Should I upgrade to Arcam SA30 from Nuprime dac-9 + Nuprime AMG STA?

[BarrryBarrry]

Right now I'm using a Nuprime dac-9, Nuprime AMG-STA, B&W 683 S2, an old rel sub, and I use mainly Spotify from my tv (because I don't have a streamer jet). I'm quit satisfied with the sound but I wonder what would benefit me the most.
1: getting a streamer in my setup and maybe in de far future get a extra AMG-STA.
2: go for a Arcam SA30 with Dirac and streaming option.

Im not able to fit deep amplifiers that's why I'm aiming at the SA30.
I would love to hear what you think, specialty because the AMG-STA is really good but not so popular, it's hard to compare.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Rotor]

The SA30 looks great on paper. I bought one a few weeks back but returned it after a few days of frustration.

My main issues:
- The amp kept switching to the ARC input (even when actively streaming) when my TV was on but not doing anything (Samsung Frame in Art Mode). This could perhaps be the fault of the TV, but did not happen at all with a BlueSound Powernode. IMHO, the amp should at least have an option to prioritise an active input/stream. It does not.
- The menu system continually drops back to the start when a stream (E.G. Tidal) is active. This makes changing Dirac profiles or other settings next to impossible while listening unless you continually and rapidly move through menu items to keep it 'active'. To change a Dirac profile (or other menu settings) reliably, you first must stop the stream. Annoying.
- The remote/amp would regularly stop responding to commands from the remote beyond the basic track forward/back or volume. Pressing the 'amp' button on the remote re-enabled other buttons (E.G. 'menu'), but this kept reoccurring and was irritating.
- The ARC input would frequently not work for various audio sources from my TV - saying 'not supported' then 'no input' or something similar. One of the sources where it would reliably not work was the Tidal app from the TV(!). Again, the Bluesound Powernode never had any such issues. There is probably a sample-rate/protocol/encoding issue that it did not like, but I did work out what it was (i did try al available PCM/passthrough etc. settings I could find on my TV). Maybe the Bluesound can do some resampling the Arcam can not? In any case, ARC is about convenience and not quality for me. I just want it to work without fuss.

In the end I just lost confidence in it. In looking for answers I found a forum where many users documented lots of issues at: https://arcam.discourse.group

 

[Hammeredklavier]

Peter Tyson is selling these for £1,299 at the moment. At that price, it's tempting!