This is a review written by Terry Ellis April 2026.

For my video review please see my YouTube channel link here

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How good is good enough

The biggest question for HiFi sound quality is do you get what you pay for? I think in the main yes you do, but in 2025 there is so much competition happening in the music streaming DAC network player category you have to constantly question this because the Cambridge Audio EXN100 seems very much out specified and out featured compared to its much more affordable competitors, so its very apt to ask do we get what we pay for here.

Old fashioned approach

HiFi is one of those really weird hobbies where it seems like the more money you spend on a product the less you actually get from it in terms of what it does for you. If you have been into the hobby for a while you will be used to this but I can imagine its difficult for outsiders or someone new to comprehend.  I think there are two different camps of music streaming DAC products. There are what I am going to call “Lounge Fi”, small, modern looking, highly specified fully featured units like the peoples champion the WiiM Ultra or for a bit more money the Bluesound Node Icon.

The Cambridge Audio EXN100 is the complete opposite, its taking what I think is the “old school” HiFi approach using a full width chassis, all metal construction and simplicity for the user to a point, but its definitely the most CD player like from the three. I think the EXN100 is a nicely styled HiFi product that manages to look modern even with a more traditional design. I think it would look very nice sat on either a traditional HiFi rack or normal TV type furniture, largely thanks to the lunar grey colour finish.

It has the expected mod con of a 4.7 inch screen that is nice enough and it gives us a few different VU meter options or a few album art + text options if you prefer that. It is not a touch screen and why that matters to some people I don’t know, but I alsi know that is does matter but what I think is more important is the screen was not really a large enough to see clearly sat a distance away.

Looking inside

The EXN100 has an impressive number of connections allowing it to become more of a media hub for you than just a music streaming DAC. It has HDMI EARC for connecting to your TV as well as several digital inputs and outputs. There is both single ended and balanced analogue outputs which I like in practice but we need to come back to this. I am not the biggest fan of the unit needing external aerials for WiFi and Bluetooth duties however they are very small.

I do like the all metal build compared to plastic, I think it feels more premium and call me crazy but I like that there is a proper IEC input for a proper power cable. The EXN100 is not the heaviest HiFi product, in fact I think some remote controls feel heavier but everything feels well built until you tap the lid, it does resonate like there is hardly anything inside.

Popping the lid to look to make sure was something in there I was greeted with the very nicely laid out and impressive looking circuitry. The EXN100 is very clearly running Cambridge’s own StreamMagic platform in its 4th generation and that means wide streaming service support and more. There are two major details that stood out to my non engineer eyes. Firstly is the power supply being switching based and not toroidal transformer based as many of the CA’s price competitors use. It also seems like it’s at least some of the same power supply that is used in the more affordable CXN range.

The second detail is the DAC and analogue output section that is using an older ESS Sabre 9028Q2M chip with a custom output stage that does look comprehensive. You can call me impressed by the amount of CA logos everywhere showing that this is a fully custom designed product and I think that is cool, but the reality is there is a lot of empty space inside the casework. I think this is likely due to Cambridge wanting the EXN range to have matching form factors and the EXA100 integrated amplifier is fully loaded with parts so needs to be large. That is why I called the EXN100 old school or maybe traditional is the better description but being larger than the very compact WiiM or a Bluesound Node Icon doesn’t mean we are getting a unit fully loaded with parts and I think that is important to know.

StreamMagic 

For music streaming support I liked flicking through the options on the front screen, the EXN is Roon ready, supports Chromecast, Airplay 2 and Bluetooth with direct support for Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer and Amazon music including all three of the Connect services. I have something interesting to share about Qobuz connect that might surprise you.

The Cambridge StreamMagic app I think is simple and easy to use by design. The home page layout is easy to understand and find what you need so the app doesn’t feel visually overwhelming or cumbersome, all the main setup options such as screen brightness is easy to find. Since a recent update there are now some new audio options, one is a 7 band equaliser that could be useful for some but I did not try it. There is now a room compensation option which sounds like it could be room correction but it is not. Instead it is a slider that will automatically apply some equalisation to try and help tune the sound to your listening room from extremely lively to a little more furnished. I did try this just to see what it does and the first thing you notice is how much quieter the music gets, that is to allow some digital headroom to apply the equalisation. That means you will need to the turn the amplifier volume up a lot more and remember this if you plan to do an on off test which is definitely a snag with this approach.

