Making the Best Better

How do you take an admired and successful integrated amplifier, one that’s won respect and plaudits around the world, and

make it even better? Well, if you’re a Cambridge Audio engineer, you examine every aspect of the performance - and then

you do everything you can to make it ‘more’. More refined, more precise, more engrossing… more musical. The CXA81: it’s

everything you loved about the CXA80, but more so.

Uncompromised and Uncompromising

All the research, all the development, all the time and effort that’s been expended on the CXA81 has been for one reason

alone: to make this the most accomplished and absorbing integrated amplifier ever offered at the price. Every component

selected, and every engineering decision taken, is based entirely on the desire to progress. The CXA81 has been designed

and specified without compromise, in order to deliver the complete musical picture.

The Whole Story

The CXA81 is designed to bring your music to life, no matter how it’s stored. So it features an entirely new digital board,

including the cutting-edge ESS Sabre ES9016 digital-to-analogue convertor. Which means digital audio files up to a heady

32bit/384kHz, or DSD256, are brought dramatically to life, with every detail and nuance delivered intact and in full.

The CXA81 combines unparalleled accuracy with vivid musicality, without sacrificing convenience.

Absolute Flexibility

The CXA81 covers all connectivity bases, giving you complete freedom of choice. As well as digital optical and digital

coaxial inputs, it features unbalanced stereo RCA inputs alongside balanced XLR sockets - and wireless connectivity

via Bluetooth’s cutting-edge aptX HD standard is on board too. So there’s no need to compromise on performance in

the name of convenience.

Power and Control

Thanks to numerous improvements and upgrades - and thanks to an over-specified toroidal transformer - the CXA81

delivers a prodigious 80 watts of power per channel. This means the CXA81 has complete authority over even the

most demanding speakers, it means big dynamic shifts in music are handled with total control, and it means the whole

musical picture is available no matter if you’re playing at discreet background levels or at party-time volumes.

Unmatched Sonic Integrity

At the heart of the CXA81 beats a completely reimagined and redesigned power amplifier stage with optimised capacitor

values. The resulting sound is pristine but not clinical, with unrivalled musical coherence no matter the source.