I was using my Apple AirPort Express in combination with the Audioengine D1 DAC to stream using AirPlay from my iPad playing Apple Music (AFLAC). I was wondering if a new network streaming device would improve the sound. I have a nice Yamaha receiver with NHT speakers/subwoofer along with Andrew Jones Pioneer tower speakers. I would say that for the $1800 investment in those components it sounds pretty damn good. Anyway, back to the MXN10. The Audioengine D1 DAC uses a chip that is about 10 years old. The MXN10 uses a recent chip which would be considered an upgrade. So I am streaming as with my original setup using Airplay. I immediately noticed a brighter, cleaner, fuller sound which is amazing considering that I had a pretty good setup to begin with. I was going to return the unit if I couldn’t detect an improvement. Instead I am the proud owner of what is considered the best network streamer for the money.

Libère le cellulaire, bon son et une bonne variété de radios.

Setup for both the streamer and the app was easy and it sounds great!

If you are going to play music through usb storage, please reconsider your decision. The app cannot read some usb storage. Even if the usb storage can be read, the files cannot be opened right away. The app could fail to open the files after a long period of waiting.But if you only listen to the music through internet, it works perfectly.

This device was easy to set up and also got me into streaming. It works flawless, no drop outs, great sound using digital outputs to my amp.Using currently with Spotify and my amp but also over chromecast to some network Onkyp speakers. Still to try other options such as Airplay 2. But I love it!

I was looking for a standalone streaming component for my HiFi that would get my iPhone off of its USB leash for streaming Qobuz. After initially looking hard at the popular BlueSound Node (and learning of its slightly veiled sound quality according to many users and reviewers), and not needing the multi-room capabilities of the Node, I started looking elsewhere. Of course, that brought me to the relative newcomer from WiiM. I read really good things about their sound quality and the app that runs it (apparently, they have a top notch software developer and their customer service rates highly according to users), but I dislike the plastic hockey-puck form factor and I felt like it was limited in other ways, especially the Chromecast solution for streaming Qobuz, which I did not want (ie. gapped playback and clunky interface and being prone to freezing -- it's old tech after all.)I learned that Cambridge Audio was releasing a new streaming device in two form factors, chassis-width being the sole difference between them - MXN10 for what John Darko has dubbed 'Kallax-Fi' and the AXN10 for matching up to full-width components in a hifi rack. After reading of the capabilities and supposed sound quality, and importantly, the sophistication of their long-developed StreamMagic app, I figured the MXN10 offered the best mix of features and sound quality I was after.And I have to say, this simple little device has not let me down. At all. Truly excellent sound quality backed by the absolutely solid StreamMagic app, and the connectivity I needed for my small system, makes it a very good choice indeed.Things I like:-Sound quality - the ESS DAC is well implemented and the analog output circuitry downstream of it is done to an excellent standard.-Ease of setup and use (it found my network and connected quickly).-StreamMagic app is smooth and rugged, and offers easy access to Qobuz Favorites and playlists, as well as new releases, etc.-Form factor and design is minimalist and handsome.-Cambridge's support for customers and for their products is second to none. They take pains to discover what users like or dislike, what new features they'd love, and they get to work on how to implement those. The newly-updated ability to change volume from the StreamMagic app being one standout case for this device.-The in-app feature allowing users to submit feedback and ideas to Cambridge and then almost immediately getting a follow-up email from a real person with suggestions or tips is a surprising, and welcome one. [Case in point, I was a little frustrated with the way the Queue worked in the app, and I offered feedback to where clicking Play on a new album or playlist would clear the current queue and start anew with the current desired album or playlist. The follow-up email tech offered the handy tip of clicking the three vertical dots at the top of an album or playlist and selecting 'Replace Queue', accomplishing in one click that which I desired. This works even on large playlists, like my Favorite Tracks in Qobuz!-Integration of music file playback from a USB drive is very well done! Once I learned how to organize the files on the drive by artist and then by album, all with artwork and images, this streamer/file player just plain works with ease. And everything from lossless CD-quality FLAC up to a number of DSD64 files sound wonderful through this unit. So much so that I now find myself buying quality downloads much more often.-Offers Roon capability, though I have not yet trodden that path.Things I dislike:-Apple Music is still relegated to AirPlay functionality, which is very much a sub-standard, and NOT bit-perfect playback solution. This one's more on Apple's conceited proprietary nonsense than it is on Cambridge, and as such, it does work well and sounds acceptably good, all things considered.-The StreamMagic app, good as it is, is simply no match for the actual Qobuz app, offering no access to enlarged album covers (pinch and zoom) or to the pdf booklets that are offered with some albums (mostly Classical, it seems). [Qobuz is currently working on a 'Connect' feature for their app that would presumably work much like Spotify's, a VERY welcome feature. I am certain that Cambridge will be quick to implement support for this on the MXN10.]-I would have appreciated a couple of inputs on this device to allow connection of a CD player through analog RCA's or a S-PDIF connection for a CD transport to utilize the MXN10's very good sounding DAC.-I am not bothered by the lack of a display on the front of the unit, but there are many who would love to have seen that.-The MXN10 has dropped connection to my network once or twice but a quick Off/On solved that with no problems.In summary, the Cambridge Audio MXN10 is, for me, the best combination of sound quality and feature sets in the sub-$600 price range. The primary competition from WiiM or BlueSound really only need to be looked at if one absolutely needs the most affordable device (WiiM) or needs multi-room streaming support (Node).

