It’s hard to be positive about this situation…
Ok, I’ll bite. What’s the new equipment then? Should we have gear envy? 
I’m hoping that they have some project manager, who told them what “lessons learned” means to the organization 
Arcam did actually advertise SA30 as Roon Ready before Roon changed the rules.
And that’s one of the reasons they changed the rules. Many (most of? ) manufacturers were advertising something as Roon Ready just cause it was able to use RAAT. NAD did exactly same thing with M10, C658 and some others.
They will get certification once bugs are sorted.
Been saying this for a while.
miniDSP SHD - bought based on objective measurements.
Clearly need a power amp to go with it.
Taking a different tact with audio after this experience, as I would normally stick with Arcam. It will be a power amp based on Purifi or Hypex NC400 - again objective measurement.
My Oppo BDP-105 measures great objectively and I think its the best electronic piece of equipment I’ve ever bought.
1 Like
I own an OPPO BDP 105 and concur with you on that. My biggest regret is I never upgraded to the UDP 205 before OPPO stopped manufacturing. The 205’s regularly go for between £2500 and £3000 now on eBay. However, the one thing I do like with the 105 is the ability to rip SACD’s.
1 Like
I bought Arcam SA30 around Christmas. If it was not for this forum and the AVR forum, I would have returned the item already as I would have thought the distorsion is harware related. Anyway, the information on this forum gave me some hope that this issue will be solved in time via a software update. I do believe that the distorsion was not present on the v521 that mine came with, however it updated over night on its own despite setting the automatic update to off.
Now to answer your question, this morning I just did another system reset and net reset hoping that by removing my Dirac profiles maybe this time the distorsion will go away. However, it took only 5 minutes for the problem to show up afterwards. I kind of triggered it to show up by switching between MQA songs of different khz (44.1 khz and 192 khz). So this was only 5 minutes after a complete reset and with no dirac profiles installed. I am using Tidal through the Music Life app (UPNP renderer option) as the google chrome cast option does not stream MQA.
I think the issue occurs more rare when my partner uses Deezer which does not provide MQA songs and she also does not the Music Life app as the application is hard to navigate.
I am also using the ARCAM SA30 though the PVR input in Processor Mode with the analog direct option enabled while connected to the fronts preouts (L+R) of a YAMAHA AVR for a 5.1.2 system. The distorsion in the fronts shows up in movies, randomly every couple of hours with this option as well.
I am mentioning this because I had echo issues and random popping sounds until I realised I have to set PVR input to analog direct when in processor mode. They should have really mentioned this in the manual as I was so worried I might have caused some damage to the unit.
I purchased this item after many reviews indicated that it is Roon ready. I was very disapointed to find out after purchase that I can’t use Roon on it…hopefully just for now pending software updates that will help it receive certification.
I still thought about returning it, however I am too happy with the sound when it works and 80% of the time it does work great. I just have to quickly switch between inputs for the distorsion to disapear.
Apologies, for the long reply. I just write the extra information in case somebody else finds it helpful down the road as did when I scoured the forums for a solution.
Kind Regards,
Pat
2 Likes
My thinking is the DAC isn’t adjusting to different sample rates correctly.
I use PVR with my processor the same as you. The reason for the echo is because if you set PVR to go through the DAC it adds a delay so the sound from your centre and rears will earlier than the fronts. There is a delay setting though although I use direct the same as you.
1 Like
If you want to use the amp without distortions, i think for now you just have to play tidal hifi or other streaming services without highres files.
The distortion didn’t start with v705 it has been there since release - I bought mine back in early feb 20 and it had random distortion on all analog inputs from the very beginning (when not using direct function) …;(
I also regret this.
If only Oppo still existed as an AV manufacturer (aware that they still do mobile phones) - I am sure they would own this market, at least from a quality perspective.
There are suggestions that the distortion actually occurs on analogue inputs (I assume this is without analogue direct on)?
There are also suggestions that the distortion occurred in February 2020 - if this is the case, why haven’t people returned their SA30?
I don’t seem to suffer it like others do but I only stream from my NAS, occasionally play a CD on the OPPO and use the PVR function for the front channels in my AV setup. I don’t use Roon or any of the pay to stream services.
