04-Jan-2022, 11:50
SAM is marketed as a key feature for Experts and i don't know a single "expert" who wouldn't praise it.
Any measuring curve including SAM shows significant enhancements, speaker protection included.
So, chances are very high that you will profit from SAM, possibly extremely => by all means, take time and test it.
My experience with first generation expert and SAM (Firmware 10.1.0, anyway the final release for these):
Picked my D200 for a test session in a local studio. A handful of speaker models in a price range up to ~10k€. The D200 was equipped with a std sd-card, i.e. no special eq, no SAM and dynamic power management (vs. fixed, do not remember the correct term). There was a clear winner, it sounded so open/airy, big stage, unheard level of resolution compared to the old speaker ... and really loud (pour studio guy!), no sign of distortion or limiting.
The same speaker pair at home, but now also with a set of sd-cards, including dedicated SAM config (exact match for model) plus dynamic/fixed power control.
As the speaker have to "fill" a lot of space i tend to listen louder, and if i'm alone at home, very loud (pure pleasure!).
Soundwise we did not recognize the speaker ... in a bad way. It sounded strangely worse and volume was very limited (guess due to speaker protection).
We also reduced SAM level from 100% downto 0% to no significant positive effect.
In the end we used the non-SAM sd-card ... and the speaker "shone" again.
Possibly i will harm the speakers by dismissing SAM, but there are no audible negative effects at higher volume, and i cannot imagine a single person that would prefer the SAM way in my home system.
Any measuring curve including SAM shows significant enhancements, speaker protection included.
So, chances are very high that you will profit from SAM, possibly extremely => by all means, take time and test it.
My experience with first generation expert and SAM (Firmware 10.1.0, anyway the final release for these):
Picked my D200 for a test session in a local studio. A handful of speaker models in a price range up to ~10k€. The D200 was equipped with a std sd-card, i.e. no special eq, no SAM and dynamic power management (vs. fixed, do not remember the correct term). There was a clear winner, it sounded so open/airy, big stage, unheard level of resolution compared to the old speaker ... and really loud (pour studio guy!), no sign of distortion or limiting.
The same speaker pair at home, but now also with a set of sd-cards, including dedicated SAM config (exact match for model) plus dynamic/fixed power control.
As the speaker have to "fill" a lot of space i tend to listen louder, and if i'm alone at home, very loud (pure pleasure!).
Soundwise we did not recognize the speaker ... in a bad way. It sounded strangely worse and volume was very limited (guess due to speaker protection).
We also reduced SAM level from 100% downto 0% to no significant positive effect.
In the end we used the non-SAM sd-card ... and the speaker "shone" again.
Possibly i will harm the speakers by dismissing SAM, but there are no audible negative effects at higher volume, and i cannot imagine a single person that would prefer the SAM way in my home system.
