Network Audio Players/Servers

Having spent almost ten years working on brand development for Panasonic, Tony Stott joined Cambridge Audio in 2017, and is now Head of Product Marketing. So he is clearly the man to ask whether there ever a plan to produce separate network player and preamp units, rather than the all-in-one NQ?

'No', he says, 'the original lineup of A, W and NQ is what the brand intended from the outset, and we only added the Edge M monoblock later due to feedback from our customers'. Tony also clarified that Cambridge has no plans for an Edge series phono stage, as 'we're very happy with our current offering in terms of turntables and phono stages', though he added, 'we are working on some exciting new developments elsewhere in the range'. Watch this space...

With this 'all eggs in one basket' approach for the Edge NQ, how upgradable is the StreamMagic platform at its core? 'A dedicated team of engineers has spent the last 11 years constantly refining and upgrading its capabilities, and the majority of those engineers were around at the launch of Cambridge Audio's first network player.

'We're currently working on our 4th generation module but, wherever possible, we continue to support and upgrade our older network players long after their on-shelf life has ended. This was most recently demonstrated by the arrival of TIDAL Connect, not only on our StreamMagic 6 (v2) and CXN network players, both of which have been out of retail circulation for a while, as well as on the current lineup.'