This is a review written by Terry Ellis May 2025.

For my video review please see my YouTube channel link here

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First time excitement

We all know the HiFi industry offers us products ranging from very affordable to sell off body parts expensive, and we all have our own take on what is reasonable cost and value for money. I believe that any HiFi that costs around £2000, I dont expect perfection, but at this price level I do expect to start to hear something pretty special going on. There is always that one product that sets the standard for what the others need to do at a price level and I wonder if for integrated amplifiers at £2000 that product is the Cambridge Audio EXA100?

This is my first ever Cambridge Audio product review which is pretty cool in itself, however I have two CA products here. I have the EXA100 integrated amplifier and the EXN100 network player part of the full EX system. Obviously they are designed to be used together and complement each other and I think they look very nice as a stack. I so see them as totally independent products that require their own full reviews especially as when using the two together, at the moment at least I have some questions and doubts where I need to do a lot more testing and comparison listening, so look out more on the duo coming soon.

If you are new to Cambridge Audio HiFi products the EX range is one down from the top and the EXA100 borrows amplifier technology from the top of the range Edge amplifiers. I found that very interesting to know considering there is a big price difference. What I think CA got right here is the industrial design. For starters I really like the lunar grey colour choice. I have gone off plain black boxes and generally prefer silver HiFi these days, but lunar grey hits the middle ground so it can work alongside either silver or black on a rack or on furniture. I think the black central section helps with that blend.

I appreciate the stand out attentions to detail such as the volume control that is very nice in your hands with its robust build and smooth but quite stiff motion. Its easy on the eyes too and I dont mind that at all. Something that really stands out to me is the top down view where the top plate allows you to see through to the silver heat sinks of the amplifier, and the way they surround the central toroidal transformer looks really great. I really like this so kudos to CA they have done an excellent job with this.

Round the back I like the layout of this amplifier where the power is away from the speaker and signal cables. There are two sets of speaker cable outputs that can be used both together or separately, and I don’t know if we really need two outputs on an amplifier these days but some of you must want this and if you do your covered. There are four single ended analogue inputs and one balanced input alongside an array of digital inputs for using the built in DAC with a HDMI ARC input, this will make many people very happy. The USB input has an option for its ground to be lifted or not I have never seen that before. There is also an option to float the ground of the whole amplifier or not and you don’t see that very often. For those who think someone put funny mushrooms in their coffee yes all the labelling is both ways, allowing you to see more easily how to wire up when your leaning over and doing it upside down. That is a pretty cool idea although it does mess with my eyes a little bit. One last thing on the rear to mention is the little switch where you can turn The EXA100 into a pure power amplifier if you wanted to use a different preamplifier. This is a common option but rarely have I felt I would ever use it, but I could see some doing it here as the amplifier is worthy.

Insides look good

Removing the lid to look inside was a little fiddly but the first thing I noticed is how jam packed this amplifier is. It certainly made me appreciate the amplifiers slightly heavier weight and its larger size compared to some of its peers, the space is all being used. But your eyes are drawn to the central shielded toroidal transformer that is very substantial and silent in operation and how the internal heatsinks surround the transformer in a very cool way, considering this the internals no-one will likely ever see, except you can see it through the grills, again this is cool.

Cambridge told me the amplifier uses 4 layer PCB’s for better power distribution, the sensitive feedback circuit is kept away from the transformer and capacitors for better noise rejection. The speaker cable terminals are soldered directly to the board to reduce connector contact distortion, the DAC board has extra circuitry for its reference voltage for better performance with a big list of other attentions to detail as part of the overall design, too many to go through. For the DAC section its using an ESS Sabre 9018K2M chip, so not the latest and greatest and I was keen to see what that might mean for its sound quality.

The remote control is a big chunky plastic remote and that is fine as its quite a nice remote to hold in your hands and use. It’s a control a whole EX system from the same remote and that means it has a lot of buttons you may or may not end up using, that type of remote control. It uses 3 AAA batteries and I don’t remember ever seeing that before for a HiFi product remote.

The EXA100 is a class A/B designed amplifier that can deliver 100 watts per channel into 8 ohms, likely hence the name, and 155 watts into 4 ohms per channel, so that is a healthy amount of power on paper.  It does feature a headphone amplifier too which is obvious with the input clearly on the front panel. The EXA100 costs £1999 and it sits in a very competitive price range so the big question becomes does the Cambridge deliver the sound quality standard I think is needed at this price and how does it compare to other integrated’s that do?

