ARCAM ST60

The Arcam ST60 is the British company’s debut dedicated streamer. It uses the streaming architecture from its premium amplified sibling the SA30 (minus the amplification stage ), gifting owners AirPlay 2, Google Cast, uPnP playback and internet radio, as well as analogue and digital connections and support for MQA and Roon.

That’s a sweeping offering in today’s streamer market – one inclusive of the popular streaming platforms that boast broad music service and device support, and that consequently taps into the emerging habits of this generation’s keen streamers.

Despite such compatibility becoming more ubiquitous, of course, Arcam has entered the music streamer market with an impressively talented performer. The ST60 is self-assured in its delivery – big, full, solid and expressive. Perfume Genius’s Jason comes through our speakers with stark clarity in a soundstage that is pleasingly open and broad. His falsetto vocal is lush and romantic, bookended in the frequency range by a solid, substantial bassline and an equally present and nicely textured harpsichord. It’s a captivating rendition that is easy to sink right into, thanks to the ST60’s tonality, muscularity and clarity – sonic characteristics we have come to expect from Arcam products over the years.

Full, clear delivery

The benchmark at this price point is currently the Award-winning NAD C 658, our first port of call after initially acquainting ourselves with the Arcam. The NAD’s precise, coherent presentation comes to the fore as we play Oneohtrix Point Never’s We’ll Take It, and yet one play of the piece through the Arcam is enough to tell us much more about it.