Integrated Amp Reviews

now we are talking, finally a review of a stereo item that is affordable and therefore an option for must of us. And clearly the pro and cons stated (the A and B rating for the different parts).

Physical CDs sound better than HiRes steamed music because data traffic is the largest cost item for those providers, they have every interest in not sending the best / heaviest file, so they don't do that. Despite the so-called HiRes resolutions, such a streamed file weighs 1/4 to 1/5 of the same song in full CD quality. Look at the MB's of files and you will know which one has more information. As far as I'm concerned, end of the discussion. But I'm just a layman and music enthusiast (who thinks (to?) simply), I'm not a pro.

.. and why I miss Audiostream: In my experience, streaming highres files (here from a modestly priced pro-ject stream box s2 ultra, powered by some lin PSU, and sourcing music from Qobuz or a FLAC filled SSD attached to the streamer via usb, all in all, way better in SQ than a PC): IMHO SQ is not necessarily softer nor harder, but, with ethernet connected, all results are possible, also dependent on "the network" ie, the "quality" of lan cables, galvanic isolator (cheap or expensive or absent), choice of network switches, their own (lin or SM)PSU. In the best case, music is snappy, clean and touchy, and if things are suboptimal, music can come across as etherical, softened w.r.t. PRaT, and Monet-like where it wasn't intended (though that can be nice too), or OTOH overly rough. A rabbit hole, and, seemingly, everything matters, except perhaps whether Roon is used or not.
I hear there are streamers out there that are more indifferent to "network quality".
And yes, higher resolution files usually sound a bit better (finer, easy to tell), identical mastering provided.

PS: a shoutout to Jim Austin for his latest article on an expensive network switch in the new edition of Stereophile: admirable in approach and attitude when it comes to finding the right balance at a tricky topic.

cheers
HB72

Herb Reichert is one of my heroes, but to be completely honest, this review reads a bit like loveless commissioned work.

Why is it not even mentioned that the A25 is a 'Chip-Amp' presumably using something like LM3886 Chips instead of discrete transistors?

And why is it not mentioned that Arcam belongs to the Harman Group, which in turn belongs to Samsung?

@Ortofan

I stand corrected. Presumably my own image search for the A25 showed the image of a predecessor. It seems Arcam had various 'chip amps' on offer but the A25 is not one of them.

With Alta Audio Alyssa speakers and it was absolutely impressive. I have a friend that had a 90's Arcam amp finally give up the ghost a few years back and even he dropped his disdain from the painful experience (as no one wants their components to die) after hearing this demo.

The Alyssa's were most impressive with bass that fooled 2 other visually-impaired friends that were there into wondering how a small monitor speaker like that could produce such powerful bass. There was no over-warm balance on very deep tenor vocals and the speaker was a sealed design, which was even more impressive. For $5k for the speaker and really $8k for the entire system on display, this was an ear opening for everyone in the room.

This amp hits way above its weight at $1500.

Oh and Herb was pleasure to listen to in his panel with Steve Guttenberg. Sad I missed meeting him... my newbie audio friends had other plans in mind.