Cambridge Audio has built luxury audio equipment for decades now. The company is best known for its amplifiers, but over the years it has expanded its product line to include headphones and speakers too. The Cambridge Audio Evo line is built to take its amplifiers into the future, offering modern connectivity in stunning, classic designs. The latest in the line is the new Cambridge Audio Evo One, which not only offers wireless connectivity and a sleek design, but also has speakers built right into it. Essentially, you can plug the Cambridge Audio Evo One into a power outlet and get started without having to do anything else.
Often, of course, blending products together like this doesn’t result in a device that’s the best of both worlds. Instead, it combines the worst of both worlds by sacrificing high-end features. As a $1,499 product, the Evo One can’t afford to do this.
I’ve had the opportunity to use the Cambridge Audio Evo One for a while now, and ultimately, the system delivers on its promise of tying together your audio devices while sounding excellent along the way.
Design
The Cambridge Audio Evo One is built to be a statement piece, and on this it delivers. It’s not the smallest amplifier out there, but given the fact that it has speakers built right into it, you wouldn’t necessarily expect it to be. Like other Evo products, the Evo One has a display on the front that you’ll use to see information like connectivity, volume, and more. When you’re playing audio, it can also show track information and album art. And, it can even show simulated VU meters for a more classic vibe.
More interesting than the display is the rest of the design, though. The unit is clearly built with premium materials and, frankly, looks stunning. The top of the unit features a natural walnut top, while the rest of it boasts a stylish textile covering. The unit as a whole rests on a base that helps make it look like it’s floating.
On the back of the Evo One is where you’ll find all the wired connections. You’ll get an Ethernet input for better network connectivity, along with a USB port to allow you to play media straight from a USB device. There’s also turntable and auxiliary inputs. The Evo One can be used with a TV and features an HDMI eARC input and an optical input for home theater connectivity. Notably missing, of course, are speaker outputs, which is because the Evo One is the speaker. It’s not designed to be expandable, but it is nice that you can connect your TV, turntable, and other devices all into one unit.
The Cambridge Audio Evo One measures in at 26.6 x 5.1 x 11.4 inches. If you are buying it to use with your TV, you’ll find that it should fit on any TV stand, though it might not fit inside a TV stand considering how wide it is.
The Evo One comes with a remote, though I have to say I was a little disappointed by the look and feel of the remote, considering how high-quality the Evo One itself is. The remote is built from a black plastic, and it’ll let you control the unit without issue, but it doesn’t make much of a statement on its own. I would have liked Cambridge Audio to focus a little more on building a more premium remote, but again, it works perfectly fine.
Features
The Evo One is packed with features to make for a more modern listening experience. On top of the wired connections on the back, it boasts a range of wireless connectivity options to fit within a wider speaker ecosystem or to allow you to play audio from a device like your phone.
The Evo One supports AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, and more. It also has Bluetooth 5.1 built in. It supports a range of audio formats, including WAV, FLAC, AIFF, AAC, and AAC+. And, it’ll play up to 32-bit audio at a 192 kHz resolution.
The Evo One has other software features built into it to make for a better overall listening experience too. For example, it has a 7-band EQ with a number of presets and the ability to create a custom EQ. It also offers a number of room optimization settings that can help you tune the Evo One to your room a little better.
As you would expect, the Evo One works with the Cambridge Audio StreamMagic app. The app is fine, but it’s not the best-designed app out there. I did find that it was relatively easy to set the speaker up in the app, after which you can customize things like the different standby modes, the EQ, and more. It allows you to sign in to your different streaming platforms and add or remove services as inputs so that you don’t have to scroll through them all as you use the Evo One. That’s helpful considering the fact that most people aren’t going to use Spotify, Tidal, and Deezer all at the same time. Depending on how you plan on using the Evo One, you might not really use the app all that much anyway – for example, if you mostly listen through AirPlay, you’ll simply stream audio to the unit from apps like Apple Music.
Sound
The Cambridge Audio Evo One isn’t built to connect to external speakers. Instead, it’s a self-contained unit with its own speakers built straight into it. Thankfully, however, those speakers sound excellent.
To be clear, I wasn’t at all surprised by the level of high-quality audio on offer by the Evo One, considering the fact that it’s built by Cambridge Audio, a company known for excellent audio products. But I did find myself a little skeptical that an all-in-one system like this could deliver the level of audio you would expect from something in this price range. It did, however, deliver.
Bass response on the Evo One was excellent. It actually has 14 speakers dotted around the device, with a combined output of 700W. These speakers include six low-frequency drivers specifically built to deliver responsive and deep bass. Even sub bass frequencies, like those found in Loyalty by Kendrick Lamar are decently well represented, despite the lack of a dedicated external subwoofer.
High-end response is great too, though. Now, these speakers aren’t necessarily the single most detailed speakers you can get, but they do offer a good level of clarity. You get a nice crisp response from percussion and solid sibilance from vocals. Again, hardcore audiophiles with cash to burn may want to spend on a dedicated external speaker system, but, of course, the Evo One isn’t necessarily built to fill that use case anyway.
To be clear, this unit is built to be able to handle audio from a TV, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend buying it for that as its primary use case – considering the lack of support for immersive formats like Dolby Atmos. If you’re looking for a great smart soundbar, I recommend the Sonos Arc, with a Sonos Sub, and Sonos Era 300 as the rear speakers.
Conclusions
If you’re looking for an all-in-one unit that can handle audio from your turntable, TV, and wireless devices, then the Evo One has you covered. Again, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this system primarily as a TV speaker. Instead, it’s built for those who want to tie their speaker system together into one unit that sounds excellent. It supports all the devices you would want it to support with a solid selection of inputs.
Those with more cash to spend shouldn’t turn away from Cambridge Audio, instead looking at one of Cambridge’s other amplifiers and a dedicated speaker system to go along with it. But, those looking for a speaker that also acts as a kind of receiver will love what’s on offer by the Evo One.
You can join the waitlist to purchase the Cambridge Audio Evo One All-in-One Wireless Speaker at cambridgeaudio.com now.
