Verdict
The A5 have all the in force elements of the Radia platform and makes it useable at a very sharp Mary Leontyne Price . This is an gratifying and well specified adenosine monophosphate that will gain ground many converts to the Arcam brand
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
It was n’t too long ago that Arcam absolutely overshadow the affordable integrated amplifier market place . While the fellowship left the honest launching level to other brands , they competed from the next rung up with a variety of model that often whole clean up at the price points they came in at .
Fast forwards to the present and Arcam has repositioned itself and the Radia A5 is the only amplifier that the company pee-pee under £ 1,000 and it would be a stretchiness to call it ‘ entry level . ’ Nevertheless , the specification it offers is quite a compelling one and it stand for you might not demand a huge amount of tolerate equipment to build up a system around the Arcam .
The stop is of course that the competition has been hard at work sharpening up their routine as well . At the Leontyne Price the Arcam is being sold at , you have a Brobdingnagian alternative of amplifiers with a wildly variable level of spec and features . Does the A5 scratch the complete counterbalance of feature , performance and note value to entice ? Does Arcam still have what it takes ?
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Availability
The Radia A5 is available in the UK for £ 749.95 and is sold in a variety of bargainer both physical and online . In the US it is a considerable amount less , coming in at $ 699.95 , reflecting that Arcam ’s parent companionship Harman International is US based . In Australia , it will cost you $ 1,495 .
Something that may or may not be useful with the Arcam is that , if you are snitch for an A and speaker at the same meter , there are a significant number of software package deals where it is partner with speakers at a decreased price . Some of these sight send packing the relative price of the A quite significantly .
Design
The A5 looks quite a lot like theA25which I ’ve already reviewed and by ‘ quite a lot ’ I intend that aside from their genuine theoretical account branding , they are identical . sacrifice the A25 looks and feels entirely deserving its asking Mary Leontyne Price , this is very just news for the A5 at half the cost .
It ’s been a little over a year since I first get wind the Radia series of products and in that time the sleek casework with its yellow particularization has become a little more intimate . The A5 looks and feels more material than almost all of its cardinal competitor and there is not a great deal I ’ve tested under a £ 1,000 that feels corresponding .
Of of course , being the same basic design as the A25 , this stand for that it has the same backtalk cover the rear inputs as the A25 and I dislike it every bit as much as I did there . Leaning over the top of an amp to make connection is already a fairly dodgy patronage . proceed to hide all the connection forth so you ca n’t see them make it much firmly and it makes the initial business of getting acquaint with the A5 a little less pleasurable than it should be . It ’s only fair to manoeuvre out that Arcam uses this as the Bluetooth aerial which means that the A5 does without a visible one .
I ca n’t fault how the Arcam is built either . The way that the casework is assembled and the rouge coating is absolutely top notch , serve the amp feel like it ’s been carefully gather . All the main points of contact also sense significant and well - engineered . It ’s also an prosperous equipment to live with once it is connected up . Features like the showing to show stimulant and volume are very welcome and the outback handset covers off a utilitarian choice of role . Only the slimly left over requirement to have to select an input after you have pedal to it shoot any getting used to and it ’s scarcely the end of the human race .
Features
The unmarried most important difference between the A5 and the more expensive A25 is the amplifier section . The more expensive amp establish purpose of Arcam ’s sophisticated and clever Class G amplifier system that means it effectively has half an extra amplifier in the box to help keep distortion public figure down . It work a charm but double up on cardinal bits of amplifier is quite expensive so it can not be done at £ 750 . For this rationality , the A5 is a more conventional course of instruction AB adenylic acid that gives 50 watts into 8 ohms . This is less than some challenger can care but it should be enough for most necessary .
The digital instrument panel is also slimmed down . The USB input is dispensed with leaving a undivided optical connectedness and two coaxal digital input . This always feels the wrong direction around to me – more things have an optical connexion than a coaxial one – but still gives some useful enough selection when CD transports and other components are considered . These connexion are good to a maximum sample charge per unit of 24/192kHz PCM which is sufficient for most pauperism . Some rivals offer USB at this sort of monetary value but the Arcam is n’t strange in not offering one .
This is partnered with three line input on RCA connection , one of the company ’s tried and tested motivate magnet phono stages . This should be quite sufficient for most setups and it is joined by a preout that will make colligate a subwoofer altogether straight as well . It ’s deserving take down that Arcam has never block off meet phono microscope stage to their amps and the one that they use is well regarded as well .
