And this amp clearly does NOT come with sth like super-symmetry, circlotron, or nexus gain. In other words, unbal in, unbal out are respectively disappointing. Not to mention the combination.
What gains are you hearing when going bal in (vs SE in)? I've been waffling on a bal DAC to pair with mine. I like the SA-1 a lot, too. I've had it since July 2021. It's basically my daily driver.. and I can't remember the last time I've used a solid state as much as this one.. let alone for ~9 months.
I found bal input tightened sound a bit, also transient got sharper. tonal balance was very subtly better, too. SA1 to me is inherently warm, laid back and on the polite side, so, bal-in gain seems very large to me. YMMV tho!
@FlySweep Just another thought. My point/guess here is to get amp input balanced. SE dac with some SE-Bal converters (active or transformer) will prol work equivalently. This might work better particularly if you're content with the current dac.
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