Arcam Radia A15+ integrated amplifier
Tom Hanks. You know where you are with Tom Hanks. And that’s kind of a problem. A fine actor, yes. But I wonder if he ever feels a bit hemmed in by his much lauded ‘everyman’ persona. If, in a career shaped by good guy casting – the ultimate safe pair of hands when feelgood is the mission – he wishes he could just occasionally channel a silent, brooding Steve McQueen glance or, wearing a see-through plastic mac, do a disturbing yuppy jig while critiquing Huey Lewis and The News prior to axe murdering a colleague relaxing on the sofa – and all with the grim gusto of Christian Bale’s performance in the film American Psycho.
For years, I reckon Arcam has been a bit Tom Hanks. Consummately agreeable, utterly predictable, comfortably typecast as an ‘everyman’ kind of hi-fi product that delivers an unwavering level of competence without ever trying to land a killer surprise.
Something changed in the autumn of 2023. The script. Under a new Radia Series initiative, clean sheet thinking ushered in fresh design, souped-up sonics and a raft of new, more daring products – initially the A5, A15 and A25 integrated amplifiers and ST5 ‘junior’ streamer. At Munich’s High End Show, three further streaming amps joined the line-up: the SA45 and SA35 both toting Class G amplification, MM/MC phono stages, HDMI ARC and hi-res support from the company’s new streaming platform while the ST25 took its place as Arcam’s flagship standalone network audio player.
Old Arcam would have probably been content to let these new models fly the flag into middle age or beyond, but that kind of complacency has been shown the door. Barely has the dust settled on the Radia impact than upgraded versions of the original amplifiers are being rolled out. More than running changes but staying shy of anything too radical the ‘+’ suffix denotes a few internal mods aimed chiefly at further improving Arcam’s already revitalised Radia-level sound quality and stretching its versatility. Responsibilities for showcasing the makeover fall to the A15+ in this review.
As with the original A15, the sleek black casework with subtle yellow accents impresses for its solid build and ergonomic simplicity remain with the A15+, even though its mildly ‘frosted’ display isn’t the crispest in town and the plastic remote doesn’t pretend to be anything other than functional.
Power supply is an obvious go-to for engineers seeking to improve sound quality, and Arcam’s are no exception, upgrading the mains transformer and sundry components to reduce the power supply’s impedance and kill interference for the ‘+’. Switching off the DAC board when an analogue input is selected is another nice touch said to further finesse sonics. There’s another tweak. On power-up, the A15+ automatically defaults to the HDMI or the Bluetooth inputs if it detects a signal. Convenient for sure but, again with an eye on extracting the best possible sound quality, a subtle uptick in clarity can be had, says Arcam, if the auto-switching function is turned off and the desired input selected manually.
New to the job sheet are an HDMI eARC digital input to sit alongside the existing optical and pair of coaxial inputs of the original A15. Connectivity otherwise remains largely unchanged comprising three line-level inputs, a preamp-out, a moving magnet phono stage and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the front panel. Also carried over is two-way Bluetooth, but now version 5.4 Auracast which enables multiple compatible headphones or speakers to share music wirelessly, with no pairing required.
The A15+ also offers support for Snapdragon Sound tech, which allows uncompressed digital audio to be enjoyed via Bluetooth. On board decoding is handled, as before, by a 24-bit/192kHz compatible ESS ES9018 DAC chip, as is 80 Watts per channel of Class A/B amplification.
Sound quality
The A15+ sounds reassuringly ‘right’ in the sense that it simply doesn’t get in the way of the source material. There’s no conspicuous evidence of manipulation or editorialising; nothing overtly warmed up, pared back or otherwise tailored to construct a particular sonic flavour. Old Arcam could be a tad prescriptive in that way, but Radia Arcam does burly with juiced up dynamic jolts as deftly as it does detail, focus and intelligibility. Immersion, intimacy and impact are all comfortably within its wheelhouse.
Play some Randy Newman – The Great Debate, from his terrific Dark Matter album, say – and the sense of space and deft textural shading are a joy. The finely graded palette of tonal colours and the sumptuous yet effortlessly deep and supple bass integrate with an expressive and lucid mid-band to deliver an outstandingly full-blooded performance with heaps of drive and heart. Arcam amps have always been good, even-handed all-rounders but, with the A15+, you can count on a little more nitrous in the tank and afterburner thrills when the music calls for it.
The absurdly gifted Jacob Collier’s latest album The Light For Days is more guitar and less re-harmonised massed voices than on some of his previous work but the intimate and maximalist come together majestically on I Know (A Little) where the glinting harmonics of Collier’s plucked guitar strings are well served by the Arcam’s clean and extended upper frequencies which are free from grain and artificial sparkle, while the honeyed massed vocals are resolved in a natural, unforced fashion.
What’s clear, and so impressive, is that the A15+ takes as much care over its inner intricacies as its outer limits. Soundscapes bristle with subtle ambient cues exceptional transparency and finely graded dynamic expression. Take Diana Krall’s ever-lovely cover of The Eagles’ Desperado. All dusky vocals, tastefully spare ivory tinkling and a satiny wash of massed strings, the Arcam does the achingly beautiful thing as well as any and hits ‘mesmerising’ towards the end with talent to spare. Krall fans will swoon.
James Taylor is another poignant presence singing the melancholy Belfast To Boston from his October Road album and, here, the Arcam nails that narrowest of lines that exist between resolving detail and fully encompassing momentum. Tackling the unusual melange of synthesised bagpipes, penny whistle, French horn and a massed chorus of female voices, the sound is revealing, rhythmically clear and tonally rich without ever tripping over into lushness. It’s an extremely likable and rewarding kind of presentation.
Conclusion
True, there was never anything wrong with the first Radia A15, marking a genuine shift away from what had become Arcam’s rather safe and predictable ‘everyman’ amp to a more interesting, musically assertive yet nuanced practitioner, still skilfully rounded but less Tom Hanks. Its successor doesn’t change that but, as the ‘+’ suffix suggests, consolidates the improvements with still greater precision and transparency. Almost as if, like Keanu Reeves, it knows kung fu.