Interested to hear from anyone who’s compared analogue input with and without direct mode enabled, both for stereo and processor mode with a surround system.
I’m guessing without it enabled there may be a “delay” as it’ll take the route it would if it was going through Dirac which may cause issues / a delay relative to the rest of the system irrespective of if Dirac is enabled or not.
If that route does have a timing difference, it’ll maybe also cause similar issues in a multi-room setup?
Really interested to hear others opinions, but almost above that if you notice any difference in sound of one vs the other.
I am using Direct mode for most devices (vinyl through Gold Note Phono Pre, CD50 player through Digital Coaxial and external DAC and streamer through RCA) as I fell out of love with what Dirac was doing to the music.
Only place I’m not using it now is with Roon direct playback. I’m testing another streaming Dac tomorrow with a view to look at another purely analogue amplifier for the main system and moving the SA30 to the man cave system where I have a 50/50 listening split between the two rooms.
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Must admit I’m the same with Dirac, what it gained in some areas it lost in others so overall I preferred to turn it off.
I’ve also back to backed direct on / off recently, the soundstage is wider with it on which is nice in some ways but it generally sounds “thinner” and not as punchy.
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I’m glad it’s not just me in that case, even if it’s just a sample of two 
I purchased a Gustard Audylitic DR70 R2R streaming DAC just before Christmas and it’s been in and running a couple of days playing back Roon, UPNP and HQPlayer content (mainly what I use) and it sounds great into the SA30 with the direct audio setting engaged. It feels like the SA30 has a new lease of life. It’s making me think about sticking with the SA30 for longer. The wife will use the built-in streamer and DAC and I will mostly use the external streamer.
The DR70 is an amazing little device, especially for under £370 delivered direct from HK via Amazon. Currently running it with an iFi iPowerX 15V SMPS (that I had spare for use with the iFi Zen Stream) and it sounds even better.
I’m currently very happy with my setup 
For me I found direct mode more revealing of the source. I definitely prefer it with my turntable and separate phonostage. The bass is much better controlled, and with my gear I would not say it’s thin at all. I had quite a major upgrade recently on this front and am in love with it tbh, Project X8 SE with Ortofon Quintet Black MC cart, balanced connection to a Project DS3B phono stage. Before this I had a Project Debut 3 with all the upgrades it could take and a Denon DL110 cart into the SA30 MM phono input,
I also have the CDS50 but that is the least proportion of my listening nowadays. Now you have me thinking, I do not remember if I have direct mode on for that, but I don’t think so! It’s probably 80% vinyl, 18% streaming and the rest CD
I’m not running the last SA30 s/w as I’ve not had any issue with the previous version
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I did pretty much all my last months listening with direct modem engaged and it really did improve so much of the listening experience. After buying and using and Audylitic DR70 R2R streaming DAC for a week or so (which sounds really really good with the SA30) I decided that I wanted an amp upgrade.
I went back to thinking about a good analogue only amplifier list with tone controls that I put together last year. I went back to that list and reviewed it and spent a a week rewatching YouTube videos reviews and re-reading some written reviews. I ended up settling (not sure if that is the right word) on a HiFi Rose RA280 as I felt that would be the sweet spot for my listening habits and spend.
It was delivered on the morning of New Year’s Eve (but it was completely frozen) so I plugged it in on New Years Day after it had reached room temperature. Paired with the DR70 over some basic WBC XLR cables it sounds absolutely fantastic with about 30 hours of music playback so far. I have used the CDS50 fed into the DR70 to listen to some CDs and SACD and several vinyls played back through the Gold Note PH5 which sound sublime.
None of this would probably have happened if I hadn’t decided to try Direct mode again. The ARCAM isn’t going anywhere besides up to my study system to be used there.