Cambridge Audio is a venerable British hi-fi company with a history dating back to 1968. Its first product, the P40, was an innovative amplifier that sounded far better than its price suggested – and this was the blueprint for the company's success. Thirty years later, it's still applying the formula with products like the DAC Magic – a budget digital converter that smoked the opposition in both sound quality and value terms. Fast forward to 2024, and the new Evo One streaming speaker is the company's answer to an all-in-one music centre.

UP CLOSE

The Evo One has no less than six 70mm long-throw woofers, four 100mm aluminium-coned midrange drivers and four 25mm silk tweeters. The midrange and tweeter pairs are located at the front corners of the speaker, as well as on the sides, while the woofers are located on all four sides. Each speaker is fed with a healthy 50W of Class D power for each speaker, making that a total of 700 watts.

As a package, it looks very handsome. I especially like the real walnut veneer, which covers the whole top surface save for a small metal badge. Its weight is supported by the most substantial-looking metal stand I've seen for such a product. From the listening position, the front panel LCD screen is the first thing that catches your attention. The 6.8" IPS TFT screen is bright and clear, with a resolution of 1,280x480 pixels. Brightness can be adjusted and toggle between various modes, including a virtual VU meter display, which is all the rage nowadays. The display can be turned off.

At the rear, the Evo One accepts digital signals via TOSLINK, a line-level signal via RCA sockets and even a turntable (moving magnet only). A USB-A socket lets you play music files stored on a thumb or hard drive while TV or video sources connect via a single HDMI eARC socket. The unit offers both wirelessly and wired network connectivity. The mains cable is detachable via a figure-of-eight plug, which is useful for longer runs or if you want to experiment with aftermarket cords. Inputs are thoughtfully labelled both normally and upside down.

The unit is controlled by a single row of backlit buttons beneath the screen or through the StreamMagic app. I prefer the feel of physical buttons to touchscreens, so this suited me fine. The supplied plastic infra-red remote control offers control over basic functions, but you will need to use the app to operate the unit meaningfully. A more stylish metal remote control would have been more appropriate here.

As a first-time user, I had no difficulties installing the app, setting up the unit and navigating through the menus. I liked that you could customise your active inputs and set individual volume trims, which is useful to avoid having your ears blasted out when moving from a soft to a loud volume source. You can also tailor the sound to your liking via a seven-band equaliser (EQ) adjustable between -6 and +3dB, as well as a room adjustment mode, which takes into account rear wall distance and the reflectiveness of the room. The EQ has six presets in addition to your own custom settings. However, the latter cannot be saved or assigned to a specific input, which is a shame. Perhaps this can be rectified in a firmware update.

The Bluetooth 5.1 input supports SBC and AAC codecs. The lack of more advanced and high-resolution codecs is missed, but this gets the job done. I observed some latency when streaming video from my mobile phone. The Evo One does not decode Dolby Digital or DTS and only accepts a PCM stereo signal from your video source. If home theatre is your thing, this is not the product for you. There is also no way to add surround speakers or a subwoofer to the Evo One.

The excellent StreamMagic app lets you listen to major music streaming services and internet radio and supports Google Cast and Airplay 2. UPnP media servers are also supported, and the Evo One is Roon Ready. Major music file formats can be played, and the DAC can handle PCM signals of up to 32-bit, 384kHz for PCM and DSD128. I set up the Evo One in my bedroom, placing it on a hi-fi rack beneath my TV set. For music sources, I played music from my Roon server and a small library of files on a connected thumb drive.

THE LISTENING

Comparisons with a conventional stereo speaker pair would be meaningless. The left and right speakers are placed closer together here, and you will not get comparable soundstage width or depth. However, the speakers project a reasonably wide soundstage if you are seated less than two metres away, with the sonic image lumping together beyond that. The sweet spot is pretty wide, too, making listening an unselfish activity. The Evo One also sounds best when placed at listener height or up to 15 degrees below your listening plane.

Fire up the Cambridge and it sure makes an impact. Rich, powerful and dynamic, whether you're listening to music or movies, it is fun to listen to. However, the strong bass muddies vocals until it is attenuated via the EQ settings. Movies also require a boost in the midband to improve dialogue. Since custom settings cannot be saved, I found myself having to adjust the EQ each time I switched between music and movies. Once dialled in, bass quality is actually very good, with detail and control for music, plus slam and thump for movies. In fact, the sound is big enough that you won't miss a subwoofer; Cambridge Audio claims it reaches down to 38Hz (-3dB).

Listening to Comme un tango by Vincent Belanger & Anne Bisson, the opening bass and cello notes went deep while retaining detail and texture. Harp and piano notes remained distinct and had good separation, although the upper registers had comparatively less energy, making these instruments sound less prominent in the mix. The midrange sounds smooth and warm. GEM's vocals on her live rendition of Amazing Grace were powerful and engaging, reverberating nicely in the venue. I especially liked how the Evo One projected her voice without diminishing the scale of the performance one bit. The flattering timbre also helped tame poor and sibilant recordings, making them listenable.

High-frequencies are smooth as silk, with a gentle delivery that makes music unfatiguing. However, this can hamper the enjoyment of rock and dance music, where guitar riffs and melody lines lack incision. Day Break by Hiroyuki Oda left me feeling the beats but not quite tranced out or ready to dance.

Vinyl lovers haven't been left out of the party. The phono stage is competent and has partnering capabilities beyond the usual budget turntable suspects. I tried out my Luxman PD-171A turntable with a Denon DL-103R MC cartridge (with the signal boosted to MM levels by a Graham Slee Elevator electronic step-up). The phono stage was quiet and reproduced music with good dynamics, tonality and clarity.

The Evo One will easily rattle the competition with sheer bass power and dynamics for movies. However, without surround sound decoding or a dedicated centre channel speaker, you will not enjoy fancy sound effects or having your dialogue locked to your TV screen. The latter is most noticeable to viewers seated off-centre from the screen. Once past these limitations, the Evo One convincingly rumbles your room with gunshots, explosions and the usual home theatre sonic fare. This speaker really shined when listening to music videos and concerts. Watching Hikaru Utada's Laughter in the Dark Tour 2018, vocals were clear, with good separation between the various instruments. The applause from the audience was convincing, with a real sense of spaciousness and atmosphere.

THE VERDICT

Cambridge Audio's new Evo One is a winner in my book. Its warm and inoffensive nature won't charm everyone, but I fell under its spell. It has a rich and expansive sound, looks great, and offers impressive functionality at a reasonable cost.

One for the audition list if you're looking for fine sound from a single box.

For more information visit Cambridge Audio