It is year 2020, in the middle of a historic pandemic, and this product is about 20 years old that makes it a vintage gear, relatively speaking. I purchased this at Goodwill for about $50 with remote included. Nice champagne color. The design is very robust inside and outside. When used with great cables, external DACs this gear shines. It sparkles better than my Yamaha A S1000 integrated which I think is too polite. Push it and the sound is very clean. I am using this to bi-amp my BW 805 Matrix and sounds just glorious. Push the volume at 12 or 1 and it will deliver clean fat Mosfet tone but not close to the HEGEL 360...but almost. For $50 in 2020 that is a steal. This amplifier generates substantial amount of heat maybe because it is biased "hot" AND the casing ventilation is very poor. I drilled 1/4 round holes by the heat sink and the sides and the internal heat is dissipated fairly well, I also purchased a power end adapter from Amazon that allows me to use a high end power cord and that also improves dynamics. Yup, with proper matching of stuff in the chain the Technics SA DA8 can sound glorious and can better new modern integrated amps today - just the innards look very clean and hefty.

For an amp that cost me about $50, I cannot find any weaknesses. it does not compare to the $3,000+ Hegel 360 but it is in the right direction...they do not make them now like they used to do.

Das Gerät fällt nach einigen Betriebsjahren aus. Die im Internet verfügbaren Dokumentationen sind mangelhaft.
Gerät schaltet die Lautsprecher in allen Betriebsmodi ab. Nur noch Subwoofer und Kofphörer geben einen Ton von sich. Ursache für diesen Fehler:
Verstärker IC 651 is an den Pins 9, 11 und 15 defekt, liefert falsche Spannungen. Pin 9 und 11 wird nicht benutzt. An Pin 15 werden für eine einwandfreie Relaisschaltung lt. Servicedoku. etwa -9.3V benötigt. Abhilfe schaffte ein Widerstand von 1kOhm 0,1W, von IC 651 Pin15 nach R780 (-16,3V DC Versorgung). Damit ist zwar die Sensorik dieses Hybridmoduls RSN313H25-P defekt, der Verstärker funktioniert aber wieder einwandfrei. Ansich ist das SA-AD8 ein gutes Gerät. Die Audioverstärker werden IC 601, IC602 und IC651 sehr heiß. Die Längsregler auf der Leiterplatte
Inputselektor Q351 und Q352 werden so heiß, daß sich die Leiterplatte punktuell schwarz färbt. Thermisch ist einiges falsch dimensioniert.

I prefer audiophile-quality audio products but this amp was on sale so I bought it. Could not believe its features and CLEAN sound...now in 2016 I still find it sounds better than several $800 to $1,200namps I own. And, it is not only analog, but has digital inputs (unheard of to me at least in circa 1994), so when I decide eventually hook it up to my local internet music sources, I will be "up-to-date" technology wise. It is fun playing with the effective surround modes, and it drives my monitors and my OHM FRS-11 tower speakers just fine. And since it is a gorgeous silver color, It Stands Out on my audio rack like it is the boss. I recommend looking for one for its versatility, sound quality, ability to handle 6 ohm speaker loads,

Saw this on the shelf at my favorite Savers thrift store. Marked at $16.99 minus a 25% Senior's discount for an out-the-door price of $13.18 including tax. I figured at that price, even if it didn't work, I wouldn't be out much.
Brought it home and hooked it up in my garage system. Had an older Kenwood receiver hooked up to Polk Monitor 30 speakers and a Kenwood powered sub with a 10" driver. Threw out the Kenwood receiver, hooked up the DA8 and was immediately impressed. Used the CD input and connected my Samsung S5 and Amazon Prime Music. It sounds much better than the Kenwood, especially in the highs.
Hooked up an older Pioneer CD/DVD/SACD player using the analog connections. I couldn't find a spare Toslink cable so will have to wait to see how good the internal DAC is. But the analog connection worked well and the sound was clean, as would be expected from a CD.
FM tuner works well. I primarily listen to NPR classical and jazz and I have to say it sounds very good.
Will have to fabricate another set of speaker wires (gotta buy more banana plugs) and see how it sounds bi-amped since the Polks do have that capability.
Very happy with this purchase. Now is a good time to be looking for semi-"vintage" gear since it seems many people are buying HTiB setups or sound bars, allowing those of us who are wallet-challenged to enjoy some really decent quality sounds for pretty cheap.

I just got this to actually sell, but after hearing it I am not to sure I want to. I paid 40.00 bones for it and thought I would just turn it for some profit. Well I am not sure, I might keep it for a 2 channel music system since the thing sounds so good(better than my Pionner elite receiver when it comes to music). It does not compare with the elite for movies but WOW music sounds dam good.I did some research before I bought it and anything with bamboo fibers built into the out put stage sounded weird but cool to me so I went and got it. Came home and hooked her up and well ,nice. I would recommend if you can't afford seprates give this a try you won't be dissapionted.

I've used this amp for home theater with good results. However, if you really want this amp to shine, run this baby in analog stereo & kick in the VGCA mode. Unreal for vinyl records & CDs with sound quality that has to be heard to be believed.