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Who has upgraded their Cambridge AZUR 840C CDP to the new AZUR 851C CDP?

Hi,
I really like my Cambridge AZURE 840C and am wondering what I may be missing compared to their new offering, the 851C? I use my 840C 80% of the time as a DAC, streaming TIDAL and have it connected to my Wadia 171i IPod dock. I have not had a chance to hear their new CDP, and found conflicting reviews on-line about it. Some of the negatives were a noisy transport and some frustration when selecting between three output filter options. On the good side I have only heard that "it sounds better", not a very in-depth description! So, please, if anyone out there has upgraded to the new 851C offering from the 840C, I would be very interested on your thoughts and if given the chance, would you do it again? Another thought was to just upgrade to a better DAC and use my 840C as a transport, but I would have no idea where to start with this potential upgrade path and keep within budget.
grm
grm OP
149 posts
 
adg,
Thank you very much for your response! I'm guessing the CA 851C is better but not necessarily by an order of magnitude, and that alternative IC's and fuses would be the more practical choice at this time. I will eventually upgrade my CDP/DAC at some point in the future. I read reviews about the 840C and many said that it made for a great transport, so maybe my focus should be just a new DAC as I mentioned about >80% of my listening is using the 840C as a DAC.
dmacg
22 posts
 
Hi grm;
About 2 years ago I upgraded from my 840C to the 851C. Certainly no looking back. I was not unhappy with my 840C until I heard them side by side. It only took 3 cuts on a  reference CD and 4 switches back and forth ( not an immediate a-b comparison) by removing the cd and hitting play that the decision was made. Big difference to my ears. As above described by adg plus to my mind more engaging musically. Don't really know how else to describe it. It also beats the hell out of my compatriots unit purchased shortly after my 851C came home. When Brian asked me what I thought of his new CD player (he had given it to me while on holidays as I was curious how much better a unit that cost a little over twice as much as the 851C would be)suffice to say my words were couched but the friendship is still strong. and he thinks it sound very good. Take this as you may at this late date of reply. Cheerio, dmg
itzhak1969
515 posts
 
I bought lately the Cambridge Audio CXC cd transport which is actually the same unit as the 851C but without the inner dac and pre sections it is connected to my Macintosh pre/dac and the sound is really amazing, I think it’s better for you to buy the CXC and a standalone proper dac and to connect them with a good coax cable, I assume this will give you the best sound.
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