As one of the few specialist companies in the world to have developed its own CD and DVD players from the ground up, when Arcam claims it has produced its "highest performing music player to date"... we sit up and take note. The new £1,000 Arcam FMJ CD37 CD/SACD device is Arcam's new flagship music player, and cleverly builds upon the technology developed in making its top DVD players to deliver what it claims to be the best in digital audio.

The CD37 uses the latest Wolfson 8741 digital converters, which allow both high-quality CD conversion and native DSD conversion for SACD. This converter is coupled with top Burr Brown OPA2134 op-amps and WIMA polypropylene capacitors in the output stage. Add to this a dual toroidal transformer with high capacity, separate, star-earthed power supplies for analogue, digital and drive stages, and a special switch-mode stage locked to the sample rate for the digital domain, and the electronics witin the CD37 look to be state-of-the-art.

This is matched by the electromagnetic interference busting techniques used throughout the design. Reducing EMI is a watchword at Arcam, and the CD37 sports the proprietary 'Mask of Silence' and 'Stealth Mat' (a unique metal fibre matting) technologies. A new innovation for the CD37, the chassis itself features a damped 'Sound Dead Steel' construction, which is claimed to virtually eliminate mechanical influences on the electronics. No news, however, on the 'Right Said Fred' disc clamping mechanism, which is claimed to make all CDs too sexy for their own shirts. And Milan.

Arcam's website