Cambridge Audio EVO One All-in-One System

Stephen Dawson
Cambridge Audio EVO One All-in-One System

When I was a youngster, such a very long time ago, the “all in one” stereo was anathema to me and my fellow hifi lovers. That’s what our parents had, and what we had to endure until we could scrape together the money to buy separate components.

But “all in one” systems no longer consist of a mediocre turntable, cassette deck, AM/FM radio and with indifferent speakers. In the case of the Cambridge Audio EVO One all-in-one system, it includes a highly versatile music streamer, with built in amplifiers and speakers, and provision for plugging in other sources. Such as a turntable (a phono preamplifier for moving magnet cartridges is built in), a CD player (via analogue or optical digital) and so on.

I’m writing this paragraph before switching on the unit for the first time, so the question remains, will it rise above the mediocrity of a 70’s era all-in-one? I predict: without a doubt.

tl;dr

  • The Cambridge Audio EVO One combines the company’s capable network streamer into a single hefty unit with display, analogue (including phono) and digital inputs, 14 drivers and 700 watts of Class D power.
  • 4 x 25mm silk dome tweeters, 4 x 57mm aluminium cone midrange drivers, 6 x 70mm bass drivers
  • 14 x 50-watt Class D amplifiers
  • 38-20,000 hertz +/-3dB, -10dB @ 32 hertz
  • 1 x Line and 1 x phono (moving magnet) analogue inputs
  • 1 x optical digital audio input
  • 1 x USB media input
  • 1 x eARC HDMI input
  • Bluetooth 5.12 (SBC and AAC codecs supported)
  • Ethernet
  • Dual band Wi-Fi
  • 173mm, 1280 x 480 pixel display screen
  • 675mm wide by 290mm deep by 129mm tall
  • 14.5 kilograms
  • $2499
  • Available at fine high fidelity retail outlets, and direct from distributor's retail division here
  • And now, having used and listened to the Cambridge Audio EVO One a lot, I can say that my prediction was correct. It may not be for everyone, but for those who want a convenient, high quality, versatile music system, it’s hard to think of anything which would better fit the bill.

A bit more about the Cambridge Audio EVO One

Hefty indeed. Note that 14.5-kilogram weight. Not surprising, given all those drivers packed into it. I’ll note here that several times when I had the unit pounding out music with plenty of bass, I placed my hand atop it and felt absolutely no untoward vibrations.

Where are all those drivers? Two of the tweeters are at the far left and right at the front and the other two are just behind them on the sides, firing sideways. Two of the midranges are on the front panel, just inboard of the tweeters, while the other two are just behind the side-mounted tweeters. Two of the woofers are on the front, two on the back and one on each side. A wrap around cloth grille is backed by a stronger “honeycomb” supporting grill. I’m not certain, but this felt sturdy enough to be metal, so all the drivers are well protected.

Towards the right-hand end of the front is the display screen, which was colourful and bright, and quite configurable. It isn’t a touch screen. There are nine buttons in a row underneath it to provide control, but there’s also a compact remote control and, of course, the StreamMagic app (for both Android and iOS, obviously). You will mostly interact with these.

Around the back we see an Ethernet port, and don’t see the also available Wi-Fi connection. You can stream music it to the unit from TIDAL and Spotify (the Connect versions are supported), Qobuz and Deezer. For local streaming it supports Apple Airplay 2, Google Cast and DLNA/uPnP. This last meant that I could stream music at full resolution from the terabyte+ on my Synology server using the StreamMagic app, or with any other of my preference (I like BubbleUPnP on Android).

And for integrating all the streaming, it’s Roon ready.

There’s also an optical input. I used that for my Cambridge Audio CD transport, but some might prefer to use it for the output from, say, a TV instead of using the HDMI eARC connection. eARC means Enhanced Audio Return Channel, and essentially allows a TV to send audio out over HDMI instead of receiving it.

Setting up Cambridge Audio EVO One All-in-One System

I eschewed the Ethernet connection as too easy. I wanted to see how it would work wirelessly. The first step was to install the StreamMagic app on my phone. That’s a Cambridge Audio app for the company’s own streaming protocol. I put it on both my Android phone and my iPad. I mostly used the iPad.

The EVO One first asked which language I wanted to use then told me to fire up the StreamMagic app. You can sign into the app at the point using Apple or Google ID or your email address, or skip it. If you sign in, apparently it provides a little more personalising to assist with your listening. I skipped it.

The next page had the app “Searching…”, saying that I should “ensure the product is on and connected to the network”. Eventually I noted a slightly more obscure bit of text: “Setting up a new product?” Aha! This should really be more prominent.

