I have been listening to the Arcam Alpha 7 for over a month now. I compared it to the Marantz 63SE, 67SE and NAD 714. For the comparison I made a CD using a CD writer from work. It was composed of a variety of songs from various artists. I made two copies. This made it very easy to do A/B comparisons of the units. I borrowed the 63SE and the Arcam for some more detailed tests.
My spouse was very skeptical, but while I was putting the kids to bed, she did a blind A/B comparison and definitely noticed a difference. I had set up the units and syncronized them before being interupted to read billions and billions of stories to my kids.

She chose the Arcam because "both the highs and lows extended farther". She hates the colour of the display and so do I. You can turn it off though. Much better than the Marantz in sound -- slightly better sound stage, depth. Obviously better bass and mid-bass. Female vocalists also benefited. The NAD was darker and not as natural (I had recently heard Jane Siberry live and compared my memory to her "Child" CD, a live recording).

I kept the demo unit while waiting for my unit. The demo unit failed after a week. I gather the early units had quality problems. I have had my unit for
over two weeks now, with it going continuously whenever anyone is home, and no problems have occurred. The dealer said that initially they did have problems but recent buyers have not had problems now for some time.

I was unable to compare it to a Rotel equivalent. I did compare it to our DVP 7000 (a pretty good CD player actually) and I found them very close. No preference between them, they are both good but slightly different in ways I have a hard time describing.

I believe the Arcam Alpha 7 is superior to similiar price range Marantz and Nad CD players and worth the little extra more. Definitely a four in sound quality, a five for value.

I've bought this player after listening several in the same price range(NAD, AMC, Yamaha) but mainly compared it with a Rotel RCD-970. IMHO the Rotel is more analitic, with a clinical sound, not so musical as the Arcam. Besides it tends to overdrive the treble range a bit. On the other side, the Alpha 7 has an incredible "warm" sound, very musical to my ears and doesn't lack detail at all.Besides is fully upgreadable to upper models (an unique feature in this price segment).

Equipment:

Rotel RCD 970
Rotel RA 970BX amplifier
B&W DM 302

Arcam Alpha 7 CD
Arcam Alpha 8 amplifier
B&W DM 601 and 603

I have owned an Arcam Alpha 8 with a matching Alpha 9 amplifier for about a year now, and have been very happy with it. The Alpha 8 shares the same transport (SONY made in France) and design with the Alpha 7, the difference being the plug-in digital/analog converter. The Alpha 8 is a 20 bit bit design, while the Alpha 7 has 16 bits. The forthcoming Alpha 9 will supposedly have a 24 bit design. A unique feature of these units is you can upgrade the Alpha 7 to the 8 and later to the 9 by changing the dac, a reasonably inexpensive upgrade path.
The player itself produces a warm, dark flowing sound that shows good detail and excellent sound staging. It sounds much less like a digital source than many competing players in the same price class, and to get superior sound you need to look in the $1,500 and above range. The 8 sounds very similar to the 7 except it draws out alot more detail in complex recordings like symphonies or massed vocals. However, for many more simple recordings like modern pop music or string quartets, there is minimal difference between the two players. As for reliability, mine usually plays an hour or two every day, and I haven't any problems thus far. All in all, I highly recommend this player.

Compared to the competition, this is a great player. I found it superior to the Rotel 975, Marantz CD-67, and anything by NAD. It is a little harsh on the highs until you isolate it well. I found that by adding the large DH cones under the player it smoothed right out. At the price it's a steal.

Went to audiyion this player at a local dealer, and ended up taking it home for a week-end audition. after 2 days (about 10 hrs. of listening and closely observing the player, I was a little disappointed. I had been hearing a lot of good things about this model, but I now think there was little bit of hype in the good things I was hearing. The sound was pretty good, But I was more let down by its build quality. I guess I was expecting something more after hearing so many good opinions on Contrary to what POWER-LAI(reviewer below) says, I think the Sony transport is probabaly the strongest feature in it's build quality. I returned the arcam to the dealer and bought the harmon-kardon;-) I would have to give it 4 stars on sound but 2 stars on build quality/ athstetics (styling)

Bought the Alpha 7 after listening tests with the NAD 314 + NAD 317. The Alphaproduced a much clearer and "crisp" sound than either of the NAD amps. Imaging
and soundstaging were also better. I'm running the Alpha 7 in a budget system
consisting of Paradigm Atom speakers and a low-fi Sony CD-player(future upgrade)
and it sounds worlds better than my old Onkyo receiver. Highly recommended
for anyone interested in upgrading from a receiver!

