Cambridge Audio AXA35 are there any measurements?

[Eet3m]

Hi,
I own a Cambridge Audio AXA35. I'm not really an audiophile to be honest, and the amp is more than good enough for my needs. But curiosity has gotten the better of me, has anyone got measurements for this amp?
A YouTube audiophile reviewer said the amp is "soft" in the high end and a bunch of other stuff that I don't necessarily believe is true, but it would be cool to see the measurements to know for sure. My understanding is that it's unlikely for an amp to have a frequency response that is audibly lacking in high end, but who knows.
Thanks!

 

[Håkan]

Here you go

Cambridge Audio AXC35 / AXA35 CD Player/Amplifier Lab Report

Lab Report Seeing an amplifier rated at a mere 35W/8ohm recalls the classic integrateds from Rotel, NAD and, of course, Cambridge itself in the '70s and '80s. In practice Cambridge Audio is more generous and so the AXA35 delivers closer to 2x40W/8ohm and 2x60W/4ohm with sufficient in reserve to...

www.hifinews.com

 

[Redacted]

"Soft in the high end"?
It's all made up. No such thing as a YouTube "audiophile reviewer" who doesn't show measurements - keep clear of click-bait.

 

[Eet3m]

Here you go

Cambridge Audio AXC35 / AXA35 CD Player/Amplifier Lab Report

Lab Report Seeing an amplifier rated at a mere 35W/8ohm recalls the classic integrateds from Rotel, NAD and, of course, Cambridge itself in the '70s and '80s. In practice Cambridge Audio is more generous and so the AXA35 delivers closer to 2x40W/8ohm and 2x60W/4ohm with sufficient in reserve to...

www.hifinews.com

Thank you very much! For some reason this didn't show up when I searched for AXA35 measurements. Nice to have some measurements, although seeing these more basic measurements really made me appreciate how detailed Amir's reviews are.

"Soft in the high end"?
It's all made up. No such thing as a YouTube "audiophile reviewer" who doesn't show measurements - keep clear of click-bait.

As I suspected. The website with the measurements says the amp is 0.23dB down at 20kHz. Obviously the YouTube guy must truly have golden ears to be able to hear that difference haha

If the AXA35 is loud enough for my needs, is there any reason for me to get a different amp in the future? I'm not planning on buying a new amp any time soon, but I am curious to know what kind of performance or functionality improvements might exist with a different amp compared to the AXA35.
Thanks

 

[Redacted]

There is no real audio reason to change that amp. It's what I call more than "good enough". Albeit only 35W - but in fact playing at 5W can seem loud enough.

Your biggest audible change might be to change speakers, but you've not said anything against them.

Your other change could be about functionality. The amp you have has no pre-out or sub out, so you cannot add another another amp or subs (bar the ones that parallel up with the speaker feeds), similarly, you have not (AFAICS) mentioned music sources.... It might be nice to add a streaming transport to play online music, or ripped music in your own collection. You could do this with separates (easier to replace a piece at a time), or an all-in-one (just add the speakers and everything is hassle-free). If however, you only play vinyl, there is no need to add or change anything, as there is not really enough quality in the source to justify spending much (although vinyl lovers seem to spend the most on mythical kit, for some reason).

 

[Eet3m]

Thanks! Yeah that's kind of what I assumed. I've never needed to turn the amp up to maximum volume with my current speakers (Elac Debut Reference DBR62) so I figured that the amp itself is good enough for me. I don't have much intention of getting a sub, and at any rate, I'd be spending money on acoustic treatment first before spending money elsewhere. The Elacs are nice, although I find myself EQ-ing in a 2dB high shelf a 7kHz to get a similar treble response to my Yamaha HS-8's. Maybe this is because I always have the dust covers on the Elacs so I might be losing a bit of HF? Who knows. Overall I'm pretty happy with the AXA35 and DBR62 combination. I still find that I prefer the sound of my HS8's, but that could be down to the fact that I'm listening to them in near-field, in a set listening position. Although, I definitely notice the Yamahas can reach lower bass notes than the Elacs. Because of that, I also use a little bass boost around 70Hz on the Elacs just to fill out the low end, which I find works well enough for me.

I play my music directly from the aux output of an old Mac mini that holds my iTunes library, and gives me the ability to apply EQ, stream music and a use the built in TOSLINK input to grab the optical out from the cheap bluetooth receiver that my wife uses when she wants to play music from her phone. So functionality wise, I think the AXA35 covers my needs for now.

At this point I'd probably benefit most from lifting the Elacs up from the TV unit and bringing the tweeter closer to ear level, and doing a bit of acoustic treatment. I think that the AXA35 and DBR62 are probably as good as I'm going to get for the money for the time being, although it is fun to look at the measurements of other devices and imagine what they must sound like haha