If you already have a DAC, this superb-sounding CD transport makes perfect sense
The Cambridge Audio CXC is a CD transport rather than a CD player, which means it does the vital work of reading the information held on a compact disc, but doesn’t waste its effort in turning that digital signal into an analogue output. You’ll need a separate DAC for that.
Theory goes that using separate pieces of hi-fi to do individual jobs will almost always provide a superior sound. This, it seems, is the case with the CXC. We first reviewed this transport when it originally launched in 2015, and it scooped up a five-star review and a What Hi-Fi? Award win for Best CD transport under £500. Almost ten years on, the CXC is still in production and still recommendable. Our updated review now reflects the current price, and we have listened to the CXC with new pairings and made comparisons with newer models.
At £499, the CXC is not quite the budget proposition anymore, but that price rise is in line with the rest of the CX range’s increases. Cambridge Audio does offer more affordable CD players now at £279 (AXC25) and £349 (AXC35), but this original CXC transport remains a mainstay of the current mid-price CX range.
The CXC is a nicely made piece of equipment, with the machined-metal chassis feeling every penny of its asking price. The lunar grey finish and minimal styling of the CXC are built to match the rest of Cambridge Audio’s impressive CX range, so you can stack the CXC with the CXA61 (or CXA81) stereo amplifiers or the CXN (V2)/CXN100 music streamer with it all looking uniform on your hi-fi rack.
There are responsive buttons for basic playback controls, the super-smooth disc drive operates with barely a noisy whirr, and the simple display screen is clear and easy enough to read from a distance. This is a minimal, fuss-free player.
As well as looking good, the CXC has decent components inside, including the single-speed transport and proprietary S3 Servo disc drive that it shares with Cambridge Audio’s higher-end Azur 851C (£1200) CD player. These components are designed to retrieve digital information from the CD disc with accuracy and at the correct speed, and deliver error-free signal playback to the connected DAC. The CXC also features gapless playback.
Very good at its job
At the rear are two digital outputs – one coaxial and one optical – for connecting to an external amp or DAC. There are control bus connectio