Navigating Qobuz inside StreamMagic was easy with the overall responsiveness of the app being pretty good. One thing I am not a fan of is the lists of options, I much prefer it when an app has a fully visual flowing nature to it. Going from nice visuals to a written list feels old fashioned although its not the end of the world. Once you get to the album art everything is good and again its fast to navigate to music want to play or queue. The overall app experience is fine, it’s not the best out there but it’s far from the worst by some margin. I do think if you are new to music streaming you would master using StreamMagic very quickly but power users might feel it’s light on features.

The EXN100 costs £1599 so a chunk of money, but not crazy expensive depending on its performance. However it might seem very expensive next to the WiiM Ultra that seems to do more and costs less than a third £349. The same could be said for the Bluesound Node Icon that does more including offering Dirac Live and still costs only about half £899 and there are other products that do the same so my dilemma becomes deciding who do I think the EXN100 is for?

Who is it for?

Normally I find it quite easy to see the prospective buyer of a HiFi product and don’t get me wrong I can see many being happy with the Cambridge however if I was buying a music streaming DAC in this price category I would be looking for something that is stand out about it. I see this sector of the market very much as a buyers market so as a consumer I would want to know what incentives has that manufacturer given me to choose their product.

The first obvious incentive is the partnering match up with the EXA100 integrated amplifier, which is my current favourite integrated under £2000. Even the big Cambridge remote the EXA100 comes with makes more sense when you have both EX products as you can control features of the EXN a little more like a CD player, I can see the appeal of this to some. I think it will be the visual appeal of having both components match on either a rack or in furniture that will have the big draw but is that enough of an incentive on its own, maybe for some but I don’t think everyone.

Cambridge have added the incentive of a higher specified DAC being used in the EXN compared to whats used in the EXA. I think this is a sensible move because it’s not always the case, some manufacturers put the exact same DAC in the whole range and that is confusing and I would like to see this change. DAC chip nerds will see a newer and assumed higher specified DAC chip(s) being used,  and two of them  in the Bluesound Node Icon but does that mean it sounds better or could the Cambridge with more physical space design a better analogue output stage? Would either of them sound noticeably better than the peoples champion the WiiM ultr at its much lower price point. I needed to know all of this.

Sound quality

When it comes to the sound quality I have had a mixed experience with the EXN100. Back in March when I first got both Cambridge EX units I tried them out as a pairing and straight away the EXA100 integrated amplifier stood out to me to as being very good. Doing some initial testing it felt like the EXN100 was maybe holding the EXA back compared to other digital solutions I compared it to, admittedly more expensive options. I ended up using a much more expensive and familiar to me HiFi Rose RS150 transport and the RD160 DAC setup, mostly to be sure I was hearing the EXA100 at it’s absolute best. I think that is very important for a review.

My second experience with the EXN100 has been totally different and it did change my thinking towards it in a positive way. I am putting this down to a lucky surprise synergy between the EXA100 integrated amplifier and some brand new speakers from Revival Audio the Atalante Grande Reserve. These speakers are pretty special because they are capable of sounding big, full and rich without needing too much from the HiFi system, but they responded very well to the EXA100 that wants to be lively, dynamic and in control of the speakers for an upbeat energetic listen. Listening to this setup I have enjoying a big scale, smooth and lively music presentation that has been impressing me for the total cost.

To get the best sound from the EX pairing of course meant using the better DAC than is either of them and that meant connecting to the EXA either via single ended RCA cables or balanced. I have the exact same ultra high quality Tellurium Q Statement II cables for both so I could test them to see if there was anything to learn. I thought the RCA sounded the nicer of the two. The balanced connection maybe sounded a little clearer but also drier and I found it less enjoyable, so I think RCA is the best way to connect to the EXA100 if that helps you.

The second thing I discovered and this was by pure chance was listening using Qobuz Connect direct from the Qobuz app in my phone sounded slightly different to Qobuz through the StreamMagic app, it was clearer sounding from the later.  How that is possible I really don’t know and I tested it few times to be sure. I do listen in a hugely acoustically treated listening room and that does act like a microscope at times to small audible differences that could easily be lost in a room worse acoustics but because of this I used the StreamMagic app moving forwards.

What stood out to me about the EXA system was its big scale sound with a fill the room with gusto music presentation, that was smoothly delivered in the main. It was always upbeat and lively and I really liked that about it, but it was not the most articulate or precise or most detailed digital based sound I have had in my room. I did find myself sitting there listening for a good few hours because I was just really quite with the overall balance because it was making music fun and quite exciting to listen to .

With one new album discovery being Exile by Chronixx which is a new release but with an “old timey” sounding reggae vibe ti the album. The track Saviour has a big bass riff that has a real vibe about it and it was sounding very big, full and bouncy, very full room warming and pleasing and that is ideal for this type of music.