Connectivity is completed with a 3.5 mm headphone socket on the front panel and an aptX Adaptive able Bluetooth installation . The latter ensures that , in theory at least , all you call for to get sound out of your A5 would be a phone or tablet . There are amplifier for less money that can come up on board swarm andHDMI ARCconnections but they can not usually match the other connectivity that the Arcam offers so it ’s fair to say that the A5 is competitive with most other devices you ’ll encounter at the price .
Sound Quality
It has been a while since the A25 was here on test but listening to the A5 brings back some positive memories … and makes some new ones . I used the A5 with a duad of Q Acoustics 5020 standmounts and a pair ofMission 700standmounts while on test . Both of these speakers can demonstrate a slightly bright sharpness when pushed with some amps but , on the ending of the Arcam , they are both imposingly refined . This coherent ability to keep things civilised is an Arcam trait that dates back tenner and the A5 is absolutely imbued with it . The notional absence seizure of Class G has no real effect on this at all .
There ’s something else too … defy I say it but the A5 can often be a short fleck more fun than its large brother can . Listening to the perfect trad rock of Outta Sight by The Sheepdogs , the Arcam is out and out skilful fun in a agency that the A25 sometimes struggle to be . It handles rhythmically engaging music with a delight that is hard not to be lactate in by and it does this while bugger off all of the basics right . Voices and instruments are consistently believable and , while this might not be the most detailed amplifier you could buy at the cost , it manage to construct a systematically credible soundstage .
I have observe the performance of the digital display board to be systematically good too . I used aBluesound Node Nanoas a test source as it is a solid exercise of the sort of thing you might match with the Arcam in the real world . I really like how the Bluesound performs but tie in it via a coaxal digital cable and letting the A5 ’s digital board handle the decryption did n’t result in a carrying into action that was adrift of what the Node Nano can do . It mean that some of the very affordable streaming selection that only need a digital out , would make a great deal of common sense here .
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If you are a turntable user , the Arcam is also going to be a very appealing proposition . I have been working in the audio industriousness for … quite a long time , get ’s leave it at that . I do n’t imagine that there has been any significant variety to the internal Arcam phono stage in that entire time but , as it is very understandably not broken , there is absolutely no bang to fix it . Listening to Fink ’s very endearing Beauty in Your Wake via the Arcam give you a performance that is authentically up to the undertaking of keep back most standalone affordable phono stages true while keeping your box count down and your wiring neater . There ’s tidy sum of gain and that same grand energy that the A5 demonstrate over digital is present here too .
This substantial display is rounded off with a comme il faut carrying into action from the headphone socket and the Bluetooth input . The earpiece amp is capable to ensure that a pair ofFocal Hadenysheadphones rescue the level of performance that I know they are subject of .
you may jolly indicate that some of the more specialized DAC / Headphone amps can get even more out of the same headphones but , as a means of using the Arcam when the speakers would be too loud , it ’s more than up the problem . The Bluetooth performance is passing exchangeable to the A25 which mean , while I feel you may do well at £ 1,500 , I ’m a sight more positive at £ 750 . As well as sound comely , the connection , is static and works at a useful distance too .
Should you buy it?
The A5 looks and feels extremely interchangeable to the A25 and as it is half the damage , it intend that some aspect of the A25 I felt less enthuse by are much more warmly received at the fresh Leontyne Price point . The A5 does an telling amount and does it very well .
For £ 250 more , the Cambridge Audio CXA81 MkII is considerably more capable , while for less money , equipment like the Mission 778X can keep the Arcam honest too . If you are give away for an amplifier at the minute , you have a Brobdingnagian amount of pick .
Final Thoughts
Arcam ’s policy of provide a decent spread of connections to utilize their amps as you see primed feels like a better fit for the A5 than it doesthe A25 . This is a well - priced amp that needs small in the way of affirm equipment to get up and running but has the connectivity to originate with you . At the here and now , this feel like the sweet spot of the Radia range .
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We test every amplifier we review thoroughly over an extensive period of time . We use industry standard tests to compare features in good order . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to brush up a product .
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FAQs
you’re able to stream over a Bluetooth connection to the A5 amplifier , which put up aptX Adaptive Bluetooth .
Full Specs
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