For someone who doesn’t get excited for audio, you’ve been excited a lot lately. First the Onkyo RZ70 and now the Evo 150! Contain yourself Gene, we need you to stay healthy so we can continue to get these reviews. The Evo 150 is what I’ve been looking for.
@@Audioholics when’s the Cinema 30 bench test? Loved the comparison between the 8012 and the 8015. I think you’ll find bigger disparities between the 8015 and the 30….
It’s refreshing to see you excited about an audio component Gene. Remember why we love this passion, the Music. 🎼 Thanks for this review. This out of my budget constraints, but when I add a streamer to my rig soon, it will be a Cambridge Audio streamer, the AXN10. Great reviews of the Cambridge app’s simplicity and ease of use. 👍🏼🎶😎 8:42
GREAT REVIEW Gene! And great job on adding the bookmarks to the video! I know that takes time and it is appreciated! The fact that you "relegated" the Revel 328be to the guest room is telling to how GREAT the RBH speakers sound! ¡Qué chimba!
I’m very happy with my hifi Rose 520 for about the same investment and it has 100 more watts per channel@8 ohms.I have a small treated room with Arendal 1723 towers and their 2v subwoofer for 2 channel listening.IMHO it is audio and video nirvana when watching Rosetube.I am glad to hear you are on the mend and will continue to do my small monthly gift on Patreon.I’ve been enjoying watching Mike Love on the Sugar Shack channel.Great music with a nice positive vibe.I hope you enjoy Gene,All the best,James(Jay) Bigham!!
Not for $3400. I'll take an Onkyo or Yamaha from Costco for $450, any day of the week for the feature set and amplification options. I can plug in a basic streamer to my old Pioneer if I want to get silly. Better use of money: buy a nice old stereo and restore it yourself or pay the nice old fart who still owns a repair shop to do it. Then again, I'm not the kind of dood who builds an NAS to rip CD's. I just play CD's through any number of options--FYI, I got into collecting music and music-themed DVD's. It's been quite fun to watch old concerts on new gear. I think that's a much better use of money, for my situation. Your mileage will vary, but watch out for new tech. Failure...she be abundant!
Thanks for the review, Gene! I have a question about how you listen and test all of these products during reviews and when you're just chillin' at home. When you say that you play it at reference, how many dB are you listening at in your chair? Are you doing any calibration and then playing the amps at 0 (reference level)? I'm curious because in the video you mentioned 72dB SPL, but you also said that it was shaking things up at reference level with the Sixteen Tons track. Thanks again, and I'm glad to see that your health is back in full swing post covid, and your hitting the weights again!
Liked mine from a sound quality perspective, screen and features. Very neutral and clean sounding with tight bass and good power. Software issues and reboots put me off. Swapped it for an old school Exposure 3510 with my old CXNv2 and haven’t looked back. Exposure feels more powerful and more “musical” whatever that means. Maybe that’s colouration but either way I love it. One thing that concerned me was the longevity of these super integrated amplifiers. Totally reliant on software. I’d rather keep upgrading the source and keep my amp for longer. What do you think?
@@boneseyyl1060 yeah I appreciate that. What I’m saying is from a personal perspective (amplifier wise) the worry about longevity is something that I hadn’t thought about until I was having issues. Will any of these amps (or any other devices) be around in 10 years or will they become bricks like an old smartphone?
@@thebingaling1105 Sure I get that. I think the best thing you can say is that at this point it probably isn't going to happen at the rate that it has been going over the past decade or so. Don't forget most of this stuff is industry driven too, in order to get you thinking you need the latest and greatest in order to get you to spend. (Do we really need 8 k TV's) Most of the formats have been set now, and I have'nt heard of any earth shattering technology breakthroughs that will "change everything". Take a look at the vintage equipment market. It is stronger than ever now. It's impossible to predict the future, but my guess the biggest changes are going to be improvements ( ie: Class D tube amps etc.) rather than technological change. My suggestion would be try not to think about it too much. Personally I bought my dream AVR back in 2005 just when HDMI was coming out. Nevertheless I enjoyed that Denon for almost 20 years until I just recently got my Marantz Cinema 70. So it's a good question but if you wait for the next best thing, you will be cosntantly waiting, is how I see it.
