Siblings in Cambridge Audio's CXA range, so they share a design and a house sound. It comes down to power, features and price.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | B | Cambridge Audio CXA81 has more power - 80W against 60W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.2dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Cambridge Audio CXA61 the better fit for desk or near-field listening and a small room, and Cambridge Audio CXA81 for a mid-size room, a large room and a very large room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Grip on hard loads | evenly matched | Both behave much the same into 4 ohms - output increases strongly (90W and 120W). |
| Noise floor | evenly matched | Much the same signal-to-noise ratio (105dB vs 105dB). |
| Built-in DAC | evenly matched | Both have a DAC on board with much the same capability. |
| Analogue inputs | evenly matched | The same number of line-level inputs (5). |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Price | A | Cambridge Audio CXA61 costs less - $1,099 against $1,499 at list. |
A Cambridge Audio CXA61 B Cambridge Audio CXA81
depends neither is better in the abstract - it turns on your room, your system or how you will use them. Only specs published for both amplifiers are judged; anything missing on either side is left out rather than guessed.
Which should you choose?
Cambridge Audio CXA81 is ahead, but on only 1 of the measured areas, and it costs about 36% more. That is a lot of money for a narrow margin - Cambridge Audio CXA61 is the sensible buy unless a specific feature above decides it for you. Think about the whole system: the roughly $400 saved by taking the cheaper one would buy better speakers or a subwoofer, which does more for the sound than the difference between two competent amplifiers.
What a spec sheet cannot show: how either sounds with your speakers, how the controls feel day to day, and what the app is like to live with - which is where most all-in-one amplifiers are actually won or lost. Power figures are the manufacturers' own and are not measured to a common standard, so treat small differences as noise. If you can hear both, that will tell you more than any row above.