CES 2009

UK-based Cambridge Audio announced both the Azur 640R V2 7.1 A/V receiver ($1799, spring 2009), an update of the original Azur 640. It also launched its first Blu-ray player, the Azur 640B ($999 spring 2009).

The 640B player will not internally decode DTS HD Master Audio, but will decode Dolby True HD to multichannel PCM. But it can send out all of the new high-resolution audio formats in bitstream form. It will be full Profile 2.0 (BD-Live). This is one of the first Blu-ray players we've seen from a small, specialist audio manufacturer. The receiver will decode all high resolution audio formats that arrive over its HDMI 1.3b inputs. It can also handle multichannel PCM over HDMI. It's rated at 100Wpc (120Wpc in 2-channel stereo).