FMJ CD36 Upsampling CD Player
The sad reality is that most of us stay too busy in our work-a-day worlds to have the opportunity to enjoy live music frequently. That's why we rely on a great home audio system with "Best Of" components like the FMJ CD36 Upsampling CD Player to deliver the next best thing. Arcam has left no stone unturned in creating a CD player that comes as close to perfect reproduction as is humanly possible. The FMJ CD36 pairs a solid and critically damped Acusteel chassis and mechanical shielding that keeps sensitive components magnetically untouched to effectively eliminate any noise that could emanate from the transport mechanism. Arcam also utilizes four Wolfson WM8740 converters on a four-layer PCD to lower distortion and raise linearity. The DAC then upsamples to 192kHz, 24bit, the gold standard of filtration for CD reproduction. Factor in a third-harmonic clock oscillator to deliver low jitter and precise datastreams and you’ve got one serious CD player that puts you in the virtual front row.
After thorough independent research, we selected the FMJ CD36 Upsampling CD Player as a 3LUXE "Best Of", to see our other two CD Player selections visit our CD Player Overview.
| MSRP $1,892.00 |
Arcam
Pembroke Avenue
Waterbeach
Cambridge CB25 9QR
UK
www.arcam.co.uk Pembroke Avenue
Waterbeach
Cambridge CB25 9QR
UK
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LUXE IT OR LEAVE IT
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FEATURES
- Arcam's FMJ casing does great things for the performance of the player, even before the inernal gubbins are taken into account. That solid, heavy and critically damped Acusteel casework now sports what Arcam calls Stealth Mat technology. This internal meshing is used to help electromagnetic nasties from raising the noise floor, as well as making aspects of the CD36 invisible to radar (always a useful bonus).
- The CD36 is Arcam's FMJ player; the Full Metal Jacket design, the flagship CD player from a company that - for the last decade and a half at least - has set the benchmark for CD spinning
- The power stage has been radically rethought, with 10 different supplies feeding key sections of the player, with a pair of toroidal transformers feeding the DAC section and the control stage. Mechanical shielding, used to keep sensitive components magnetically unsullied, further enhances the isolation of power supplies. Coupled with that Acusteel chassis, this effectively eliminates any noise - mechanical or electrical - that could emanate from the transport mechanism.
- The key to any good CD player is its DAC. Arcam uses a quartet of Wolfson WM8740 convertors on a four-layer PCD. These use analogue averaging in an effort to lower distortion and raise linearity. The DAC then upsamples to 192kHz, 24bit, the supposed gold standard filtration for CD replay. Factor in a third-harmonic clock oscillator to deliver low jitter, very precise datastreams and its clear Arcam mean business here.
- Perhaps more than any simple identifier, the soundstaging of the player sets it apart from its peers. The Arcam presents a wonderful image from a well recorded CD; the sound is wide of the speakers, both deep and capable of coming forward (a very rare quality at this price), most CD players here tend to stay at or behind the speakers; Arcam manages to place images right into your lap and back past the limits of your room. Soundstage height is also well dealt with, the size and depth of the orchestra is managed perfectly, with a great deal of layering that makes you feel like you are sitting in the seventh or eighth row of the stalls.
