I've also noticed this and it seems to be common amongst all players. At first I noticed this but after using the player daily its something I've accustomed to now. Another unusual thing was if I connect via XLR the click would dissappear, but instead a digital pop sound can be heard via my speaker. After testing XLR vs RCA output, I preferred the RCA. I have reached out to tech support at Arcam and will update after I get a reply. Apart from that the player is superb. Comparing the player to my older CD37 its so much more detailed yet inkeeping of that Signature Arcam sound which love.
Hi ARCAM CDS 50 requires 100 hours of operation then listen to the excellent quality greetings from PORTUGAL .
Do you play SACD's? If so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the CD37 vs this one as the CD37 played DSD natively and this player converts to PCM.
Never wondered into the realms of SACD..... However compared to the CD37 the signature Arcam sound still remains in the foundation of the CDS50 but with more detail in both the mids and highs..... Best way to describe the difference is the CDS50 has been given some red bull energy drink..... its given it wings.....
If anyone is considering one of these Music Direct has a B stock for 840.00. That’s a heck of a good price for a SACD player.
Where is it confirmed the Arcam CDS50 can do MQA? I cannot find any reference in the manual or firmware notes. I have several MQA/UHQCDs that sound beautiful on my Arcam CDS50, but how can I get confirmation MQA is active when playing those discs?
Hi all, thanks in no small part to this amazing thread I am now the proud owner of a CDS50 ... $840 US from MusicDirect. (Thank you Alan Beasley for the tip!) They seem to have very updated firmware on these refurbs because I haven't had any of the problems reported upthread. CD sound is as good as I've ever heard. As for streaming, after an adjustment period I'm finding the MusicLife app ok. Meanwhile tho I got a cheap HDMI To HDMI + SPDIF Audio Extractor Converter, which I put between a lightning-to-HDMI converter and a SPDIF cable, allowing me to run audio from my iPad’s lightning out to the CDS50’s optical in. This works, so I can now listen to TIDAL on its own iPad app as well as on MusicLife and still have it run through the CDS50. I think you can guess what my question is going to be: In terms of audio quality, is the toslink from the iPad a bottleneck, e.g. because of the standard apple 48,000 kHz sample rate? A bit ominously, 48,000 kHz is all that the display shows when I hook it up this way, whereas when I stream with MusicLife I get those sexy high FLAC kbps numbers ... that said I'm not noticing a difference in the sound between the two methods, albeit without yet making a real study of it ... HARMAN luxury audio customer support assures me that "Any and all digital sources, will be converted by the DAC on board the CDS50," but my question is about the quality of the cabled source vs the wifi connection. Thoughts?
I’m glad I was able to be helpful for once. I’m always asking for help but I’m not usually able to offer advice. Enjoy your CDS50.
some questions to those who own this player.. If you play a sacd can you send the hires digital bits out to an external dac in PCM does that work. how well does plugging in a USB hard drive full of hi res files work? What are the opinions about the controller app?
For some reasons, the CDS 50 wifi network goes all unstable. It has been "usable" at least for a while
***All the refurb CDS 50's are gone on Music Direct. I ended up buying a new unit after trying out a refurbished Marantz CD6006 - - which had many problems including not reading discs and not opening or closing. Also - you had to manually open and close the CD drawer, which in this age is ridiculous. Doesn't matter as that unit is on its way out. I certainly would have liked to save some money but warranty wise, I like the ability to ship it out, locally, if there are problems. I have an older OPPO 103 in my HT setup that does wonders for multi-channel, SACD playback. I'm not sure if the ARCAM CDS50's DAC is better than my older OPPO's or not. I don't watch any Blu-ray discs anymore and strictly view via cable or stream with Dolby Atmos soundtracks. So - this is my first dedicated CD player in 30 years. I just setup a stereo only, two channel system with a tube amplifier (Muzishare X7 - KT88,) Dali Evidence 470 speakers and won't stream, at all, with the ARCAM CD player. That job is relegated to the Blusound Node 2i. I find the BluOS system the absolute best interface for streaming my QoBuz content. The DAC in the Bluesound Node 2i is "programmable," so upgrades can be made with firmware updates. I'm hoping that the ARCAM CDS-50 will breath new life into my older CD's and 20 or so SACD collection. I believe the warranty is only two years. Lastly - - of all the electronics I've purchased throughout my life, it seems that CD players have the most quirks. I guess it's deciding on what model and quirks you can live with. Which reminds me of a story way back in the 1980's. I was waiting for a business flight and struck up a conversation with a Linn representative, who had a $10K CD player in tow with him. It wasn't working so he was taking it back to his Linn location. I remember saying to him - - "You just can't get a reliable CD player for $10K these days." :>)
***Beave - regarding your statement "But I’m about done with this ****." As a CD player ONLY - - were you satisfied with the quality of the playback? (ARCAM customer service issues notwithstanding)
Bizarre, after turning on and off couple of times, the connection seems to have become more stable, though may still lose out sometimes. Most strange at all, I can now stream with a CD inside the tray (a functionality that ARCAM told me on day one wasn't supported by the CDP)
Hi! I bought a week ago a pack including SA10 + CDS50 + Q3050i and for the moment I'm very pleased with the equipment and the sound it brings to my CD collection, it's really delightful. Listening to Herbie Hancock's Headhunters or to Michel Pettruciani's Trio in Tokyo it's been like rediscovering what listening to music it's all about. It's my first HiFi equipment on my own, so it's really an upgrade for me. My previous equipment was a little JVC all-in-one (CD, Cassete and Tuner) from the 90s so you can imagine the giant step I have taken. I'm not interested in any streaming at all for the moment, so I'm not having any of the software problems you posted all the way in this trend. Anyway, I have two little concerns. One is that when I power on the CDS50, it takes a while (like 4-7 seconds or so) to really start moving on (power red light, little clicks form the machinery). I don'care about this low start if it's the normal procedure, but I was wondering if this also happens with other CDS50 equipments. My second concern is that in one week I have had 3 non-detected CDs when inserted, and though it has fully worked with a second try (ejecting and inserting the CD again) maybe this should not happend with a new equipment.... I also know there's always this kind of little issues with CD players, and I have really played quite a bunch of CDs in this first week, but you never know!
Mine takes a few seconds to start also so I wouldn’t be concerned about it as long as it’s not an excessive amount of time. A few times a disc would not load the first try. It’s doesn’t happen often so I don’t worry about it.
The DAC may well be capable of playing DSD natively, but if the manufacturer wants, or doesn't want, to implement it is another matter. The CDS50 manual doesn't mention DSD, which you'd expect it to. That said, as I mentioned before, Arcam has form in this regard.
