Hi All, First thank you for this forum. I looking at buying a SA30(new or used still deciding) and wonder since it was released in 2019 apart from the firmware upgrades have there also been different build versions(physical) of the SA30? Presume it was manufactured in different countries to drive down cost over the years? Anything I should look out for?
Currently I have a home theatre amp…but wanted to go back 2 channel listening( sources will be from vinyl and streaming) but also hoping that watching films will still be okay if my television runs through the SA30 eARC HDMI port…I know the sound is not going to be as immersive as watching a film in 5.1 or above …so how good does everyone find watching Television/Streaming e.g Netflix etc via eARC ? Many thanks in advance.
Not that we are aware of.
I mean pre-production units had different capacitors etc., but at least i am not aware of any newer revisions in changes in the hardware.
No, not really. SA30 was manufactured only in China from the very beginning.
Well, for me it was one of the selling points and… i’m not using it at all at the moment. Of course TV speakers cannot compare to SA30 + good set of speakers in many aspects, but i find speakers in my LG G1 good enough for daily watching, and unlike SA30 with eARC they support Atmos, which surprisingly works quite well.
HI Felix and thanks for your response. Relatively new to this so was worried with my Television now connected to eARC HDMI on the SA30…the impact of just having Left and Right channel and not having a centre speaker could be noticeable when watching movies. Does the Arcam somehow cater for the lack of a connected centre speaker? Or as you say you are just relying on the LG G1 to provide all sound when watching TV? The firmware upgrades do seem to have a reasonably checked history(problems) from some of the replies? Is there way to somehow calibrate the unit after the upgrades to determine if the sound has changed? or is this just by ear? I am keen to remove all of the home theatre components of my current system as we try and minimize the amount of electronics and hoping for a better overall 2 channel sound. Plus interested in thoughts on the phono stage, I have a Rega P3 with a Oroton 2M Blue cartridge and run a Schiit Mani external phone stage… how good is the Arcam MM Phone stage? I expect better than the Schiit? And room correction software I presume allows for different setups …like one for watching TV and one when listening to Vinyl or streaming?
No, it doesn’t.
That’s correct, eARC is disconnected in my case.
Firmware is now stable and we are not expecting any future upgrades, as seems Arcam has abandoned SA30 already…
Just by ear.
Well, you will probably get better 2 channel sound, but if you like good surround sound when watching anything, i would reconsider…
Sorry, no experience here. From other user’s opinions seems that SA30 has very good MM stage, however i have no idea on how it compares to Schiit.
That’s correct. You can have 3 different filters uploaded to amp, and can change at any time by click of a button. Also SA30 remembers last filter set for rach input, which means you can have “TV” preset for eARC intput, “analogue” preset for phono inpot etc.
If you’re concerned about losing the 5.1 effect … did you know this amp can be used in a Home Theatre setup which is one of the reasons I picked the SA30?
Aplogies if this is teaching you to suck eggs but you say you’re new to this so I’ll explian in case you don’t know what it is.
If your surround amplifier and has preouts for the main front / left speakers you can leave your centre, rears and sub connected to the surroud amp and take the preouts into the Arcam which will then play the main front left / right speakers.
This can be setup with one input on the Arcam having a set volume so as you increase the volume on the surround amp it’ll also increase the volume of the main front L/R as well.
All of your other stereo components are then plugged directly into the Arcam on the other inputs so don’t go through your surround amp at all.
Again … apologies if you already knew you could do this.
This is very valid point, however from what @xena7051 was saying, i assume it’s about decreasing number of devices, instead of increasing it 
He doesn’t say that at all … he says he wants to go back to 2 channel listening I’m guessing as it’s widely perceived that integrated amps give better sound quality for stereo than an AVR … he also goes on to say he’s concerned about the loss of 5.1 and that the sound sin’t going to be as immersive.
Bolded the important part
I moved from an Onkyo AVR with a Tannoy 5.1 speaker system coupled with KEF floor standers (as L and R) to the ARCAM, initially with the KEFs and later with a pair of Harbeths. The TV used the optical in on the ARCAM and not eARC.
I remember watching an episode of Dark on Netflix and being startled by the sounds I was now hearing - I thought the sound was coming from far left / right of the sound field, well beyond the speakers. I’ve never missed the 5.1 and the associated clutter nor the center channel as the two channel imaging is excellent.
I’ve posted about my impressions of the MM Phono elsewhere on this forum. In short: the MM is fantastic and the MC is pretty hopeless.