My Original April '23 Review, followed by July and August '23 updates:This is a superb choice in terms of functionality and above all sound if you have a DAC and/or a preamp. With this model you can feed the pure unmodified digital files from Qobuz FLAC files and other streaming services at the highest resolutions to your digital preamp or, if functionality is your main concern, stream from the Qobuz app directly, or stream virtually anything including Pandora by selecting the Cambridge Audio as a “speaker” in iOS and Android.You do not get a screen as you do with its big brother, the CXN but that model costs twice as much. However, if you do not have a digital processor with volume control, or an analog preamp with volume control, then the CXN may be your choice as that model does have volume control. Also the MXN model is mostly geared for those who do not want to connect the computer to your stereo but insist on the best sound. I have not listened to the analog output of this unit but the digital feed is outstanding and rock solid. Definitely an audiophile’s choice.July 23 Review:In my past review (at top) I assessed how the MXN10 was working as a streaming device to feed my preamp/processor's digital to analog converter. I wasn't employing the MXN10's analog output, yet was intrigued to try it, especially given its ES9033Q delta sigma digital to analog chipset, a bit newer than the ES9028Q2M's used in the Cambridge Audio's "companion" to this unit, the esteemed DAC Magic 200M. The chipsets do determine a lot of the characteristic sound of a DAC, though the rest of the electronics and power source of course do make a big difference. Much of the magic of the CXN, for example, relates to its use of the venerable Wolfson line of digital to analog chipset decoders.My extended observations below might be of value to some of the owners of legacy systems who might want to use the MXN10 as a ticket to renewing their systems, i.e. using the MXN10 as a streamer *and* as a DAC. And for this I can report that it also works great! A few months in, I can now emphatically say that the MXN10 has been one of my best purchases. It has helped me rediscover stereo soundworks after chasing the meager returns of multichannel cinema and tv audio for years.I also compared the MXN10 to other DACs I own. I preface to say that the magic of music is musicians making joyful and sorrowful and amazing noise -- hi-fi is only a poor substitute; all lovers of music should support musicians as much as they care about tech!To assess the MXN10's analog out, I listened critically to its analog line out connected to the Schiit Freya N, which is a 100% analog preamp that can play three roles: as a totally passive calibrated relay volume control, as an impedance buffer with zero gain, and lastly by functioning as a traditional tube preamplifier with a 10 db gain. All of my testing was done with speakers, at normal to loud volume levels.In the passive setting, with the MXN10 as the source, the resulting music was quite thin and with little bass. I tried the buffer setting, and the bass and mid-range expanded, and the sound was fine -- but not remarkable or extraordinary. I then tried the tubes, using the 6N1P Schitt stock tubes. The sound was fat, a bit garish. Not my cup of tea. Then I swapped the 6N1P with a pair of Telefunken ECC88, sat back, and... suddenly then room was full with people breathing and singing, beating on drums, somehow containing a soundstage about 3 feet wider beyond my speakers and 3 feet deep, with clear dimensionality. Simply unbelievable! Some describe the Telefunken as holographic and indeed they are! Piano sounded as if I was on stage, turning pages (which I have, in fact, with the range of pianists, from students to world class musicians). My jaw on the floor, a totally unexpected wonderful surprise!With more 'tube rolling' experience under my belt, I can say that the MXN10 sounds incredible with a Schiit Freya alongside very highly esteemed tubes such as the Amperex Bugle Boy, or the Telefunken/Siemens family -- with no noise and performance that easily exceeds much more expensive solid state rigs costing 10x more. Those who want to use the MXN10 as a source and don't want to fuss, probably can pair it to a Van Alstine Audio (AVA) tube integrated amplifier and be in music heaven, period.Turning to the MXN10's DAC and A|B comparisons. The MXN10 unit sounds very, very close to the Topping E30 II DAC with dual AK4493 chips at the f-5 filter setting, but I do believe that the Cambridge Audio streamer is a bit muted in the midrange, less shrill, and improving a bit on the sides of the soundstage. The MXN10 is, to me, nearly indistinguishable