Important comparison

The first comparison I wanted to do was the ultimate value for money test swopping, comparing the EXN100 to the WiiM Ultra, using both as the music streamer and DAC. Knowing I had an excellent synergy between the EXA100 and the speakers I wasn’t sure how much sound quality difference there would be, if any. The  WiiM sounded good here and the general presentation of the music did not change too much in terms of scale or the general presence of the music in the room but there were some key differences.

The first thing I noticed was the flow of the music, with the Cambridge the flow was smooth more like the ocean, with the WiiM the flow was more mechanical a bit more chunky sounding. This was obvious to me very quikcly but of course it’s a subtle difference that I did kind of adapt to after a while listening to one or the other, but I didn’t ever feel quite as relaxed or as engaged listening to music from the WiiM as I did the Cambridge.

The other big difference I noticed was in the bass. Listening to some London Grammar it wasn’t so obvious but listening to some heavy electronic tracks from the album Kompakt Total 25 these tracks have some heavy bass at times. This heavy bass sounded a little more lumpy and not as defined or as clean from the WiiM. There there was also something to how music sounded from the WiiM I couldn’t put my finger on, but I just did find it’s sound as pleasing for the vocals and instruments, I think it was a little more edgy sounding and that is then harder to relax into. .

None of my criticisms of how the WiiM sounds are relevant for the £349 price tag but compared to the Cambridge they made it harder to enjoy the same music in the same way and that was the big difference. I enjoyed the same music more from the Cambridge so the EXN could be seen as your getting what you pay for here a more enjoyable sound quality for more money.

However my second comparison with the Bluesound Node Icon I expected to be much closer in terms of sound quality to the Cambridge but there are some big technical differences between them. The Bluesound uses dual mono ESS Sabre 9039 Q2M DAC chips, so double and newer what is in the Cambridge and one would assume higher spec chips too. The Bluesound costing only £899 it has the potential to make the Cambridge look very expensive. I did a lot of comparison listening between the two and changed my mind on things throughout.  To try and explain the difference between them I in my review video I used the analogy the Cambridge being like an abacus. It’s big, you have a nice tactile experience when using it, it feels good in the hands and it gets the job done.  The Bluesound is more like a calculator its precise and gets the job done in a better way really but its not as tactile and maybe not as fun to use.

In the end I found these two music streaming DAC’s interchangeable because listening to the Cambridge when I first changed to the Bluesound I missed it’s lively up beat energetic music delivery. By the next day I was appreciating the extra clarity in the sound stage and better focus to the music notes, or the Bluesound’s big strength even if the presentation was a touch more dry. Switching back to the Cambridge I found myself appreciating the instant uplift in gusto and energy in the music but it also felt like some focus was missing, like the smoothness of its delivery was smoothing over the music’s finer details, so not as resolving, it was mushier but in a still enjoyable to listen to way. This is when it gets difficult to define preference from best which is why I have ended up with the conclusion these are interchangeable music sources, both with some obvious pro’s and less good aspects.

This throws up the inevitable value proposition question because there is a big price difference here and from a function point of view you could add a Dirac Live licence to the Bluesound and still have money in your pocket. The Cambridge maybe has a nicer styling but it is very light in your hands, the Bluesound looks like it has a plastic shell but its mostly metal and is solidly built.  I think the Cambridge does seem very expensive here but maybe there some other non sound related things that would be important to your decision making process for it’s cost come as value for money is always personal.

Final thoughts

Doing these comparison did make me question a number of things such as how can other reviews give both of these a 5 star award when there this much difference between in including the price difference. More importantly would changing from one to the other matter as much as getting the speakers and amplifier just right, not to mention your room and its acoustics, no I think they are all more important to deal with first.

So that does shine the light on the fact that the EXN100 is a very nice HiFi product to live with that has worked flawlessly for me the whole time so I have no complaints in that regard. I do have to question if Cambridge have done enough with the EX100 given it’s relative high price compared to the whole market. This is harder for me because I think they have with the EXA100, that is a cracking integrated amplifier for the money but I am not sure they have done enough with the EXN100.

The streaming DAC market in 2025 is so fiercely competitive meaning manufacturers have to do more to stay relevant I think and I say this with no arrogance. I appreciate how difficult it must be but that is how this sector of the market is and I can only judge something against its peers. This ends up being fantastic for us the users of the gear because I wouldn’t say we end up with more for our money but we do end up with more choices of how we build our own perfect systems. All the options around this price will have their pro’s and less good points none of them will be perfect and that is fine, being informedis how we build and balance a great system.

For the full specification of the Cambridge Audio website here