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Arcam FMJ A19 and airDAC

Arcam FMJ A19 and airDAC

Though integrated amplifiers have been around a long time, they are often mixed bags. Some models try to do too many things at once, losing focus on what we listen for first—sound quality. Whether you are looking to purchase your first real hi-fi component or an affordable option for a second system, the Arcam FMJ A19 integrated amplifier delivers real high-end sound quality, without the high-end price.

Functionality and Sound
Though the A19’s design is understated—downright minimalist, actually—don’t let its lackluster exterior fool you. The A19 borrows heavily from its bigger and more expensive siblings, with features like a toroidal transformer for its 50W Class AB output stage and the same volume control as top-tier FMJ models. With seven single-ended inputs, the A19 makes plenty of room for those with lots of sources—enough for two turntables, two DACs, a tuner, and your dad’s old tape deck. Even if you don’t need all of them today, those extra inputs may come in handy down the road. Because of the resurgence in vinyl, Arcam has upgraded the A19’s built-in phonostage to better reflect current listening preferences. The remote is a basic design, with the ability to control every feature except for a few user preferences that are adjusted via several button-combinations on the front panel. Despite some quirks that I will discuss later, overall this integrated offers everything you need for a mere $999.

Now for the real meat—sound quality. Using components that I am very familiar with, I tried to determine exactly what the A19 does or does not bring to the listening room. After level-matching the A19, I was actually shocked to hear significant differences between the Arcam and several other integrateds of similar specifications. The A19 is incredibly quiet compared to many components. Even when I turned the volume all the way up there was no audible hiss coming from the speakers; so you don’t need to worry about distortion and noise with this amp. I hate to be the one who brings up THD, because as we all know this is by no means a measure of sound quality, but the A19 has a harmonic distortion rating of 0.003% at eighty-percent power— and that’s low.

Listening to Ludovico Einaudi’s “Experience” from In a Time Lapse (CD and vinyl), I heard a smooth high end that never sounded overly bright or grainy. The A19 was convincingly realistic on Einaudi’s piano, and when the violins—arguably the most difficult instrument to accurately reproduce—joined in with their unusually sonorous solemnity, I felt like I was listening to a genuine high-fidelity product (even though Arcam doesn’t like to be associated with a “hi-fi” sound). So far so good.

Arcam FMJ A19 and airDAC

I played the track several more times, then shifted my attention to the soundstage, which was on-par with what you would expect in this price range: generally wide, sufficiently detailed, with overall tight imaging (though somewhat misplaced locations compared to ultra-high-end systems). Soundstage depth was less deep compared to those more expensive systems, but nevertheless was plenty deep to satisfy all but the most demanding. What makes In a Time Lapse great for soundstage testing is that it was recorded in an Italian monastery with sound quality in mind, so it’s very easy to tell when something is amiss. On “Experience,” a harp placed behind and to the left of the piano is gently plucked amid the increasingly energetic violins. The Arcam A19 had sufficient resolving capabilities to allow the distant harp to be heard, though don’t expect extreme soundstage depth with this—or any—integrated in this price range.

Maybe I’m being a little too tough on the A19’s lack of soundstage depth. After all, imaging was fairly tight and was for the most part reasonably well executed. No “I’m there!” moments occurred, but nothing was egregiously wrong— complex soundstages are a difficult thing to resolve on such a tight budget. Then another thing announced itself: the slightly tubby bass. Low-end damping ability was a little lacking with the 4-ohm Endeavor E3 floorstanders. Yet, when compared to similarly priced integrateds, low-end handling was equal to or slightly better, so no worries here.

I don’t want you to give you the wrong impression of the A19 by pointing out these things—they are meant to give you a realistic idea of what a $999 integrated amp can accomplish. With regard to sound quality, $999 buys you a musical, involving presentation with above-price-point performance in imaging. At 50W into 8 ohms and 90W into 4 ohms, the Arcam has plenty of power to rock out with most dynamic speakers, and its build-quality is solid. Really, it feels like a tank.

 

Overall, the A19 is an integrated that I would want to own at this price point. In fact, a hi-fi newcomer friend of mine purchased it after a weekend of listening—that’s how much he liked it. Just know that “best-sound-ever” claims can’t be firmly rooted in the sub-$1500 category; this integrated will help hook you on high end, but it won’t be the end-all, which is exactly what you want when you’re starting out—something that’s so good you want even more.