I see you’re using 8TC to your Revel’s 😉 I had Matt Reilly a Cambridge Rep come into our store, as we’re not currently a Cambridge Dealer and he was a delight to talk to, extremely informative, and not pushy at all, like some reps can be. Gene, would it be safe to run a REL sub using a Speakon connector (high level) using this amp? Thanks.
so these new combo pieces basically force you to ditch 2 or 3 pieces of your gear and consolidate. only wish i didnt already have a streamer and a dac and an amp.... that 4 ohm issue would have me nervous driving my maggies . ymmv. nice review as always!
Much better idea to have streamer separate as that is the part that is going to date and become slow etc just like phones it's upgradable tech. Streamers quality and functionality will be constantly getting better. Good quality amp and DACs stand the test of time. Bad move tying your amp to your streamer long term imo
How about NAD offerings that come with Dirac included. C399 doesn’t look nearly as nice but added functionality is tempting. M33 is quite a bit more money :)
Awesome! Thinking of grabbing one! Can you touch on whether this can integrate into a home theater system? Does it have a home theater bypass feature, and perhaps leaving the Marantz AVR to pre-pro mode for 2ch, using the pre outs as an input to the Cambridge? From there can use the L/R pre outs of the Cambridge to a pair of 3000 micro subs, and using the Hypex amps internally for the 705s2’s… Could be a good way to get both a 2ch integrated amp within a home theater system?
I run a Cinema 70 AVR. Connecting an integrated streamer amp to it more or less duplicates some of what your preamp processor is doing as far as streaming and digital output goes. You're also paying for another phono preamp and inputs with sub out. That seems to me to be a waste of money to spend on duplicate functions. I would want to be sure I prefered the sound of the 2 channel over the Marantz AVR first before spending the money. I honestly don't mind the 70 for 2 channel music. I am using it to biamp my front mains since I don't use my height channel. That is an improvement also. I have a Cambridge AX 35 integrated that I briefly had connected for 2 hannel music but at 35 watts it sounded a little soft compared to the 50 watts biamped of the Marantz. In short if you don't care about the dupiicate functions and their cost it might give you an enjoyable setup for both 2 channel and home theater. But depending on what Marantz AVR you have, you might save a bit and try a more powerful, high quality 2 channel amp instead. The problem is like Gene says, the market is flooded with these streamer amps at multiple price points, where as the market for separates amplifiers seems to be dwindling. Black Ice and Orchard Audio have some nice tube amps that I am considering though. Have always wanted to try one for music. Just my 2 cents anyways, take it for what it is.
I think you’re getting tunnel vision. There’s no reason to get this and mix it with a Home Theater setup. You want better performance then instead of spending $3100 on this, but a 2 or 3ch Purfi/Hypex amp and add it to your AVR LCR, and it will cost less and have more power. Then you can buy a steamer of your choice like from Wiim, and just hook it up to your AVR. Your duplicating parts and adding complexity otherwise.
@@andrewskaterrr Agreed. He is essentially talking about putting an integrated amplifier inside an integrated amplifier. The only reason I can see to do this is to have two separate systems interconnected and not have to buy new speakers for the separate system. So he is probably getting a slightly better DAC for music and maybe some better amplification. But a lot of the other features on both amps are duplicated. I dunno, in some ways it makes sense and in other ways it doesn't. IMO what he is really paying for is a a better DAC. Connecting a better DAC without amplification to the Marantz for music might be a better way to go. The DAC would probably make the biggest sound quality difference vs the amplification. Depending on which Marantz he has, the amplification should be pretty decent in 2 channel mode, especially if he has some spare channels and the speakers can be bi-amped.
