In the interest if not disparaging this lovely player unfairly, my first comments were after an inappropriately short break-in period. I left it alone for awhile, and listened again today after about 200 hours burn-in, and it is much enjoyable. Id describe it as opening up, where it was tight before (credit to a fellow audiogoner for finding this way to describe what I was originally hearing). Now its not calling attention to itself at all in that something special is happening, its just sounds balanced with no flaws. You can get into listening for new details if you want, or just kick back and enjoy the music. Im listening to Filter #1 for CD (I havent listened to SACD yet but have a few first SACDs on order), which seems to have the widest soundstage and be the least etched. Its still not entirely seductive, but I believe my Krell KCT preamp is somewhat responsible for that (I replaced my ARC LS26 to get better bass when used in conjunction with my Krell 400cx and a CAST connection, and now I have killer bass but a less involving overall sound). I hear you need 300+ hours before the SA-7S1 is broken in (and 1,000 hours to sound its best), so if its going to sound even better I will be a very happy guy. I can live with what I have at this point quite easily, and will report back after more break-in.
