Arcam has finally bitten the bullet by introducing an upgraded DVD player which is as near to being universal as the company has designed.
First and foremost it is a DVD player, and in common with all such players it is also capable of playing CDs, but, in this case, to a standard that is comparable to an audiophile grade disc spinner. It‘s also a full-on multichannel DVD-Audio player, but unlike its predecessors that come from this stable, this is the first previously united in supporting DVD-A to the exclusion of SACD.
Since the Arcam DV137 was first demonstrated to us, firmware updates have been issued making the player capable of full multichannel SACD replay.
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Because Arcam designs its own DVD players from the ground up, it has an unusual freedom to choose who it wants as its technology partners. For this model, Arcam has continued to maintain its association with Zoran, and this product is the launch vehicle for the Zoran Vaddis 888S processor, which handles all the format compatibility processing. It is coupled here with broadcast quality 11-bit 216MHz video DACs from Analogue Devices. One of the main talking points will be the high-performance Anchor Bay ABT1010 10-bit video upscaler, which takes the 480p or 576p output from disc, and outputs a 720p, 768p or 1080i/p signal across the HDMI link (along with high-resolution multichannel audio). The native resolution for many LCD panel displays is 768p (1366 x 768 pixels progressive). Using HDMI, the player will auto negotiate the best available common settings with the chosen display. In addition, Arcam's ‘Mask of Silence' EMC damping technology reduces internally radiated electrical noise that would otherwise mask fine detail.
Other improvements include a colour OSD menu system with setup calibration wizard, and a more ergonomically sound remote control.