@@andrewskaterrr I agree guys. My SR8015 is using the pre-outs to an Emotiva BasX A3, to supplement the power for LCR. I guess I’m ultimately just looking for a Class D amp to try instead. The AppleTV with AppleMusic is perfectly fine for streaming. It’s limited to 48kHz but my reference system with a MacBook Air running at 96kHz doesn’t sound night and day different…
With modern housing simply ruining much of the listening experience, I would love to see more amplifiers impliment functions such as Dirac or such room correction. Especially when it comes to products like this and it's matching transport with so much WAF factor. I don't listen to music like I once did simply because the house I live in has an appaling sitting room and it killed the systems performance, so I feel I need to find some entry level point into room correction and not simply some digital graphic equalizer or tone control. Most of my family now use streaming such as Spotify, none of my family want surround sound, one of my lads simply loves massive fun speakers in stereo with old movies, loves simple electronics and simply doesnt use the transport, lens, dac, pre, power options as its simply too much bother and he worries the power amp will do something due to the thump it's relays make.
I moved from Technics G700mk2 to the Delorean Evo 150. Main reason functionality, is not that much the extra power. The Technics was a gem of an amp and trust me it had lots of power, but this is a greater all-rounder. It does everything, it looks fantastic and with an external headphone amp / DAC from astell and kern connected to the line in of the amp at 2400 US dollars (not cheap), It brought some additional unique characteristics to the sound which made it a better combo for my speakers. The only downside, anything with screens of that kind will lose lots of value if they are not replacable in a few years, food for thought. The limited edition version will hold better for sure. Otherwise, I'd go with Naim option and not with the original Evo 150 in black.
I have had the Nova and now have the Atom , but also use the EVO 150 with some 83db speakers, love them all and can change my mind on my favourite depending on the day of the week very close with all of them, but maybe at low level listening the Atom is the sweet spot
I'm running an Arcam Solo Uno. Its smaller, less power but works in my SOHO to drive my bookshelves. Had to add a McIntosh MB20 for bluetooth, both of which were dealer demos and together cost less than the price of a new Solo Uno at the time. I've looked at the EVO as an upgrade, if I decide to upgrade my speakers and want to stick with an all-in-one streamer. But have to question. TV Arc ... was that eArc or just Arc. (Different versions of HDMI and capacity.)
Should have a better class d amp module and dac for the price. Buy a wiim ultra and newer class D power amp and you will be way in front with better sound and streaming plus bass management, room correction, eq, more power and 2k extra to spend on speakers.
Well the specs matter, isn't that what you pride yourself on? It's a nice design for sure but there are far better performing class d amp modules now although how audible the differences are depends/debatable but it doesn't change the fact that you're paying a lot of money for what is now a pretty cheap amp module. It also is a lower range sabre DAC chip. The wiim offers bass management and room correction. Explain how any of what I said in my original post isn't true? I own a Cambridge cxa80 by the way, so I don't have any issue with Cambridge audio.
@@42degrees86 Easy: The WiiM Amp has a lot less power on tap than the EVO150. It's even less powerful than the EVO75. :) The WiiM does have the same DAC and 10 band PEQ and room correction (some development is still going on) and bass management. Great, especially for the price, sure.
@@naibafabdulkobor4301 I am not talking about the wiim amp I am talking about good quality Class D amps like the latest gen hypex and purifi. The wiim Ultra is a DAC/streamer no amp. The Evo is using older class d amp modules and old base level sabre DAC. 3k is a lot of money for the hardware, case is nice though.
For someone who doesn’t get excited for audio, you’ve been excited a lot lately. First the Onkyo RZ70 and now the Evo 150! Contain yourself Gene, we need you to stay healthy so we can continue to get these reviews. The Evo 150 is what I’ve been looking for.
I've a a streak of good products come to me this year 😂
@@Audioholics when’s the Cinema 30 bench test? Loved the comparison between the 8012 and the 8015. I think you’ll find bigger disparities between the 8015 and the 30….
I love Cambridge Audio brand and the products they bring to the market. I have owned AXR100 and MXN10 both excellent products at a fair price.
