Cambridge Audio’s First All-in-One Speaker Doubles As a Hi-Fi Soundbar

The Evo One is a beautiful hi-fi wireless speaker that can just about do it all.

Cambridge Audio Evo One wireless speaker

Published August 9, 2024

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It’s a bit odd that Cambridge Audio hasn’t offered a wireless speaker system up to this point. The British audio maker is well-known for its premium (yet reasonably affordable) hi-fi components — everything from streaming amplifiers to stereo receivers, bookshelf speakers to turntables — and a wireless speaker system just makes too much sense.

Well, Cambridge Audio seems to have been thinking the exact same thing — it just announced the Evo One, the company’s first all-in-one hi-fi speaker system.

Cambridge Audio Evo One

$1,499 at Cambridge Audio

14 drivers, 700 watts of power

Cambridge Audio’s Evo One is a premium one-box solution for anybody wanting a high-end wireless speaker that looks and sounds great, but is also super versatile and simple to use. And yes, it’s a powerhouse.

The Evo One boasts 14 drivers — four one-inch silk dome tweeters, four 2.25-inch aluminum cone midrange drivers, and six 2.75-inch long-throw woofers — that are positioned all around it (yes, there are two woofers on its back).

Each driver is powered by its own 50-watt class D amplifier — that’s 700 watts of total power — and thus should deliver powerful and room-filling sound.

Modern, yet old school

As far as streaming, the Evo One covers all the bases. It supports AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, Deezer and Qobuz. It’s Roon Ready and supports UPnP. When streaming over Wi-Fi, it can play lossless audio files up to 32-bit/192kHz.

There’s also built-in Bluetooth, as well.

But the Evo One is more versatile than that. It boasts analog inputs — including stereo RCA, digital optical and USB-A — and can play well with your existing hi-fi components. It has a built-in phono preamp (and phono input) to support a turntable with a moving-magnet cartridge.

Additionally, it has an HDMI ARC/eARC input and thus can work as a soundbar replacement. However, it lacks up-firing drivers and doesn’t appear to support Dolby Atmos — so it might not be the most immersive of soundbars.

If looks could kill

As far as looks, the Evo One is obviously handsome. It has a top wooden veneer and a large 6.8-inch color display — not a touchscreen, unfortunately — for displaying album artwork or virtual VU meters (pretty cool).

One thing that the Evo One lacks is a volume knob. Instead, the playback controls are buttons located below the display. This is one of the big differentiators between the Evo One and Naim’s Mu-So 2, which has one of the coolest volume knobs on any speaker.