I just wanted to update you all, my 30 will be collected on Weds for a full refund. Some DPD hiccups withstanding, and not being directly their fault, my dealer has been nothing but helpful, empathetic and supportive - a top service from Hi Fi Corner, whom I can highly recommend. I feel bad for them having to go through this at their end, it can't be good for their business. And as I know they have had other(s) returned HDA units. Seems Arcam messed up with the replacement unit, since it was not the latest - as far as my dealer and I are aware, with FW 1.34. And of course, they had promised a bug free unit, hardware at least I had hoped, but again of course, that was not the case. An on the DPD side, there was a failed collection attempt(s) their end with their products and for some reason DPD took the replacement unit out of the outer box my dealer ensured was their for safety and took the return labels out, too!
I now have a good deal on a Yamaha A3070 which I intend to purchase later this week, so that is positive, and honestly, I can't wait to return to the Yamaha, it will now be my third return to the A3070! It was a toss up between the A3070 and trying an 850, but I found out that the latest FW bugs are not fit for me and my usage. And despite the older FW 4.xx being stable, £1,300 on top of the A3070 deal I currently have, is not attractive to me for something without transferable warranty and given the flaky nature of the hardware/ FW, regardless of if FW 4.xx is stable at the moment. Because after my experience with the AVR30, it has left me with a really sour taste and experience. And I would be approaching anything Arcam in future with extreme caution. Sad to say, buy true. At least the Yamaha is rock solid and just works and I know I love the sound, so hassle free.
Happy days ahead, whilst I can hopefully enjoy my home cinema again very soon, safely and happily, and I will keep my eye on the market at the same time. Also this time around, I should have some spare power on tap from the A3070, as I intend to use my P429 for my rears and front height channels. I had only ever used all 9 internal channels, and whilst it did sound excellent, adding rears and then especially rears + heights, I did notice a slight drop in sound quality.