[Riverflow]

After reading this most off the 154 pages I have ordered a SA-1 to replace my iFi can zen signature 6xx.
I have got bored with the iFi and rarely use it favouring My Loxjie P20 with upgraded tubes and power supply.
I thought before I jump down the rabbit hole of tube amps I would give Solid state class A a go.
So the SA-1 seemed to tick the boxes with out breaking the bank.
I intend to use my oppo 203 as a dac with Roon/tidal as a network streamer.
Would a dedicated dac make a big difference to the performance of the SA-1 with out breaking the bank(yet)?
I have ordered a hifi fuse,but for now I will be avoiding the DC mod for as I only have low impedance headphones(grado rs1-x,325x and oppo pm-3). I think the dc power should be sufficient to run theses with out the mod .
I was considering a power cable upgrade,but all my hifi gear comes off one (good quality) 6 way 240v extension lead.
So unless I put more sockets in my front room (not a big problem as I am a spark but would have to redecorate) each as a radial in 4mm.I am going to pick up noise from my ring main and extension lead.
Is in my circumstance a hifi power cord going to make a difference or I am wasting £70?

 

[roderickvd]

After reading this most off the 154 pages I have ordered a SA-1 to replace my iFi can zen signature 6xx.
I have got bored with the iFi and rarely use it favouring My Loxjie P20 with upgraded tubes and power supply.
I thought before I jump down the rabbit hole of tube amps I would give Solid state class A a go.
So the SA-1 seemed to tick the boxes with out breaking the bank.

Congratulations! Let me know how you compare it to that Loxjie P20! Every now and then I see one going second-hand here in The Netherlands and I keep myself being drawn to it. Not to sell my SA-1, but to have it next to it. So interested to hear your comparison.

I intend to use my oppo 203 as a dac with Roon/tidal as a network streamer.
Would a dedicated dac make a big difference to the performance of the SA-1 with out breaking the bank(yet)?

The SA-1 is a very transparent amp and I would say a bit on the lean side. So, changes in sound SQ from your source equipment will indeed come through. I tend to favour warmer sounds, so would recommend something based on AKM or R2R tech. Your preference.

I have ordered a hifi fuse,but for now I will be avoiding the DC mod for as I only have low impedance headphones(grado rs1-x,325x and oppo pm-3). I think the dc power should be sufficient to run theses with out the mod .

The DC mod does not affect output power. The DC protection is there to prevent blowing up your cans in case there's a big DC offset on the input. Well-behaving devices should not have that, but the protection is there just in case.

Doing the mod, so installing the jumpers thereby removing the DC protection, to me lifts a veil I otherwise hear in the midrange. Though the coupling caps are quite good, I still hear it.

I was considering a power cable upgrade,but all my hifi gear comes off one (good quality) 6 way 240v extension lead.
So unless I put more sockets in my front room (not a big problem as I am a spark but would have to redecorate) each as a radial in 4mm.I am going to pick up noise from my ring main and extension lead.
Is in my circumstance a hifi power cord going to make a difference or I am wasting £70?

You should know I'm the kind of guy who has never heard any difference between cables. I still have a nice cable even on my SA-1 just because I like the looks of them. The SA-1 power section is excellent (even if it is SMPS) and does not care about input power quality either. So I'd say, put that money to a nice DAC and enjoy the music.

 

[Riverflow]

Thank you roderickvd for your reply
I will definitely repot back on the comparison of the SA-1 to the P20 I will also compare against the iFi as I have not sold it yet.
The P20 has got some nice general electric1960s tubes at the moment and just makes me smile.
It was a very close call between the SA-1 and the Liquid Platinum.I will get the Liquid Platinum in the autumn.
I will take your advice on the power cable and put it towards a dac.
if I remember right my oppo has the AKM AK4458VN dac so I will look down the R2R path.

 

[roderickvd]

If you've got balanced headphones, then try to get a balanced DAC as well. That's when the SA-1 really shines. Otherwise do SE in, SE out. Last place goes to BAL in, SE out.

 

[Neobenedict]

Been using the SA-1 as my main amp for a while for my Aryas. Great piece of kit if you can pick it up on a discount. I can't really hear any difference over similar amplifiers in the same price bracket, but having switchable outputs and inputs is super useful and there's no channel inbalance or overheating issues like the Topping A50s. The I/O this amp supports were the main justification for my purchase.

 

[iFi audio]

I have ordered a SA-1 to replace my iFi can zen signature 6xx.
I have got bored with the iFi and rarely use it

Thanks a lot for giving our ZEN CAN Siggy a home and now enjoy your new purchase!

 

[Riverflow]

My SA-1 arrived safe and well yesterday
First impression are good.I have not done the dc mod yet going to make sure it all works for a week before opening the SA-1 up.
I have changed the fuse for an gustard audio fuse running SE in balanced out using a oppo 203 with liner power supply as a dac.
I then tried balanced in via a fiio BR-7 and balanced out to grado RS x-1 via MacBook Air M2 Roon and tidal which was a good combination.
Just need a week off burn in then I will compare to the p20 with 5670 and 6np3 tubes.

