Another is that the company’s experience isolating critical components and designing low resonance, acoustically damped chassis for audio pays off on the video front as well, resulting in less video distortion. One of the reasons for the Cambridge Audio’s video prowess is that it employs six 54MHz, 12-bit video DACs rather than the 11-bit devices so common in this price class. Indeed, the 540D appears to close some of the gap between highdefinition material and 480p video, making for a much more engaging home theater experience. DVDs have a richness and naturalness that I’ve only seen in units costing far more, and there were times I thought I was looking at a high-definition source. If your display is up to reproducing inky blacks, subtle contrasts and fine detail, you’ll be amazed at the performance of the 540D. What’s most shocking about the Azur 540D’s video performance is its film-like presentation on progressive DVDs. Not a bad initial effort for the new kid on the block. Not only was the overall video performance of the Azur 540D better than the Denon DVD-2900, this new British import thoroughly trounced my previous standard in this price class, the JVC XV-SA600 DVD-A/V player. With its superior clarity, the Cambridge Audio ruthlessly exposed some of the cheesy models used in the Lord of the Rings, and I was able to see more fine details than with other players. Skin tone was more natural, images looked more three-dimensional, and colors had more vibrancy via the 540D, only occasionally becoming very slightly oversaturated. Watching the scene in The Fifth Element where Leeloo comes crashing through the top of the taxi, I could clearly see more detail through the Cambridge Audio player, such as the reflections on the plastic separator between Milla Jovovich and Bruce Willis. On a variety of demanding films, it offered better detail, color “pop,” and depth (via its component outputs in progressive scan mode) than did the Denon DVD-2900. However, I was more interested in the Cambridge Audio unit’s video performance on DVDs, rather than test discs. This is particularly noteworthy because the 2900 retailed for $999, and was praised less than a year-and-a-half ago (in The Absolute Sound, Issue 145) for its outstanding picture quality. Additionally, the 540D’s performance rendering moving images and subtle details, like small ripples on the water, was quite good, exceeding that of a more costly, but one generation old, Denon DVD-2900 I had on hand for comparison. The Cambridge Audio unit’s progressive scan output on the Video Essentials test disc was impressive without noticeable noise, high-frequency roll-off, or softening on black and white or color test patterns. To evaluate the Azur 540D’s video performance, I connected its component video outputs to a large Sony RPTV. Better still, the 540D’s performance on high resolution DVD-A is the best I have heard at anywhere near its modest price. In progressivescan mode, it renders natural and clean looking images that are clearly competitive with those produced by DVD players costing much more. Here’s a unit from a former “audio company” that will knock some of the established video players back on their heals. When I received Cambridge Audio’s Azur 540D DVD-Audio/Video player, I suspected it would offer good sound, but I wondered whether its video performance would be “up to snuff.”Īs I suspected, the $399 Cambridge Audio Azur 540D offers audio performance that is very competitive with the best separate CD players I have heard for under $400, but its outstanding video and DVD-A performance caused my jaw to drop. Certainly the company’s previous products have earned a reputation among audio enthusiasts for providing a lot of sound quality per dollar, but their video prowess has been virtually unknown. But another British firm, Cambridge Audio, claims that its new Azur line of multichannel components sets new price/performance standards in both areas. Whereas it is arguably easier than it once was to play in both the video and audio worlds, many manufacturers fail to deliver both top-notch video and audio performance. British companies like Meridian and Arcam have used their extensive experience in highperformance audio to springboard into leadership positions in home theater electronics-a transition tougher to pull off than one might think.
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