I saw another A100 review on the web. I hope anybody who has not yet seen the review finds it interesting.
Monitor Audio Airstream A100 Integrated DAC Amplifier Review - HomeTheaterHifi.com
I enjoyed reading the review as it was somewhat detailed and, I thought, touched on several points with which I agree. First, the reviewer was very positive on the sound quality. He also commented on the very bright LED, and suggested that it be dimmable; that may be a good idea. He also addressed the standby mode, and commented that the A100 does not revert to standby mode on its own. That is one of the things that still disappoints me. However, the reviewer apparently measured the current draw, and found that the A100 actually does not draw much electricity when it is in standby mode; that is encouraging, and I suspect that most of what it uses is attributable to that very bright light on the front panel. Still, it is too much hassle to make it worthwhile. I would have really liked it to work like the AppleTV: I can always select it from the AirPlay list, even when the unit is off, and it will come alive when I direct the signal to it. And it even shuts itself off after several minutes when I stop sending it the signal.
In the review, he comments on stable AirPlay. I have read a few other reviewers who have had pejorative comments on the stability of AirPlay. My AirPlay experience with the A100 has been excellent. I previously used an Airport Express and a separate DAC, and the music would sometimes drop out, and often the first few seconds of a new track would be clipped. I have had neither issue with this amp. So... happy times. Although i am looking to get away from iTunes as I have had more than my share of frustrations recently in dealing with the software in ways quite apart from the amp. I would really enjoy learning how other people make it work with other software and DLNA.
The reviewer recommended using banana plugs instead of bare wire. I have bare 14 AWG and had no problems getting it in the terminals. I say no problem, but I took a few minutes to carefully insert the leads. I have yet to remove them, so I would not have an advantage with the banana plugs, although I would appreciate their convenience should I want to unplug them for any reason.
My final observation of the review is this comment: "Bass management is the only notable feature the A100 lacks. It would be great if the A100 offered a lowpass filter on the preouts for use with a subwoofer, and a highpass filter option on the speaker outputs." I cannot say that I agree or disagree. Since I added a sub, and have it plugged in as MA suggests, using the RCA outputs, I cannot complain about noise or performance of the sub. It seems completely adequate to me as far as clean sound is concerned. Perhaps with a bigger sub putting out more volume a distinction could be discerned, but that is beyond me. As far as what else could be lacking, I would still like a coaxial digital input as well as the optical (I would use this for my existing Sony Bluray and try out some SACDs - but I am not going to add another device just to play with this).