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hegel h95 or Arcam SA30?

Audiochap786

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My speakers Fyne audio 502SP

My main source will be Qobuz - studio

I'm leaning towards the SA30 for Purley Dirac.... Is Dirac really worth it? My room has wooden floors with a large rug and no room treatment

I'm looking for one box all solution under £2000 and will probably buy used

Thanks

PS I've only ever owned a Nad T778 previously and really liked the sound for music, but thinking the above would be better

Thanks
 

Staki

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NAD T778 is a more powerful amp than either SA30 or h95 and already has Dirac, so it seems to me you already have a one box solution for £0. What am I missing?
 
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A

Audiochap786

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You speak alot of sense... I was under the impression the T778 being an AVR wouldn't be as good as the ones listed?

:)
 

maty

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The T778 is definitely using UcD102 modules, as can be seen in the review pictures posted further up in this thread: https://www.audionet.com.tw/thread-12568-1-1.html


NAD-T778-UcD102-inside2.jpg
 

Staki

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Honestly, I was thrown off by your question whether Dirac is worth it or not. In my experience, once you configure Dirac in your system, you don't ask that question anymore. Finally I was able to understand, even in my horrible room, what is this "imaging" that folks are talking about.

The consensus on this site is that, given enough power and in normal listening conditions, audible differences between competently executed solid state amps are negligible or non-existent. You already have quite efficient speakers, so you don't need a lot of power to achieve high SPL. Hegel amp you quoted has been reviewed here with very poor results, so I was leaning towards the Arcam given Dirac and very flexible connectivity options, but when I checked the T778 specs I realized you already have all of that. I don't think that replacing the T778 with the Arcam is likely to result in any audible change.

Besides... you already like the sound, just enjoy it! And spend some time on this site, it can be a wonderful antidote for audiophilia nervosa.
 

maty

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2020-04-30-TST-Fyne-Audio-F502SP-m1.png

2020-04-30-TST-Fyne-Audio-F502SP-m2.png
 

maty

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CK.

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Hey guys,

I am also contemplating the arcam sa30, I currently have a Denon 3700H avr with a pair of KEF R3 speakers (4 ohms) and my goal is to improve my 2-channel listening experience. Would the arcam offer an audible improvement? I listen to ~70-75dB from 9 ft away so power is not an issue.
 

Miniyouuuu

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You could choose any amp you want and add a MiniDSP for Dirac.
Dirac helps fine tuning of speakers on place. Amps help to serve enough power to speakers. But even on low volumen, power attack differ for one amp to other due to mínimum internal differences.
 

Witterings

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Yes! Absolutely. It is the single most important purchase in my life of HiFi. By a huge margin.

I think Dirac is the marmite of the HiFi world .... I have the SA30 and it's virtually never on.

I have a room with some some modes at 42Hz but using Dirac's default, it increases the low end by +8db which I understand is also dangerous for an amplifier but also massively exaggerates the problem.
Using and understanding it is a massive learning curve and even then it requires huge tweaks which the majority of people won't know how to do effectively so for 98% of people it's pretty much useless .... especially if you want to buy an amp, play music and it sound great and have zero interest in going in and learning about software and equalization etc. as the hobby is about listening to music.

I have managed to "reduce" the bass so it minimises the room mode but the main reason I don't use it is because the negative impact in so many other areas outweighs the benefit .... I find using PEQ to target the mode specifically far more effective and without negative affect across the rest of the frequency range so personally I don't believe Dirac offers anything that can't be achieved with an equalizer.

After a while and hearing other's comments blamed it on the included mic so bought a Umik-1 and made sure I had the correct calibration file but again it made no difference.

I have literally spent hours and hours of my life trying to get Dirac right ... time that I can never get back and yet I don't use it.

I'm glad it works in your situation but I see as many comments from people saying they never switch it on for the same reasons as me as I di people who like it so it's very definitely not a "fix it for all" solution some may have you believe, I'm just glad it was included with the cost of the amp as I'd be pretty peed off if I'd paid for it.
 
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