Yes, the light does go off on the STA-100. The remote is designed to control an internal on-off feature of both pieces. When turned off with the remote it actually places them in a standby mode.
Do you have a STA-100? If you switch it off from the back its called a hard switching. All current is stopped. With the remote, it switches the equipment into a standby mode even though the light goes off. NuForce support once explained the following to me when I asked about always turning off the my audio equipment via my power conditioner's main switch. When turning the power back on the HAP-100's light would switch instantly on, then back off again. I would then need to turn it on via the remote. I asked why. Here is what I was told...
"This is the appropriate operation of the device. Nearly all digital equipment operate with a power supply main on switch, and a soft switch. The circuit is activated with a tiny amount of power when the hard switch is on, and then the soft switch in front of the device simply activates a series of power stages to more smoothly fully power on the system.
Hard switches were eliminated because they are very hard on digital circuits and frequent turning on and turning off causes them to wear out much sooner. Thus, most devices are never really off, but rather in standby mode. The brief flash is what you see when the device first powers on and then goes to standby mode.
It is highly advisable that you refrain from using the main power switch to turn off the device."
... I just never noticed the STA staying warm in the off mode before. That is why I was asking my question. The HAP gets cold.
Thanks, Gene