Well its possible there has been one model that worked correctly for the 5 min review and money exchange! 
The only thing that still hints at a software issue is the guys that had no distortion with version 521. I personally never got a chance to use that version as my SA 30 updated to 705 the day after I brought it home.
Ken
@Ken - I think you can go back the way to an earlier FW. I’m sure I did it and went back to 521 when a poster said it was possible to experience no distortion with that version. Of course I probably still had 521 on my PC at the time and just implemented it again. I’ve since bought new PC so can’t check, surely either Arcam or a poster on here can get v521 to you?
I think jvs1 supplied me with a copy as I inadvertently upgraded to 705 when I didn’t mean to having heard of the distortion issues. I’ve stuck with it (521) since. Another user here though tried downgrading from this latest 867 release but for some reason it didn’t take and reported the firmware corrupt. Not sure if anyone else managed it or if Arcam have done something to prevent downgrade in this last release.
Well I don’t have a copy of v521. I would love to try it. If anyone has it let me know. I am having very good luck today streaming with a Dirac filter from Roon, a mix of red book upsampled to double the PCM, and MQA. No distortion heard. It actually sounds just wonderful today. Its days like this that keep me hanging on for a final fix. When it works, its just a wonderful piece of gear. When it sucks, oh man it sucks bad…bad.
Ken
I have put a copy of the v521 firmware on my dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9ms7f9ar14052fu/AABSI4TcwP1cKI1kaqO7MGq1a?dl=0
If this would not be allowed to do, please let me know then I remove this.
Some very kind users provided me with a copy of v521 (thank you to you all).
However, on testing I found that subjectively, I found that v521 sounded much worse than the latest v867.
So much so that on closer inspection, trying Dirac on/off, I thought there was something wrong with my ears and went back to my reference system in my living room to check that my ears were calibrated.
If I had heard v521 and nothing else, I would have assumed that there is something wrong with the unit as Arcam gear normally sounds great.
There is certainly something wrong with the sound on v521 (with/without Dirac) and the v867 sounds much better. I tried a mixture of CD/high resolution FLAC and MQA tracks from my NAS and from Tidal.
The reason that I tried the v521 version is because of distortion problem on v867.
The outcome of this subjective testing is that:
-
I found no distortion problems on v521
-
I found that the v867 sounded much better (when on form the SA30 is a very impressive piece of kit).
Hence, I have moved back to v867 and eagerly await a fix from Arcam.
Note: A REW frequency sweep would check to whether the change in sound is measurable on the different firmware version and if I had more time, this would have been pretty conclusive.
Wow. Something weird going on here then because although I’ve not jumped to 867 the sound was deffo worse for me after with 705 which is why I went back to 521 and to my ears it sounds fine. I’m not using Dirac btw.
Thank you very much! I got it!
Ken
Will be interested in your thoughts on the sound from 867 to 521.
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I concur with you on this. The distortion issue only started on V705 however, V521 has issues with the filters. This was admitted to me by one of Arcam’s engineers. Some people on this forum prefer V521 however because it is louder and has more punch but overall for me I find this latest firmware to be overall the best yet. The amp sounds superb now and it seems to have a wider soundstage as well.
I never said it’s ADC, i said it’s DSP 
I guess (but it’s only a guess) that when using digital path (including analogue inputs, when direct mode is not engaged) signal always goes via DSP.
Anyway I strongly believe it’s a software issue and will be sorted one day.
Do you have more details on this? I think DAC filters are built in the DAC chip, selectable by control signals from main microcontroller. So wonder what filters they were referring to? Or did they mess up controls, and it was setting different filter, than was selected by user. But I don’t suppose they would do such simple mistake
@paulguk that’s interesting to hear because I thought having heard the thin sound post 521 (634 and 705) you also switched back to 521
It gives me hope, we know at one time there was no distortion, they seem to have fixed the weak sound and further improved it so fingers crossed the next update gets rid of distortion and I think I will go with it then! I’m doing my best to hold out so far, I’d usually just go with whatever was the latest s/w or f/w available but I’m kind of still like “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mode…ok I know there are versions of “broke” depending on how you use the amp!
