@Nick A Since both the A7a and A7z have the same CPU family, I made a build using the exact same options, but selecting the A7a instead in the compile menu.
This build did start to boot, I saw the Radxa logo, then some Linux console boot messages (but it was scrambled on the screen a bit), and lastly I saw the Armbian logo and the spinning circle. Eventually that all went away and the screen was just empty. No response from key presses, etc., but my HDMI screen was still getting signal, it was just blank.
I also tested different distros and versions available to see if that made any difference (ex. debian vs ubuntu, nodel vs plucky vs bookworm; etc...), non of that had any effect.
So it appears, at a first start, to be a A7a vs A7z build difference to at least get an attempt at boot.
Then the next issue is that it never fully reaches a usable OS console.
Thanks!