Singxer SA-1 / Balanced Amplifier Fully Discrete Class A - beyond THX 888 ?!

[Jay_vs]

Do you have another amp to A/B compare to make certain it's the SA-1 and not some other factor?

I've had a quick compare with my Deckard, which sounds great. Not sure why I'm changing it now lol?
I put the X16 through the Deckard and it sounded really good.
I'm sure it's just bedding in and it'll settle down soon.

 

[Jay_vs]

What dac are you using? Many people will argue DACs matter, and I’m starting to believe it myself, I use a RME ADI 2 DAC and I’ve heard people describe it as cold...and this may be true considering that’s it’s designed for accuracy. I’m now considering one of the denefrips dacs to find out for myself.

I had a RME ADI 2 DAC but had to return it, it was like broken glass in my ears. Shame cos it was an awesome bit of kit.

 

[TitaniumDust]

So I'm finding the sound is changing. Sadly not for the better. it's getting so bright and fatiguing. The low end has kinda reduced as well. Hoping this is just a phase until it settles down, but right now I'm not enjoying it at all.

I wouldn't worry about it now. Looking back at the thread, it looks like your SA-1 is only about a week old at this point. Some amps take 300+ hours to fully burn in. I woke up today and my amp sounded worse and it had definitely entered the pits of burn-in hell, and will probably not completely re-emerge for some time. Just the normal burn-in process as I've experienced in the past with other components and gear. I use mine normally during the day and loop pink noise overnight, and will continue to do so for at least 2 weeks. I'm postponing any further sound quality judgements until the process completes.

 

[Jay_vs]

I wouldn't worry about it now. Looking back at the thread, it looks like your SA-1 is only about a week old at this point. Some amps take 300+ hours to fully burn in. I woke up today and my amp sounded worse and it had definitely entered the pits of burn-in hell, and will probably not completely re-emerge for some time. Just the normal burn-in process as I've experienced in the past with other components and gear. I use mine normally during the day and loop pink noise overnight, and will continue to do so for at least 2 weeks. I'm postponing any further sound quality judgements until the process completes.

Ah so I'm not alone. Yeah it's definitely in that zone right now. I'm not to worried at this point.

 

[nekky]

I wouldn't worry about it now. Looking back at the thread, it looks like your SA-1 is only about a week old at this point. Some amps take 300+ hours to fully burn in. I woke up today and my amp sounded worse and it had definitely entered the pits of burn-in hell, and will probably not completely re-emerge for some time. Just the normal burn-in process as I've experienced in the past with other components and gear. I use mine normally during the day and loop pink noise overnight, and will continue to do so for at least 2 weeks. I'm postponing any further sound quality judgements until the process completes.

Ah so I'm not alone. Yeah it's definitely in that zone right now. I'm not to worried at this point.

This forum makes a great support group LOL. What type of pink noise do you use? Silly question probably. I’ve left mine just playing music on low-medium volume - is that acceptable generally speaking?

 

[ra990]

My order from two weeks ago just shipped from Apos. Just fyi for those waiting on theirs.

 

[Lolito]

Units arrived at Europe suppliers today and already sold out. Mine ships tomorrow.

 

[quawn0418]

Haven’t listened to music in maybe a week but I did today and I must say this amp is definitely a step up from the a90 and two steps up from the 789/887...also I was messing around with it and noticed that my Arya’s became more alive when I maxed out the amps volume and adjusted my dacs volume to listening level, just had a more full and engaging feel to them. I don’t know if that’s misuse but I think I’ll be listening this way from now on.

 

[Lolito]

Haven’t listened to music in maybe a week but I did today and I must say this amp is definitely a step up from the a90 and two steps up from the 789/887...also I was messing around with it and noticed that my Arya’s became more alive when I maxed out the amps volume and adjusted my dacs volume to listening level, just had a more full and engaging feel to them. I don’t know if that’s misuse but I think I’ll be listening this way from now on.

Theory has it that it's better to have the DAC at 100% volumen, 100% detail, then adjust sound level with the pre-amp or headphone amp. If you do it the other way around you are adjusting volume on the digital field, which means lower the volume lowering audio resolution...

Then again for use with a remote, a dac with remote is very cheap, a preamp or headphone amp with remote is very expensive, so, for that use digital volume is the only thing possible.

Tehn again, if the dac provides a ton of power, and the amp has to work in low load and sounds thin or anemic, then well, no other option either... No golden rules i guess.

 

[quawn0418]

Theory has it that it's better to have the DAC at 100% volumen, 100% detail, then adjust sound level with the pre-amp or headphone amp. If you do it the other way around you are adjusting volume on the digital field, which means lower the volume lowering audio resolution...

Then again for use with a remote, a dac with remote is very cheap, a preamp or headphone amp with remote is very expensive, so, for that use digital volume is the only thing possible.

Tehn again, if the dac provides a ton of power, and the amp has to work in low load and sounds thin or anemic, then well, no other option either... No golden rules i guess.

Yea it’s def something I never done before, but it sounded really good for some reason

 

[ra990]

Haven’t listened to music in maybe a week but I did today and I must say this amp is definitely a step up from the a90 and two steps up from the 789/887...also I was messing around with it and noticed that my Arya’s became more alive when I maxed out the amps volume and adjusted my dacs volume to listening level, just had a more full and engaging feel to them. I don’t know if that’s misuse but I think I’ll be listening this way from now on.

Nothing wrong with that, it depends on which device has the more transparent volume control. You're essentially using it as a power amplifier, which I wish someone would make for headphones!

 

[Lolito]

I had a RME ADI 2 DAC but had to return it, it was like broken glass in my ears. Shame cos it was an awesome bit of kit.

I really think any of the current delta sigma chip dacs sound like broken glass really in any busy part of the track. R2R or multibit or chord is the only viable option apparently to leave behind the digital world of broken glass. But for less than rme you can get ARES2. Much less features, but potentially much sweeter and smoother and less sharp sound.

 

[Jay_vs]

I really think any of the current delta sigma chip dacs sound like broken glass really in any busy part of the track. R2R or multibit or chord is the only viable option apparently to leave behind the digital world of broken glass. But for less than rme you can get ARES2. Much less features, but potentially much sweeter and smoother and less sharp sound.

I think you might be right. I'm going to give this X16 a chance to run in, it's sounding very good, but does start to sound like a wall of sound when things get busy in a song, then it's a bit fatiguing. The Ares2 is probably where I'll end up I recon.

 

[Jay_vs]

Also wanted to give MQA a go. I was really close to getting the Ares2 but I wanted to see what MQA had to offer. Turns out absolutely nothing, what a swizz.

 

[nekky]

Also wanted to give MQA a go. I was really close to getting the Ares2 but I wanted to see what MQA had to offer. Turns out absolutely nothing, what a swizz.

I’m in the same boat re: MQA. Don’t find a huge huge difference but there is usually a slightly higher volume level and a little more depth. Varies song to song.
I ended up going with the X26 Pro because I like the clinical nature for electronic music and gaming. I think an R2R will be in my future though, I’d really love to hear and A/B one.