radio) together with the Bowers & Wilkins 684 speakers, cables, delivery, and Danish taxes (*sigh*) for almost 15000 DKK (ca. 2000 eur, 3000 usd).
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[Jul 10, 2009]
Christopher.w
Audio Enthusiast
Hi, I just bought Cambridge Audio 840A & Cambridge Audio 840C from this store : http://stores.ebay.com.au/Perfect-Sound-Audio a few weeks ago, this shop offer good price with good product & service. I am very satisfied with the product performance, it’s value for money and high quality of product. It's highly recommended product. |