Quality belies it's retail price. A warm & musical player that competes with players about twice it's price.

Not very reliable which is frustrating

Ditto to a couple of the reviews below. Just yesterday while I was playing my Cambridge Audio Azur 640C, Ver.2, the left channel went out. After sending an email to Michael, from tech support at Cambridge Audio, I disconnected it then hooked back up only to hear the left channel working again. It's working fine as I speak. But how long until the next flare up?

Similar Products Used:

Meridian 507
Classe CDR-10
Cary CD 308
The preceding decks cost 3-4 times the 640C, Ver.2 and sound like it.

Dual wolfsom 192 dacs
Good transport and power supply
Great presentation
Your getting 75 to 80% of far more expensive gear for fraction of the price.

some lack of smoothness when volume is pushed very high but not a major issue at this price level.

This is for the version 2 of the 640c. Right of the batt I will state that I have a very high-end system consisting of a New Bryston B100 SST integrated Amp, Totem hawk speakers, Purist Musaeus interconnects, and Kimber 8TC speaker wire. having said all that, I was inclined to think a budget player has no place in my system; I was wrong!! This player is a fantastic buy! It replaced an older NAD player and it's quite an improvement. It sounds very similar to More Expensive Arcam gear. While there is some lack of smoothness when volume is pushed, at this price level who cares. It has a very deep and melodic soundstage that doesn't fatigue. Build quality is best I have seen at this price level. They use high-grade aluminum and metal face plate. You can get a seperate power cord to improve sound quality. Tonal accuracy is very high, base tight and deep. Yes, I did audition better sounding players e.g. Rega, Primare, Creek etc but....they are 2 to 3 times the $$$$!!!! I will keep this player for 5 years or so and just get another cambridge. CD technology changes too fast to justify spending so much $$$ on a CDP.

Customer Service

Millersound in Lansdale is a great place to deal with. I would go to cambridge website and find them before going with another dealer. They will ship anywhere. Family owned operation, very personable.

Similar Products Used:

Arcam cd 73
NAD 542
Rega Apollo
Primare CD21
Creek evo

-sound
-look
-build quality

obvious reliability issue

I purchased this product at CMY audio in Kuala Lampur with the Azur 640Av2.

The sound of this player is outstanding. The rest of your system needs to be up to it (especially the speakers). I was very very happy with it until the left channel stopped working. I ve seen some other people had the same problem which indicates a clear quality defect on this unit. My advise to you is purchase only from a reputable dealer.
Mine until now is not yet fixed.

Customer Service

Azur 640'A v2
Totem Arro

FOR
Amazing solidity and focus; excellent rhythmic ability; sounds natural and realistic

Nothing - it's worth every penny.

Wow just unplugged my pioneer 45a which i use for sacd and dvd and ran my 640 cd v2 through my b&w 805 & pioneer elite receiver it sound is fantastic !
makes me want to listen to all my cd's again !!

Sounds nice when it works

Sounds half as nice when it doesn't work

It is hard for me not to be highly skeptical about the Azur 640C Version 2. I bought it at a high end audio dealer 2 weeks ago, and it lasted an hour before one of the channels burned out. I brought it back, and the next one lasted a week! The dealer said he saw the same thing in the shop, and told me to unplug it and plug it back in. I did that and both channels worked fine. That is when I packed it up, took it back, and ordered a Rotel somewhere else. Has anyone else seen this happen?

Sound is clear, coherent, full of air and atmosphere compared to other players in this price range. Musical. Great build and remote control. Like the dimming display. A terrific bargin.

None at this price.

This is a review of both the Cambridge azur 640C and the 640C Version 2. I bought a 640C four months ago with the offer from the retailer that I could return it for the newer model when it was available in the states.

640C – the 640C was a very nice machine for the money. It is forward, clear and exciting, with plenty of rhythmic drive. The bass is a little weak, but the sparkling presentation of the higher registers more than compensate for that. I needed a new disk player when my old Yamaha CDC-715 finally started to give up the ghost, a good player in it's time, but ancient by today's standards. I have heard that you should start with the best source you can afford and work up from there, so I did a lot of research for this purchase. I compared the very well reviewed Cambridge 640C with the company’s azur 540C, and players from NAD, Rotel, Marantz and Arcam. I used Grado SR 125 headphones and various small floor standing speakers to compare all of the units and listened to them through several modest integrated solid state amps (NAD, Cambridge, Arcam and Rotel).

The 540C was exciting but a bit rough and untamed. The NAD C521BEE is a nice sounding unit, and the NAD C542 is smoother and more refined than the 521, but both units sound washed out and bland compared to the 640C. The Marantz 5400, which is arguably in a different and lower cost range, sounds awful compared to all of these others. The Rotel RCD1072 sounds good, but it is a bit on the clinical side, and lacks the rhythmic drive of the 640C. If you like your music dry and precise, that machine might be a good choice. The Arcam CD73T sounds more like the NAD C542, with a little more definition in the high end and a little better bass, but not that much more of either and for more money. The nice thing about the Arcam is that I believe it is fairly easy to upgrade to be equivalent to higher models, but to sound as good as the Cambridge 640C, you would have to start out with a CD82T which is twice as expensive.

