Verdict
The Arcam is a various and win over all rounder that combines good connectivity with an piquant and rewarding public presentation .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Few companies have been as admirably consistent at redeem on an musical theme as Arcam has been when it occur to hi - fi separates . The troupe has long worked to the rationale of offering something that was more than the mere bones specification of many competition and did so while striving to ensure that it looked a little smarter than the competition too .
The Radia A25 is the late machine build to these ideal . It ’s the most expensive of the amps in the Radia family ( for now at least … ) and it immix some interesting technology from the fellowship with a levelheaded selection of inputs and impudently re - styled casework .
Of course , while Arcam can be recognised as one of the Godhead of the modern integrated amplifier , their rivals have become very adept at build up them too . Is this still the one to go for or have others learned to play the game better ?
Availability
The Arcam is uncommitted in the UK for £ 1,499 and revel usefully broad retail accessibility signify you should n’t have to travel too far to find one . US customers can expect to pay $ 1,499 for the A25 ( a price helped by Arcam now being own and run by Harman International ) and in the Australian market , it will set up you back $ 2,995 AUD .
There is no shortage of likewise specced competitor to the Arcam at this form of price point . Something that ’s crucial to acquit in mind with amplifiers at this price point in 2024 is that they encompass everything from a stripped back twist with a dustup of analogue inputs , all the style to something which is basically an all in one system in all but name .
As I ’ll cover , the Arcam splits the difference between these stage ; doing more than a number of primal competition but still benefitting from source equipment so this is something to think when setting a budget .
Design
Over the years , Arcam has style their low-priced range of devices in a variety of different ways but what united all of them is that they all shine the time they were developed in . The Radia framework are no exclusion to this .
As hinted at in the name , you ’ll observe rounded casework that uses a clamshell trend design for the top panel . The front is overshadow by two large control knob and a display that is quite cleverly integrate because , until it lights up , you would have little to no estimation that it ’s there .
The most notable decision is the consumption of yellowness for highlights and a modified amount of elucidation which , if not done right , could have look rather grim . Having spent some fourth dimension with the critical review unit , I rather care it . It ’s unlike without being so uncanny that the A25 look out of place with other devices . Arcam should be commend for trying something new and no less sky-high endorsed for abscond everything together in a authority inspiring agency too .
One aspect of the design is less welcome though . The A25 put itsBluetoothaerial inside a lip at the back of the casework that covers the stimulation . These tend to front saucy in pictures but they make connect things to the Arcam harder than it necessitate to be which is n’t helped by the input on the back panel being arranged in a slightly haphazard mode . Once you ’re connect up , you should be ok but that ’s a little harder than it need to be .
The remote ascendance is logical enough to utilise once you remember that you take to press enter to select an input rather than the A25 automatically selecting it when you reach that association in the cycle .
Features
As the A25 is top of the tree in the Radia image it is by far the most technically interesting and sophisticated of the models on sale . While the others are conventional Class AB amplifiers , the A25 makes usage of Arcam ’s Class G circuit . Class G is specific to Arcam ; they have a patent for it and it ’s only found in their AMP .
In essence , it retard the point where the circuit switch from pure Class A operation into Class B by using a complete 2nd power supply to serve bridge this crossover point . This amp point supply the A25 with 100 watts of king rise into 165 into four ohms . This is more than the SA20 it replace and entirely militant with the sort of amps that the Arcam is going up against .
Also a dance step forward over the older models is the digital board . Arcam has been fitting digital inputs to their adenosine monophosphate for a while now but the A25 ups the functionality . As well as two coaxial and one visual remark , the Arcam gains a USB sound recording input ( on a micro 100 link ) andaptX HD Bluetoothfor quick and easy cyclosis .
Decoding is via ES9280A PRO DAC and disregarding of what the spec flat solid order , the Arcam has handled sample rates up to 768kHz on test . DSD is also hold up to a rash 22.4MHz ( or ‘ lots ’ if you ’re not up to hie with this most recess of digital formats).HDMI ARCwould have been a welcome extra addition but otherwise the Arcam gets a fairish piece done .
This digital circuit board is abide by decent banquet of analog connections . There are three line level inputs , all on an RCA connection and a move magnet phono stage . This is something that Arcam has fit out to their integrate amp from the outset and that greatly simplifies use with a turntable , not least because historically , it ’s been rather expert . A preout is also present to simplify habit with a preamp or when attaching a subwoofer and you get a earphone adenylic acid on a 3.5 mm Jack-tar .
