ON TEST

34 Australian Hi-Fi ˹˹˹ƖŘˁʊǒǔǞƖƋɁȧ

M

anyaudiophiles

are‘rustedon’

followersof

Arcam,having

beenfansofthis

Britishbrand

sinceitshumble

beginningsbackin1976,whenit startedlife

inCambridgeshire,England,as‘Amplifica-

tion& RecordingCambridge’a namethat

wassoonaftersensiblyabbreviatedtoArcam.

However,followingSamsung’spurchaseof

Arcam(addingtoa high-endhi-fiportfolio

thatnowincludesJBL,Lexicon,Reveland

MarkLevinson)I suspectthatmanyofthose

rusted-onfollowerswerewaitingwithbated

breathtoseewhatthefirstnewrangetobe

releasedundernewownershiplookedlike.

Asyoucansee,it’sbasically‘samesame’—as

inthatnothinghasreallychanged.Allthree

components in Arcam’s new HDA (High

Definition Audio) line are typically ‘Arcam’ in

terms of appearance, finish and build quality,

those three being the SA10, SA20 and the

CDS50 reviewed here. And the performance?

Is that the same? That’s what you’re about to

discover...

THE EQUIPMENT

When you’re building a component that

must necessarily convert digital signals to

analogue signals, it makes good practical

sense (and excellent commercial sense)

to make sure that it can convert as many

different types of digital signals to analogue

as possible.

Thusit is thatthenewArcamCDS50cannot

onlyplaydigitalmusicstoredoncommer-

cialopticaldiscs(CDandSACD)aswellas

digitalmusicstoredonCD-RandCD-RW(in

FLAC,WAV,AAC,AIFF,OGG,MP3orWMA

formats),butit canalsoplaybackmusicfiles

youhavestoredonUSB,ona harddrive,on

yourhomecomputernetwork,orstreamed

throughyournetworkfromtheInternet(via

Ethernetor802.11g/b/nwireless).

Thereis noBluetoothconnection,andI

mustadmittobeinga tadsurprisedbythis.

Sure,therewouldhavebeenadditionalman-

ufacturingcostsandlicensingfeesinvolved

inprovidingBluetooth,butit wouldhave

madetheCDS50aneven-moreattractive

purchasepropositionthanit alreadyis.(For

therecord,it doesn’thaveAirplayeither,but

I’mnotsofussedaboutthisomission.)

YoucanalsoinputsignalsdigitallyviaS/

PDIF and/or optically (Toslink) or via USB.

And, should you wish to use an external con-

verter, the CDS50 also provides S/PDIF and

optical digital outputs.

REMOTE CONTROL

You will be pleased to hear that Arcam sup-

plies a real, honest-to-goodness, multi-func-

tion remote control with the CDS50. These

days many manufacturers either require

their customers to pay extra for a remote, or

load an app onto their phone or tablet. The

first option requires an additional purchase

while the second makes you dependent on

the quality of the app itself (and many leave

quite a lot to be desired) plus also dependent

The new Arcam

CDS50 does it

all... and it does

it all easily and

gracefully whilst

also delivering

supremely good

sound

ARCAM CDS50

SACD/CD/NETWORK STREAMING PLAYER

on the quality of the connection between the

phone and the component... which, frankly,

can be a bit hit and miss. No, give me a good

old-fashioned infra-red remote any day!

Arcam’s remote gives access to features not

available via the front panel, such as display

brightness switching, direct track access,

display window information cycling, and

playback mode (random, repeat one track,

repeat all tracks). There is no option for track

programming. The remote can also be used to

control compatible Arcam integrated ampli-

fiers, giving control over volume (including

mute on/off), balance, and input selection.

If you would like to control the CDS50 us-

ing your own device, Arcam has a ‘MusicLife’

app available (iOS and Android) that allows

you to control (via UPnP) the audio and basic

functions of this product. This appears to be a

fairly new development because early public-

ity about the CDS50 seemed to indicate that

such control was not possible. If you’re keen

on bringing your own device to the party,

I’d recommend a trial run at your friendly

hi-fi dealer to see what can be controlled and

what can’t, just in case the ‘what can’t bit’ is

a deal-breaker for you. (Alternatively, Arcam

may recently have added additional function-

ality to the app that makes it a no-brainer not

to use it!)

Remember that for full app functionality

you may need to update the firmware inside

the CDS50 itself. Checking firmware status is

very easy (just select ‘Firmware Update’ from