beautiful upper range. tons of detail, warmth

not the depth of some other players

here is my two cents.. I have spent a good deal of time very carefully putting together my system and upgrading each component over time. I have Nautilus 805s with Sound Anchor stands, blue heaven cableing, adcom gfp750 preamp and a mc275 power amp. This is all fairly primo stuff. AND I still have my alpha 7!!!! After trying a ton of others (everyone always says my CD player needs to be upgraded- without hearing it) I still have this player. listening to the other players, I feel that material only sounds different but only better half the time. That means it sounds worse the other half! This player does not have the depth that others do, but you have to take your choice. You either want depth or detail. Sure, everyone promises both but the more you have of one, the less you have of the other (except for price ranges over 10000). It''s like with my amp, the mc275- lots of warmth. This means less clarity. Unless you pay 15000 for an amp you cannot have it both ways. I am keeping my alpha until I A/B something that actually sounds better!

Similar Products Used:

alpha 9, rotel hdcd disc player (can''t rember exact name), Linn gudek? -or something like that.....marantz cd player and rega planet. I tried all of these!!!!

-good mid-range

-remote very small; not designed for people with five fingers

I am very happy with this unit. While there is competition out there in this price range, this CD player is like a set of Vandersteen speakers, i.e., performing well across the whole spectrum of sound. I would agree with some of the previous comments on this page that the unit is certainly not "overbuilt" in terms of parts/construction, but I have had no problems with quality control issues (unlike a previous Adcom CD player).
What you do miss with this unit are the deep bass notes, as they are more hinted at than let loose into your listening room/living room. However, if most of your listening runs from jazz vocals to classic rock, you will be happy with the sound of this player.
My sound system:
Pioneer Elite VSX-07TX Reciever
Polk S-10 Speakers
Rega Planar 2 Turntable

Similar Products Used:

-mid-fi NAD, Adcom,

I bought an Alpha 7 a year ago to replace a Marantz CD63, and I love it. It's played through a Denon PM350SE amp and Mission 733 speakers...if there are better alternatives around (and I'm sure there must be many) then I don't want to hear about them, as I'm afraid of contracting hi-fi disease!
It has a lovely, warm sound and creates a good image, and on better recordings it picks out the studio ambience very well. It didn't cost the earth and I listen to it for hours on end without getting fed up. Respect to Arcam.

I have just auditioned the NAD 314 and the Arcam Alpha 7 integrated amps. After all the hype about the NAD 314, I was disappointed. Even after making sure to turn off the soft-clipping switch, the NAD failed to provide good imaging, soundstaging and texture to the music. Mushy, but warm. I like the features and flexibility for upgrading the amp, but as to sound, expected more detail. By comparison, the Arcam was very detailed, instruments sounded more "real," and the soundstage and imaging was much more defined. Music had more contrast and texture. Downside to the Arcam was that vocals sounded a bit thin, attenuated, a tiny bit like heard through a tube. Particularly female vocals need a bit more rounding out on the bottom. My vote goes to the Arcam as much better and more enjoyable, though neither are "fall in love" components for me.
I rate the Arcam a 4, though of course this is compared only to other equipment in its price range.

I auditioned these components with Energy 1.5 and Klipsh speakers, as well as with NHT SuperOnes, with Marantz CC-65SE and Yamaha CD changers as the sources.

I have just auditioned the NAD 314 and the Arcam Alpha 7 integrated amps. After all the hype about the NAD 314, I was disappointed. Even after making sure to turn off the soft-clipping switch, the NAD failed to provide good imaging, soundstaging and texture to the music. Mushy, but warm. I like the features and flexibility for upgrading the amp, but as to sound, expected more detail. By comparison, the Arcam was very detailed, instruments sounded more "real," and the soundstage and imaging was much more defined. Music had more contrast and texture. Downside to the Arcam was that vocals sounded a bit thin, attenuated, a tiny bit like heard through a tube. Particularly female vocals need a bit more rounding out on the bottom. My vote goes to the Arcam as much better and more enjoyable, though neither are "fall in love" components for me.
I rate the Arcam a 4, though of course this is compared only to other equipment in its price range.

I auditioned these components with Energy 1.5 and Klipsh speakers, as well as with NHT SuperOnes, with Marantz CC-65SE and Yamaha CD changers as the sources.