This is a decent spread of connection but it does forget the Arcam slightly confused about what it is . It has more connectivity than more traditional rivals that are designed to work with root equipment possess … but it still needs assist to get a sign to the digital display panel where something with a full streaming display panel wo n’t . The specification is flexible though and there is n’t much that the Arcam wo n’t talk to and speak at the same kind of damage it will struggle with .
Sound Quality
One of the reason why Arcam became the force that they have in this class is down to how their amps equilibrise the need to be exciting , punchy and something that pulls you into the music being played while also making sure that the less the perfect bit of your music collection does n’t put your teeth on edge . It was a residual they struck bright and the A25 has n’t forgotten this same john .
Give the A25 a adept recording like Public Service Broadcasting ’s The Race for Space and the style in which it do by E.V.A is authentically engaging . There ’s enough energy to the ‘ not quite rock , not quite a break ’ percussion to engage you and it overlays the superimposed string and guitar that make up the master instruments over the top with a smoothness and fertility that helps them sound entirely convincing . This all the overconfident facet of ‘ hi - fi ’ and it ’s surrender with an effortlessness that think of you do n’t fixate on the proficient aspects of what ’s happening but lock away into the music rather .
When you move to something less sympathetically control like Ritual by White Lies and the Arcam does an excellent job of the other part of the legal brief . The ballistic Holy Ghost is a break up call but one that constantly feels compressed and wanting in clearance . The Arcam does a very neat job of keeping the fury and puncher of the track but yield that grainy and squeeze edge . There is very little that the A25 ca n’t make listenable .
This applies both to the analog connections but also to the digital board . Running an Eversolo DMP - A8 streamer into the Arcam over RCA ab initio but then trade it to send a signaling to the A25 ’s USB input signal reveals that the Arcam ’s digital card has been configured in such a way as to avoid changing the basic graphic symbol of the amp itself . If you like what the Arcam does , it will do it with admirable consistency across its multiple connections .
Not everything is quite so effected though . I do n’t experience that the Bluetooth link is the best of the breed . Used via anOppo determine X5which has excellent Bluetooth , it still feels a small easy and safe . I also finger that the headphone production is something you could see fit to using now and again but it would n’t be my first selection for a 50/50 split .
How much you care what the Arcam does will also depend slightly on your speaker system selection . With some dead capable verbaliser at this sort of monetary value point , I have regain that that joyous border can be curb a minute and leave the Arcam sound fractionally secure but screen both with the slightly more expensive Neat Petite Classic ( £ 2,000 ) and the more or less less expensiveMission 700(£1,300 ) collect very right results from the Arcam and allowed it to do its ‘ refined fervor ’ trick very well .
One bit of additional functionality is rather more telling though . The phono stagecoach in the A25 is a ontogeny of one that has been in use in Arcam amps for a very tenacious time but it is n’t broke so does n’t need fixture . It is more than up to the job of supporting a similarly priced lazy Susan and ensure you ’d feel no rush to add to an external design . listen to Leftfield ’s immortal Leftism via a Rega Planar 10 and Vertere Sabre cartridge into the Arcam ’s phono stage saw the ampere do justice both to this mighty album and the timbre of the attached computer hardware . The beautiful electronic prominence at the start of Melt is birth with weight , grain and tone and it ’s really lovely to hear to .
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Should you buy it?
The Arcam has a good spread of functionality and it continue to offer more than respectable functioning across the Brobdingnagian majority of it . Across a broad choice of economic consumption face , the A25 will hold its own against contender and deliver decent flexibility and a consistently engaging performance .
The Arcam faces stiff rival both from amps that do more … and that do less . If you have decent seed equipment , more focussed rivals can offer high performance when you connect them in that means . Conversely , if you do n’t have much source equipment , competition that genuinely are one box seat systems might make more sense . In taste to please everyone , it ’s possible that the Arcam wo n’t please you at all .
Final Thoughts
Arcam ’s experience in offer production that immix good carrying out with real domain flexibility is ostensible in the A25 which is a considered phylogeny of what the company has been doing well for forty year .
If you do n’t know exactly how your organization will prepare in the years to come , the A25 is able to pop the question multiple choice in terms of connectivity that should see you right . It ’s a safe choice that fathom systematically affiance while it does so .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every amplifier we critique exhaustively over an drawn-out catamenia of time . We utilize industry standard tests to compare features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to review a intersection .
regain out more about how we test in ourethics insurance policy .
FAQs
you may stream to the A25 via Bluetooth with aptX HD keep .
