"Whether with SACD or CD, the CD37 provided first-rate digital sound."

March 2009

Arcam FMJ CD37 CD/SACD Player

by Roger Kanno

Although mainstream adoption of the SACD format never materialized, as Sony once predicted it would, it seems to have found a home in the audiophile marketplace. Judging by the number of new titles that continue to be released by audiophile record labels, SACD is the physical medium of choice for high-resolution-digital recordings. And while inexpensive SACD and universal players are becoming a rarity, many high-end manufacturers continue to offer digital players with SACD capability.

Arcam was one of several specialty-audio manufacturers that produced only DVD-Audio players in the early days of the high-resolution audio formats but has more recently introduced several multichannel universal players. The company's latest player, and the subject of this review, is the FMJ CD37 stereo CD/SACD player, which also happens to be Arcam's top-of-the-line CD player. Arcam is renowned for the sound quality of its CD players and for providing exceptional performance at a reasonable price. At $2199 USD, the CD37 is priced similarly to Arcam's previous reference CD players, but it offers SACD playback as an added feature.

Description

The FMJ CD37 is Arcam’s first CD/SACD-only player. Not only that, but as mentioned, it is a stereo-only model, unlike the company's multichannel DVD-Audio and universal players. And being an audio-only player, it is devoid of any video outputs or an HDMI output. It has been reported that Arcam’s universal players are able to output DSD converted to high-resolution PCM over HDMI, but this is not possible with the CD37. It can output digital audio from CDs via its coaxial or optical outputs, but the only way to listen to SACDs is through the CD37's RCA analog outputs. It also has an infrared control input and a 12V trigger input. The power is switchable between 110-120V and 220-240V, and a removable IEC power cord is supplied.

The FMJ CD37 looks similar to other Arcam FMJ components with its clean, businesslike metal faceplate. In fact, the casual observer would have difficulty in distinguishing between it and most other CD and DVD players. At 17"W x 3 3/8"H x 10 1/2"D, it appears a little taller than Arcam’s other players and a little more solidly built at almost 14 pounds. The large green LED display and small, round stainless-steel-looking buttons on the front panel are typical Arcam, and I found it all to be quite attractive, with a clean, modern look. The player took a few seconds to recognize discs, especially SACDs, and the drawer opened rather slowly, but it had a smooth and solid feel to it. The supplied CR90 remote controlled all of the CD37’s functions and was sensitive enough, but I found its small, similarly shaped buttons to be difficult to differentiate until I got accustomed to their placement.

The CD37 utilizes Wolfson 8741 DACs operating in dual-differential mode, though the player has only RCA outputs, not XLR as you might expect to see with a dual-differential circuit. It is capable of native DSD decoding. There are dual toroidal mains transformers and separate, high-capacity power supplies for the analog, servo and digital sections. High-performance Burr-Brown OPA2134 op-amps and WIMA polypropylene capacitors are used in the output stage. The chassis features a damped Sound Dead Steel (SDS) construction and Stealth Mat technology that utilizes metal-fiber matting to diffuse electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Setup

I used the Arcam FMJ CD37 primarily with the matching FMJ A38 integrated amplifier that I previously reviewed at our Ultra Audio site. Speakers were the Definitive Technology Mythos STS SuperTowers and Paradigm Reference Signature S8s. Speaker cables and interconnects consisted of Analysis Plus Black Oval 9 and Micro Copper Oval-In respectively. Power cords were the Essential Sound Products AVP-16 used with a Zero Surge 1MOD15WI surge suppressor. The CD37 also spent some time with my reference electronics, which consist of an Anthem Statement D2 audio/video processor and Bel Canto e.One REF1000 mono amplifiers.

Performance

Like the FMJ A38 integrated amplifier that I recently reviewed, the CD37 was a spectacular performer. Whether with SACD or CD, the CD37 provided first-rate digital sound that had me rediscovering many recordings that I had not listened to in some time. The overall presentation was squeaky clean without sounding harsh or "digital." The body and depth were always engaging, and the sense of ease made even extended listening extremely pleasing.

The recording quality varies a bit between tracks, but Jackson Browne’s CD The Next Voice You Hear: The Best of Jackson Browne (Elektra 7559621522) sounded resolved and true. There was an amazing amount of depth on "Tender Is the Night." Each of the instruments was placed precisely to create an exceptionally wide and deep soundstage, and the backing vocals filled in the rest of the space. Jackson Browne’s vocals were solid, with an expressiveness that drew me into the recording. I am not as partial to Browne’s more pop-oriented songs like "Somebody’s Baby" and "Doctor My Eyes," but the astounding clarity of the FMJ CD37 made even these tracks immensely appealing and enjoyable. Politics aside, "Lives In The Balance" is an evocative song that sounded wonderful through the CD37. The haunting synthesized woodwinds and percussion were startling in their transparency and lingered in my mind long after the song had ended.