​

 

[chaotic_angel]

My SA-1 arrived safe and well yesterday
First impression are good.I have not done the dc mod yet going to make sure it all works for a week before opening the SA-1 up.
I have changed the fuse for an gustard audio fuse running SE in balanced out using a oppo 203 with liner power supply as a dac.
I then tried balanced in via a fiio BR-7 and balanced out to grado RS x-1 via MacBook Air M2 Roon and tidal which was a good combination.
Just need a week off burn in then I will compare to the p20 with 5670 and 6np3 tubes.

​

Hello there, please share to us the difference you found when swapping the fuse to Gustard's

 

[roderickvd]

I have tried that before and heard zero difference. YMMV.

 

[Riverflow]

Hello there, please share to us the difference you found when swapping the fuse to Gustard's

I could not tell the difference
May be if you had a clean mains supply it may make a difference but I think it is case of the emperors clothes

 

[Friskyseal]

It's not reasonable to expect to hear a difference immediately changing out a component of an amp you have just purchased. When you are tinkering for that last 5-10% of performance, it's more typical to live with the sound for a period of time (like, months), and then start playing with things like cables, fuses, power conditioners, etc. to see if you hear any changes. When you have lived with a particular sound for a while and know it well, the subtle effects become more obvious. Again, since we're dealing with that last 5-10% of performance, the changes may be so small that they are not worth it to you—but that doesn't mean they aren't there, or that others can't detect them.

Maybe this isn't the perfect analogy, but it would be like someone picking up the HD600 and HD650 together and listening to them for the first time having never heard either of them. Don't you think a lot of people would say, "They sound the same to me, I can't tell a difference." Maybe not everybody, but a lot would. They could easily then accuse Sennheiser of releasing the same headphone for extra money, and think there are a lot of suckers on Head-Fi falling for it. But it they had owned an HD600 for a year and then plugged in an HD650 for the first time, the experience would likely be different.

It's even more challenging with fuses because you can't quickly A/B them. Therefore you need some actual "experience" with the amp to have any reasonable auditory memory of it. The fuses are directional, meaning the sound changes depending on how you install them (arrow/text pointing up or down). The SA-1 makes it a little confusing because the fuse holder is vertical rather than horizontal. From my experience, the correct position of the fuse for the SA-1 is with the text/arrow pointing UP. This has consistently been my finding testing a bunch of fuses, but some say that every fuse is different and needs to be tried both ways.

I've tried a handful of fuses on my SA-1 and every single one has produced a notable change (some for the worse). Again, all this testing has been done with an upgraded power cable so I can't speak to how it would be just using the stock. I've read elsewhere that the fuse is like an extension of the power cable but given the significance of the changes I would still expect to hear a difference (just speculation).

Finally, I don't believe the best fuse upgrade for the SA-1 is the Gustard. It's a good one to try (very dynamic), but it produces a strange soundstage. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with it not being the correct rating (1.6A instead of 2A). Some good ones to try are the Acme silver (with CFC) and the HiFi-Tuning Supreme fuses (copper and silver/gold). The latter is what I ultimately settled on being the best fuse for me.

 

[Riverflow]

I worked as electrical technician in the research and development for 40 years, in this I learned how important a clean supply is and what difference fuses can make.Over the years I have fitted thousand of dedicated and one off fuses on Million pound test rigs.
I live in a 70 year old house with 20 year wiring,on a street with 12 other house so 4 houses are using the same phase.Last time I put a scope on my ring main it was a noisy mess.That was with out washing machines vacuum cleaners etc.That is if we are getting 240v by law the supply can vary +5% and -10%on voltage and +/-3%grid frequency.
If I wanted to get any noticeable difference from a fuse. I would have to clean the incoming supply either a new direct dedicated 240v from the fuse board or a mains filter.
If I had a clean supply with a guaranteed 240v 50Hz then maybe a fuse and a high end power cord could make a small difference.
If the fuse was on the amplifier side then I would expect a difference.
But in my case unit I get a cleaner supply.I won't be investing on the mains incoming side of my amp.
What I will do is listen with this fuse for a month then swap back to the original fuse for a month to see if I can tell any difference.
I hope it will make a difference as I won't have wasted any money.

 

[JohanE]

Just ordered an Eversolo Dac-Z8 to pair with my Singxer SA-1. Anyone else here tried an Eversolo dac with their SA-1?

 

[viggen]

How good is the SA-1 purely as a two channel preamplifier? Looking for a preamp with two outputs.

 

[Yeahnahrighto]

Hi all apologies for the silly question but don't know where else to ask.

I have a chord mojo 2 which I plan to use as a DAC feeding the singxer sa 1.

The mojo 2 is single ended only so I will need to use RCA inputs to the singxer.

Can I then use the balanced headphone out, even though the input is not balanced? Is this an issue?

Cheers!