Arcam launches a trio of new products in the form of their SA series integrated amplifiers and CDS50 multi-format disc player and streamer.
Arcam is a long established Hi-Fi brand which can trace its origins back to Cambridge, England, a hotbed of technology start-ups in the 1970s. A widely respected brand, Arcam has recently launched three new products.
Let’s take a look at Arcam’s tantalising trio of Hi-Fi loveliness…
Arcam CDS50 Disc Player & Network Streamer
There can be no denying the increasing acceptance and adoption of music streaming into the lives of many audiophiles. With high-res music now only a click away, there seems little reason not to embrace the convenience that streaming offers.
Of course, a great many of us have invested a lot of time and money into building up a cherished physical library of music. For those who are still invested in Compact Disc and indeed the more rarified but deeply impressive SACD, the ability to still play and enjoy those discs is vital.
Enter, the Arcam CDS50 disc player & network streamer; a high spec, high-quality solution for those wishing to enjoy CD/SACD playback, as well as the joys of audio network streaming. It’s quite possibly Arcam’s finest disc player to date.
Built around the ubiquitous ESS Sabre 9038 reference DAC, an exact re-clocking mechanism and a custom-designed power source, the Arcam CDS50 is a high-quality way of enjoying SACD/CD-A/CD-R/CD-RW, FLAC, WAV, AAC, AIFF, OGG, MP3, and WMA formats.
Arcam SA10 Integrated Amplifier
The integrated amplifier is one of the true workhorses of the Hi-Fi world, and as popular as ever. Arcam’s first ever product, from 1976, was the A60 integrated amplifier; it’s fair to say Arcam has prior form for making superb integrated amps!
Pushing a healthy and useful 50 watts per channel of Class AB power, the Arcam SA10 replaces their previous A19 integrated amplifier and offers a useful and convenient selection of analogue and digital inputs.
5 line inputs are offered, with one of the five configurable as either a line or MM phono stage. Additionally, 3 digital inputs are provided in the form of two SPDIF and one optical, which are handled by an ESS Sabre 9016 DAC
Arcam SA20 Integrated Amplifier
The Arcam SA20 integrated amplifier builds upon the SA10 integrated amplifier but offers improved D/A conversion, and more power courtesy of Arcam’s impressive Class-G technology for a robust 80 watts per channel.
Arcam’s innovative Class G amplifier topology implements multiple power supplies rather than just a single supply. If a dynamic signal, an orchestral crescendo, for example, is received then the secondary supply can be brought in gradually to provide additional “muscle”.
The first, low power stage operates in pure Class A, which has no crossover distortion; the high power stage only being brought in when the demands of the music required. In this way, the Class G amplifier retains the purity of a Class A amplifier with the muscle of a high powered class A/B design.
The panoply of digital and analogue inputs is the same as for the Arcam SA10, however, the Sabre 9016 DAC is supplanted by the higher-end Sabre 9038 DAC. Overall then, a highly impressive integrated amplifier with power, control and fidelity in abundance.