I tapped on that question and it popped up a list of streaming products. I tapped on “Evo 75/150/One” and then it asked whether I wanted a wired or wireless connection. I tapped the latter and then the app give me instructions which varied subtly from what appeared on the unit’s own screen. It finally became clear that it was working towards was setting up an AirPlay speaker using Apple’s standard system (you select the speaker when it appears at the bottom of the page in the Wi-Fi section of the iPad’s Settings app). I’m not sure of the procedure with Android.

Not more than thirty seconds later, the EVO One was connected via Wi-Fi to my home network. Then it installed a firmware update – that took less than two minutes – and then the app offered a wizard for a few default settings.

Unaccountably, the unit’s own display showed a QR code shortcut to installing the app on a device. The device on which I’d just used that very same app to connect the system.

Anyway, I chose Network Standby (the Network remains active when the unit is off and consumes less than two watts) over ECO mode (less than 0.5 watts), enabled Google Cast, renamed the unit to “EVO One” (getting rid of the bracketed number after that), and was left in the app’s Settings menu.

It all worked, but I am a firm believer in wireless setup systems that are easily understood. I’ve setup up hundreds, and this one left me puzzled at times.

Using the Cambridge Audio EVO One All-in-One System

Obviously I spent most of my time using the EVO One as a streamer, but I also used some external sources, specifically:

On the third device, you might ask why I didn’t use the EVO CD transport. Two reasons. One is that I didn’t have one. And the other is that this particular transport is not compatible with the EVO One system. It uses a special single-cable connector that carries both the digital audio and CD information to be displayed on the screen of one of the higher-level EVO systems. I wouldn’t expect the audio to be any different with the CD transport I already owned. Indeed, the EVO One’s manual (a PDF available at the Cambridge Audio website) depicts the CXC as an example of a connection to the optical input.

The TV connection worked fine. There’s nothing more to be said about that.

Indeed, everything worked fine. By that I mean everything worked first go and with complete reliability, providing a fine sense of assurance. I hate listening to music while worrying whether something is going to play up. I soon learned that nothing played up. I could relax.

And that included when I dialled up tracks from my server. Remember, I was using the Wi-Fi connection, but it was perfectly happy even with DSD256 (ie. 4 x regular DSD – Cambridge Audio only claims support for DSD128) and 384kHz, 24-bit PCM tracks. Obviously, it also supported all the common lossy compression formats: MP3, AAC, OGG Vorbis, HE AAC, AAC+ and even WMA (that’s still a thing?)

In the app you can choose which inputs are available for selection using the Input selection keys, so if you’re not using, say, the Aux input you need not be troubled by it even appearing during selection.

By default, the display shows information about the track that’s playing, including format and cover art if available. For the physical inputs (phono, Aux etc) it shows a generic graphic. The USB Media input is real deal. It’s not just for a memory stick. I plugged in a 2TB SSD with about a terabyte of full and high-resolution music, and it was easy to dial up the tracks I wanted in the app, with full info showing on the display. Nice.

The remote worked well, even from quite extreme angles. The StreamMagic app, as with all such apps, took a little bit to get used to. By the end of a week or so, I think I was pretty competent, although I could never work out how to change the display mode within the app. I had to use the “i” button on the remote. This cycles through several display modes, including three level indicators. One of these was in a very creditable look of analogue VU meters.

Listening

Really, the Cambridge Audio EVO One does not sound as it should. No box this size, with this much packed in it, ought to sound as good as it does. And that is very good indeed.

Let me first set a limit to my praise. For the same money you probably could, with care, assemble a stereo system that provides better stereo imaging – wider for one thing, and with more detail and depth across the sound stage. After all, there’s only so much the side-mounted drivers can do to compensate for a physical width of only 675mm. But I suspect that you’re going to have a hard time to build a similarly-priced system that can compete on such audible virtues as bass tightness, punch and general coherence to the sound. Especially with little tweaking.

Let’s get into details.

I listened a lot to streamed music – mostly streaming from TIDAL and from my own NAS – plus CDs and vinyl. Let’s start with streaming.

The first thing I dialled up was the track “Hotel California” by Eagles, the studio version. This is like a calibration track for me, it’s so very, very familiar. The version I used is a rip of the 192kHz, 24-bit DVD Audio from the early 2000s.

It was … okay. It was punchy and strong, but drums sounded a little “boxy” and the thrilling cymbal play was quite recessed, so I decided to fiddle with the EQ.

Now, we hifi nerds typically eschew EQ facilities. Indeed, neither my main nor my secondary systems have any form of EQ or tone adjustments. But they use A/B amplifiers. The Cambridge Audio EVO One’s use of Class D amplifiers means that the analogue sound is, in essence, moved to the digital realm for amplification. It’s inconceivable that Cambridge Audio didn’t do some sound balance shaping via DSP to achieve the type of sound it wanted from the built-in speakers.

