With Arcam having dabbled in network streaming with its compact Solo Uno and more serious SA30 just-add-speakers systems in recent times, it was only a matter of time before the British company launched a dedicated music streamer.
The Arcam ST60 is that debut, and unsurprisingly uses the streaming architecture from its premium amplified sibling (and naturally strips out the amplification stage), gifting owners AirPlay 2, Google Cast, uPnP playback and internet radio at their fingertips, as well as analogue and digital connections and support for MQA and Roon. That’s a sweeping offering in today’s music streamer market – one inclusive of the popular streaming platforms that boast broad music service and device support, and that consequently taps into the emerging habits of this generation’s keen streamers.
With such compatibility becoming more and more ubiquitous, however, it’s becoming harder for streaming products to stand out with their spec sheets alone, so performance remains a key differentiator. And Arcam has been in the hi-fi game long enough to know that.
As such, it has entered the music streamer market with an impressively talented performer. The ST60 is self-assured in its delivery – big, full, solid and expressive. Perfume Genius’s Jason comes through our speakers with stark clarity in a soundstage that’s pleasingly open and broad. His falsetto vocal is lush and romantic, bookended in the frequency range by a solid, substantial bassline and an equally present and nicely textured harpsichord up top. It’s a captivating rendition that’s easy to sink right into, thanks to the ST60’s tonality, muscularity and clarity – sonic characteristics we’ve come to expect from Arcam products over the years.
Now Available at HFX
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