Intro
Contents
On Saturday, January 27, 2024, we – again – put five wonderful amplifiers side by side. This time the Atoll IN50, Advance Paris X-i75, Arcam A5, Cambridge Audio CXA81 and the Creek 4040A. Five very affordable amplifiers. How do they compare? We have listened and measured them for you.
It feels like England VS France this time. Atoll and Advance Paris on the French side and Cambridge, Creek and Arcam on the English side. Though of course much is produced in China these days. So the question then is: how British or French is it really. However, that is a discussion for another time.
“Budget?”
Now we call this class the “Budget” class at Alpha Audio. However, that’s not quite right, because in the end, an enthusiast still spends a few thousand euros for a complete system. And that is and remains just a lot of money.
However, the reality is that from this price point on it starts to get interesting. Around 1000 Euro amplifiers start to sound really good, because manufacturers have enough budget for decent components.
The test list
We included the following amplifiers in this multitest:
- Cambridge Audio CXA81
- Creek 4040A
- Arcam A5
- Advance Paris X-i75
- Atoll IN50
The set-up
We listened to all the amplifiers in the Alpha Listening Room on TAD Evolution Two speakers. Cabling is from Driade (Flow Reference) and Grimm (TPM interlink). Mains cables are standard. As a source we used the Volumio Primo with a Pura Dodo power supply. We did not use any filters.
We test both the analog and digital inputs of the amplifier. The only exception is the Atoll, because it does not have a built-in d/a converter.
