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Review 2 of 3
Price Paid:
$800.00
from demo purchased direct from SAS Summary:
Caveats and disclosures: First, my unit was purchased as a "demo" unit and the current incarnation of the 10A will probably sound better than my unit, which lacks certain recent upgrades. In other words, your mileage may be even better than mine. Second, most of what I have to say about the 10A applies when it is plugged into a PS Audio PowerPlant 300. The difference is important and quite large.
The SAS 10A excels at presenting a realistic soundstage and its sound is very pleasing overall. My wife preferred the SAS 10A immediately to the Herron VTSP-1A because of the 10A’s “musical” presentation. The Herron does many things very well, and it is an extremely quiet tube preamp – sounds issue forth from a black background. Compared to the Herron VTSP-1A, the SAS 10A is first and foremost a lot noisier -- I refer to that rain-like sound, common to some tube preamps, that you can hear in between music or when you move very close to your speakers. But this is not fatal. In my case, once I added a PS Audio PowerPlant 300 to my system, this annoyance largely disappeared.
And this brings up an interesting bit of math: If you are planning on buying a PS 300 for your digital front end, then the SAS 10A may make more sense and present a better value than a far costlier preamp. A PS 300 with fan and multiwave upgrade costs about $300 per receptacle (x 4 = $1200 total). And I can say that when the 10A is plugged into the PS 300, I don’t miss the Herron preamp. The Herron unit beats the 10A soundly in many areas when compared head to head, and without the PS 300 thrown into the picture. And it should ($4000 vs. $1350). But with the PS 300, the 10A does very well. Here the comparative values might be pegged at $1650 for the SAS 10A vs. $4000/$4300 for the Herron. You get the idea.
Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of late night listening using an old Luxman T-115 tuner. This is not ideal. I’m waiting for the SACD/DVD-A wars to settle, and in the meantime I’ve decided on getting a modest Pioneer DVD player with mods to use as a front end. The tuner is filling in until the Pioneer DVD player arrives. The surprising thing to me is how enjoyable classical FM broadcasts are using the Luxman tuner and the SAS 10A. The sense of space, from the coughing 14 rows back to the footsteps on the stage during an opera, is presented very realistically. The 10A hits the highs and mids just about right. I am surprised at how good the music sounds. I don’t have those nagging distractions about the “next upgrade” I can or should make to my system. And I don’t have a feeling of disappointment after laying out megabucks for a relatively small improvement to my system’s sound.
Is the 10A the last word in preamplification? No, of course not. If your budget has no bounds, you can easily do better. While the sound of the 10A is enjoyable, the cosmetics of the unit are under-whelming. The faceplate has very sharp and pointy corners, as an example. There are separate volume controls for the left and right channels; I like this, you may not. There is no remote. But the case and controls are adequate to their task. The power cord is captive, so unless you get Harmonic Technologies' converter receptacle, cord swapping is not an option.
Service is excellent. To begin with, you can try this unit in your home for 45 days and return it for a refund if you are dissatisfied. I thought one of the channels in my unit was louder than the other. I emailed Steve Sammet, and he told me to return the unit. He checked it out, made some changes, and returned my unit in about a week. No charge, beyond my cost to ship the 10A one-way to him.
SAS Audio Labs sells direct. Please visit http://www.sasaudiolabs.com for more information.
Associated equipment, because someone will ask: Magneplanar 3.5R speakers, Adcom GFA-5802 amp, modified by Stan Warren of Supermods (541/344-3696), Tara Labs speaker cable, PS Audio PowerPlant 300, JPS SuperConductor and Kimber Kable interconnects, HSU Research TN1220HO subwoofer w/500 watt amplifier, Quantum Symphony Pro unit, various power cords.
Strengths:
soundstage depth, harmonics, musicality, price Weaknesses:
relatively high floor noise level *** this can be corrected Similar Products Used:
Anthem Pre-1, Herron VTSP-1A, Monarchy Audio 22C
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