SAS Audio Labs TM 7A Vacuum Tube Preamplifier Reviews
Where Music Comes Alive TM
Bob, Roscoe, Illinois:
"Having owned one of Steve’s 10a preamplifiers for some time (not the ver.2 model) I was very familiar with and very fond of the sound I was getting and compared it very favorably to my Audio Research SP16P with the only preference I had being the remote control that the ARC piece has. The SAS preamp was slightly warmer than the ARC, but certainly not in a “tubey” or “ euphonic days of yore” sort of way."
"When an opportunity to evaluate Steve’s latest design, the 7a (now known as the 7a premium) presented itself, I jumped at the chance. I was anxious to find out if the single volume pot was going to be a step down from the 10a I had experienced with the dual volume controls and I also was curious as to whether the lack of the tonal switch on the back would be missed. My answers were quick in coming."
"When I first got the 7a, it had very few break in hours on it and while I was hearing a number of things that were very impressive, it clearly needed more break in. After another 72 hours of break-in, I sat down to do some critical listening. That proved to be much harder than I had anticipated. First of all, I kept getting caught up in the music and listening all the way through a CD instead of just listening to the songs I had selected to put the unit through it’s paces."
"Secondly, there was something very compelling about the way the 7a reproduces music that had me going from it, back to my ARC preamp…which is now modded and upgraded by Wm. Johnson personally, to determine which of the two sounded more “right” and more like music instead of just asking myself which one I liked better."
"In terms of ease of use, the ARC still wins. Call me lazy, but I like a remote control…if for no other reason than that most of the songs on current CD’s are not all recorded at the same level. Therefore, the “right” volume for one song may be a little high or a little low on the next. Norah Jones “Not too late” is a classic example of this. With my Sonus Faber Grand Piano’s in the system, there is a volume level that sounds good and to go much higher can be a bit “in your face.”
"In terms of tonality, it’s very close, but the 7a wins out. There is a sense of harmonic richness and top to bottom octave balance that you don’t even notice unless you listen to a preamp that can be a bit harmonically thin. Once you hear the difference, it’s pretty hard to ignore. Soundstage was huge with both preamplifiers with depth being very close. In terms of image specificity, the ARC squeaked ahead, only to be nudged aside by the 7a in terms of image density."
"The one area that kept getting my attention was how the 7a communicated the emotional content of the music. Part of this was done by clearly rendering small dynamic shifts. On “We’re gonna be sinkin’ soon”, Norah Jones pushes her tone and uses her diaphragm to emphasize certain syllables: “We’re GOnna BEee SINkin’ SOon.” It was obvious when she did this as well as when she would add just a touch of guttural growl to her voice. The same was true of Lyle Lovett on his “Joshua Judges Ruth” CD. Plucked acoustic instruments were nearly addictive."
"The interesting thing is that the 7a accomplished this level of transparency without ever sounding cold or analytical like many of the so-called “revealing” preamps out there today. After living with this unit for several weeks, it pains me to return it, but motorcycle repairs depleted my current reserve of discretionary funds. Perhaps the most telling thing I can say is that I liked the 7a well enough that I am already saving to get one. At the price point, I do not believe it can be touched. With that said, even with price not being a consideration, the 7a can stand tall in a high dollar system and never embarrass itself. It only suffers…and then very little, in comparison to units that are in the absolute upper echelon such as the SAS 11a."