![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Listening to the GN Records hybrid version of ‘Belafonte at Carnegie Hall’, for example, which is a dual-layer disc of exactly the same mix with one layer recorded in SACD and the other in CD (and not to be confused with the rather horrible-sounding CD-only version produced by RCA in 1990), we found Belafonte’s voice altogether more charismatic on CD… we seemed to get a better feel for the warmth of his interpretations. There wasn’t a lot in it, mind you, but we found the CD sound definitely more to our liking. Indeed after several weeks we’d formed the impression that the sound of CDs played in the CDS50 was actually superior to what we heard when playing SACDs. When you do start playing your intended track, you’re going to be impressed, because the Arcam CDS50’s performance with ordinary CDs was exceptionally good. Indeed the remote has two brightness buttons - one for the CDS50’s display and one for the display of an Arcam amp, so you can adjust them individually. The front-panel display has three brightness settings: ‘Off, ‘Dim’, and ‘Bright’. To avoid this, simply use the direct track access controls on the remote instead, where simply pushing ‘2’ followed by ‘7’ will have the laser sledding immediately to track 27, with no delay at all.Īs for the operation of the remote, we found it was really smooth, with the added bonus that while you’re using it, all the buttons are illuminated with a soft glow, which looks good no matter what the ambient light conditions, and certainly helps if you’ve turned the room lighting down low for ambience. There didn’t appear to be a track buffer, so you can’t just press the button multiple times and have it skip the requisite number of tracks: it’s instead a kind of ‘push and wait’… ‘push and wait’ process. Press ‘Play (either using the front panel transport controls, or those on the remote or the app) and you’ll find that the music starts quickly enough, but if you elect to skip forward a few tracks to start deeper into a disc, you’ll find the Arcam quite tardy in doing your bidding. The first thing you notice when the disc drawer opens is that the tray is made of plastic, rather than of some more robust material, but we guess this is to be expected at the price Arcam is asking for the CDS50. All three 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 (see separate review), SA20 and the CDS50 reviewed here. However, following Samsung’s purchase of Arcam (adding to a high-end hi-fi portfolio that now includes JBL, Lexicon, Revel and Mark Levinson) we suspect that many of those rusted-on followers were waiting with bated breath to see what the first new range under new ownership looked like.Īs you can see, it’s basically ‘same same’ - nothing’s changed dramatically. Many audiophiles are ‘rusted on followers of Arcam, having been fans of this British brand since its humble beginnings back in 1976, when it started life in Cambridgeshire, England, as ‘Amplification & Recording Cambridge’ - a name that was soon after sensibly abbreviated to Arcam. STACKED UP: Arcam’s CDS50 player stacked under the SA10 amplifier from the same new HDA range. ![]()
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