A solid and easy-going performer, but is it enough to compete?
View online review whf.cm/3STYhyg
Arcam’s new Radia range of hi-fi separates has already gained acclaim, with the A5 and A15 amplifiers and CD5 CD player all receiving five-star reviews and 2023 What Hi-Fi? Award wins. Now we have the brand’s new music streamer – the Arcam ST5.
Priced at £799, the ST5 is up against the Cambridge Audio CXN (V2), our favourite network audio player at this price for six years running, and the new DMP-A6 from Chinese-brand Eversolo.
The ST5 is a slimmer, more anonymous design than the amps and CD player in the same range, though it shares their all-black design, and it’s a sturdy build. There are no buttons on the front, with just a simple one-line text display behind frosted glass. This means the text, while large and easy to read from a distance, is a tad fuzzy compared with the crisp sharpness of the full-colour displays on the Cambridge CXN (V2) and Eversolo DMP-A6.
While the ST5 doesn’t directly replace the soon to be outgoing, five-star ST60 (£649), it is an evolved model. The ST5 has a more efficient single microprocessor (compared with the ST60’s two, which had to drive an OLED display) and has upgraded components in a bid to improve sound quality, alongside an improved power supply with higher voltage rails.
The compact, included remote is solidly made and works well enough, though some of the ST5’s features and commands can be accessed only by the on-unit menu itself, such as selecting the digital filters, the output types (Analogue, Digi Core and Bitstream) and the type of volume output (Fixed, Variable, External). Arcam recommends selecting the External output if you’re using the ST5 with a control link to a matching Arcam A5 or A15 amplifier (via an included connector cable). This passes all volume control duties over to the amp and, more crucially, allows the amp to respond to commands from the ST5’s remote and app. It is claimed to maximise the signal-to-noise ratio and dynamic range when the Arcams are paired together, too. For digital output, Digi Core is the one to use if you want the ST5 to handle all MQA decoding, while the Bitstream mode leaves the MQA decoding to the external DAC.
Sticking to the basics
You can connect the ST5 to your home network via wi-fi or ethernet, and play files stored on the same network (such as from a NAS device) thanks to UPnP streaming. AirPlay 2 and Chromecast buil
