Cambridge Audio Azur 851C
Crutchfield customer from Baraboo, WI on 6/22/2020
Hooked it up and the left channel was dead. Crutchfield had me send it back no problem. Received the replacement unit but have not tested yet. Always makes you a little nervous about how the unit will hold up if the first one is bad, even if I like this unit.
Pros:
Cons:
1 of 3 found this helpful
Cambridge Audio Azur 851C
Neil from Fairfield, CT on 12/2/2018
The Cambridge audio CD player is great. When I set it up the guy helping me told me the recording was made in a small room. He was able to sense the low ceiling. The recording was a jazz recording made at a jazz room in SanFrancisco. Pretty good.
Pros: Great sound
Cons:
2 of 5 found this helpful
Cambridge Audio Azur 851C
Rich from Waterbury, CT on 6/4/2018
I am a lover of tube amplification and vinyl but my system still requires a CD player. This unit serves all my needs with the upsampling DAC and digital inputs and fabulous CD performance. The filter selection while very subtle can make a difference with older material put on CD. Still have a minidisc deck and also feed the digital output of my streaming blu-ray player into the 851C. I am not using the USB input so can not comment on the issues some others have had with this unit. This is actually the lowest price component in my system but its performance is in balance with the rest of my system.
Pros: Upsampling DAC inputs Easy to read display open, balanced, neutral sound from CDs
Cons: none
5 of 5 found this helpful
high quality sturdy product
Marc from Los Angeles, CA on 7/31/2017
Sounds great and the output options are great. Having an internal preamp is awesome and rare nowadays in CD payers.
Pros: digital preamp output options
Cons: Instructions do not adequately explain how the USB input works.
4 of 5 found this helpful
Azur 851 C
Mike from Castroville Texas on 3/1/2015
After a long break in and rewire of my studio I was able to find I place in my system . The Cd play back is great , more dynamics and headroom with out volume you could use this to re master . The digital inputs were a little non impressive but the signal was true on the other hand the USB was great , this will straighten up your PC . Although it seems that it adds no color a few mono tracks with one side 180 out, a little offset is present but not bad at all . If your looking for a DAC to ADAC this would work just place your favorite analog devices between the two and enjoy . I find driving a tube Amp gives good results the ringing effect tickles the tubes in a positive manner (good harmonics) . Although this unit is plug and play you may have to rethink your systems configuration or just purchase 3 of them it is as good as advertised . For a digital to analog transfer you can not go wrong with this one , the days of CD to reel to reel are gone.............. what is next DSD ?
Pros: Easy to operate , good analog output
Cons: long break in time some DAWS have problems managing the software provided . Analog input with over sampling and a RIAA filter would make this a Killer system by far. Miss my 176 files but I can live with it
18 of 32 found this helpful
Beats 840C hands down!
Ed H from Barrington, IL on 8/26/2012
A major improvement over the 840C which in itself was a superb CD player. It is the new DAC which does the trick. Three dimension effect is outstanding. The instruments actually sound like the live instrument...not canned. Voice separation is clear as a bell and even hard to record instruments...like the piano...have even-ness up and down the frequency range...no "hot spots". Drive with the 840E and 840W and my high end Thiel speakers produce the best overall sound I have ever heard them give.. and I've used many different and much more expensive components in the past.
Pros: Clarity, separation, 3 dimensional, great even-ness up and down the frequency range
Cons: none so far
53 of 57 found this helpful
