Cambridge Audio 640H - £500

Along with the Hifidelio, the Cambridge Audio 640H offers a stand-alone music server

Sound quality from this device is excellent as would be expected from this hifi manufacturer and build quality is superb, in-line with their newest range of hifi components

The inclusion of a TV output allows the display of album art and easy selection of tracks, which can also be done on the built-in LCD screen

The remote is excellent and selecting tracks is easy via the search function

By adding more devices, the 640H will automatically share files across each player, as well as sharing the hard disks to increase overall space (although 160Gb is more than adequate for most)

Sadly, only wired networks are supported by default, for wireless you will need an adaptor

Although an excellent device on paper, reliability problems and fan noise are major drawbacks for this player, which will hopefully be resolved with future updates

	Rating	Notes
Price		Many features at an attractive price, but reliability issues sadly outweigh them.
Sound Quality		Excellent sound quality, but the unit itself is loud (internal fans)
Ease of Use		TV interface, keyboard and USB port makes general use easy. Downsides though are the lack of a web interface, very slow interface and the only way to delete music is via a computer
Compatibility		Digital outputs, USB ports and a keyboard port make editing track data much easier.
Looks		Definitely looks the part, sturdy and would fit into any hifi. Also an excellent metal remote.
Audio Formats		AAC, MP3, WMA and WAV No FLAC support and only ASX internet radio streams
Reliability		Sadly the major downfall of this device, many reliability problems. Freezing interface and unreliable USB ports being most problematic.
Networking Support		Wired only, wireless via adaptor
Overall		This product definitely has potential, the build and sound quality are in place, however, the software issues are still a hindrance as well as the fan noise. One to watch for the future though.

Pro's

• Build Quality
• TV interface
• Excellent Remote
• Sound quality
• Album art
• Compatibility (USB ports etc.)
• Hard disk expansion
• Background compression
• Excellent search function

Con's

• No restore CD provided
• Noisy
• Difficult to delete tracks
• LCD doesn't scroll
• Gaps between tracks
• Doesn't play copy-protected CD's
• No lossless compression
• No web interface
• Lack of UPnP support
• Slow user interface
• Analogue recording function does not allow tracks to be split.

Supported hardware/software

Name	Compatible
Twonkyvision
Slimserver
Musicmatch Jukebox
Windows Media Connect
iTunes
Netgear
Philips MediaManager
Sonos
Any Network Share

Name	Compatible	Instructions
Qnap TS-101	N/A
Buffalo Linkstation	N/A
Buffalo Terrastation	N/A
Infrant ReadyNAS	N/A
Linksys NSLU2	N/A
Lacie Ethernet Disk	N/A
Maxtor Shared Storage Plus	N/A
Kuro Box	N/A
Freecom FSG-3	N/A

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