Arcam Alpha 7SE

I find the overall sound quality of the Arcam Alpha 7SE extremely listenable. I'm using it with a Cambridge Audio Silver Spirit 60 cable (£100) and find the unit simple to use and enjoys playing most types of music. Whichever disc gets put in, the Arcam simply plays it to the max without disappointing.

I tried a few CD players at the same sort of price point inc Sony, Marantz and Nad and the thing that stood out with the Arcam was the sound stage. Instruments remain seperate and precise for the most part. It does get a bit muddled on complex passages, but they all did. It has a very open and airy sound, the others sounded veiled by comparison. Bass is tight and well defined and the top end is lively without getting too harsh, some sound like they have tamed the high end by cutting it off. Hard to fault at the price, it's not perfect but then again neither are a lot of the recordings and the Arcam is detailed enough to show up most of their faults.

I like the Arcam Alpha7SE, its clean, crisp & has good bass depth, but it does not enter the realms of proper audiophile quality. The first Arcam I purchased had a transport problem, the second had a noisy power supply and the third and final sample retained a fair ammount of power supply noise (although less than the second sample). The problem with this machine is that its too expensive to consider as being budget hi-fi, and yet its level of perfomance does not justify its price. If I were to buy a moderate ingerated amp with a built in phono stage and then spend £350 (about $420) on a turntable, I would be receiving much greater sound. Im not picking on the Arcam, I'm trying to justify in my own mind spending such amounts of money and receiving sound to which my ears cannot better a £150 turntable and that's even taking into account the high degredation of such devices when plugged into cheap internal phonostages!! CD players are cheaper than ever, with new formats to come along. My advise is to look in the second hand, ex-demo adds as people rush to buy these hyped formats, purchase a player costing £1000+ of no older than two years for the same money!

compared to the NAD 540 the Arcam is more detailed in the bass, and there is much more air in the treble. The Arcam sounds dynamic, lively and natural, and it can be upgraded to Alpha 9 spec so i think it's the best value at the price.

I have had the Arcam for 5 months now with no problems.