Arcam CD5 (Black) is rated
out of
5 by
10.
Arcam CD5 (Black)
CD Player
£699
Disabled assistance
All products that are available to purchase on the Richer Sounds website can be delivered free to blind, partially sighted or those with a disability. Find out more
Please contact web after sales for more info.
For delivery of in-store only deals, please contact your local store for more details.
Ts&Cs apply - see our delivery page.
For delivery of in-store only deals, please contact your local store for more details.
Ts&Cs apply - see our delivery page.
Disabled assistance
All products that are available to purchase on the Richer Sounds website can be delivered free to blind, partially sighted or those with a disability. Find out more
Please contact web after sales for more info.
For delivery of in-store only deals, please contact your local store for more details.
Ts&Cs apply - see our delivery page.
For delivery of in-store only deals, please contact your local store for more details.
Ts&Cs apply - see our delivery page.
”Arcam is back and this player is a true mid-price champion.” ’What Hi-Fi?’ 2023 Product of the Year.
No frills, just great quality sound
The Arcam CD5 uses the highest quality components to deliver top quality sound, without the frills. The high quality electronics also facilitate the playback of Hi-Res audio encoded discs or playback via the USB-A input. As part of Arcam’s Radia range, the sleek style and all-aluminium construction, makes this one of the most stylish Arcam CD players to date.
Premium quality ESS DAC for dynamic and detailed sound
At the heart of this quality CD player is an ESS 9018 DAC (Digital to Analogue Convertor). Used in conjunction with high precision, custom designed components, it delivers sensational sound quality. The Arcam extracts every ounce of detail from your CD collection, with the lowest levels of distortion, giving an exceptionally clean and dynamic sound – perfect for hearing your music collection at its very best.
Hi-Res audio playback
Compatible with FLAC and WAV encoded CDs, the player is also suitable for Hi-Res music playback. Alternatively, connect to the USB-A interface and play your stored Hi-Res music files. Supporting WAV and FLAC files up to 24 bit/96kHz, it’s a great way to maximise the player’s full sonic potential.
Connects to all types of systems
A trio of outputs make the CD5 easy to connect to a wide range of different systems. Use the digital optical or coaxial for connection to an AV receiver or high quality digital amplifier. For amplifiers with no digital input, connect via the analogue RCA outputs.
Sleek new style
As part of Arcam’s Radia series, the CD5 looks slicker than any previous Arcam CD player. With just six buttons and a subtle display, the CD player strikes the perfect balance in catching the eye without distracting from the sound. The all-aluminium casing with rounded edges exudes a high quality look and feel. A compact remote control is also included.
Optimise the sound from all your CDs and Hi-Res stored music files, with the Arcam CD5.
No frills, just great quality sound
The Arcam CD5 uses the highest quality components to deliver top quality sound, without the frills. The high quality electronics also facilitate the playback of Hi-Res audio encoded discs or playback via the USB-A input. As part of Arcam’s Radia range, the sleek style and all-aluminium construction, makes this one of the most stylish Arcam CD players to date.
Premium quality ESS DAC for dynamic and detailed sound
At the heart of this quality CD player is an ESS 9018 DAC (Digital to Analogue Convertor). Used in conjunction with high precision, custom designed components, it delivers sensational sound quality. The Arcam extracts every ounce of detail from your CD collection, with the lowest levels of distortion, giving an exceptionally clean and dynamic sound – perfect for hearing your music collection at its very best.
Hi-Res audio playback
Compatible with FLAC and WAV encoded CDs, the player is also suitable for Hi-Res music playback. Alternatively, connect to the USB-A interface and play your stored Hi-Res music files. Supporting WAV and FLAC files up to 24 bit/96kHz, it’s a great way to maximise the player’s full sonic potential.
Connects to all types of systems
A trio of outputs make the CD5 easy to connect to a wide range of different systems. Use the digital optical or coaxial for connection to an AV receiver or high quality digital amplifier. For amplifiers with no digital input, connect via the analogue RCA outputs.
Sleek new style
As part of Arcam’s Radia series, the CD5 looks slicker than any previous Arcam CD player. With just six buttons and a subtle display, the CD player strikes the perfect balance in catching the eye without distracting from the sound. The all-aluminium casing with rounded edges exudes a high quality look and feel. A compact remote control is also included.
Optimise the sound from all your CDs and Hi-Res stored music files, with the Arcam CD5.
Connectivity
Digital Audio Output
Yes - Coaxial and Optical
USB Input
Yes
General
Manufacturer's Warranty
2 years
Audio
Frequency Response (Hz)
20 - 20,000
Features
Cd Number Of Discs
1
Cdrw Playback Compatible
Yes
DAC
ESS ES9018
Dimensions
Dimensions WxHxD (mm)
431 x 83 x 344
Weight
Weight (KG)
6
Minimum £50 trade-in available against this product. Contact your local store or our telesales team for details, full Terms and Conditions can be found here. One trade-in per purchase. Excludes Clearance, Refurbished and Open Box products.
