got lucky 60 euros happy bunny.seek and thou shalll find...arcam cd 72

I just post a review on my B&K amp and thought I would review the Acram CD-72T that I have had for about 3 years. This is one great CD player. Treble is smooth, mids are excellent with lots of detail. Soundstage is fantastic and I think a strong point. It does not do SACD and there may be better players out there but I have heard none. Previous auditions include players similar price gear from from Rotel, Marantz, NAD and my MSB Digital Link feed by a Denon DVD 1920/ Arcam CD-72. The Marantz SA 8001 may also be worthy of an audition but I have yet to hear it. In the meantime, the CD-72 offers excellent performance and is an great choice if you find it on the used market.

Looks good, well built, reliable.

Warm and musical.

Not attention grabbing

Sound not as exciting as some pepole might like

400GBP , New from Sevenoaks, UK

This is my first CD player. Purchased based on good reviews from the British Hi-Fi mags when it was introduced.

Since I have owned and used it daily for more than 4 years now, I think I should do a little review for those who are interested in this player.

1st of all, Built quality is very good for the price. 4 years daily operations, it still load and play CDs like new. Never had a problem of reading CD / CD-Rs.

Soundwise, this player is on the safe side, typically what they call the British sound, nothing harsh or forward, voiced towards the warm side.

I love the voicing of this player, its somewhat better than the CDP i recently replaced it with which is the Naim CD5i (double the price of the CD72).

What I find it lose out is outright details and the "realness" of the instruments when comapred to the Naim. It also lose out for Timing. Dynamic of the CD72 very good comparing to the Naim but it lacks the Air that the Naim is able to do.

All in all, don't think its the player to buy today brand new but if you see a 2nd hand bargain, this is one good vfm player, I still use it today for my headphone set up.

Similar Products Used:

CD players that I have heard before:

Cambridge Audio C640 v2
Naim CD5i
Naim CD5x
Naim CD555

Clear and natural sound the does not leave a ny sound on the disc behind.

Some of the sounds where not meat to be so up foward, and others were supposed to be considerbly further back. The lack of soundstage depth and layering, overly diffuse soundstage width, and odd bass integration make it sound a bit off its toes.

Off all the CPD's I have tried, this is one the most detailed. It produced a wide defuse soundstage that allows you to hear all details but unfortunately on a single plane lacking depth. It has this forward nature to its sound combined with a fast, tight, but dry bass. It causes an odd disconnection between pace and rhythm that makes the recordings sound somewhat disconnected. I also feel that this has to due the synergy of my current system. At first, it was a clear improvement to my current system (at that point, my system had been a part of home theater that had a poor handle on music, which sparked the purchase of a dedicated CD player). Today, I only use two-channel rigs for music. Changes in sound are now easy to discern, with most changes showing a profound differences in presentation. This CDP although detailed and providing fantastic clarity, lacks image depth, precision, and integration. Not a very musical partner when it comes to a system that does have the resolving power to display the difference.

Clean clear true sound. Relatively low price for the quality of sound.

The drawer face is a little crooked. I think that since it is built to be easily upgraded to the 92 series, the face plate of the drawer (which is where the model id is located) is not attached to firmly. This can be fixed, but is a little annoying considering the quality of the rest of the unit.

I A-B tested this player with several other CD players and was amazed at how easy it was to identify when this player was the active unit. The sound is clear and precise. The sound quality is true.

Similar Products Used:

Rotel, NAD, Sony, Denon, Wadea, Meridian, Linn.

Lively Natural voice reproduction Neutral

Remote control

I was using a Marantz DVD player to listen to my music on my system. I knew that it was a bottleneck so I decided to buy a dedicated cd player. First, I autidioned the Arcam against my DVD player. What a difference? Simply unbelievable. It put the DVD player to shame. I never want to have to listen to music using this player again. After that, I compare it against the Rotel RCD-02. The Rotel was cheaper. Although the Rotel was a very good performer, it was always a little less involving then the Arcam. The voices sounded more natural on the CD72. There were always a little more ambiance, enough to justify the higher price.

