Cheers to you all for the positive comments on what was otherwise a depressing read so far. I think I lost the desire for the Arcam back there somewhere but I’m starting to feel reassured again.
I will probably still grab one while it’s on sale and I will hang onto the NAD kit just in case things go pear shaped.
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There is a lot of awesome advice on here. And i respect it all. My two cent on the Arcam is it’s one of the best sounding integrated amps I’ve owned. Yes I still love my PrimaLuna Evo 300i and my Marantz Ruby. But the Arcam is so special, and my experience with it has been fabulous i also have Ken who helped me through some miner issues which were far and few between. It has worked flawlessly for me. About the remote it’s a multi function remote and sometimes you will hit a button that takes it out of amp mode, it’s no big deal. Mine has never stopped working. I would recommend the SA-30 whole heartedly it’s a fabulous amplifier.
Best,
Greg
The remote is something I find an annoyance … mine seems to regularly jump out of amp mode without even touching a button, I wish there was a way to set amp as default.
It would also be nice if you could just press on an input i.e. CD and it automatically switch the amp on with the CD input selected rather than having to press the amp selection 1st, then the power on and then chose what input you want.
The sound to me is a more important factor but my suggestion would just make it more “user friendly” as opposed to sometimes annoying.
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I guess it all depends on when one bought the amp and what are/were the expectations.
Many of us are early adopters, and as such we have been through all the issues this amp had in the beginning (and there were quite many as you know already). We also had high expectations, and based on some promises/statements from Arcam, but also their history, we had a reason to believe it will be supported for a long time.
Well, some of those expectations were met - sound quality for example. But all the problems we had, poor support from Arcam and now finally abandoning 3 years old, expensive product made some of us bitter.
Having said that, if you buy this amp now heaviliy discounted, with major problems fixed, but also aware of lack of support, i guess your expectations might be bit more realistic, and you will really enjoy this amp.
The remote will probably not be an issue for me as it sounds very similar to how my NAD remote works. Although it never NOT works, the switching back and forth between amp and a separate it kind of the same.
I still own my SA30 but have moved on from it, so my views are a bit dated. I still remember the sound of the SA30 and think it’s tough to beat. I used to stream via Qobuz but largely played vinyl. If you’re using an analogue source, then just turn on the direct mode which keeps it out of the digital domain. Remember, Dirac is in the digital domain. A good pair of speakers and the SA30 will make music that will keep you happy for a long time. Yes, the occasional gremlin is teeth-gnashingly annoying but you’ll largely avoid them if you stay analogue. At a discounted price it’s great gear.
That’s funny, probably about the exact time you were typing that I was changing my setup from streamer’s coax out to coax in on the Arcam … to also having optical out from the streamer into a DAC then analogue out to the Arcam to compare direct mode following a couple of comments I saw in forums last night.
Be interesting to see if I notice a difference over the next few listening sessions.
I’m sure you will. The SA30 has a good (possibly really good) DAC but the analogue sound is superior in my experience. Happy testing and listening 
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Can I assume, when running my CD player, I can bypass the Arcam DAC and rely on the NAD’s native DAC if I so chose?
I am thinking yes, if I use the analog input. But if I use the digital input can I switch off the Arcam DAC? And does that even make sense?
My current preamp only has analog inputs so I have never been able to try the digital out from the CD.
Please don’t think I’m being demeaning with my question because I didn’t have a scooby a year ago but either your question isn’t that well worded or you’re not sure exactly what a DAC is … am I right?
Something has to convert the digital to analogue as an amp can’t play digital music so it either has to be the DAC in your CD player or the DAC in th Amp.
If you use the analogue out on your NAD, the NAD’s converting it to analogue not the Arcam … if you use a digital out from the NAD it’ll be sending a digital signal which the Arcam will have to convert to play it.
Sorry if I’ve misunderstood what you’re asking.
Right. Digital Analog Converter. I understand that.
The top part of the above is how I have it now. The DAC in the NAD does the conversion. I get that.
As I understand it a digital signal from a CD player is supposed to be cleaner than the analog output. But which device it doing the conversion then? The CD or the preamp. Perhaps I am wording it wrong but I think I’m on the right track. I’m not trying to be funny either. Just trying to understand.
Has the NAD not already converted to analog at this point? Or does it know to only send a digital signal if using the digital out.
The reason I ask is, what if I want to hear which DAC is of better quality? The one in the Arcam or the NAD?
I hope that explains it a bit better. I appreciate your patience.
NAD doesn’t “know” anything, it’s just about topology of the device.
How it works in basic. Music data is read from th disc and is in digital format. Now this digital signal is always converted to analog in player’s DAC. BUT you also have digital output, which is connected before the DAC, and is outputing same signal, that is used by player’s internal DAC.
Same thing on the amp side - digital inputs are connected to the DAC, from where converted signal will go through analog path. Analog inputs are directly connected to analog path, and not going through the DAC, IF you are using “analog direct” option. Otherwise analog signal will be digitalized in ADC, than go through DSP (Dirac Live) and DAC.
So if you connect CD using analog inputs and outputs (and in SA30 use analog direct) signal will be converted in NAD’s DAC and from there it will be purely analog signal up to speakers.
If you connect using digital connection, digital signal will go from NAD to Arcam, there it will go through Arcam’s DSP, than DAC and than analog.
This is simplified, as there are also SPDIF converters involved to have digital signals in common standard, as internally CD’s might use different signals, but this is not important for this test.
