Cambridge 840c Initial Impressions

[blackraven]

Here's the deal with the 840c over the 740c. The sound is close but there is a definite improvement in bass and treble clarity. Its a small but noticable improvement. The 840c also sounds a little warmer to me and I think thats because of the improvement in bass. And thats with the 840c not even being close to being broken in.
Now I dont have the 740c any more so I cant compare the 2 directly now, but to my ears and my family's the 840c sound better. As to your question is it worth the upgrade, If you have the money it is. If its not in the budget, I don't think you will be missing out on much except the XLR connection that you might be able to use in the future if you ever upgrade your amp. I purchased the 840c because I plan on upgrading to an amp with XLR connections.

Now with that being said, I've read an article where a professional reviewer stated that he could not hear the difference between the balanced and unbalanced sound in the 840c. Another reviewer said it had a punchier sound and the dynamic range seemd to open up.
I also called both spearit sound stores in boston and asked if there was a noticable difference in the unbalnced sound of the 840c and the 740c and one guy said he could not hear the difference and he recommended going with the 740 if you did not have XLR. The guy at the other store felt that there was still a difference between the 2 units with out the XLR to go with the 840. Go figure! To complicate the matter, I emailed Cambridge Audio directly and asked them which one to get if I did not have XLR. They recommended going with the 740c but that every one hear's differently and it was a personal decision on which one to get. There was also one review I found a while back comparing the sound of the 2 players and they gave better marks for the 840c.

Looking at your equipment, I think you would benefit from the 840c's slight warmer sound to go with your Klipsch speakers.. I'd much rather have the 840c than spend the money saved on cables. It looks like you have good cables and besides, cables are cheaper to buy than a new CDP. All the reviews on the 840 call it the one of the best CDP's under $5,000 for a reason.

Look at my thread on some interesting web reviews on the 840c, I think those say it all.

I hope this helps some. And I will update on how the 840 sounds as it is breaking in. As far as the Modded MusicHall. The MusicHall now has a warm and foward sound. I find it great for Rock music but I prefer a more transparent sound for Jazz, Blue's and Classical. I'm going to put the original op amps back in it to push back the sound like it used to be. I modded it to get rid of the jitter and digital glare which the new clock did. But the upgraded Burr-Brown opamps dramatically changed the sound.

One last thing. If your looking for a very musical CD player then I'd go with the Rega Apollo for that. The virtue's of this player are that it has a neutral to slightly warm sound, excellent bass and treble with very good detail, resolution and transparency.

Larry