Similar Products Used:

Rotel RCD-02, Nakamishi MB-8

Makes almost any material sound good but gives up nothing in terms of detail. Can be upgraded with dCS Ring DAC.

None, in terms of sound. It could use a better remote.

Picked this up at a decent price since it was a demo and I've loved it since I hooked it up. It replaced a Denon DCM-360 5 disc changer -- which I was quite happy with -- and somehow it is more detailed yet gets rid of the harshness the Denon had. I've been able to pull out those poorly made hard rock and hip-hop CDs that were almost unbearable to listen to before. And the well-recorded CDs only sound better.

Similar Products Used:

I listened to a Rotel unit for about the same money (RCD-1070?) which sounded great but the Bay Area dealers weren't willing to take anything off on the price.

Build Quality Sound Midtones Will sound great with any amplier, including good old Technics amps.

None

What a excellnet CD Player by Arcam one of it's fineist players to grcae the HI - FI market to date. Sound is crystel clear and very detailed indeed. Midtones are outstanding on this player. My Current system: Musical Fidelity X A200R Arcam CD72 Using Van Den Hul the second interconnects B&W 602S3 using QED silver anniversary speaker cables

Similar Products Used:

Arcam Aplha 6

dynamic, great musicality

medium a little bit agressive (Cambridge were smoother). A little bright with some amplifier (with Cambridge A500 for instance).

having replaced my Cambridge D500SE with the Arcam CD72, this player is a wonderfull one with dynamic, punch and details. The association with a hybrid tube-solidstate amplifier does a very nice job

Fast, Accurate, Musical, Reputable Company, Upgradeable to cd 92 (ring dac)Stunning looks!

Unfortunately price increased from $800 to $900 Oct. 2002. Remote control would work best in an all arcam system (Too many buttons, many of which are not used for the cd player but other arcam components)

I must say that this player produces a very refined and accurate sound. It is very musical and involving. I compared it to the well reviewed Rega Planet and went with the Arcam because I felt like there was less coloration. The Rega changed the sound and seemed to place the singers further away from the microphone. I also auditioned NAD which just was not as musical. I purchased my player as a demo from a very respectable dealer. For a long time I stressed over whether or not to get into HDCD, SACD, DVD audio, etc. To me it's the music that matters and this player does a sincerely true reproduction of recordings. My advice to the buyer in this price range is trust your ears and spend extra for a nice pair of interconnects. I use Van Den Hul and could not be happier with my choice. I compared Kimber Hero / Van Den Hul D 102 III Hybrid. I went with the Van Den Hul only because it was smoother and less revealing than the Kimber. My player is the cd 72 not the cd 72T. I spoke at length with my dealer about this and the differences. The main difference is the different transport mechanism and text messaging from Sony on certain recordings. My dealer actually looked at the new and old transport and felt that the older transport in the cd72 looked like it was built better. Also, he told me that Arcam did not want to go with the text mechanism but it was strongly encouraged by SONY so they did. There are also more than one version of the older cd72! The newest version has all of the updates that are in the cd72T except for the new transport and text mechanism. This is the version I purchased. My last comment is about some of the other reviews about this player on this site. Arcam is a very reputable company that has been making high quality components for many years under their own roof! (with the exception of their A/V receiver which is made in China). I do not think the consumer should be mislead about the quality of this player over standard issue Best Buy, Circuit City, etc., electronics. It is completely on another level. True that people may prefer less expensive players but I think for the price this player is still a good value and definitely places the consumer into the high end audio realm!!! It was definitely the best player under $1000 that I listened to and also earned a What Hi-Fi Award! In other words the people that review high end electronics for a living think this is good player, and I agree!

Similar Products Used:

Rega Planet 2000 NAD cd players Rotel 991 AE Marantz CD63 with Cambridge Audio Dac Magic II mk2