Hi all having read the glowing messages of the sonic qualities of the SA30 here yesterday I took the plunge and bought one.
I was a little put off by all the firmware issues, but I will keep an eye on this forum from now on and disable auto update once I am on the latest version.
Looking forward to seeing you here gents when it arrives later this week.
Mike
You have come at the right time as the latest firmware solves most problems and the amp now has the best sound it’s ever had.
If you are buying from a local dealer I recommend checking it has the latest firmware and if not getting them to install it before handing over your cash as many people on here have had problems installing it.
Paul many thanks for that.
I have it ordered to be delivered in the week. I saw a number of your posts and others which gave me the courage to order.
While I am not looking forward to a possible bad update experience, I am happy with manual firmware updates and I have mostly bought it for Roon and Tidal Connect so my timing is Great with the recent Tidal Connect available as well.
I can tell you that Tidal connect and Amazon music work a dream.
I use the Arcam MusicLife app on my IPad as well and really like that too. I stream a lot of my music from my NAS as well as Tidal.
Great news and thanks Paul.
I am at least 99% a Roon streamer, but the others are great to have as well.
My wife likes to use Tidal to play in the living room as does my son, so having that available was important. It will be replacing a Bluesound PowerNode 2i which has that feature so that will save me from serious complaints from the family.
We have Sonos everywhere else and Tidal and Spotify work perfectly there as well.
Stop getting me too excited as with the bank holiday weekend I will not get it until Wednesday and I am traveling until Friday so it looks like a job for next weekend, or Friday night if can get the living room.
What sort of burn in time are we talking about for the amp to get up to optimum SQ?
Not long for burn in. You may want to try setting Dirac up. I don’t use it as I have carpets and soft furnishings so get a sound I’m happy with.
Thanks I will probably want to at least try it.
I have wooden floors and sometimes a rug in front of the speakers.
I do have plenty of bookshelves etc on one side, but the other is fairly open so I am looking forward to the ability to switch it on and off and see what it does
to me at least the dirac feature is the thing that sets this amp apart from no roomcorrection amps. its a drastic improvement for my place 
Well all the amps I was looking at had Room correction, it was very tight between the NAD M10v2 and the Arcam, but that sweet Class A in the early stages won me over.
I think Room correction will have to wait for next weekend but I am looking forward to A/B testing that and also my two subs and choosing which one to use. But playing with it when it arrives will be fun.
Well, the M10v2 has bass management (that is, a high pass filter) and the SA30 doesn’t. On the other hand, the SA30 has a great phono stage (truly competitive to 500-600 euro external units, and much-much better than the NAD module I had on my C390DD), which the M10v2 misses entirely.
Dirac Live is a killer feature, I can’t imagine a situation where it doesn’t do a great job. You just have to make sure to upload the calibration file for the mic - I hadn’t initially, and while it still worked, it wasn’t half as good as the real thing.
Yes I have Bass Management on my Buesound PowerNode and it works really well and that was one of the things pointing me towards the NAD.
But reading some great things about the sound of the Arcam and feedback from a lot of friends and also looking more towards Hegel/Rotel and other class A/B amplifiers, finalised my decision to go Arcam. Also Roon integrated which is what I listen too. Family can use Tidal connect to their hearts content as well.
Not sure what I am going to do to best integrate the Sub but I have a Rel T5 that can connect to the speakers as well as LFE and RCA and a Dali 10" that matches my speakers, but that is only RCA, so I will try them both and see which works the best. My current thoughts are to move the Dali to the AV system and bring the Rel to the music system and use the REL high level cable and just work it through the testing.
I use two REL Stentor II’s in stereo with my Sonus Faber Extremas. I use the high level inputs on the REL’s. I used the Dirac software to see the changes in the bass as I adjusted the crossover of the REL’s, When I was satisfied with the crossover, ( looking for a smooth bass response down to 25hz) I then cranked up the gain some on the REL’s which boosted the bass in the 40 to 25hz area. Then Dirac wrote a filter which removed this deep bass bump. The idea is to reduce the power to the Extremas in this range and let the REL’s handle this thereby allowing me to play the extremas louder without pushing the mid woofers too hard. It works like a charm. Dirac is the bomb to me. A game changer. I have deep tight bass and a huge sound stage and the Arcam cruising most of the time in class A. Take your time with the measurements. If possible use the UMIK-1 or UMIK-2 and a microphone stand. The included mic is average quality at best. Have fun!
Ken I appreciate your thoughts and that makes a lot of sense. I will take my time as suggested
If I’m not happy with the mic them I will look to buy a better one at a later date.
Arcam arrived, updated and playing Roon from headphones in about 45 mins.
Sadly I have to leave now for a couple of days so everything else will have to wait.
What a solidly built device it is
Hello from Canada. Im new to the sight. I have a Rel Tzero MkIII hooked up to my Arcam SA10 and it blends in amazing. Looking to upgrade to the SA30 for Christmas so I’m really enjoying the feedback and enjoyment.
Hi Audiodream are you using Dirac Live with this as well?
Arcam SA10 does not have Dirac available. So I’ll have to wait till December when I step up to the SA30.