Cambridge Audio Azur 640H

By Matthew Masters

August 2006

Cambridge Audio Azur 640H music server. $2299.

The Cambridge Audio 640H music server (click for larger image)

Rear panel of the Cambridge Audio 640H (Click for larger image)

The achievements of mankind are impressive – art, literature, architecture, engineering, beer, that sort of thing. But there’s another triumph that puts every one of these firmly in their place. Bureaucracy.

Back to the very dawn of civilisation, wherever humans have gathered in groups, there have been organisational structures and sets of rules to make sure nothing actually gets done. It seems that mankind’s true natural inclination is to administrate. And sometimes we’re just so damned good at it that the process transcends the task being administered.

Welcome to the brave new world of the music server – that meeting of CD player and computer. Now your music can be stored, indexed, labelled, organised into appropriate playlists and served up to order. It all sounds so appealing, so effortless.

Paragraph 5, subsection ii – identifying similarities

The Cambridge Audio Azur 640H is a music server with proper audio credentials. As the name suggests, the Azur 640 music server shares a great deal with the excellent Azur 640 CD player. The power supply, DAC and solid build for a start.

But there are differences too. A CD burner for its transport, plus connections for computers, the Internet, keyboards and a monitor among other bits and bobs. On the inside, there’s a 160 GB hard disk and a separate processor to manage everything.

Paragraph 7, subsection iv – standards of performance

Thankfully, the Azur music server sounds very much like its CD spinning cousin. The key Cambridge Audio characteristics are all there – superb detail, excellent sense of rhythm and pace, subterranean bass. All wrapped up with a beguilingly insightful presentation. Read any Azur 640 CD player review for a better description, but it really is good.

Uncompressed files played from the hard drive have the edge for focus and image compared to playing from the CD. But it’s a pretty marginal thing.

The big difference, of course, is in the hard disk and the bureaucrat that controls it.

Paragraph 11, subsection i – storage

In charge of admin is a piece of software called AudioFile that stores (and compresses) CDs, checks the Internet for track names (if connected) and manages playlists. It does more, of course, but that’s the core of its job description.

Unfortunately, like so many bureaucracies, the officious little man with a comb-over is where everything begins to go pear-shaped.

The Azur’s display is small and difficult to read, the remote is slow and vague, and everything seems to take an age to happen. Just getting a CD to play can take 30 seconds of prodding and waiting. Maybe I didn’t use the right form.

For some unfathomable reason, the software didn’t always do what it should. Half the time it wouldn’t let me store CDs. Sure, it presented a “Store CD” option on the teeny screen, but just ignored me when I tried to select it. When I tried again, a bit later, it decided to let me store a CD after all. Why? I have no idea.

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To be fair, the Azur music server is easier to use when connected to a monitor (your TV will do) and keyboard. Then you get proper menus that are reasonably easy to navigate. But that won’t make storing CDs any quicker. The actual store time for each disc is around ten minutes (more if you choose to compress the data to save space). But that pales into insignificance compared to the time it will take you to enter the artist, album title and track names. You can do this with the remote (good luck, it’ll take you all day), or with the keyboard. Or, if happen to have broadband and an Ethernet router, the Azur can gather all the information from the Internet. Perversely, it won’t check the Internet for the titles of CDs you’ve already stored. Those must be entered the slow way.

Paragraph 17, subsection iii – regulation footwear

Actually playing tracks from the hard disk is frustrating too. You can choose to play an entire album or individual tracks, either way it’ll take you 30 seconds to a minute to get some music out.

If you want a music server you’re probably better off using a PC or Mac and spending some money on a good external DAC. Even free software (such as Apple’s iTunes) is easier to use and more capable than the Cambridge’s AudioFile system.

In the end, if you enjoy the cut and thrust of dealing with bureaucracy, if you relish the challenge of getting what you want, and what you want involves good audio performance, the Azur 640H music server could well have a place in your home. Me? I’m off to organise my sock draw.

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