I have to say that reading your problems suggests that Arcam just lack engineering expertise in certain areas. Frankly they should outsource coding to people who can sort this out. It's just not acceptable and not something I've heard in relation to any other brand. They have a multinational behind them now so no excuses. Actually they were (and probably still are) a bigger operation than Linn or Naim.
Audiolab is part of the chinese owned IAG (international Audio Group) who also make Quad, Wharfedale and Mission. I think most of the design is done in China though they do employ European engineers. Arcam is mainly made in UK though might be the new stuff is far east manufacture. Certainly John Dawson the founder was involved in the latest amps that match your player. It is now owned by Harman who are now part of Samsung.
See my review of this Arcam rubbish on Richer Sounds. It’s the worst piece of HiFi equipment I ever wasted money on, seriously. And Richer Sounds support and Arcam’s shadowy idea of ‘support’ were the pits! I ended up virtually being called a crank reviewer and had to post scans of my receipts to prove I’d made a purchase of the product because I’d left a bad review! Unbelievable! Took 18 months of hassle to finally be offered a refund, by which time, I’d passed it onto a friend to use as a basic CD player. It lasted another 4 months then burned out so he binned it! Never again!
Again, it’s amazing to me the arrogance from the public arm of Arcam to customers concerns. Never again will I buy one of their gear. Beave
Lol! I do come off like a look don't I? Well I've settled on this, the Audiolab 8300 CD the disc spinner. I'm retiring the Arcam cds50. The Audiolabs ESS9018, with their analog section, sound so close to the Arcam 9038 DAC that it's not even worth putting up with the frustration. And I did a lot of SACD listening And found that on average, I found the redbook layer sounded better to my ears, and that was On every sacd I played, which aren't many, maybe less then 15 or so. I just found the redbook layer had a natural sounding full bottom end, and the sacd layer sounded truncated and clinical at the bottom. I still have 6 Oppo's so if I ever want to here a hdc D or whatever I can just pop one In the system, but for now the Audiolab has really impressed me and I'm having fun using it rather than being annoyed at it. Beave
I'm intrigued. I don't have much experience with SACD and this is my first SACD player (actually my second player only...) and I also found that while SACDs have positives, the sound is somehow compressed and less natural. Not sure if it's the player, the discs or my tastes.
What SACD titles are you referring to? Some SACD masterings are as compressed as many CDs. Good ones should be more expansive than CD. That player has a really good dac (same as Oppo) so you should get excellent SACD playback.
Somehow I feel that the extension into high and mid is not as natural/extended, not that the sound files are compressed. Can you suggest some good SACD titles?
There sounds like something amiss with the SACD implementation or the transport on that Arcam. SACD on the Oppo 205 sounds great. This could be proof that you get what you pay for as the Arcam is surprisingly cheap on the surface in relation to the DAC used and facilities. SACD should on average sound better and be opposite of truncated.
I am going to be cautious in giving advice here as reading The Beave's comments this player appears to have an issue with SACD for some reason. I suspect some cost cutting to sell at the asking price. Depending on your taste, I like the 2003/4 Elton John titles. Also Dire Straits Brothers In Arms and Japanese Rumours SACD or the 2003 30th Anniv DSOTM. Best SACD I have is the Analogue Productions Wish You Were Here. If any of these sound 'truncated' then that Arcam is a bit of a dud for hi-res. For CD only you probably can get better for same money or less. Audiolab transport as Beave purchased or Cambridge CXC with a decent DAC or DAC/Streamer (such as Cambridge models).
I agree. I do believe in at least one review of the cds50, the reviewer stated something like it seemed Arcam tuned the unit for redbook, as he found his th layers sounded better than the hd layer. But it doesn't matter as I sold the Arcam two days ago, for someone not as picky as me if wil! Be a fine unit. But right now I'm having too much fun with this Audiolab unit. But thanks to all of you for your inputs! It's been a fun thread and I love getting to play with new gear! Beave
Thanks for your suggestions. I don't mean the SACD performance to be in an inferior way. Maybe just my limited few copies or the rebook playback is more impressive. Overall I think it more than lives up to its price and happy to have it.
I would say that red book should not be more impressive if the same attention to playback of both formats was made in the design. I do appreciate it is difficult to compare like for like due to mastering differences which leads to people believing 16 bit is perfect. On the same machine with the DAC used i would expect SACD to sound better if only in a subtle way. CD may sound punchier however. The Oppo 205 does a fantastic job with CD but I would say the SACD sounds better but only if you select DSD output option! Could be the Arcam is not outputting DSD but converting to PCM?
SACD does sound better than CD (though I can't compare the same hybrid disc as the player can only play sacd layer.) I just feel extension can go more. But again I have only few SACDs which are probably not very good quality anyway
There is a new firmware which added CD/ SACD layer selection on hybrid disc and made the streaming really stable. Added an A49 to pair with the CDP and they sound really good.
When did the update come out? When I run the firmware update I get "cannot get file" message. Has anyone else had trouble updating?