My understanding is that. with analogue direct turned on the amp is acting like a traditional amp and not involving the DAC.
My issue is I can’t configure DIRAC with the latest firmware whereas I could before.
Well that’s not good news… lets hope its software related and not a hardware shortcoming. I was under the impression there was not a distortion problem with 521.Yikes…
1 Like
I didn’t take note of what mine came with but it was pre 521, very early January 2020. My amp was updated to 521 soon after tha though. I stream Tidal including MQA and I’ve tested all sorts of hi res FLAC, MQA and even DSD256 from a UPnP server and direct fromUSB disk drive. I also have a turntable hooked up and Arcam CDS50… I do not use direct mode (except when I tried CDS50 as streamer) and I do not use Dirac. I haven’t experienced distortion one single time using 521.
As soon as I went to 705 I experienced distortion on Tidal MQA after about 30 mins play time, and small gaps or in playback from the CDS50…I switched back to 521 and have stayed on it since.
I haven’t heard anyone report distortion issues on 521 at all. I am not doubting you Floyd, but if you are getting this on 521 there must be a very specific use case that perhaps if you could work out would go further to locate root cause of the issue that is certainly present for most people in the later software releases.
Just to clarify; distortion (short periods once or twice every ten minutes or so) before v705 for me was only on analogue inputs (cd) when not using direct function (tried different units with same result), and reported it to Arcam support. The solution for me was to connect the cd (CDS50) via dig coax. I did not have any distortion on v521 or prior when streaming MQA/TIDAL direct on the SA30, this appeared with v 705. Maybe the issue with analogue inputs was just on the units I tried or is now solved with the latest updates, but can’t test that since I have returned my SA30 to the dealer because of the problems…
My CDS50 came post 705, but as mentioned I’ve switched back to 521 with no issues. Before the CDS50 I was using the phono input though and no other analogue inputs. Maybe this does help narrow it down. Unsure.
Off topic I know but how are you finding sound of the CDS50 and SA30? Any thoughts about analogue versus digital connection differences on sound? Wondering how what you might think compares to me 
Maybe PM me if you don’t mind.
Just a thought, is there such a thing as a total factory reset on the SA30? I wonder if we’re actually getting a clean install of each new software release or if residual effects of settings or cache is mounting up, or whether there is layering of one release on top of another which means everyone has slightly different experiences?
I think a factory reset exists. According to Arcams own manual on how to upgrade firmware:
Factory Reset using the System Settings > Net Reset and System Settings > System Reset menu options
I poked around in the firmware file (image.swu) and found an Unix shell script swupdate_preinstall.sh. The name of the file suggests it is executed before an upgrade. If I understand the script correctly it will create and format some partitions on the SA30 filesystem. So I think each firmware upgrade results in a software installation onto a clean environment. If this is true then it also makes sense all settings (and Dirac curves) are lost after an upgrade.
I think it shouldn’t make a difference what firmware version was installed and how it was configured, each specific firmware upgrade should deliver the same software and configuration.
I question that as well or whether there are slight differences in the hardware depending when each one was built. The reason I personally question is because of my issue configuring DIRAC with the latest firmware that some others say they don’t have.
There is a factory reset within the web GUI but I’m not sure if that’s just the same as a system reset
Hi Paul,
With the PVR set in “processor mode” , while the analogue direct was still set to off (as I was not aware of the option at the time), I tried using the unit’s delay setting and while I was changing it to different values, my unit made the popping sounds I mentioned earlier and shut itself down after just a few seconds of me fiddling with the delay settings. That is why I was really worried I caused some damage to the unit. Luckly it turned back on and works without issues. I still hope I did not cause any damage to it. Afterwards I found and tested the analogue direct and it works great without echoes or popping sounds. I knew there was a setting problem from the start, because when it was not set to analogue direct, the Yamaha AVR’ YPAO calibration was detecting an issue indicating that the front speakers are more than 24m away.
In my opinion unless you are using Dirac on an analogue input I don’t see the point in not using analogue direct.
I have a Yamaha processor as well. What volume setting do you have the amp set to for AV mode. I find 60 to be about right for me.