Big sonic expectations

For sound quality I started listening to both EX products as a whole system and as they are designed to work together I had big expectations, but both were brand new and needed to run in. I played them solidly for 72 hours listening every now and then and I didn’t really notice too much change in the sound past the first few hours, so for run in or burn in there is not much to say. Listening to the EX system after this period of time there were some very good things happening sonically but also a few things I wasn’t sure about and the problem with reviewing a whole system is how do you know what is doing what, you can’t.

I had to separate the two and use them with system components that I am very familiar with and I felt that the EXA was the more capable of the two EX products. The EXA seemed to be a very capable integrated amplifier for the money based on my initial listening impressions and this proved true the more testing I did. Putting a bigger and higher performing separates digital front end, all from HiFi Rose, before the EXA the sound it could deliver through my Mission 770 speakers got a lot better in some key areas, sound stage scale, fullness of the vocals and the bass, but the big one here for this amplifier was the improved dynamics.

The first thing I noticed about the EXA was how ballsy it sounded and I appreciate that is not a technical review term but hopefully most of you will understand what I mean. The EXA sounded powerful, it sounded lively, it sounded energetic it sounded dynamic with a strong and full bass but there was lot of control over the speakers so the bass was tight and composed. The sound stage was organised and clearly delivered so and small details didn’t get lost in the mass of the overall sound.

I listened through a huge mixture of music that included some modern classics, some electronic, some classical, some dub, some reggae and some drum and bass and I was struggling to find anything I didn’t like about the EXA driving the Mission speakers. The bass was strong and that is not the Missions big strength so that was great, but the Missions lovely vocal character and smoothness was all there with their softer more delicate treble clarity and detail, that was all there too, with just a touch of extra liveliness.  This all combined with a great sense of timing and pace to the music, so rhythms were delivered with a good energy about them and that is great for uplifting your mood.

Listening at lower volumes this was still true but I listened very loud to just over half way on the volume and the EXA stayed clean in its delivery only just starting to “harden up” with specific songs that are on the edge anyway. One example could be the Arcane League of Legends OST, the track “What could have been by Sting. I love this track but it gets intense with a fair amount of compression and even very loud the EXA held the composure of the music together without loosing the sense of layering and small details, and I found this very impressive for showing how in control of the speakers the EXA was. Considering how lit up with energy the Mission were sounding there was still a good amount of smoothness and not harshness so I would definitely add he EXA to a list of amplifiers I have used with the Missions that I think would be a great choice.

Another stand out sonic positive has been the sound staging depth clarity, the way music is perceived as coming from behind or just not from the speakers. I don’t remember the Mission doing it this well, this clearly and well defined with this price level of amplifier. I could also get two slightly different presentations, if I used the balanced input the sound was a little clearer a little more open, or airy and a little more specific but also a little leaner, where as connecting via RCA or single ended the sound was a little more congested but more full and solid and strong and I think I preferred the single ended sound, especially for digital music.

Vinyl or DAC

I preferred the balanced input for listening to vinyl and that was likely because the “best” output from my Modwright PH9XT Phono stage is its balanced, although I tested vinyl using singled ended RCA too and it was a good choice still.

The turntable or vinyl setup I have here at the moment really does sound fantastic as a music source, I have got it all working great and I am super happy about that, and this created another great test for the EXA, could it keep up? Yes it could, it delivered a fantastic overall sound that was again big and full, dynamic and clear with a great toe taping rhythm. I never feel like I have enough time listening to records during reviews because its slows going, but the limited number I listened to sounded great and I have no complaints here.

Testing the built in DAC was another surprise because my comparison here was to the HiFi Rose RD160, an over £4k stand alone DAC and at first I thought they sounded pretty much the same, with the built in DAC sounding a little more “ballsy”, a little thicker and bolder so that was very impressive. However it only took me about 20 minutes to realise there is an obvious benefit to the built in DAC for how its tuned to work with the amplifier, however it does sound more congested and shouty with densely layered complex music when comparing the two. Testing the Sting track again there is a bit of chunkiness to how it sounds too so its not as refined or as clear or as resolving or as smooth as the more expensive external Rose DAC, however with some music it sounded very close. While not perfect, the built in DAC seems to be a good implementation for a built in one or really for how it works as a whole system. Kudos to the CA engineers for this one.

