Cambridge EDGE A

Capable as these products are, the Edge series is far more ambitious, as the price suggests. Cambridge could have gone for a stripped-out purist design for the Edge A, but that just isn’t the company’s style. It wanted to deliver high performance with practicality, and this integrated manages just that.

Apart from a phono stage, this unit packs in just about every feature we could reasonably expect. There are three analogue line-level inputs, including a balanced XLR option, alongside a quartet of digital connections.

It’s pretty standard to see the digital trio of USB, optical and coax, but we’re pleasantly surprised to find an HDMI ARC socket too. Cambridge recognises that some people use their stereo system to make their television sound better, and this is a neat way of making that happen.