British Quirks
The A19 has a few quirks that can be misconstrued as design flaws by those unfamiliar with the new British energy-consumption standards, so don’t panic if you come across them out of the box. I generally leave new components on 24/7 during the first week or so, but this proved problematic with the A19 due to the integrated’s auto-shutoff function. The first time this happened to me, it took a little while to figure out what had gone awry. I went in my listening room to find the A19 in standby, and pressing the power button and volume controls on the remote didn’t seem to wake it up. I assumed the integrated just needed to be cycled, so I turned it off and back on, and had the same issue. It turns out that if you power off the unit via the front-panel power button, the A19 defaults to standby, supposedly in case of power outages. Finally, I turned the volume knob on the unit and presto—it came alive again. The solution is to press the “Aux” and “Balance” buttons simultaneously to adjust this feature, and disable auto-standby altogether.

Arcam airDAC
Along with the Arcam FMJ A19, I also received Arcam’s latest foray into networked DACs, the Arcam airDAC ($699). I consider myself pretty computer-savvy, so I found setup was straightforward. But if you’ve never fiddled with a wired or wireless computer network in your house, the airDAC is going to throw some curveballs. The manual stated that it was possible to set up the airDAC wirelessly and provided an IP address to do so, yet I couldn’t connect without first using a direct-wired connection between my laptop and the DAC. Like I said, this is nothing new for people who have set up a home network, but if you have a desktop computer and no network, you will need to connect the computer and airDAC directly via Ethernet cable in order to adjust initial settings.

After the airDAC was set up, it was pretty smooth sailing. Using the free Arcam SongBook+ app for iPad, the airDAC found my RAID drive and other network-attached hard drives. The airDAC automatically indexed music from the hard drives, though it didn’t distinguish between hard-drive partitions and displayed duplicate songs—a minor detail. The app is extremely fast, though it is a “light” version and doesn’t display album artwork while scrolling through artist or album lists.

The airDAC features four input methods: TosLink, digital coax, Network Attached Storage (NAS) management, and Apple AirPlay. The first three methods worked just fine, sounded great, and provided everything you would expect from a networked DAC in this price range. The airDAC was about ninety percent of the sound capability of standard (non-networked) component DACs of similar pricing, which was more than I expected. The Apple AirPlay feature was, well, underwhelming. It’s limited to 16/48 (Apple’s fault, not Arcam’s), which is something I can live with, but there was a major delay between streaming from my laptop and the airDAC. When I hit Pause, almost three seconds went by before the song would pause. When I attempted to stream Netflix movies, the video and sound were so out of synch that I switched back to some Bluetooth speakers after only thirty seconds. This lag persisted even after I restarted both my computer and the airDAC and checked my settings. I have gigabit routers and switches in my network, and such lags have never been an issue with other devices. The point is, forget the Apple AirPlay and stick with the other inputs.

But the airDAC has one huge advantage over the competition: Music streaming from a NAS drive. With the airDAC, gone is the need to have a noisy computer or a finicky Mac Mini in your listening room. Simply transfer your music to an external NAS drive, plug it into the airDAC via Ethernet, and you’re done. For $699 plus a NAS drive (roughly $100–$200 depending on size), you get a music server and DAC that can be controlled from your smartphone or tablet, and that’s huge. The airDAC can build playlists from multiple drives, stream everything seamlessly and with great sound quality, and it’s a bargain. Unfortunately, the UPnP network streaming is limited to 96kHz/24-bit, but most people looking for an affordable music-server solution will be just fine with the airDAC’s capabilities. For those of you who have amassed an enormous number of digital music downloads, like I have, the airDAC will satisfy your music-management needs.

SPECS & PRICING

Arcam FMJ A19
Inputs: Six line-level RCA, one moving-magnet phono input, one 3.5mm
Outputs: Record out, preamp out
Power: 50W into 8 ohms; 90W into 4 ohms
S/N ratio: 105dB
Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz +/-0.2dB
Dimensions: 17″ x 11″ x 3″
Weight: 19 lbs.
Price: $999

Arcam airDAC
Inputs: TosLink, digital coax, network UPnP (Ethernet), AirPlay
Outputs: RCA, digital coax
DAC chip: TI PCM5102
Frequency response: 10Hz–20kHz +/-0.1dB
S/N Ratio: 106dB
Output level: 2.15V RMS
Sample rate: Up to 96kHz/24-bit
Dimensions: 7.5″ x 4.75″ x 1.75″
Weight: 2.5 lbs.
Price: $699

ARCAM
The West Wing
Stirling House
Waterbeach
Cambridge CB25 9PB
UK
arcam.co.uk

Tags: ARCAM

Spencer Holbert

By Spencer Holbert

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