2024 has been something of a banner year for Cambridge Audio. It’s launched a new streamer, a pair of true wireless earphones, its first over-ear headphones, and now it’s taken the wraps off the Evo One, an all-in-one wireless speaker.
As with all Cambridge Audio products, the Evo One has been designed, tuned, and engineered at the company’s Melomania HQ; and this particular product draws its hi-res streaming capabilities and musicality from the Evo 75 and Evo 150 streaming amplifiers, so if you’re familiar with those systems, the Evo One is bound to be very similar.
Inside the Evo One is a different matter of course. There are 14 drivers, four 1-inch silk dome tweeters, four 2.25-inch aluminium cone mid-range units, and six 2.75-inch long-throw woofers that are positioned on the front, side, and rear to produce a wide dispersion of sound and a “truly expansive soundstage”. According to Cambridge, there’s no need to sit in a sweetspot, so you should be able to get the same audio performance wherever you sit.
Those speakers are driven by 700W of Class D amplification – 50W (RMS) per driver – with an advanced DSP controlling what speaker does what and how.
Control is through either the supplied remote control or through the StreamMagic app, which allows for the Evo One’s music to personsalised how they want through a seven-band EQ, with room optimisation features alongside a number of presets that have been tailored to music genres and TV-watching scenarios.
And yes, you read that right, the Evo One works with TVs via its HDMI eARC connection, so you can have a music system when the TV’s off and boost your TV’s audio performance when it’s on. A moving-magnet (MM) phono stage means you can connect a turntable straight to the Evo One. A line input allows for other analogue sources to be added as well as an optical digital input and USB-A port if you wanted to add a hard-drive.
You can count on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, AirPlay 2, and Google Cast to connect to the Evo One wirelessly. The likes of TIDAL Connect, Spotify Connect, Qobuz, Deezer, Roon Ready, UPnP and Internet Radio are also supported.
There’s a big 6.8-inch colour screen on the Evo One’s front, and you can cycle through a clock display, album artwork, track info, or see some virtual VU meters appear on the speaker. In a nice touch, you can detach the baffles from the grille, which is a look we rather like.
In terms of sustainable design, the Cambridge Evo One has tried to minimised to the use of plastic, with any plastic parts made up to 50% recycled material. The wood veneer cabinet is derived from FSC-certified forests, while power consumption has been optimised so no more is used than is necessary.
How much does the Cambridge Audio Evo One cost? You can get it for £1299 / €1499 / $1499, which puts it around the Ruark R410 and Sonus Faber Omnia in terms of cost.
