To the left a power button and LED are accompanied by home, info, ‘more’ and filter controls, the latter toggling between 3 subtle digital filters provided by the ATF system, and also offering the ability to reverse the phase of the outputs. The dial is the same weighty aluminium control as found on the 851A, 851E and 851D, fronting a smooth digital encoder which despite a little play feels substantial and makes navigating the 851N’s user interface simple and speedy. The display takes centre stage on the front, flanked by neat rows of push button controls and a large dial that doubles up as both a means of navigating the streamer’s interface, and a volume control for use in digital preamp mode. I’ve always liked the styling of the 851 series components, and the exceptional build quality leaves nothing to be desired. The unit sits on 4 heavily damped feet, with further ventilation on the bottom. A 3/4” slab of aluminium forms the front panel, with brushed aluminium wrap-around side panels and a top plate featuring a pair of trapezoidal grilles for ventilation. Finding the BT100 Bluetooth dongle included in the box would’ve been a welcome addition, though with higher quality sources available I’d imagine it’s an omission that few will miss.Īt 8.1KG the 851n is no lightweight, much of that no doubt thanks to the substantial casework. It’s supplied with some quick start documentation, an 851 system remote control with included AAA batteries, a control bus RCA cable and a USB wifi antenna. The packaging even includes a pair of offset handles to facilitate shifting the boxes around, a thoughtful touch that all but Cambridge sadly seem to omit. Packaged similarly to the rest of the range, the 851N certainly offers a luxurious first impression, wrapped in cloth and supported by large foam inserts. Information is displayed on a 4.3” (11CM) colour display, which is also used to display album artwork. The unit can be controlled via its front panel, the included 851 series remote control or via the Cambridge connect app for both iOS and Android. M3u, ASX and WPS playlists are supported too. Just about every common audio format is supported including FLAC, WAV, MP3, WMA, ALAC, AAC, AIFF, M4A, HE AAC, AAC+, OGG and DSD64. Spotify connect is onboard too, as is Apple’s AirPlay and aptX Bluetooth, though you’ll require the optional BT100 bluetooth dongle to access the latter. On the streaming front, the 851N can stream audio from just about any imaginable source whether it be a USB storage medium connected to one of the 4 USB inputs, a DLNA server on the network or one of the over 20,000 onboard internet radio stations. The 851N can also act as a digital preamplifier to directly feed a power amplifier such as the 851W, the volume controlled within the DSP to keep the signal in the digital domain until the last possible moment to achieve the purist possible sound. There’s a host of digital connectivity on the back including optical, coaxial, AES-EBU and XMOS asynchronous USB, supporting resolutions of up to 24-bit, 192kHz and DSD64 along with both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA outputs. Powered by a substantial toroidal transformer feeding an extensively regulated power supply section, at its heart sits a pair of Analogue Devices AD1955 24-bit DAC chips, fed by an Analogue Devices BlackFin ADSP-BF532 32-bit DSP running Cambridge’s proprietary ATF2 (Adaptive Time Filtering) upsampling technology which upsamples all incoming audio to 24-bit, 384kHz. Not only does it share the styling of its 851 siblings including the acoustically damped chassis and thick brushed aluminium panels, it inherits the digital circuitry also found in both the 851C CD player and 851D DAC. The products in the range all share the same core DNA, and the 851N is no exception. Every product in the range is built to offer uncompromising audio performance, though with practical features that set them apart from the traditional bare-bones designs more commonly found on the market today. The 851N is the latest product to join Cambridge’s product portfolio, designed to partner the flagship 851 series which also includes both integrated and power amplifiers, an analogue preamplifier, a DAC and a CD player. Later superseded by an upgraded V2 model and soon after the CXN, the Stream Magic 6 was one of the most feature-packed streaming devices on the market at the time with a wealth of connectivity and an extensive list of supported audio services and formats built upon a solid custom streaming platform. In 2012 Cambridge Audio’s Stream Magic 6 became my first hi-fi streamer, me being at the time a relative newcomer to the world of streaming audio.
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