Make the most of your CD player. View our hottest deals on hi-fi racks and interconnects.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
BG53 from
My CD collection has never sounded better
I bought the Arcam CD5 recently and it has greatly enhanced my listening pleasure. My jazz collection in particular has benefited from this purchase, with great horn players like Miles and Coltrane almost sounding as though they are performing in person in my living room! A superb addition to my HiFi system. I am more than delighted with this product.
Date published: 2024-04-23
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Dr M C Watson from
Arcam CD5 great improvement in sound over CD73
Arcam CD5 great improvement in sound over my old Arcam CD73. Paired up with Arcam SA30 amplifier, Bowers & Wilkins 603 S2 and Atacama Apollo storm .
All bought from Richer Sounds Nottingham.
Date published: 2024-04-16
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Canaro from
Quirky but excellent
Machine has its quirks - two button presses needed when I expect one - but looks great and love the sound. Paired with Rega Brio.
Date published: 2024-04-16
Rated 4 out of
5
by
falconer from
Good machine, poor instructions and remote
I had to replace my CD player so I bought the new Arcam CD5. It was easyto set up: just a power cable and the cables to the amplifier. However, the instructions said nothing about the remote. I found the user manual on line and printed it ouit, but there was no mention of it in the insturctions inthe box. The remote control itself is not that easy to use, and it doesn't allow direct choosing of an individual track. SO it is inferior to the previous one. However, the sound of the new machine s=howed an immediate improvement over its predecessor, also an Arcam. It is clear, more analytic but also warmer. I am very pleased with it.
Date published: 2024-02-26
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Anonymous from
Aracm CD5.......
I bought this CD player to replace my aging Arcam Alpha which had developed an unrepairable fault.
The CD5 has terrific sound, it's audibly better and I am not some audiophile, but it's obvious.
This CD player can receive updates via a USB stick, I found that I needed to use a USB 3.0 stick as my 2.0 stick did not work. However the update was very quick once it was working.
I have two gripes about the player which are not deal breakers for me:
- the display could and should be clearer, in bright light or at an angle it can be hard to read and Arcam should fix this: have a look at the Brennan B2 for an example of a crystal clear simple text-based display.
- at times it is slow to react, e.g. with the Arcam Alpha you could turn the player on and almost immediately eject a CD, with this one you have to wait until it's ready.
This aside, I really love the sound and I expect that software updates in the future will fix problems and provide further options for configuration.
Date published: 2024-01-24
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Pete Clinch from
It'll (probably) be great when it's finished...
As it stands the "Overall" rating is 3, but that comes out of a 5 stars for sound quality and 1, maybe 2 for ergonomics
It sounds wonderful, no doubt about it.
So you get it home, and plug it in with little help from the verging-on-useless manual (quite thick, but only to allow it to be useless in lots of languages), and cue up something with segues between tracks... and it doesn't do gapless playback! So you email Arcam support and say "It doesn't do gapless playback, that wasn't a problem in 1984, in 2024, are you joking?" and they send you a software update to cure that. And then you want to fast-forward or wind back in a track and... you can't. So you email Arcam support and say "It doesn't do in-track seek, that wasn't a problem in 1984, in 2024, are you joking?" and they say the software team haven't quite finished that bit yet, but it shouldn't be long now.
Oh, and the draw is really shallow so it's easy to not quite get a CD in properly, in which case the disc will get stuck most of the way in and there doesn't seem to be any way out of that except force it out which feels a bit unnerving. And if your eyesight's not the best it's rather hard to make out the legends on the buttons on the unit, and because the programmers haven't finished yet the remote is poorly documented and doesn't seem to have any obvious internal logic on how to use it (there are online downloads that are better than the included manual, which are merely inadequate rather than "minimum contractual obligation")
So they've released it before it's properly ready, in other words, and you can't blame the manual writers if the programmers haven't finished yet, and you can't blame the programmers if the company have decided they'll release it before they've finished. But if you're prepared to put up with the poor ergonomics and documentation, doing your own software updates from a USB drive and can live without fast-forward/rewind within a track for now (weeks? months? who knows? and Arcam aren't saying right now (Jan 24), it *does* sound wonderful, there's no doubt about it.
So it's an A+ for sound and a D- for user-friendliness. I'm keeping mine, for now at least, because of the A+ sound, but if you value all the sorts of easy to use extra features that are a given on something from the likes of Sony, do be aware the CD5 may well be frustrating.
Date published: 2024-01-17
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Wynne71 from
Excellent guidance, service and price.
Really happy with my new Arcam CD5, definitely an upgrade from my Denon I bought back in 1996..!
Tom at the Lichfield store was really helpful and patient throughout the process.
Collected this morning, plugged in and sounding epic.
Date published: 2023-12-28
Rated 4 out of
5
by
grahams76 from
Great sound but some surprising issues
The sound from this CD player is very good. I have it paired with a Rega Brio amp and some KEF speakers. However, there are a couple of issues that are pretty inexcusable for a £699 player - it’s not possible to fast-forward nor rewind and CD Text is not available despite the manual specifying that it is. I emailed Arcam and both might become available via a firmware update sometime in the future. Other than that, I am very happy with the sound and look of the CD5
Date published: 2023-12-25
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