Yellow is the new Arcam
Or orange. You decide.
We often say of Arcam’s hi-fi components that you can tell an Arcam instantly from its look. While the UK-based company’s designs have evolved over the years, you’d never mistake them for anything else.
So the all-new Radia family is not only news in itself, but notable for defining a new look for the company, a revised aesthetic which Arcam describes as “purposeful yet playful”, saying this will define the company’s image for years to come.
With Arcam being part of Harman International since 2017 (and Harman itself wholly owned by Samsung), Arcam turned to Huemen, Harman International’s in-house design firm, for the new look. The main design feature for the rebranding is the introduction of ‘Radia Yellow’, chosen for its contemporary look, its differentiation in the audio industry and its universal appeal.
“It speaks to everyone, everywhere,” says Jason Gokavi, Principal Designer at Huemen. “Music is energy, and we wanted to hint at that energy by infusing the brand with a vibrant yellow that will be used throughout the product design and marketing assets going forward.”
Of course designers do talk a lot of tosh (and the Radia Yellow looks distinctly orange in the pictures; it samples as having 40% magenta content), and we’re rather more interested in what the new Radia products can do. It’s a five-strong series of midrange components with three integrated stereo amplifiers, the A5, A15 and A25, along with the CD5 CD player and the ST5 network music player. All five sport the new sleek all-black design with subtle yellow-orange accents; the new aluminium chassis has distinctive vents cut into the amplifier tops, and a ‘cowl’ that hangs over the back panel to hide the connections. You also get a matching black and yellow remote control with each model.
The A5 and A15 amps are Class-AB designs delivering 50W and 100W into 8 ohms respectively, while the flagship A25 ups the ante with Arcam’s own Class-G amplification design and 100W per channel. Class G implements multiple power supplies rather than just a single one, so that when a dynamic signal goes beyond the capability of the first power supply, the secondary supply is gradually brought in up to the full rated power output as required — it’s a kind of turbocharging for dense or dynamic music moments, while still maintaining high efficiency in normal operation.
All three amplifiers share a “high-quality” moving-magnet phono stage among an otherwise fairly straightforward set of inputs; digital inputs are one optical, two coaxial, a USB-C on the highest A25 model, and Bluetooth, which is usefully available both in and out, so for streaming from a device and also for then listening on headphones, with aptX Adaptive available for both implementations. Surprisingly there is no HDMI ARC input, nor USB-B.
These digital inputs receive the attention of an ESS ES9018 DAC in the A5 and A15, while the A25 steps up to the ESS ES9280AQ chip. And while the rest of the family has frosted simplified TFT displays, the A25 sports an OLED screen and illuminated highlights around the volume dial that mimic the mere orange paint on its siblings.
The CD5 CD player supports USB-A playback for MP3, FLAC and WAV up to 24-bit/192kHz in addition to its core role of disc spinning.
The ST5 music streamer is well-equipped for the modern world with Wi-Fi, Chromecast, AirPlay 2, Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect, and we’re delighted to see a redesigned Arcam App providing Amazon Music, Qobuz and global internet radio stations. Roon certification and MQA compatibility complete the exhaustive list. One of the best things about the Radia range is its attractive pricing, with the CD5 CD player priced here at $1295, the ST5 streamer at $1495, and the three amps at $1495 for the A5, $1995 for the A15 and a jump to $2995 for the Class-G A25.