The remote control is nice to use and the front panel buttons duplicate all frequently-used functions. In addition to playing music from the hard disk or CD drive, you can listen to Internet radio stations (assuming you have broadband), some of which are starting to put out better sound than was the case a year ago.

Line inputs also allow recording from vinyl, cassette and other analogue formats. iPod and similar devices can interface via USB and you can build a network of MS250s and connect to home computers to share music as well.

A noisy unit

Once again, we are forced to issue a warning that having this server in the same room as your loudspeakers places a distinct limit on sound quality, simply because of the volume of sound it emits.

The hard drive isn’t the half of it: there are two internal fans and the CD drive is far from silent when used to play discs which you can’t be bothered to store.

To our mind, cooling a server without the aid of fans is an absolutely essential first step towards making it truly audiophile and it’s certainly possible: just look up ‘Hush Technologies’ on the Internet, for instance.

Impressive audio quality

An ugly 1980s-style glass-fronted hi-fi cabinet didn’t make enough difference to noise levels, so we took the MS250 out of our room and introduced the long interconnects.

This set-up quickly brings impressive results. What surprises us more than anything is the very high degree of insight into even very complex recordings that this server affords us.

We aren’t entirely astonished to find that its tonal balance is good, nor that the sound is basically clean, but the degree to which it emulates a very fine CD player is frankly rather a pleasant shock.

In addition, over and above the general balance, both bass and treble have the kind of clean, detailed and above all, confident extension that one expects in high-end kit and hopes for, though sometimes in vain, in decent mid-price equipment.

Energetic bass

If we have any criticism of the bass it’s that it can sometimes be a little indistinct in pitch, but it is firmly extended and times very well, giving great drive and energy in rock and other strongly rhythmic music.

The treble is open and airy and high sounds decay into silence very naturally. The line inputs seem more than just decent, too and were admirably up to the task of storing tracks from some treasured LPs.

So is this server the perfect embodiment of the new digital experience? Not entirely.

A worthwhile hi-fi investment?

We’re undeniably full of admiration for Arcam’s achievements on the sound front, but we are still beset by doubts as to whether we could live with it as part of a hi-fi system, pretty much entirely because of that wretched noise it – and all of its peer group that we can recall – makes.

All the same, put it in the cupboard under the stairs as part of a multi-room installation and in audio terms, it is currently the model by which to measure the rest. It seems qualified congratulations are in order.