My Arcam Alpha 7 CD player is six months old now and has worked flawlessly since new.The remote sensitivity puts others to shame. I was considering a Rega Planet at the time of purchase but chose the Arcam for a sound that suited me better and the chance to upgrade. I must admit that the ability to upgrade within the Arcam family is certainly more attractive than going the "DAC- of -the- month- club " route.After getting rid of my three-box Cd player for the Arcam I am finally satisfied,until I upgrade to an Alpha 8 SE of course. People who complain about the sound should not fault the player but, rather, ackowledge a different preference for presentation. After all, even I still like my records better.Rating is range specific.

I bought an Alpha 7 cd player with an Alpha 8 amp, KEF Q-15 speakers and Staightwire Rhapsody interconnects (still using generic speaker cables - yet to purchase new ones).
The cd player has a nice combination of detail and dynamics. High end can get a little out of control on some recordings, but that may be due to mastering. I've a-b'd some cd's and lp's and con't believe what some engineers do when mastering (EQ, compression out of control...). Still no match for my Rega turntable but as cd players go, highly recommended.

I've owned an Alpha 7 for about a year and have been visiting this site probably longer than that. Then what made me suddenly post a review after such a long spell of time? Well the reason is till recently I had not explored the full potential of my Alpha 7.
All this long I suspected that this guy could do better if partnered with more superior electronics and speakers than my Kef Q65s and Rotel RB980BXs, but now I can quite confidently say that the Alpha 7 belongs to a different league altogether.

Recently one of my friend wanted to do an A/B testing in a bid to convince his brother that Alpha 7 sounds better than the marantz CD63SE and asked whether he could borrow my player for a couple of days. While delivering the player I wanted to see how his newly bought M-L Aerius i's sound and I was most welcome. He had the Marantz unit hooked up to an Audible Illusion Modulus 3A which fed the home made 70 Watts tube amp and an old Mcintosh Solid state (I don't remember the model no.) which bi amped the MLs. The speakers sounded great but I felt that something was lacking. (Not the punch which the ML's are famous for). I suggested hooking up my player and soon the Alpha 7 was ready to pump the Mod 3A via Cardas Interconnects.

That was the time to listen to my favorite 6th track of Eagle's Hell Freezes Over and..... I was (rather we were) Blown Away !!! How the Hell this track never froze me over when I listened to it in my system (Nor on the Marantz player). The sound of the acoustic guitar was so musical I felt as if I was right in the middle of the live performance. Applause and whistling were all around enveloping me. (God, forgive me for using Applause to review audio gear!). I quickly switched to the last track (15) of the same CD and listened to one of my favorite male vocal pieces, Alas! How on earth I could afford to miss this palpable sound all this long. Clarity and the details were amazing and were clearly beyond the price range. Soundstage was wide and open with very good (Not excellent) imaging. (Half the credit to ML's). Above all was the warmth I felt in the Alpha 7 which the Marantz grossly lacked. (I'm not in to compare the CD63SE and Alpha 7 here because I did a very long and exhaustive test between the Alpha 7 and the Marantz CD67SE before buying my Arcam unit).

I was ashamed to realize how cruel have I been to this player leaving it in the associateship of lesser partners. Hang on till the salary day baby, I'll do the right justice for you !!!

Pros:
*highly detailed mid range and warmth with good coherence.
*Excellent Transport (A trusty French made Sony makes this player a serious contender as a CD transport even, in a Transport/DAC configuration) and reliability.
*Upgradeability (Hey, I'm not kidding. Ok.. Ok.. I know, it's a surprise bonus at this price range!)
*Fully loaded Extremely High Sensitive Remote.
*Best implementation of the Dim/Off display. (Once I read in a review that Alpha 7 not only completely turns off the display, but further shuts down the circuit, which drives it. This eliminate the EM interference with the music signal and thereby provide a sonical advantage) An essential feature if u're a night-owl like me.

Cons:
*Ugliest CD Palyer on earth next to NAD. (I don't understand how the designers in A&R Cambidge found such a weird shape for the fascia.)
*Comparatively a slightly laid back presentation of upper high range. (Trebles are not crisp and tend to slightly roll off towards the upper octaves. However this sometimes takes away the harshness of the sound)
*Horrible body construction with easily noticeable gap differences in the seams. (This cd player is like a RR assembled in a BMC lorry factory)

Five undisputed stars for a six star performer...

Excellent player that i have owned for 18 months without any problems. Even plays scratched CDs that my sisters Sony or my in car Clarion wont.Sound has always been excellent running through Alpha 9 amp and JBL TLX14 speakers.However last month acquired a pair of B&W P4 secondhand from my dad and now you just get lost in the sound.