With the CD37, I was able to hear details in recordings that I had not heard before or that were only hinted at and not fully realized by lesser players. On "Russians" from the Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994 CD (A&M 73145402692597), the drums and cymbals deep in the background were still buried within the complex layers of the mix but were easily recognizable as individual instruments. The sax and percussion on "Englishman In New York" imaged with absolute precision, creating, again, a deep, wide soundstage that was remarkably transparent. So crystalline was the sound that I would often stop while listening to replay a passage that sounded particularly engaging. Johnny Cash’s American IV: The Man Comes Around CD (American 044007708309) has an immediacy that can sometimes be a bit harsh, but the CD37 was able to play back even the most challenging track, "Hurt," at realistic levels without becoming overbearing. The static at the beginning of "The Man Comes Around" sounded more realistic than I have ever heard it, and Cash’s basso profondo on "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was rich and deep, yet it conveyed the frailty that time and years of hard living had brought to the Man in Black.

The FMJ CD37 was a wonderful CD player, but it was an even better SACD player, bringing life to this format and proving its sonic superiority. I am not sure whether it was its ability to decode DSD natively or all of Arcam’s vast expertise in producing excellent digital players that helped the CD37 sound so good, but its performance with SACDs was truly spectacular. All of the sonic traits that I heard with CDs were there with SACDs, only magnified. The CD37 sounded so good that it made me want to listen to all of the SACDs that typically sit unused in my CD rack. In fact, it made me wish that I had more SACDs to play. Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms: 20th Anniversary Edition (Vertigo 602498714980) sounded gorgeous, even if the CD37 could only play it back in two channels. The acoustic guitar on "Walk of Life" was rich and vibrant, and the bouncy melody and vocals were infectious. The imaging on "Ride Across the River" was eerily holographic, with the shaker nearly jumping out of the soundstage.

The RCA Living Stereo SACD reissues of classic recordings sounded very good on the CD37. I felt that the recordings lacked a little dynamic range and detail, but Jascha Heifetz’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner (Sony BMG 828766789621) was mesmerizing. Switching to a more modern recording, the final movement from Joseph Haydn’s Piano Concerto in G major, H 18 from the PMC Classical Collection sampler (Harmonia Mundi SP 082), the retrieval of hall ambience effectively created the illusion of a piano in a large space, and, when called upon, the string sections were powerful and vibrant but still natural and realistic.

Listening to the Arcam FMJ CD37 in conjunction with the matching A38 integrated amplifier, I can understand the appeal of the simplicity and excellent performance of such a system. In particular, the CD37 provided reference-quality digital audio playback that had all of the dynamics and detail of a high-resolution system, but was still involving, eminently smooth and listenable

Comparison

I am not one who has much use for expensive high-end CD or SACD players. The main sources in my system are typically a laptop computer with a Trends Audio UD-10.1 USB converter ($180), an Oppo DV-970HD universal player ($150 when still available) or a Sony PlayStation 3 ($400) all used as digital transports feeding an Anthem D2 audio/video processor acting as both a DAC and preamp utilizing digital signal processing (DSP). This actually works quite well, and I have never felt that I was missing anything. To put things in perspective, the best digital audio player that I have previously had in my system was the Arcam FMJ DV29 DVD-Audio player ($3000, discontinued), which I felt bettered the nearly identical Anthem D1’s sound with CDs, but not by a huge margin. The current D2 is similar to the D1, except for the addition of HDMI 1.1 digital inputs that allow it to receive high-resolution digital audio from DVD-Audio discs and DSD converted to PCM from SACDs.

Even with the advantage of being able to transmit high-resolution audio digitally from SACDs, albeit converted to PCM, I felt that the FMJ CD37 sounded slightly better through its analog outputs than the D2’s DACs being fed by the Oppo DV-970HD. Rebecca Pidgeon’s spoken vocals exhibited slightly less sibilance on "Auld Lang Syne/Bring It On Home To Me" from the Rebecca Pidgeon: Retrospective SACD (Chesky 090368024268). The Oppo-fed D2 displayed plenty of detail, but some of the smoothness that was the hallmark of the CD37 was missing. This made the presentation of the Oppo/D2 combo sound more edgy and slightly less engaging.

A more meaningful comparison would be with the Denon DVD-3910 universal player ($1500 when still available) that I happened to have on hand briefly during the CD37’s stay. With Mozart: Symphonies No. 25, 28 and 29 performed by the Prague Chamber Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras on CD (Telarc 08940801652), the massed strings sounded more like a group of individual instruments rather than a single entity with the CD37. The violins also had a bit of a hard edge to them with the Denon player, and this became distracting at high volumes.