Cambridge Audio Azur 851D

Cambridge Audio Azur 851D Digital-to-Analogue Converter

Draw every last detail from digitally stored music
The Azur 851D is for those who want to store their music digitally, but with no compromise on sound quality. With a comprehensive range of connections and high-end componentry designed to draw the best from any digital source, it delivers your digital music in upsampled, stunning quality. The 851D is the last word in high-end digital-analogue conversion.

The Cambridge Audio technologies inside the 851D ensure it’s a versatile Digital-to-Analogue Converter (DAC) that can handle digital audio from just about any source you could care to connect to it. It will also uncover every last detail, before passing it on to the amp.

Second generation ATF upsampling to 24-bit/384kHz for every source delivers stunning results. From MP3 to high res downloads, the 851D will showcase your music in its best possible light – it’s our best-sounding DAC ever.

Six digital inputs include coaxial, Toslink optical, as well as BNC coaxial and AES/EBU. Plus there’s asynchronous USB and the option to add Bluetooth wireless connectivity, through the APTX compatible BT100, included free of charge with the 851D. Inputs come in at up to 24-bit/192kHz quality and are upsampled from there before output. This means you can connect a world of digital source components from set-top boxes to media streamers, smartphone docks to computers, and whatever you connect, the results are astonishing.

As well as the ATF2 upsampling, the 851D boasts dual Analogue Devices AD1955 DACs, a high-end digital preamplifier (DSP) and other premium quality components, such as a toroidal transformer for smooth power delivery under pressure. Every component has been chosen by our London-based engineering team in the pursuit of digital audio perfection.

The 851D outputs to either unbalanced RCA or balanced XLR, as found in many modern high-end hi-fi separates (including our 851E Preamplifier), or to headphones via an inbuilt high-end, low distortion headphone amp, with three filter options to customise the output sound to your taste.

Particular attention has also been paid to the 851D’s casework, which combines massive structural rigidity, careful damping and control of acoustic resonance. Both inside and out, the 851D is designed to draw every last details from high-end digital audio – listen and be amazed.