For your test you can connect both analog and digital cables at the same time, and compare result just by switching inputs in SA30. This should work.
You just need to remember to enable analog direct in analog input you will be using, to really hear NAD’s DAC. Otherwise you will get multiple conversions and will never know what is impacting the sound (NAD’s DAC, SA30’s ADC or SA30’s DAC)…
Hope this long and winding explanation clarifies this at least a bit 
That makes sense now, thanks. I suppose that is what I meant by “know”. The CD will bypass its internal DAC when the digital out is used.
Not to keep dragging this out but I always wondered about my AudioQuest Dragonfly DAC. When I use it with my iPhone, connected with Apples adapter hardware, how does that work?
iPhone to headphone jack to headphones
vs
iPhone to headphone jack to external DAC to headphones.
That always confused me.
Anyway, thanks for the tutorial. I didn’t mean to derail my own thread.
Long story short:
- I bought an SA30 a few months ago because my Arcam SR250 was too big and couldn’t stream. As is to be expected, the HDMI ARC input didn’t work with my few years old Sony 4k tv, so I bought a 5 input hdmi switch - which puts the hdmi audio out on optical spdif/toslink and that feeds the SA30
- one of my active speakers in the living room developed a fault, so the pair needs to go back to the manufacturer for analysis, repair, and update. So I bought another SA30 and a pair of not nearly as good speakers (Wharfedale Lintons). The SA30 is connected to my Roon server by Ethernet. Seamless startup- the lat at firmware was installed, so all I had to do is let Roon find it on the network (which was instant) and it was ready to play.
So I’d say - buy it. It’s cheaper than NAD M10, has a phono input, has more power, has many more inputs, sounds good.
I’ve never had problems with the remote.
You could buy the A25 and hook up a miniDSP SHD studio to get a roughly equivalent functionality - Dirac and streaming - but that costs more and is two boxes.
AVOID!!!
My SA30 was the single most frustrating piece of electronic piece of equipment I ever owned. I now have a tube amp and an Eversolo A6 Master Edition. My new set up is heaven. The Eversolo has many new features added constantly and updates are simple as a “yes” button. The DAC chips are as found in DACs costing 2-4 times what I paid.
The SA30 sound was decent as an amp.
The on/off button was tinny and cheap
Firmware updates were a nightmare
The support people tried and were good but nothing worked.
The buttons on the unit were very unintuitive.
The Eversolo is a super DAC, preamp, streamer. There are many free things to hear on the web. Who doesn’t have PRIME?
I took a beating on mine but was glad to get rid of it.
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What did you replace it with and do you think it’s an improvement?
Well, i bet it sounds nice, but on the other hand:
- Not everyone likes separated devices
- It’s probably much more expensive than SA30
- It lacks best feature of SA30 - great room correction
So as much as i agree with some of your points on SA30, i don’t think your advice will be good for everyone.
There are some other devices with similar feature set as SA30 and in similar price.
In some cases also SA30 might still be a good choice. With current, mostly stable firmware, i wouldn’t say “avoid”, i would rather say “think twice”.
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Well, FWIW, I just bumped into this review of the SA30 by Brazilian hi-end publication Audio Video Magazine. I used auto-translation to read it, and it is raving.
Interesting things to note:
-
They tested it with 3 different pairs of speakers, the 4,500 euro JBL L100 Classic, the 7,000 euro Wharfedale Elysian 4 and the 25,000 euro Estelon YB MkII. “With all three the SA30 behaved masterfully”, claims the review.
-
The reviewer didn’t like what Dirac did to the sound and kept it off for the entirety of the listening sessions. IMO, DL is invaluable for most “normal” (non-dedicated) rooms, but I can understand how it can be superfluous or even detrimental in a well-treated listening space.
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They only tested the MC phono input and found it exquisite, comparable to 2K phono pre’s! I guess it depends on the cartridges and their specs - they tested it with the Hana Umami Red and ZYX Ultimate Omega G, each more expensive than the SA30 itself!
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They found the onboard DAC better sounding than the Hegel’s H590 and H390 (!) and were also very satisfied with the headphone amp included.
In short, in every respect except the streamer (which they only tested with Tidal and found a bit 2-dimensional, comparing it to the Cambridge ones) they found the SA30’s performance to be reference-level and gave it a State-of-the-Art award.
Their comment (with which I totally agree) that “the design does not reflect its high degree of quality” reminded me of this review where it states: “I trust that if the SA30 innards were mounted into a milled fancy aluminum chassis one would not object to pay for it twice its price and it would remain competitive sound-wise.”
I think that anyone who can find the SA30 at a serious discount will be in for the bargain of their lifetime. I would still recommend it at its starting price.
Rather than quoting it all but in reply to the above.
I think it’s such a shame they had so many problems when they released it and didn’t jump all over them and get them resolved as a matter of priority … or better still properly tested it before release rather than using their customers as free guiea pig testers.
They could have been the company / amp that everyone wanted giving them huge accolade blowing other companies out of the water with a licence to increase their sales price with subsequent items.
Instead they’ve totally tarneshed their reputation … whilst happy with mine I’d never buy another of their new products in the future and believe they’ve done themselves a huge amount of damage in terms of reputation.
How short sighted and above all else what a great shame!
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Hello,
As an early adopter of the SA30, I can share that I was initially very frustrated by all the bugs that came with it: cec not working, drops on sound on hdmi, streaming issues, remote not working….
But all all those are problems of the past now with the newest firmwares. This amplifier is a small marvell and I would encourage anyone to buy it now.