Verdict
Opinion as to who first said “ those who care this form of affair will detect this the sort of affair they like ” is divide – but that wo n’t turn back me from applying it to the Arcam ST5 .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The medicine - pour land - grab shows no signs of decelerate down – if anything , the arrival of luxuriously - performing newcomers like Eversolo andWiiMhas made the contest tough than ever .
So it ’s with a due sense of trepidation / hullabaloo that we welcome Arcam ( back ) to the disturbance with its first music streamer since 2020 ’s ST60 . Does the veteran brand have what it takes to see off the upstarts ?
Availability
The Arcam ST5 music pennon is on sale and in the United Kingdom it sell for £ 799 . In the United States it will set you back $ 799 , while in Australia the going pace is AU$1499 .
That mean Arcam has pitched the ST5 into an area of the market that has late been dominated byCambridge Audio , but which is coming under ever - increase pressure from the likes of Bluesound , Eversolo and plenty more besides …
Design
There ’s minimal , and then there ’s minimum . Arcam seems to have put its idea to delivering as discreet and minimise a music streamer as potential with the ST5 – and if that was indeed the caller ’s aim , I have to say it has succeeded .
The ST5 is placeable as a member of Arcam ’s new Radia series of components , if only from the scandalmongering accents along the side of the casework and the brow get over the rear venire . There ’s also an extremely abbreviated company logo on the front panel , but other than this the blueprint of the ST5 is draw end the anonymous .
That ’s by no substance a bad affair , you understand . Some user may yearn after the sort of full - colour OLED display featured on streamers from the likes of Cambridge Audio , but Arcam has decided to digest the ST5 ’s processing power on audio performance . And anyway , there ’s a evenhandedly big ( and fairly fuzzy ) single - agate line exhibit on the facia to help you when making any operational adjustments – which is more than the likes of Bluesound is prepared to offer .
There is just one physical ascendence : a power on / off rocker on the rear panel , next to the mains power input . aside from this , the ST5 is a hands - off intent .
Features
With one notable exception , selection for get audio subject matter into and out of the Arcam are perfectly adequate . On its rear panel the ST5 has an Ethernet socket and a USB - A slot as inputs , and digital ocular , digital coaxial and analog stereoscopic picture RCA output signal . Wireless option extend to Wi - Fi ( of course),Apple AirPlay 2 , Chromecast , and the Connect versions ofSpotifyand TIDAL .
The control app ( on which there will be a little more a picayune later ) also give admittance to cyberspace radio , podcasts , Amazon Music , Qobuzand UPnP devices on a common web . The Arcam is also Roon Ready .
What there ’s no star sign of , though , is Bluetooth connectivity . plain , Bluetooth is hardly a paradigm of audio caliber , but it ’s a childlike and commodious way of accessing music without refuge to Wi - Fi , and as such is a feature of every other music waft I can think of . Is Arcam brave or foolhardy for omitting it ? You settle …
Doing the crucial digital - to - analog transition business is the ubiquitous ESS Sabre ES9018 chipset . It ’s quick to deal with all worthwhile digital audio file eccentric ( include FLAC andMQA ) and can handle resolutions of up to 24 - bit/192kHz and DSD128 . Hardcore cyclosis rooter will want to see bigger numbers than those , but for the overwhelming majority of users with this sort of money to spend on a music banner , they ’ll do just ticket .
As far as controlling the ST5 is concerned , things are a little more convoluted than is idealistic . The Arcam Radia control app is free for Io and Android , and it ’s just as strip - back and minimum an affair as the waft it ascertain . Here ’s where you may choose your input ( or , at least , the bulk of them – Spotify and TIDAL are not embedded in the app , so you ’ll need to use their native equivalent ) , pick out one of six presets ( for radio station only – you ca n’t condition a playlist or a podcast for some cause ) and control condition playback as far as volume , play / pause and the other basics are concerned . you’re able to also check for microcode and software updates here .
The ST5 ships with a quite nicely realised little distant - control French telephone that ’s a cut or two above the average . It replicate some of the obvious clobber – loudness , playback control and what - have - you – and it also lets you sail the menus approachable via the machine ’s single - line show .
Here ’s how you take your preferable production type ( digital or analogue ) , DAC filter ( fast or slow ) , pick out fixed or varying volume output , and other refinement . I ’d have recall including these options in the control app would be sensitive – after all , this way the full ST5 can be controlled from one place . But it turn out ( not for the first time ) that I ’m untimely .
Sound Quality
It ’s a bit of a stereotype , certain – but stereotypes are rooted in truth , are n’t they ? Broadly , the Arcam ST5 sound so much like a stereotypical Arcam merchandise it ’s almost like a tribute act .
The ST5 has a comfort zona , and it ’s a tolerant , warm , inviting and utterly well-meaning comfort zone at that . It ’s a place where low-pitched oftenness are big and substantial , where the diametric last of the frequency grasp is far too cultured to ever propose it might get hard , edgy , or otherwise out of hand , and where the midrange communicates politely rather than explicitly . And rather than allow uncooperative recordings to make it find uncomfortable , the ST5 simply co - opts them into its macrocosm of lush , pleasant , and amicable speech sound .
Of course , it ’s an approach that process a goody with contentedness that ’s this room dispose in the first place . A 24 - bit/192kHz Qobuz - derived FLAC Indian file of Nico ’s edition of I ’ll Keep It With Mine rolls along in fine style – the Arcam ’s tonality fit the string organization beautifully , the vocal is unmistakable in its tone and quality , and what low - frequency info there is arrives with astuteness , weight and impulse .
The ST5 does good work in amalgamate both the frequency range and the operation as a whole , offer decent brainwave , and create a fairly large and nicely organised soundstage . The Arcam is right at home with stuff like this , and as a issue the auditory sensation it serves up is confident , lucid and welcoming .
A 24 - bit/44.1kHz FLAC file of Non - Alignment Pact by Pere Ubu , on the other hand , fares rather less well . This is the snot-nosed , attitudinal , raucous product of a higher-ranking service department set with ideas above its station , and as such is sufficient to make the Arcam strait uncomfortable . The disquietude at every stage of the frequency range , from the scuzzy bass part guitar to the clattering rhythm section via some howlingly abrasive feedback is anathema to the ST5 – but its endeavour to smoothen off the rough boundary , roll off the shrill flak and generally bring in some order to bear are doomed to loser . The result is a via media that suits nobody .
In some slipway , this safety - first approach could sour to the ST5 ’s reward . Not every system has its centre out stalks , after all , and the Arcam ’s benign attitude means that it should wreak well with any number of amplifier / loudspeaker combinations . But if it ’s a gross and unadulterated account statement of your music you desire – for unspoilt or for worse – this is not a music banner that will automatically give it to you .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
There ’s a lot to be said for an inclusive audio that ’s probable to be system - agnostic
It ’s all done in the name of ‘ good taste ’ , but the ST5 examine to bring down order at all times
Final Thoughts
I had n’t listened to a patch of Arcam equipment in quite a while , but it did n’t take long in the ST5 ’s company for it all to issue forth flooding back . in person , I guess the risk of infection - averse attitude of this streamer is understandable and , in some way , commendable – but it imply it ’s not the all - rounder the asking - price suggests it should be .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every music streamer we go over soundly over an lengthy period of meter . We use industry standard tests to liken features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find oneself . We never , ever , swallow money to review a product .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
you could teem over Wi - Fi with the Arcam ST5 , but it does not have any Bluetooth support .
