Arcam SA45 is available now and Roon Ready status is changed from
after launch to coming soon on vendor’s site
Its box is labelled with Roon Ready logo which can be seen on below clip
I recently emailed Arcam regarding Roon Ready, and my experience was worse than talking with a bot.
Firstly, they told me there was no ETA, and in the following email, they said it would be ready in Q1 this year. When I reminded them that Q1 ends in a few days, they said it was tentative. I have never experienced something like this. I don’t feel like buying anything from this company again.
As the owner of an ARCAM SA30 (which sounds great) I would personally be weary of buying complex ARCAM gear until it is fully debugged.
They deserted the SA30 as soon as they got Roon Ready working. They have just released the first firmware update for two years and managed to break Chromecast for most user’s, while giving access to the updated Tidal Connect for non MQA high resolution streaming.
These days I use mine mostly as an pure amplifier and stream via an external streamer and DAC, so thank the lord that it sounds so good.
It’s a pity, don’t recall seeing another streaming integrated amplifier with that spec and built-in 8.8" display.
Waiting for SA45 to be certified first might be safest approach, hopefully this process speed up soon as I find it bit odd to sell gear stating it is Roon Ready when actually it is not.
It’s very common amongst most manufacturers as they develop the software and go through the certification process.
I think that this would be a very good Roon endpoint and streaming amplifier solution. Personally I would give it time to develop as it is part of a new platform. I imagine that it would also sound great
I had Arcam SA45 demo some time ago and it is serious piece of gear.
8.8" display looks fantastic and amp sounds good too.
Local shop got it in touch with their distributor regards Roon Ready release date but unfortunately this is still not confirmed.
Also stated in below overview at 3:05 that it will be RR soon:
We are well into the Jun and still nothing. Nice Q1 release. I will never buy anything from this scam company again. Pathetic liars.
I made the same declaration after buying the SA30 only for them to stop developing any updates for it after less than 3 years on the market with a fair few bugs still around.
There seems to be issues getting out stable and reliable firmware updates out of the door.
Love the sound from the amps and it has made we want to gravitate to analogue amps with a decent DAC/streamer from a company with a history of delivering updates over a long time
ST25 seems to be finally Roon Ready now:
@Adam_Arczynski would you mind to confirm it, share your feedback and post signal path.
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Thanks for pinging me. Yeah, it finally works. I struggled a bit with it as there is no firmware update, and Roon was still showing it as uncertified. Unplugging ST25 completely from the power helped. Here is the signal path:
Thanks for that Adam. That’s only few days since your streamer has been certified but would you recommend it as a Roon endpoint, was it worth waiting?
Have you noticed any issues since or is it rock solid device so far?
Also did you have chance to test high res formats via Roon that you previously checked with USB playback.
Sure, no problem. Would I recommend it? Objectively speaking, no. It tends to hang and requires unplugging from the electricity every few weeks. My mother’s WiiM costs ten times more and offers more functionalities, as well as a better mobile app. The strong point is the remote that can control Roon playback, but I believe cheaper streamers would offer the same functionality. Would I buy it again? Yes. I am happy with my purchase mainly because of the nice look, which nicely fits my system.
I don’t remember. I can test anything you wish when I return from holidays in mid-July.
If you could test it with various formats from Blue Coast Music store that would be great.
Enjoy your holidays!
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@JLZ_Heos All FLAC, FLAC MQA, WAV, and DSD64 files work without any issues. DSD128 and DSD256 files work only when played after other DSD files. When playing DSD128 or DSD256 after a FLAC or WAV file, Arcam/Roon hangs. I need to either restart Arcam or stream something else to it (e.g. Tidal Connect) to fix it.
@Adam_Arczynski thank you for that.
It seems to me that Arcam’s software/firmware is still in beta version.
Hi-fi gear at that price point should be more reliable IMO. SA45 is nice sounding amp but with all described bugs here, I will look at alternatives, which is a pity as I was convinced to buy it once Roon Ready certification will be completed.