Welcome to the “First Look” of the Arcam CD25. ARCAM is closing out its 50th-anniversary year with a brand-new flagship CD player, and on paper it looks like the most serious digital source the company has built since the FMJ D33 DAC.
What kind of product is the Arcam CD25?
The Arcam CD25 is a dedicated flagship CD player — no streaming ambitions, no app, just CD, CD-R and CD-RW playback done as accurately as ARCAM’s engineers can manage. It’s built for listeners who still buy music on disc and want that disc played back through genuinely high-end circuitry rather than an afterthought transport.
Brand?
ARCAM (short for Amplification and Recording Cambridge) was founded in Cambridge, UK, in 1976 and is now part of the HARMAN Luxury Audio Group. The Arcam CD25 is only the second ARCAM product since the FMJ D33 DAC to use a dual-mono DAC architecture, which the brand is positioning as a genuine flagship statement rather than a nostalgia exercise for its 50th birthday.
Current price?
According to ARCAM, the Arcam CD25 is priced at $1,799.95 / €1,599.00 / £1,499.00. The press materials list availability through authorised ARCAM dealers from Q3 2026, so on paper, patience is still required before the first units ship. Full specifications are already live on the official Arcam CD25 product page.
What’s in the box?
The Arcam CD25 ships with a mains lead, a remote control (with two AAA batteries), a quick start guide and the usual safety documentation — all in ARCAM’s plastic-free packaging.
Features?
- Dual-mono DAC architecture — independent left and right channel conversion for better separation and a lower noise floor.
- ESS Hyperstream 4 conversion — two ESS ES9039Q2M DAC chips, each with its own reference voltage regulator.
- Linear toroidal power supply — a low-noise linear design rather than a switch-mode unit.
- Vibration-damped transport — the CD mechanism sits on an internally damped chassis for stable disc reading.
- Balanced and single-ended outputs — XLR and RCA analogue pairs, plus coaxial and optical digital outputs.
Key Specifications
- Supported media: CD (Audio), CD-R (Audio/Data), CD-RW (Audio/Data)
- Supported files (Data): WAV, FLAC, MP3, AAC, 16–24 bit
- Outputs: 2x analogue (1 RCA pair, 1 XLR pair), 2x digital (optical, coaxial)
- Frequency response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz ±0.1 dB
- Max analogue output (RCA/XLR): 2.2 / 4.4V RMS
- Signal/noise ratio: 106 dB (A-wtd)
- Dimensions (W x D x H): 431 x 329 x 84 mm
- Weight: 6.5 kg
Closer look?
The unit shows a glass front panel, an OLED display and a vented metal chassis that visibly shares its language with the A50 Signature amplifier — the CD25’s natural system partner. ARCAM’s detail shots highlight the same brushed, finned top panel as the rest of the Radia Series, badged simply “CD25” along the edge.
For whom is this product?
The Arcam CD25 is aimed at two groups: owners of ARCAM’s A50 Signature, SA45 or SA35 who want a matching disc source with balanced connectivity, and CD collectors currently on ARCAM’s own entry-level CD5 ($699, single ESS ES9018 DAC) who are ready to move up to a dual-mono design. It also sits in a different lane from DAC-only devices we’ve covered recently — the delta-sigma-based iFi iDSD GR 2 and the R2R-ladder FiiO K17 R2R Pro — since, unlike those, the CD25 needs no separate transport or streaming source: disc in, music out.
Conclusion?
The Arcam CD25 reads like a legitimately serious flagship CD player: dual-mono ESS Hyperstream 4 conversion, a linear power supply, a damped transport and full balanced connectivity, all for $1,799.95. For anyone building (or upgrading) an ARCAM Radia system around a real CD collection, this looks like the disc player to wait for when it reaches dealers in Q3 2026.