It’s refreshing to see you excited about an audio component Gene. Remember why we love this passion, the Music. 🎼 Thanks for this review. This out of my budget constraints, but when I add a streamer to my rig soon, it will be a Cambridge Audio streamer, the AXN10. Great reviews of the Cambridge app’s simplicity and ease of use. 👍🏼🎶😎 8:42
GREAT REVIEW Gene! And great job on adding the bookmarks to the video! I know that takes time and it is appreciated! The fact that you "relegated" the Revel 328be to the guest room is telling to how GREAT the RBH speakers sound! ¡Qué chimba!
I’m very happy with my hifi Rose 520 for about the same investment and it has 100 more watts per channel@8 ohms.I have a small treated room with Arendal 1723 towers and their 2v subwoofer for 2 channel listening.IMHO it is audio and video nirvana when watching Rosetube.I am glad to hear you are on the mend and will continue to do my small monthly gift on Patreon.I’ve been enjoying watching Mike Love on the Sugar Shack channel.Great music with a nice positive vibe.I hope you enjoy Gene,All the best,James(Jay) Bigham!!
Looks really good. Impressive power too. Nice review. 👌
LOVE this review format! 👍EVO needs bass management.
Not for $3400. I'll take an Onkyo or Yamaha from Costco for $450, any day of the week for the feature set and amplification options. I can plug in a basic streamer to my old Pioneer if I want to get silly. Better use of money: buy a nice old stereo and restore it yourself or pay the nice old fart who still owns a repair shop to do it. Then again, I'm not the kind of dood who builds an NAS to rip CD's. I just play CD's through any number of options--FYI, I got into collecting music and music-themed DVD's. It's been quite fun to watch old concerts on new gear. I think that's a much better use of money, for my situation. Your mileage will vary, but watch out for new tech. Failure...she be abundant!
1.21 ! 😆 Love it! ✌🏼
Thanks for the review, Gene! I have a question about how you listen and test all of these products during reviews and when you're just chillin' at home. When you say that you play it at reference, how many dB are you listening at in your chair? Are you doing any calibration and then playing the amps at 0 (reference level)? I'm curious because in the video you mentioned 72dB SPL, but you also said that it was shaking things up at reference level with the Sixteen Tons track. Thanks again, and I'm glad to see that your health is back in full swing post covid, and your hitting the weights again!
Liked mine from a sound quality perspective, screen and features. Very neutral and clean sounding with tight bass and good power. Software issues and reboots put me off. Swapped it for an old school Exposure 3510 with my old CXNv2 and haven’t looked back. Exposure feels more powerful and more “musical” whatever that means. Maybe that’s colouration but either way I love it. One thing that concerned me was the longevity of these super integrated amplifiers. Totally reliant on software. I’d rather keep upgrading the source and keep my amp for longer. What do you think?
Well when you are dealing with digital media, you are dealing with software, there is no way around it.
@@boneseyyl1060 yeah I appreciate that. What I’m saying is from a personal perspective (amplifier wise) the worry about longevity is something that I hadn’t thought about until I was having issues. Will any of these amps (or any other devices) be around in 10 years or will they become bricks like an old smartphone?
@@thebingaling1105that’s what separates are for. Or just get an integrated with no digital. Using a separate dac and streamer.
@@thebingaling1105 Sure I get that. I think the best thing you can say is that at this point it probably isn't going to happen at the rate that it has been going over the past decade or so. Don't forget most of this stuff is industry driven too, in order to get you thinking you need the latest and greatest in order to get you to spend. (Do we really need 8 k TV's) Most of the formats have been set now, and I have'nt heard of any earth shattering technology breakthroughs that will "change everything". Take a look at the vintage equipment market. It is stronger than ever now.
It's impossible to predict the future, but my guess the biggest changes are going to be improvements ( ie: Class D tube amps etc.) rather than technological change. My suggestion would be try not to think about it too much. Personally I bought my dream AVR back in 2005 just when HDMI was coming out. Nevertheless I enjoyed that Denon for almost 20 years until I just recently got my Marantz Cinema 70. So it's a good question but if you wait for the next best thing, you will be cosntantly waiting, is how I see it.
And by the way, software udates acutally keep your equipment from becoming a brick, not the other way around.
