Arcam Solo Mini

By Michael Jones

June 2008

Arcam Solo Mini. $1599.


Buttons on the top of the Solo Mini make control of the unit easy

The front of the Solo Mini. Below the display is a slot-loaded CD drive. A USB input is at lower right.

Rear panel connections of the Solo Mini.

“That sounds great,” I said, as soon as the music started.

Phil McIsaac, from new Arcam distributor Storm, had popped around with a new product from Arcam. We had just unpacked the Solo Mini, plugged in into the power and into my Epos ES14 speakers. Pop in a CD, press the go button and out came this engaging music.

The CD was James Hunter’s People Gonna Talk. It’s a wonderful CD that manages to sound both old and brand new at the same time. Hunter’s first song, the title track, could have been a lost Sam Cooke classic but with a hint of a reggae lilt. (The CD, on Rounder Records through Elite, is readily available. You should buy a copy. Thanks to Wellington muso and forum member Darren Watson for recommending this CD to me)

My expectations for the Solo Mini weren’t high. Experience has taught me not to expect that much from a small, single box trying to do everything. Sure, a mini-system like the Denon DM33 can offer a surprising performance compared to many other minis. But it’s still not real hi-fi.

But the Solo is different. It really does reproduce music, rather than just sound. Back to that James Hunter CD. Through the Solo the music had momentum and a sense of liveliness that was beguiling and made me want to listen further. By now Phil had a big grin on his face.

Descriptive words

Arcam call the Solo an “All in one music system”. It’s a mere 230mm wide (most hi-fi is around 430mm wide) but is 350mm deep. Below the large display is a slot loading disc drive, much like those found in car stereos and many computers.

The front panel also has a mini headphone jack, a mini input jack (useful for MP3 players, perhaps) and a USB input. The USB input can be used for playing music stored on USB memory sticks, in WAVE or MP3 format. Curiously, the Solo doesn’t support music in the open source AAC format, the default format for iTune rips. USB memory sticks have been increasing in size rapidly over the past couple of years. Indeed, you could store the entire output of the Beatles, uncompressed, on a memory stick. (That sound you hear is the Beatles lawyers sending me a letter).

There’s an optional, extra cost iPod dock available for that ubiquitous device. The rDock costs $399 but promises much, with its audiophile grade op-amps and regulated power supply. Despite being a long term Apple fanboy, this writer owns no iPods, so couldn’t try it out.

All of the Solo’s controls are along the front of the top panel. They’re easy to access and easy to see. But you’ll probably drive it from the supplied remote control.

On the back are four inputs, a tape output and a pre-out for connecting up a separate power amp. The latter seems a curious choice, as it goes against the one-box idea of the Solo. There are also connections for radio aerials and binding posts for speaker connections.

I never did try the USB input in the time that the Solo was in my procession. And, after packing up the Solo, I realised that I hadn’t tried the tuner section either. Oops, sorry.

Back to the music

But back to the music. While playing further tracks from the James Hunter album and entertaining Phil with some of my collection of clever cover tunes, I was delighted with the sound from the Solo.

A lot of what I found so great about the Solo was what it didn’t do. It wasn’t thin or lean sounding, like a lot of cheap audio can be. Instead, it kept the natural warmth and body of voices and instruments. It wasn’t grainy, it wasn’t harsh and it wasn’t tizzy.

It did bring out the sense of momentum in music that a lot of stereo systems reduce. This momentum, or pace and rhythm, is what helps make music engaging and makes you want to continue listening. In fact, the Solo Mini does a lot better in this regard than does many recent Arcam components!

The Solo Mini is rated at 25 watts per channel. That doesn’t sound like a lot and in reality it isn’t. With my 86dB Epos ES14s and largish lounge, the Solo Mini struggled when I tried to achieve “listening from the kitchen” levels. When pushed, the Mini compresses the volume and hardens in sound. In more normal circumstances (more efficient speakers, smaller room and sensible expectations) the Solo Mini should be fine.

I was very impressed by the Arcam Solo Mini. It’s small, easy to use and, above all, really does play music.

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