In isolation the Cambridge EXA has seemed like an outstandingly good integrated amplifier for its price delivering a very dynamic, lively, energetic, clean, clear and smooth controlled ballsy sound, all very impressive and definitely delivering to my expectations at this price level however I needed to compare to others to really know how good it is.

A tough comparison

I compared the EXA against the Audiolab 9000a, an integrated I have had here for a long time and have tested against many others so knowing how the EXA compared to the 9000a was telling to me far wider than just the one comparison. I also tested it against the Arcam Radia A25 an integrated that costs around £500 less to test the value proposition of the EXA.

I started by using the external Rose DAC to test them all purely as integrated amplifiers. I started with the Arcam and straight away there was easily a £500 difference in the performance. The Arcam sounded very nice but did it not drive the Mission speakers seemingly as well, the bass was leaner, the sound was not as clear or as energetic or as dynamic, the sound stage was not as 3D or as clear and music got more shouty more quickly as I raised the volume. This was a very telling comparison for the value for money proposition of the EXA.

Next was the better price matched comparison the Audiolab, that I know is a very good integrated and works well with the Mission 770. This comparison was much closer in terms of general sound quality. It was quite hard to separate the two in terms of overall performance, both were at quite a similar performance level but different. The Cambridge is a little more driving, the more dynamic and energetic sounding of the two, so music sounds a little more exciting and punchy, especially in the bass. That is what makes it seem the more powerful or more ballsy amplifier of the two, however the Audiolab’s super power is its unwavering smoothness and rock solid composure, even at very loud volumes. The 9000a gripped the Missions very well to deliver an excellently controlled and smooth overall sound with no tension or hardness to the music ever, so it sounded the more relaxed of two. This created a pro and con situaiton and becomes more about preference and system matching I feel.

Next I wanted do the same testing but using the built in DACs because here the Audiolab should have a distinct advantage as it uses a higher end DAC chip the ESS Sabre 9038 Pro, so it should be clear cut that the Audiolab will sound the much better of the two. I think the Audiolab did benefit from the better built in DAC’s extra music clarity and resolution, the sound stage was clearer cut sounding than from the Cambridge and you have some different DAC filter modes so you can adjust or tweak really the sound a little to your taste, you don’t get that option with the EXA. The Audiolab sounds really nice from its internal DAC, but here is where the biggest difference between these amplifiers stood out to me. The Cambridge using its internal DAC delivers music with a lot more energy, drive and immediacy so music is more on the front foot lively. The Audiolab never seems to come out of the same smooth sounding gear, even after turning the volume up quite a lot to try and make it loosen its shackles and sound more dynamic and energetic, it doesn’t have the next gear up to do that.  Some of this has to be the DAC implementation and its tempo or music composure is still unwavering in its smoothness which is great, but it doesn’t match the Cambridge for dynamics. Yes the Cambridge does sound a little thick and not as crisp clear but that short coming is masked really well by its very lively, dynamic and “ballsy” sound.

Maybe music doesn’t sound technically as good in ways but it’s a more fun listen because it sounds bigger, or grander in scale and energetic and I think that had me tapping my feet to the music more meaning I was enjoying it more. When music becomes more of an event or experience to sit and listen to that is where a special experience starts to begin. Don’t get me wrong you still get a healthy portion of this from 9000a but in a more delicate or maybe vague sounding way and that is not quite as engaging with the music I generally listen to, or have been listening to recently.

I did prefer the Cambridge overall and I couldn’t care less what DAC chip its using, that becomes irrelevant once you press play and sit and listen. Kudos again to Cambridge for maximising their DAC design in the EXA100, its not perfect and doesn’t do everything right, but the flaws have been cleverly masked by some big sonic positives where the overall music presentation picture trumps the small specificities.

Final Thoughts

I would still use an external DAC for both of these integrated amplifiers because they can both give you a better overall listen when you do, but as the EXA offers HDMI ARC I could use that for my TV sound and still use a dedicated HiFi DAC for music and that would be a great way to set a system up.

For my final thoughts on the Cambridge Audio EXA100, I think it’s a very well done integrated amplifier that is doing enough to stand out at its very competitive price point. I think it looks nice, I think its built very well and its sound quality is an excellent balance between energetic and lively with composure and control so you can turn it up and enjoy a very dynamic music experience without it making your teeth go on edge and did I say it sounds surprisingly ballsy – I think I did, I hope I did.

An Essential Audition Award is granted in recognition of a products high performance but with a certain uniqueness that makes auditioning even more essential.

For the full specification of the Cambridge Audio EXA100 see their website linked here