Really curious about if this MM phono preamp is enough for higher end turntables such as technics sl-1200G?
I can’t find an in depth technical review of the Technics SU GX70 that many people are considering. Anyone seen one?
I see you’re using 8TC to your Revel’s 😉
I had Matt Reilly a Cambridge Rep come into our store, as we’re not currently a Cambridge Dealer and he was a delight to talk to, extremely informative, and not pushy at all, like some reps can be.
Gene, would it be safe to run a REL sub using a Speakon connector (high level) using this amp? Thanks.
@nathanjones4039 use the sub out and bass management of your REL. Speaker level sub connections only as last resort when you can't use line level.
Streaming as I write this, to Simon Phillips Protocol V(very Proggy) through the Bluesound Node, to a Schiit Gungnir to P6 to A21...
so these new combo pieces basically force you to ditch 2 or 3 pieces of your gear and consolidate. only wish i didnt already have a streamer and a dac and an amp.... that 4 ohm issue would have me nervous driving my maggies . ymmv. nice review as always!
Much better idea to have streamer separate as that is the part that is going to date and become slow etc just like phones it's upgradable tech. Streamers quality and functionality will be constantly getting better. Good quality amp and DACs stand the test of time.
Bad move tying your amp to your streamer long term imo
How about NAD offerings that come with Dirac included. C399 doesn’t look nearly as nice but added functionality is tempting. M33 is quite a bit more money :)
Nice unit for sure.
Awesome! Thinking of grabbing one!
Can you touch on whether this can integrate into a home theater system? Does it have a home theater bypass feature, and perhaps leaving the Marantz AVR to pre-pro mode for 2ch, using the pre outs as an input to the Cambridge? From there can use the L/R pre outs of the Cambridge to a pair of 3000 micro subs, and using the Hypex amps internally for the 705s2’s…
Could be a good way to get both a 2ch integrated amp within a home theater system?
I run a Cinema 70 AVR. Connecting an integrated streamer amp to it more or less duplicates some of what your preamp processor is doing as far as streaming and digital output goes. You're also paying for another phono preamp and inputs with sub out. That seems to me to be a waste of money to spend on duplicate functions. I would want to be sure I prefered the sound of the 2 channel over the Marantz AVR first before spending the money. I honestly don't mind the 70 for 2 channel music. I am using it to biamp my front mains since I don't use my height channel. That is an improvement also. I have a Cambridge AX 35 integrated that I briefly had connected for 2 hannel music but at 35 watts it sounded a little soft compared to the 50 watts biamped of the Marantz.
In short if you don't care about the dupiicate functions and their cost it might give you an enjoyable setup for both 2 channel and home theater. But depending on what Marantz AVR you have, you might save a bit and try a more powerful, high quality 2 channel amp instead. The problem is like Gene says, the market is flooded with these streamer amps at multiple price points, where as the market for separates amplifiers seems to be dwindling. Black Ice and Orchard Audio have some nice tube amps that I am considering though. Have always wanted to try one for music.
Just my 2 cents anyways, take it for what it is.
I think you’re getting tunnel vision. There’s no reason to get this and mix it with a Home Theater setup. You want better performance then instead of spending $3100 on this, but a 2 or 3ch Purfi/Hypex amp and add it to your AVR LCR, and it will cost less and have more power. Then you can buy a steamer of your choice like from Wiim, and just hook it up to your AVR. Your duplicating parts and adding complexity otherwise.
@@andrewskaterrr Agreed. He is essentially talking about putting an integrated amplifier inside an integrated amplifier. The only reason I can see to do this is to have two separate systems interconnected and not have to buy new speakers for the separate system. So he is probably getting a slightly better DAC for music and maybe some better amplification. But a lot of the other features on both amps are duplicated.
I dunno, in some ways it makes sense and in other ways it doesn't. IMO what he is really paying for is a a better DAC. Connecting a better DAC without amplification to the Marantz for music might be a better way to go. The DAC would probably make the biggest sound quality difference vs the amplification. Depending on which Marantz he has, the amplification should be pretty decent in 2 channel mode, especially if he has some spare channels and the speakers can be bi-amped.