I took home the 640C and had few regrets for the three months I had it. I do about 65% of my listening through headphones, and listen to many kinds of music both critically and as background. The 640C was always a thrill, and as a previous reviewer noted, it is like a veil being lifted off the music it is so clear compared to other machines near this price point. But sometimes it provided almost too much stimulation, with long sessions of intense jazz or rock wearing a bit on the ears. After three months of trouble free operation were up, the Version 2 units arrived at the stereo store and it was time to trade up. I was actually debating whether I should bother upgrading because I had become so fond of the 640C, and wondered if the new model could be that much better. In the end, I am extremely happy that I did get the new model.

640C Version 2 – Wow! When I went into the store to exchange the old player (the sales people there seem to pride themselves on practicing the art of understatement), the guy said that I would “really like” the new player. Strong stuff for that crowd. I asked what in particular was better about it, and he said “better bass – it just sounds more like music, which is what we like”.

Well, IMHO the bass is better and so is everything else about the Version 2. Right out of the box the Version 2 sounded more coherent and had much more “air” and “atmosphere” in the output than the 640C, while still retaining the pop and drive of the original unit. Rock pounds and screams, jazz bounces and swings, classical music floats and builds, and so on. After a month of breaking it in, as I listen to Will Ackerman it sounds like he is in the room and I can almost see his fingers sliding on strings with the vibration of the guitar body decaying away naturally. It is possible to hear how Dianna Krall's voice on the CD "Love Scenes" moves throughout the recording room in a way the original player couldn't provide. I thought voices and piano were especially well rendered on the 640C. The Version 2 is good at reproducing everything I have thrown at it.

I have a fairly modest solid state amplifier, and my system now sounds like it is bumping up against true hi fi systems I have listened to recently. I think the 640C Version 2 could do justice to mid level hi fi components out of its price range, and I wonder how it would sound played through a nice tube set up.

Needless to say, if the original was clearly better than similar priced machines, the Version 2 is leaps and bounds ahead of the current market. If you cannot find or afford a Shanling or Naim, or one of the truly scary hi fi disk spinner/DAC combos, then the new Azur 640C Version 2 represents a real bargain that can recover and faithfully reproduce well over 90% of the information embedded in your CD format recordings. Highly recommended.


System used:

Cambridge Audio Azur 640C Version 2
Audioquest Diamondback interconnects
AMC 3050a Integrated Amplifier
AMC T7a Tuner
Audioquest Type 4 Speaker Cable
Morel Drivers in Custom Cabinets (Large Bookshelf on stands)
Grado SR125 Headphones

Customer Service

Excellent - I highly recommend hawthorne stereo if you are in the Seattle area.

Similar Products Used:

JVC, Yamaha, NAD, Marantz, Rotel, Arcam

Sound quality.Price

None

I'm giving you a review based on the CA 640c V1 as I've read some concerns about defects.I look at it this way; that CA would'nt be in business if they were producing defective units at the rate they do.Also if they indeed produced a bad batch of units at the beginning that I'm sure by the time it had reached the USA it would most likely have been resolved.I've found the V1 to be a wonderful unit as I'm basing it on the fact that I've been using it for over two monthes everyday without any problems.In my case I'm using it as a transport for my headphone amp and then to my headphones.Basically I was shopping for a transport that had a very good DAC built in which it does.I only know this; that with the combination I just mentioned it downright intoxicating to listen to.However,with that said,I really can't say what the V2 sounds like because I haven't heard it.All I can say is that at the V2 price range your now competing with alot of other manufactures.In conclusion if your lucky enough to get the V1 before they become obsolete I would highly reccommend it to anyone because at it's current price it's surely a bargain.

Similar Products Used:

Creek 21se headphone amp.Sennheiser HD 650 headphone with Cardas cable.

Great specification with even better sound quality

Some people have had some quality issues, but I have had none (figners crossed)

