ARCAM

This year ARCAM has introduced two new integrated amplifiers, the SA10 at $1000 and the SA20 at $1500 as well as a new network-capable CD/SACD player, the CDS50 at $1199.

The design of the SA integrated amplifiers draws upon all of ARCAM's experience as one of the UK's most respected audio companies, to produce ARCAM's best performing range of audio products yet. Using the best quality components and engineering practices, the SA models are designed and built to give you years of listening enjoyment. In any amplifier, the purity of the signal as it passes through the signal path is at the mercy of anything that creates noise within the unit. Thus, ARCAM spares no expense in using only the most high-quality components. The resulting signal integrity is worth every penny of the cost. Key points of the SA10 include:

• Extremely efficient, class-A/B amplification
• 50 Watts of power per channel
• 5 analogue inputs including phono
• 3 digital inputs
• 32-bit DAC, the Sabre ESS9016K2M

The SA20 is similar to and has the same features as the SA10 except that it employs Class-G amplification. This is a hybrid system supplying pure Class-A power for the first 12 watts after which it switches in an additional power supply to provide the added drive needed for higher volumes and output crescendos. This improves upon the low efficiency of pure Class-A while eliminating the crossover distortion endemic to Class-AB operation. The SA20 puts out 80 watts/channel.

The CDS50 is ARCAM's most advanced cd, digital audio and network streaming player yet. Arguably, when playing from a digital format, the most vital component is the DAC, or Digital-to-Analogue Converter. Without getting into detailed digital science, this is what translates the recording's digital data into audible sound energy. Bit-depth is a key measure of audio quality. So, if you're listening to a 24-bit version of your favorite album through a 16-bit DAC, there's a lot of musical data and detail going to waste. That's why ARCAM has used 32-bit DACs in the CDS50. 32-bit is the most commonly-used bit-depth in digital recording, so using 32-bit DACs in the CDS50 guarantees the full aural picture of whatever the artist intended. Key features of the CDS50 include:

• Plays all music disc formats, including SACD, CD-A, CD-R and CD-RW
• Supports audio file formats including FLAC, WAV, AIFF, OGG, MP3, AAC and WMA
• USB input
• Superb 32-bit DAC built in
• Streaming through the music life app