@@andrewskaterrr I agree guys.
My SR8015 is using the pre-outs to an Emotiva BasX A3, to supplement the power for LCR. I guess I’m ultimately just looking for a Class D amp to try instead. The AppleTV with AppleMusic is perfectly fine for streaming. It’s limited to 48kHz but my reference system with a MacBook Air running at 96kHz doesn’t sound night and day different…
With modern housing simply ruining much of the listening experience, I would love to see more amplifiers impliment functions such as Dirac or such room correction. Especially when it comes to products like this and it's matching transport with so much WAF factor.
I don't listen to music like I once did simply because the house I live in has an appaling sitting room and it killed the systems performance, so I feel I need to find some entry level point into room correction and not simply some digital graphic equalizer or tone control.
Most of my family now use streaming such as Spotify, none of my family want surround sound, one of my lads simply loves massive fun speakers in stereo with old movies, loves simple electronics and simply doesnt use the transport, lens, dac, pre, power options as its simply too much bother and he worries the power amp will do something due to the thump it's relays make.
I moved from Technics G700mk2 to the Delorean Evo 150. Main reason functionality, is not that much the extra power. The Technics was a gem of an amp and trust me it had lots of power, but this is a greater all-rounder. It does everything, it looks fantastic and with an external headphone amp / DAC from astell and kern connected to the line in of the amp at 2400 US dollars (not cheap), It brought some additional unique characteristics to the sound which made it a better combo for my speakers. The only downside, anything with screens of that kind will lose lots of value if they are not replacable in a few years, food for thought. The limited edition version will hold better for sure. Otherwise, I'd go with Naim option and not with the original Evo 150 in black.
I have had the Nova and now have the Atom , but also use the EVO 150 with some 83db speakers, love them all and can change my mind on my favourite depending on the day of the week very close with all of them, but maybe at low level listening the Atom is the sweet spot
Home theater bypass? I may have missed it if you covered it already?
I'm running an Arcam Solo Uno. Its smaller, less power but works in my SOHO to drive my bookshelves. Had to add a McIntosh MB20 for bluetooth, both of which were dealer demos and together cost less than the price of a new Solo Uno at the time.
I've looked at the EVO as an upgrade, if I decide to upgrade my speakers and want to stick with an all-in-one streamer.
But have to question. TV Arc ... was that eArc or just Arc. (Different versions of HDMI and capacity.)
Would it work with a jellyfin server?
Should have a better class d amp module and dac for the price. Buy a wiim ultra and newer class D power amp and you will be way in front with better sound and streaming plus bass management, room correction, eq, more power and 2k extra to spend on speakers.
@42degrees86 spoken by someone that has no experience with the product in question and just giving recommendations based on specs.
Well the specs matter, isn't that what you pride yourself on? It's a nice design for sure but there are far better performing class d amp modules now although how audible the differences are depends/debatable but it doesn't change the fact that you're paying a lot of money for what is now a pretty cheap amp module. It also is a lower range sabre DAC chip. The wiim offers bass management and room correction. Explain how any of what I said in my original post isn't true?
I own a Cambridge cxa80 by the way, so I don't have any issue with Cambridge audio.
@@42degrees86 Easy: The WiiM Amp has a lot less power on tap than the EVO150. It's even less powerful than the EVO75. :)
The WiiM does have the same DAC and 10 band PEQ and room correction (some development is still going on) and bass management. Great, especially for the price, sure.
@@naibafabdulkobor4301 I am not talking about the wiim amp I am talking about good quality Class D amps like the latest gen hypex and purifi. The wiim Ultra is a DAC/streamer no amp. The Evo is using older class d amp modules and old base level sabre DAC. 3k is a lot of money for the hardware, case is nice though.
Which weighs more... 16 candles or 16 tons? lol
Shame Cambridge Audio EVO 150 Amp doesn't have AV Bypass
It does have HT Bypass under the input settings menu in the app
The Dac iz 🗑️