to the sound of the SMSL DO100 DAC with its dual ES9038Q2M chips at the fl6 filter setting. None of these DAC "flavors" are "wrong" but are a bit different. Fortunately, we are moving away from the idea that all DACs sound the same -- that is clearly not the case. The inclusion of filters in many DACs conveys that clearly.While I do love my SMSL DO100 when connected to my studio monitors and computer, at least to my ears cheap (under $1,000) delta sigma DACs create a weird area of high frequency noise across larger soundstages of six, and clearly at ten feet or more separation between speakers, and they are a bit tiresome to listen to for hours on end. It becomes a bit difficult to tell where exactly the cymbals and hi-hats, for example, are in space, or to clearly differentiate multiple string instruments in a quartet, not to say an orchestra. After having many DACs, I have kept returning to the legacy Denon CD players even before I knew they were using older R2R multibit chipsets such as the Burr Brown PCMxx. (Though I have to say that the delta sigma Cirrus Logic chipsets do sound simply wonderful in multichannel movie sound processing, and that expensive six sigma dacs such as the Myteks, even the Schiit Gungnir DS definitely can fight a multibit DAC, not to say the Chord Hugos).So, I hooked up the MXN10 to the toslink, and then the coax, to feed a new Schitt Modi Multibit 2 DAC, which uses an Analog Devices AD5547, analog summing, and a discrete JFET buffer, echoing their top of the line Yggdrasil+ "OG" flavor, but without the near ten-fold larger price. To my ears, the Modi Multibit 2 is no fair competition to the MXN10 DAC as it is in a different league. With the Modi, the bass feels free and as fluid as it is strong, drumkits suddenly materialize, and electronic music beats simply raise from zero to 100 in near-instant time. Perhaps due to the integrated circuit OpAmp in the MXN10 vs discrete analog out electronics of the Modi Multibit, the MXN10 never reaches nearly the same explosive bass in volume or speed. Further, with the Modi Multibit the soundstage further solidifies it is possible to track cymbals, hi-hats, and each key press of a harpsichord in space; brass and horns have a fabulous shine and presence.With the Modi Multibit, perplexingly, in between various instruments across the soundstage the Modi adds nothing and hence the sound can feel empty, or "black" compared to cheaper six sigma DACs as the MXN10 and the Topping -- but this is actually closer to how musicians sound in real life. I strongly recommend the Modi Multibit 2 as a companion to the MXN10, though in these glory days of DACs, the Geshelli, Denafrips, Musician, or the Bifrost, are all excellent alternatives, but of course these last three are as expensive than the MXN10 and the Modi Multibit combined. Even though the Modi Multibit has a mechanical click whenever it unlocks and locks to the PCM stream, these two excellent devices are a keeper and indeed a fantastic duo! You simply can't go wrong with this pair at this price point!In closing, I have much more enjoyed the very high quality audio of my MXN10 and it has been a bridge to rediscovering the joys of stereo sound where even a few minutes a day of listening pays back in droves. Kudos to Cambridge Audio (and Schiit)! I thoroughly applaud Cambridge Audio's choices of preserving the integrity of files streamed by *not* including a volume control in the streamer, and by not adding the licensing cost of MQA.July 23 note on my original April review, re wifi connectivity:Some users mention they had connectivity issues. This has not been my experience. I have had only about 2-3 instances in six months time where the MXN10 did not connect to my Wifi in less than 2 seconds, that is, cases where I had to physically press the out-of-stand-by button. My recommendation here is to allow the device to go into only a soft standby, as specified during setup. It is also possible to specify for the unit to never go to standby, with the StreamMagic app. Also, Quboz serves even larger FLACs in a matter of 1-2 seconds for the largest files not in the buffer, never reaching more than 60 mbit/sec in usage, as measured by my prosumer Unify network, a rate that should be compatible with most garden-variety broadband plans and without using compressed lossy files.August 23, 2023 Update:MXN10 and Modi Multibit 2 continue to be a great pair! The Cambridge Audio app is not perfect but does the job. Also finding Qobuz wonderful from my computer and streaming into my big rig audio system with the MXN10 at the helm. The durability of the MXN10 also is making it a great companion to next level DACs like Gungnir and Mytek).