Maxx Audio Visual: Cambridge Audio

Monday, April 27, 2015

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6

Last unit of the Stream Magic 6 for sale. Comes with box and manual. Sold!

Please contact Max 017-6778820 or Benjamin 016-3229428 for appointments and negotiations.

We are open on Sundays!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 review

The Stream Magic 6 is quite a box of tricks – and very easy to use from an iPhone or iPad communicating through a domestic wi-fi link. Only security passwording frustrates this process a little so it’s best to use an iPad that is not passworded.

The Stream Magic’s own display isn’t so great, being usable but not very friendly in its sequential layout, in comparison to an Apple screen. All current network players suffer this, but the Stream Magic 6 on-board display is still rudimentary.

Balancing this is a great range of abilities and enormous processing power, if with a few limitations here and there, like its peculiar inability to read 24/192 from a USB memory stick. However, performance of its on-board Wolfson DACs was superb and sound quality from the analogue outputs beyond criticism. I was taken aback at some of what I heard, such as full 24/192 replay from a Mac Book Pro. The Stream Magic 6 is a “must have” irrespective of my minor criticisms, it does so much so well, making great digital sound quality available at a very affordable price.

VERDICT

A complicated Network Player, but one of wide ability and advanced performance. Great sound at a reasonable price.

FOR

- clean hi-def sound

- many inputs & outputs

- internet radio

AGAINST

- no 24/192 from USB key

- no digital output, USB in

- mediocre display panel

Click here for the full review: http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/index.php/internet-audio/470-cambridge-audio-stream-magic-6.html?start=1

RRP: RM4,500

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6

What Hi-Fi Awards 2012 Product of the Year - Music Streamers. It looks good, is easy to use, sounds great and has a list of uses longer than your arm: the Stream Magic 6 is an unequivocal success

Cambridge Audio was one of the first of the ‘traditional’ hi-fi brands to embrace digital music, and it continues to be at the forefront of innovation, following its popular DacMagic products with a line of streaming devices.

After the entry-level NP30, we have the Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6, billed as an ‘upsampling network player’ that’s capable of getting the best out of digital music files no matter how and where they’re stored.
What’s more, it’s ultra-flexible, able to operate as a network player, a DAC and even a digital preamp. Hi-fi quality is the name of the game, and the company’s ATF2 upsampler and Wolfson DACs are the players.

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6: Connectivity
That’s the aim, anyway. So, how does the Stream Magic 6 make it happen? First, by offering a wide range of inputs and potential functions: wired or wireless, the Stream Magic 6 can connect to your home network and sniff out any PC or UPnP-compatible NAS device.
If you want to use it as a DAC or digital preamp, you can connect any AV device with a digital output – TVs, Blu-ray players, and games consoles (set to stereo, of course) – via the coaxial and optical audio inputs, and there’s a USB audio input too.
Once your source material is flowing in, you connect the Stream Magic 6 to your stereo amp via the standard RCA phono output or balanced XLR outputs. There are digital coaxial and optical outputs, too.
Want more connectivity? The £70 BT100 Bluetooth dongle, complete with support for the superior aptX codec, is available if you want to stream directly from a smartphone or other Bluetooth device.

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6: Hi-res audio
But it’s inside the Stream Magic 6 where the real magic happens. The device happily accepts AAC, FLAC, MP3 and WAV files, not to mention high-resolution content.
It can stream hi-res audio up to 24-bit/96kHz over a network, and you can also use the asynchronous USB input to handle all hi-res files including 24-bit/192kHz tracks played from a computer.
Apple Macs can output this as standard, but you’ll need to download the free driver from Cambridge Audio if you’ve a PC.
And the cleverness doesn’t end there. There’s a standard remote, of course, but the iOS and Android control app gives you more features, such as album artwork.
It’s the best way to use the Stream Magic 6 because, while the two-tone display is large and clear, it isn’t easy to read off-axis – and regardless, scrolling through a huge library with the remote isn’t fast.
The control wheel is a bit quicker, but the app makes the whole process far more enjoyable and simply quicker to get where you want.
However, the Stream Magic 6’s display does handily tell you not just what you’re listening to, but the quality of the file.
Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6: Sound quality
We start with some 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC rips from CD. Boards of Canada’s Pete Standing Alone sounds suitably chunky, with powerful, driving drums and good dynamics, stopping and starting each solid hit promptly.
The effects and percussion are a challenge to keep together, but the Stream Magic 6 simply has no issue, delivering an open, focused, detailed and thoroughly absorbing sound.
We decide to try the Cambridge Audio’s filters, as seen on products such as the Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus. Adjust with a button on the remote, or the unit itself, to flick between three sound modes; linear phase, minimum phase and steep roll-off. The differences are subtle but it’s worth experimenting.

Stepping down the bitrate scale with a 320kbps MP3 of Arctic Monkeys’ Cornerstone, the player copes admirably. The recording isn’t the smoothest, yet vocals don’t toughen up even at high volume.

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6: Internet radio
There’s still good separation of instruments and an impressive soundstage, too. The majority of internet stations and podcasts offer even lower-res feeds but, regardless, the feature – Aupeo, Rhapsody and BBC iPlayer Radio podcasts are all accessible – is a bonus.
Back to the good stuff: we try out some of our hi-res files. The Stream Magic 6 is happy with 88.2kHz content and makes the most of the extra detail; Barb Jungr’s voice sounds intimate and expressive, while the Scottish Chamber Orchestra sounds brilliantly natural as part of a scarily realistic soundstage.
Using the Stream Magic 6 as a preamp adds yet more flexibility. It’s a simple matter of turning the preamp mode on in the settings, at which point the control knob on the front of the unit becomes a volume control, while volume controls on the remote control and smartphone app (they’re particularly small in the app’s case) come in to play.
We run the balanced outputs to a power amp – there are unbalanced outputs too – and it works fine and sounds great, though obviously the quality of your power amp is crucial.

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6: Verdict
The Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 is a brilliantly flexible device. No, it won’t stream the highest hi-res files, but there isn’t much content available to buy yet anyway.
Otherwise, we can’t really think of anything we don’t like about it: Cambridge Audio is still pushing boundaries when it comes to innovative music machines.