It seemed to me that the shaping Cambridge Audio performed (with the EQ set to “Normal”) would be very attractive to someone who really likes the sound of decent, modern wireless headphones: say a premium model from Sony or Bose. These also are … okay. They deliver an overpowerful bass and a relaxed general sound which can be pretty exciting with some music. But they aren’t super accurate.

So I felt free to reshape. To give myself an objective guide, I played some pink noise through the system, recorded it with a measurement microphone, adjusted the result (pink noise diminishes at 6dB per octave) and then tweaked the seven-band equaliser for a balanced frequency output. The following graphic shows the settings I settled on. I used these settings thereafter, and I’d recommend listeners start with these settings and then adjust them to taste.

That done, it didn’t really matter the source of the music: streamed, optical from CD or analogue from vinyl, it all sounded remarkably good.

I played the RÜFÜS DU SOL album Bloom and the Kansas album Point of Know Return from TIDAL, and Beethoven’s 3rd and 6th symphonies on Telarc CD and I loved it all. No, the detail and stereo imaging and clean volume levels couldn’t match those of my main system (which costs way more than ten times as much). But what can you expect?

Points to note: the powerful bass on Bloom and the strong rhythmic sense of Kansas. And the surprising smoothness of the strings on the Beethoven. Telarc doesn’t dynamically compress its recordings, but the EVO One was quite comfortable with the volume swells, while also doing justice to Telarc’s (not quite) trademark orchestral drums. DSD tracks from the Blue Coast label (a audiophile company that records in DSD) were rendered delightfully.

I initially had some turntable trouble, which turned out to be, ahem, user error. There was this noise on the phono connection, sometimes a buzzy hum, sometimes a low level squeal, when I was using the low level phono output of the Technics SL-1500C turntable. I switched to a half-century old CEC BD-1000 belt drive turntable, the same model I used as a youth from about 1974. This reduced the noise significantly, but even with a similar cartridge didn’t sound as good as the Technics.

Then I worked it out. It turned out that I still had the line level output of the Technics turntable switched on. It seems that having the preamp switched on somehow interferes with the turntable’s phono level output. I flicked off the phono preamp and now I had an absolutely silent turntable connection.

So, back with the Technics SL-1500C, I span up the debut Police album Outlandos d’Amour, a recent pressing on heavy vinyl, but apparently not a remaster or remix. I continued using the EQ settings I’d previously established.

A strong performance of anything by The Police rests on an effective reproduction of the rhythm section, and this fell right in the particular skill set of the EVO One. The drums were tightly delivered, including the kick drum, as was Sting’s bass guitar. By tight, I mean that all the component frequencies delivered with impeccable timing, including the fundamental of the kick. And the dynamism of the drums was delivered extremely well. There was nothing hidden in the sound. I could follow every nuance of every song.

Then I pulled out a very old copy – I bought it back when I had my original BD-1000 – of the soundtrack of A Clockwork Orange. Try streaming that … if you can find it. Nothing by Wendy Carlos seems to be on any of the streaming services I tried. I played this one on BD-1000, then I went back to the Technics turntable which made for a marked improvement of both the orchestral and synthesiser selections. The orchestral bits are indifferently recorded (I think they might have been dynamically compressed for the movie), but some of the synth pieces are stunning. Particularly the “Suicide Scherzo” on Side 2, a Moog transcription of a section of the second movement of Beethoven’s Ninth.

Carlos brings true excitement to that, and when I closed my eyes, apart from the relative narrowness of the stereo image, I could imagine myself listening to a very competent stereo system.

Conclusion

My wife visited me in my office at one point and made a bunch of requests for her favourite tracks, all of which I streamed from TIDAL. This was mostly nice music – The Carpenters, Van Morrison and so on. After a few tracks, she pronounced a verdict. When I died, she wanted the Cambridge Audio EVO One for its sound, looks and convenience.

I guess I should make appropriate amendments to my will!

And that says it all. If you’re a high-fidelity wannabe with the price of this unit in your pocket, you’d probably want to start with a separate amp and stereo speakers (hey, Cambridge Audio can help you out on those too). But for a compact, high quality, super reliable system that fills a room with lovely music and features a high SAF, I’d strongly suggest finding a retailer and checking out the Cambridge Audio EVO One All-in-One System.

(Declaration: I do have kind of a soft spot for Cambridge Audio gear. I’m still using on one of my occasional systems a 1998-model Cambridge Audio A1mk3 Special Edition stereo amplifier with the phono board – and it still works very nicely. And I learned a huge amount about DACs quite a few years ago just by playing with a DacMagic a lot.)

Tags: Cambridge audio, Network audio streamers