By the way can anyone comment on what this has done for Turntable sound in 867, are you hearing the improvements to this too even with the phono preamp in the mix? I’m using MM btw not MC
You’re right I did switch back when V705 first came out mainly because I was so used to the louder more punchy sound but after a while I decided to give it another try and (ignoring the occasional distortion issues) decided V705 sounded more musical and stayed with it. I’ve now upgraded to this latest firmware and I don’t seem to be having any of the issues others have. In fact I’m happy with the sound I’m getting but I don’t use DIRAC because my room has good acoustics anyway and I don’t use ROON. I stream music as FLAC files from my NAS stored in resolutions up to 24 / 192, I occasionally play CD’s from my OPPO connected to a digital input and I use the PVR mode for the front decoded channels connected to my AV processor.
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Spoke to a very nice chap at Arcam today.
He stated that the distortion problem is a known issue and that the DSP code needs to be re-written to fix.
It has been escalated for a quick fix but the time-line for resolution is unknown.
On a separate note, they also said there was some new firmware in the pipeline, undergoing final beta testing for the old AVRs (AVR-850 etc) and I asked about this as I have one of these.
Thanks @Aventador_SVJ. That sounds… good and bad at the same time
Good, as it confirms it’s a software issue and can be fixed. Seems my guess was correct
Bad, cause re-writing the whole code means:
- it will take some time. Knowing Arcam’s SW development so far, it can be a long time
- it’s perfect opportunity to… introduce new bugs
Wonder if they really have to redo the whole thing, or did he just make it look worse, than it really is? And also wonder if it means they can further improve the sound quality when redoing DSP?
BTW - have anyone asked them, if they are planning to introduce Tidal Connect with one of the future upgrades? That would be fantastic, and I could probably jump off the Roon wagon. As good as Roon is, it’s just way overpriced for my taste, especially that I’m not using any advanced features like DSP.
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I have a 3 months trial with Roon at the moment and I don’t use it - not impressed. I am using MConnect at the moment and was previously using BubbleUPNP, purely testing so that I can use MQA on Tidal.
Some very odd things with Roon like not working with the Nvidia Shield Pro, not recognising my Oppo BDP-105 via the universal of all standards UPNP. Seriously unimpressed.
As much as I like Arcam and have done for several decades, I am wondering on whether to return and purchase a product that just… good old fashioned, works.
Well I am glad someone at Arcam actually plugged in a SA 30 and discovered its basically broken. Not all of the time. Just some of the time. But geez, the SA 30 has been for sale for a year now. And they are just about to start rewriting the DSP software??? Wow. I do somehow think the SA 30 will eventually be sorted out and will be a nice piece of gear. But it’s like holding a underperforming stock. You don’t want to sell it because you are sure one day it will come back. But you just get tired of holding on to hope…
Ken
Well, Roon is stubborn on NOT using UPNP. They claim they will never support that protocol.
Roon supports their own RAAT (as used in SA30… when it will be certified, for now it only works for people that bought SA30 before 20.09.2020 and applied for developer status, as I did), Chromecast, Airplay, Sonos, Sqeezbox and I think that’s it. It actually supports quite many protocols, except for UPNP. And that actually means one cannot stream MQA with Roon, if RAAT is not working.
It is good, especially on RAAT. But unless one is using their DSP it’s definitely not 700$ good. That’s why I would like to see Tidal Connect.
I hate Mconnect. For me it’s the opposite of intuitive app. But it works… Music Life is for me on Mconnect level when it comes to usability.
So stuck with Roon for now to have good SQ AND ease of use (for me and my better half).
Unless you need all features of SA30, there’s plenty others. But if you want/need room correction (as I do), then not much choice in this price. NAD M10 is nice, but didn’t impress me with SQ as SA30. Haven’t heard Lyngdorf, but it might actually be really good. Although don’t like the looks of it, and probably WAF would be an issue (as with M10 actually).
So I’m sticking to SA30 and waiting for fixes 
For tidal streaming I tried MConnect…it’s a totally different mechanism (streaming to your mobile device, and then your mobile device casting to the SA30 as a UPnP reciever, rather than the SA30 itself doing the streaming with MusicLife simply the controller app) but I didnt find it entirely bug free either so don’t think it worth paying for over the MusicLife app. Then again MusicLife some days just works perfectly and on the days it does decide to mess me about the trusty old web client is still there 
I wonder how Tidal Connect actually works, since you would think for broader compatibility working like MConnect using the UPnP route would be simplest, but if that were the case it would likely automatically support many more devices than it does,