I love the unit and it fits my setup well but I think I'll wait for the secondary markets to get one, it's around 1300$ right now where I live...no rush. Great review and insight as always HB.
Thanks for this useful review Hans - I must say I was pleasantly surprised just how good you found it to be at this price. In the UK we can buy one for only £799 GBP and so I was considering buying one just to use as a streamer for digital output to a better DAC. Shame it has not USB or AES digital outputs, but given your assessment it still sounds like a worthwhile investment. I appreciate that you test it’s digital output capacity with the Arcam pairing partner amp, though it would have made a useful addition to see how it’s digital out performed into the DAC’s in your reference set ups too - If you ever get the time, that would be great to see. Thanks again 👍 [Edit: just realised it was 2 months ago you did this review - so perhaps too late already, which would be a shame]
The ST5 outputs a better, cleaner digital signal than the WiiM players but for instance the Auralic Aries S1 does that better again. So I see no point testing the ST5 in my setup 1.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel That’s really useful to know where it sits relative to those others. Thank you. Had a good look at the Arcam website after watching your videos (including the one on A25) - it’s surprisingly scant on technical detail (by comparison to your content), though I see they also have the ST25 and a few integrated streaming amps due out in September too. Think the Auralic S1 might be the answer for the niche I’m looking to fill, particularly with its USB output. Out of curiosity, how does the Arcam ST5 stream content to the A25 beyond the limitations of SPDIF without USB C? It’s not over the RJ11/25 link presumably
Hello Hans, I hope you have had (or still have) great holidays. Thanks for another great video. In your present setup 2b, you have now adopted the A25 as the amp, but keep the Eversolo 6ME as streamer (and I presume DAC). I understand you still consider the Eversolo 6ME superior in sound quality (and maybe functionnalities) paired with the A25 than the ST5. Am I correct ? Thank you.
Great review Hans. I notice that the streamer doesn’t seem to have a USB output for audio. I thought that was required for higher bit rates? Or does co-ax and optical digital provide enough these days? And thank you so much for all that you do. Your reviews and insights are top notch! And LOL to the ‘bitheads’ comment. 😂
Great review! Was wondering about the following. With all these excellent products you discuss every week, like now this Arcam or, earlier, Eversolo (master), and many others I am wondering how far streaming has come. Still playing CDs with a rather 'old' Accuphase CD-player, which was state-of-the art around 2010. Has a streamer like your highly acclaimed Eversolo DMP-A6 Master already surpassed that quality of sound level, you think?
If you would buy a streamer of the same quality and price of your Accuphase CD-player, chances are it would even sound better. Don't expect miracles from streamers costing € 1000 to € 2000. They sound great considering what they cost, but are not up to the level you are used to.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Thank you, that makes sense. Also, friend of mine bought an Accuphase DP-67 when it came out many years ago, still uses it for cd and it's dac for streaming. Apparently these old dacs were of good quality. Thanks again!
I was waiting for this review after your A25 review to see what you thought, luckily it seems Arcam have kept up their sound quality tradition. Pity they've dropped Dirac...
A thing I wanted to ask you: why do a lot of amps and other hi fi components only have 2 termination on the IEC inlets? Are they thus missing the connection to the ground? Thank you
Hello, just a thing about Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect: those are not UPnP. These endpoints might appear with the same name as the UPnP counterparts but are generally implementations of different protocols.
Are there people actually using Internet Radios on these hifi/hiend streamers? It seems to me that almost everyone will be a subscriber for one of the most popular streaming services, so I really cannot see a plausible reason to play lossy audio radios on hifi setups.
@@gioponti6359 Won't ppl use less "noble" and cheaper devices like Amz Echo for that? That's my guess. Will you sit in front of your speakers listening to the 128 kb/s mp3 radio stream instead of - say - your favorite album? Also, do podcasts and talk shows need a HiFi/HiEnd setup?
@@andreabincoletto8609 in the mentioned case it’s 192kB/s and its to some extent about the spoken word and the selected music. I guess the same accounts for several of the better BBC radio stations.
I love the unit and it fits my setup well but I think I'll wait for the secondary markets to get one, it's around 1300$ right now where I live...no rush. Great review and insight as always HB.