I have had this player for a couple of months now and can highly recommend it. I bought the 7 to use solely as a transport until the whole DVD-A vs. SACD thing shakes out and the next generation transports come out. The long-term home of this 7 will be in my modest home office/den 2-channel system.
I will agree with others that the build structure is not as strong as competing players, but that doesn't mean it's compromised at all. Big tweak hint: get 2 of the one quart freezer ziplog bags, fill both with play sand, and put atop the Alpha 7. Now it's solid as a rock. Tweak tip #2: get an aftermarket power AC cord. I picked one up used on the net for $60 and it made a BIG difference. Tweak tip #3: buy 4 of the model #1 Vibrapods and place on your rack shelf. Put a glass shelf over the pods. Place Alpha 7 on glass shelf. Place sand bags on Alpha 7. Now you're fully tweaked, and it really does sound better!

Good things about the Alpha 7 in general: excellent error correction and operation. Reads my CD-Rs no problem. Reads several BAD condition CDs I have no sweat. The remote is great, and very powerful IR.

The sound as a transport: like all Arcam machines, excellent bass. I don't know why this should be, but I've found the bass reproduction to be deeper and more powerful with Arcam players than other brands, even when used as a transport.

The sound as a player: well, it does have just 16-bit DACs. Not bad, nice midrange, gets a little congested at higher levels, more lively than the Rega Planet [which I did NOT like], more palpable midrange than the ear-bleed Rotel players I heard.

Overall: very satisfied, good value for the money, and the best part of all of course, you can always upgrade the DACs into an Alpha 8 or 9. I just wish the Arcams had a balanced output option.

I bought the Arcam 6 months ago after comparing it, at home, in a private A/B session, with the Marantz 67se and NAD 522. I love jazz, female singers and acoustic music in general. I can tell you this: the Arcam was far away the best performer reproducing the most compelling bass. Couldn't hear any differences in the high and midrange tones with the others, but far away the music was most open and clean. Sometimes you could hear on this player sounds that in the other ones were almost lost. Soundstage was spectacular. I agree with the error correction capability. Price performance is the best I've heard in the last time. I give it 5 stars and a long life with me.

Recently picked up an Arcam Alpha 7 CD Player from the UK. Voltage conversion to 110V is a simple matter of flipping a fuse internally (apparently voids the warranty but beats mailing out to an authorized dealer and waiting for days on end for return intact). This player is tremendous value for maoney at approximately $500.00. The player uses a delta/sigma DA converter and provides a well balanced sound close to the analoque sound of a record. I use this player with Adcom pre and power amplifiers connnected to Boston Lyynnfield VR30 speakers.
Would be interested in hearing fromanyone owning Arcam equipment in the USA.

After reading several good reviews on the Arcam Alpha 7 and by my audio dealer I auditioned it against a Rega Planet. It was powered by an Arcam 9 integrated with B&W CDM7 speakers with high end Transparent wire and interconnect. The sound was what I had hoped for. The dynamics were fine but needed a bit more reach at the low end. Soundstage was very good. Highs and mids were excellent and mid bass superb. The Planet had the basics but the overall sound was very different. At $150 less the Arcam came up with the sharpness of overall sound, that clearity I was looking for that the Planet lacked. The Planet was too laid back. My audio dealer told me ahead of time that I would like the Arcam better when played side by side with the Planet and he was right, even though he would make more money on the Planet. I bought the Arcam. Back home as expected my Mirage OM12's loved the sound but the big surprise was with my speaker 2 set the Boston Acoustic VR20's (a lower end speaker with a good sound that needs bass). The Bostons could show me the clarity that the bipolars couldn't do as well. I had never heard them sound that focused. Subdued sounds before muffled came out. No fatigue after hours of play. Needless to say, in this price range, this baby gets 5 stars.

Arcam Alpha 7 beats any player I auditioned under a grand. It gets the midrange right, sweet, natural, detailed. It also gives a much greater sense of space around vocalists and instruments that the competition near its price point. It won't draw the last bit of bass off a cd, but few players in this range will. Most of all I like this little baby coz you can play material loud and never get a sense of the music sounding fatiguing. It a good match with my Aerius. Slight complaints: the plastic on the front panel is a bit cheesy, and the remote control is a diminutive unit that's a pain to program with. Still, this does nothing to compromise the sound, and the upgrade on the model 8 I listened to (better d/a converter) is something I'll definitely consider down the line. Ya spend more, ya'll get less unless you want to go to real audiophile stuff.