Cambridge Audio Azur 851D DAC

[StanleyB]

Just saw a review of it at http://www.whathifi.com/review/azur-851d?utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=ENews%20Bulletins&utm_source=May%2012,%202014&utm_content=article_4_read_more
Looks well specced. The Bluetooth especially is likely to be of interest to many.
What caught my attention however was the reviewer comments:
Change to something like a 24-bit/96kHz recording of Snowflake by Kate Bush, however, and a few cracks show in the 851D’s performance.

There’s insight, agility and body, but the DAC is less successful communicating the nuances of the piano or the emotion in Bush’s vocals.
I happen to use that same track for testing sometimes and even gave John a quick burst of it a few days ago.

[oldson]

is bluetooth any good as a connection method? i always find it unreliable.

[AlexM]

Hi Stan,

The 851D seems to use the same digital section as my 851C (Anagram ATF2 upsampler, differential AD1955 DACS). I think it is a very good sounding DAC, and I think it sounds fabulous with both red book format audio and high-res audio. The review comment is a bit odd as it appears to contradict the rest of their review.. actually it reads like typical audio reviewer bollocks.

I'd be interested to see if the APT-X bluetooth module works with my 851C.

Regards,
Alex