Thanks
Thanks for this useful review Hans - I must say I was pleasantly surprised just how good you found it to be at this price. In the UK we can buy one for only £799 GBP and so I was considering buying one just to use as a streamer for digital output to a better DAC. Shame it has not USB or AES digital outputs, but given your assessment it still sounds like a worthwhile investment. I appreciate that you test it’s digital output capacity with the Arcam pairing partner amp, though it would have made a useful addition to see how it’s digital out performed into the DAC’s in your reference set ups too - If you ever get the time, that would be great to see. Thanks again 👍 [Edit: just realised it was 2 months ago you did this review - so perhaps too late already, which would be a shame]
The ST5 outputs a better, cleaner digital signal than the WiiM players but for instance the Auralic Aries S1 does that better again. So I see no point testing the ST5 in my setup 1.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel That’s really useful to know where it sits relative to those others. Thank you.
Had a good look at the Arcam website after watching your videos (including the one on A25) - it’s surprisingly scant on technical detail (by comparison to your content), though I see they also have the ST25 and a few integrated streaming amps due out in September too.
Think the Auralic S1 might be the answer for the niche I’m looking to fill, particularly with its USB output. Out of curiosity, how does the Arcam ST5 stream content to the A25 beyond the limitations of SPDIF without USB C? It’s not over the RJ11/25 link presumably
I was curious about this streamer and low and behold -- you have a video review for it! Thanks!
No problem!
Hello Hans, I hope you have had (or still have) great holidays. Thanks for another great video.
In your present setup 2b, you have now adopted the A25 as the amp, but keep the Eversolo 6ME as streamer (and I presume DAC). I understand you still consider the Eversolo 6ME superior in sound quality (and maybe functionnalities) paired with the A25 than the ST5. Am I correct ?
Thank you.
Correct
Great review Hans. I notice that the streamer doesn’t seem to have a USB output for audio. I thought that was required for higher bit rates? Or does co-ax and optical digital provide enough these days? And thank you so much for all that you do. Your reviews and insights are top notch! And LOL to the ‘bitheads’ comment. 😂
It is capable of 192 kHz on both SPDIF and TOSlink.
Great review! Was wondering about the following. With all these excellent products you discuss every week, like now this Arcam or, earlier, Eversolo (master), and many others I am wondering how far streaming has come. Still playing CDs with a rather 'old' Accuphase CD-player, which was state-of-the art around 2010. Has a streamer like your highly acclaimed Eversolo DMP-A6 Master already surpassed that quality of sound level, you think?
If you would buy a streamer of the same quality and price of your Accuphase CD-player, chances are it would even sound better. Don't expect miracles from streamers costing € 1000 to € 2000. They sound great considering what they cost, but are not up to the level you are used to.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Thank you, that makes sense. Also, friend of mine bought an Accuphase DP-67 when it came out many years ago, still uses it for cd and it's dac for streaming. Apparently these old dacs were of good quality. Thanks again!
I was waiting for this review after your A25 review to see what you thought, luckily it seems Arcam have kept up their sound quality tradition. Pity they've dropped Dirac...
I agree
A thing I wanted to ask you: why do a lot of amps and other hi fi components only have 2 termination on the IEC inlets? Are they thus missing the connection to the ground? Thank you
Double insulated component, doesn't require a separate earth.
Thanks
Hello, just a thing about Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect: those are not UPnP. These endpoints might appear with the same name as the UPnP counterparts but are generally implementations of different protocols.
Thanks
Danke!
🙏🏻🙏🏻
Hans, do you think it's likely you might review the new Cambridge Audio CXN 100? Surely a rival at this price.
I look into it
Do you know of any way of still using a Simple Audio Streamer? I have one but no software to run it other than the original Ipad app.
That is different per streamer so I can't say.
Thank you, Hans. Another excellent video.
Thank you too!
Are there people actually using Internet Radios on these hifi/hiend streamers? It seems to me that almost everyone will be a subscriber for one of the most popular streaming services, so I really cannot see a plausible reason to play lossy audio radios on hifi setups.
Radio can be so much more than just random stream of music, so the answer is yes (Austrian Oe1).
@@gioponti6359 Won't ppl use less "noble" and cheaper devices like Amz Echo for that? That's my guess.
Will you sit in front of your speakers listening to the 128 kb/s mp3 radio stream instead of - say - your favorite album? Also, do podcasts and talk shows need a HiFi/HiEnd setup?
@@andreabincoletto8609 in the mentioned case it’s 192kB/s and its to some extent about the spoken word and the selected music. I guess the same accounts for several of the better BBC radio stations.
Linn jazz , linn classics , flac ! As many others ‘free’ on the purchased hardware . Introduction to so many tunes new to us .
Well, it's better than digital radio like DAB+ in Europe.
This already has a DAC built into it but no digital inputs :(
It is designed to work with the A25 app that does have digital inputs.