I can go on about the technical specification, outlining the fact it has two Wolfson DAC's, with separate DAC supplies and indeed you might be impressed. But I am going to concentrate on the sound because thats is the most important part. The Cambridge 640c (v2) is a prime example proving that that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The CDP sounds amazing. I have listened to the following items in detail: Cambridge D300 Marantz CD-52 Kenwood DPF 2030 (To remind me how great everything else is) I found that the CD-52, even though great for its time was harsh and aggressive and I immediatly disliked the sound it produced. The cambridge D300 sounded great, smooth, warm and detailed with a good bass line. I listened to the Kenwood just to remind me what rubbish I use to have. It was after hooking up Rotel 1062 up to the cambridge D300 that I decided I desperatly needed to upgrade my CDP. Using the D300 as my bench mark for what I liked I looked at severial CDP's ranging from NAD, Cambridge, Rotel and Marantz. Many people rant and rave about NAD and Cambridge, with particular reference that they are British companies, while a great thing (being British myself) this fact actually made me disbeleive the reviews that ranted about it with the attitude, just because its British don't make it good. In this case though, it seems I was wrong. The the 640c is nothing short of astounding. I have played a variety of music on it, Dire straits, T-pau, Genisus, Theory of a dead man, James Blunt, etc and in all cases it sounds fantastic, espcially when played loud. The bass line is nicly extended and well controled. The vocals are clear warm and accuratly protrayed. Individual instruments are played with pure clarity and no matter how hard I seemed to push it it never stuttered and never at any point sounded harsh or aggressive. Cambridge give this player a 72 hour burn in period. I have never been a great believer of this burn in thing, but I do not know how the sound can improve, so whats it going to sound like after the burn in period? The CDP also has a high quality finish with a great clear display. While this is a rather mute point, it just finishes the product and when you put it out with the rest of your kit you feel that its perfectly complete. I cannot recomend this player high enough. I have this the 640c connected to my Rotel 1062 amp and the two sound just incredible.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood DPF 2030 (As good as a one legged camel in a marathon race) Marantz CD-52 (to harsh and aggresive) Cambridge D300 (nice soft warm sound with good bass line) Please note -- all of these CDP's are beaten by the Cambridge 640c v2

A bit more clarity and detail than my old player.

Essentially the same sort of sound as my old player, and certainly not worth £250 to upgrade.

Bought both version 1 and 2 to see what the differences are. There is more clarity in the new version, with a nice clean treble, but it's only really discernible with having the same CD in both players and switching between the sources whilst both are playing. Swapping the disc from one to the other makes the differences very hard to hear. When comparing to my 10 year old Marantz CD46, the difference is more pronounced, but certainly not £250 more pronounced. If I didn't have a CD player I'd get it, but then the left channel packed up in the first week of listening so maybe I wouldn't. The sound is certainly nice, but no sonic leap forward from a very budget 10 year old player and my friends 10 year old Arcam CD1 has more detail in the bass and mid range. This audition has got me wondering what differences these hi-fi magazines are on about. From what I've heard, minor adjustments in the volume make more of a difference to the sound than a new player, and playing around with different interconnects (which I wasn't sure would make more of a difference) had a similar affect on the sound, some giving more treble and others enhancing the mid-range. The big lesson I've learnt is that you should definitely audition as the claimed improvements don't seem to be as vast as the magazines would tell you.

Similar Products Used:

Cambridge Audio Azur 640C Ver. 1 Marantz CD 46 Arcam CD1

Looks, quiet, Dual DAC. Nice remote

none so far

This review is for the Ver2.0 640c cd player. I've been looking for a new CDP for a while now and was put off the CA640c ver 1.0 by some bad reviews. I've always liked the look of the CA640C but it just had too many little things wrong. Now the Ver 2.0 is out everything has changed. This is the best Hi end low cost CDP on the market at the moment. For those of you looking for more information on the Ver 2.0 here is the intro from the user manual. The 640C V2.0 now employs a pair of WM8740 24 bit / 192 kHz capable Digital to Analog converter from Wolfson Microelectronics implemented in a dual differential configuration. As each channel has it's own DAC to process information, completely seperate analog filter circuitry can be implemented. Moreover, because of the seperation of left and right audio converters, the 640C V2.0 embraces a symmetrical layout. This ensures that both left and right channel circuitry operate identically, ensuring the 640C V2.0 delivers fantastic sound-staging and stereo imaging properties. The dual differential configuration also offers better signal-to-noise ratios and exceptionally low distortion characteristics in part from the use of a new version of our proprietary Double Virtual Earth Balanced Filters. The 640C V2.0 features a new Four Pole Differential Double Virtual Earth Balanced topology. This means the DAC for each channel features two fully balanced outputs each of which are then summed in a 3rd order virtual earth balanced filter stage, then a further 1st order balanced filter stage sums the balanced outputs of the earlier filter stages. This double balanced configuration largely rejects noise and distortion products present in the DACs and filters and provides an unprecedented level of performance. As with the 540C V2.0, a new toroidal transformer is now fitted giving lower nosie and less waveform distortion for quieter PSU operation. Control Bus input/output and IR emitter input have also been fitted for Custom install use. When listening to this Cdp with the volume turned off and my ear right upto the CD tray I could hardly hear the CD spinning. I also noticed the ability to dim the display to 3 levels via the remote control, Bright, Normal and Off. The tray also seems to be sturdy and when skiping from track to track it is very quick to locate the track. I've read many reviews on the Ver1.0 on many forums and one of the complaints about the Ver1.0 always seemed to be the noise coming from the PSU, you'll be glad to know there is no noise what so ever coming out of the Ver2.0. As far as I can see all the things that people have had problems with in Ver1.0 have been fixed in Ver2.0. So all I can say is well done to CA and keep up the good work. If this helped anyone make up their minds wether or not to buy a Ver2.0 then thats great. If I could suggest one thing to CA though is to update your website giving this new information out as it will indeed sway more people to buy your Ver2.0.