Just to be pedantic, the hyphen goes here: SR-71B.  

I have had my SR-71B for about 2½ years and have been very happy with it driving HE-500, FA003 and JH13 all balanced. Unfortunately the batteri was down to 3-4 hours on a charge so I contacted Ray to have it replaced and he offered to do the upgrade at the same time. Have now got it back and can only say that it is now an even better amp (at least going from memory). Yes the high gain has been upped and the low and medium gain are the same so it now drives the HE-500 with more volume for the same dial position. The background is totally silent and black except on silly setting (high gain and max volume with JH13). There seems to be even better control, slam and impact to the bass and as a result even more control and clarity over the rest of the frequency range. I don't know if this is the best portable amp in exsistence but ir is certainly the best portable amp out of the >10 I have owned over the years. It is also scarily close (though different in tone and sound) to my big home RudiStor amp that cost 4-5 times as much. Seriously good value and very well pleased.

I agree it definitly is a amazing sounding amplifier bakanced. It really shines balanced. If you are running it se or if you plan,on using it se you are really not doing this amp justice.

I have learned to get used to and adjust to the sound of the balanced output. Once I realized wjat I was hearing it definitely impressed me

*edit

duartisimo said:

... it seems to have serious channel imbalance issues when using the SE. ....

Click to expand...

 
That definitely should not be. 
Unbalanced, this amp is (should be) as good as other unbalanced amps, at the least. 

quote name="Stoney" url="/t/502696/rsa-sr71b-quad-mono-balanced-img-1-17-review-pg-32-34-68-updated-4-2013-for-improved-sound/1065#post_9795399"]
That definitely should not be. 
Unbalanced, this amp is (should be) as good as other unbalanced amps, at the least. 
[/quote]

I agree that sounds more like a mechanical issue than a balanced vs single ended issue imo.

duartisimo said:

 


Not only that, as now I´ve had the amp for almost 3 months and it seems to have serious channel imbalance issues when using the SE. Clearly Balanced is the way to go! Just have to re-cable my RS1's so i can have a fully balanced rig and be done with it.

Click to expand...

Remember that the SR71B has a volume pot system that can be adjusted for imbalance. If that doesn't work, send it back to Ray.
 
Also, the RS-1's are a treat balanced...have fun.

*edit

duartisimo said:

I think I better contact Ray, he's been very helpful and great. I'm sure he'll sort it out.

Click to expand...

Have you any news yet?

Does anyone use this with the AK100 or RWAK100? Thinking of pairing them for a balanced rig with either JH13 Pros or the upcoming Roxanne.

matthewh133 said:

  Does anyone use this with the AK100 or RWAK100? Thinking of pairing them for a balanced rig with either JH13 Pros or the upcoming Roxanne.

Click to expand...

do you plan on using the optical out of the ak100 with a Dac, then the sr71b

mooses9 said:

  do you plan on using the optical out of the ak100 with a Dac, then the sr71b

Click to expand...

 
Not really, I didn't spend the money on the AK100 just to bypass the DAC, seems a bit of a waste.

*edit

mmm I'm looking forward to gettin one of these :3 hope it compares to my AGD BFN 10ES2 [I think it will make a nice compliement] 

matthewh133 said:

Not really, I didn't spend the money on the AK100 just to bypass the DAC, seems a bit of a waste.

Click to expand...

True unless you got a better dac.