Graham Slee's Solo SRG w/ PSU1 - Page 6

Yes - I would recommend for you the Decware CSP-2. I was listening last night to Dream Theater's new album on it - and it was AWESOME. I highly recommend both the amp and the record

Skylab you must be glued to your keyboard

I have just read your review sounds nice but I have to admit the looks are rather an aquired taste
I will also need an amp that worked just as well with high and low impedance phones and I understand the Decware is better with high impedance.
What attracted me to the w6 was the looks and then I realised (from other posts) that it had certain SS sound qualities that got me even more interested. I am trying to combine the tube magic(?) with a fast, dynamic, detailed and transparent sound of a good SS amp. I am looking at getting this in a tube amp and then tube roll to fine tune the sound rather than get one that does not sound like a want and then rely on extensive tube rolling to make try and make it so.

Thanks for the comparison to the old Solo Skylab. We have quite different ears I suspect but it really helps to hear that the SRG is warmer. Which I don´t need. That they lack bass weight (which I don´t have a problem with my headphones. The Slee Solo was a god bless in this regard over the EF-1, Heed Canamp for Pro 900/DX 1000/HD 650 while still being excellent with the K701). Bass extension still goes down to a hearable 20hertz tone on my Pro 900 at least. Can´t hear lower than that even from my sub

And soundstage not being that huge in comparison to other amps. Old Slee Solo don´t have much of it or maybe I am damaged by my new speakers in this regard .

That is great news - I think with a bit more bass weight it would really be a killer amp.

So is the tweak already done on more recent productions? Any idea what numbers in particular if so?

Cool. I was comparing to the OBH-21SE again, and noticed the SRG lacks in bass weight a little to it, so hopefully this tweak doesn't involve too much enabling me to do it too.

Just wanted to chime in here....but first of all thanks to Miguel for graciously loaning me his Solo SRG! I was surprised on how small the footprint of this amp is, much much smaller than the Extreme.

Test Rig:
Source: Headamp Pico DAC and ALO Wooden V-Cap Dock (both playing lossless files)
Cans: Grado HF-1 with Bowls
Cables: DIY Jena RCA-RCA and BJC Mini-RCA


My early impressions:
Treble - definitely well defined and extended, reaching high notes without any difficulty. I did feel thought that with certain tracks, I felt a little bit of brightness which may be chalked up to system synergy or just flat out crappy recordings. Not prominent enough to bother me a lot but still there. However, I do admire the great treble extension that this amp has, I wish my Extreme could borrow some of it!

Midrange - Nice with a slight "warmth" to it. Not as lush as a tube amp but still excellent mids. Female vocals have just the right amount of weight without much coloration at all. Not as romantic as my tube amp which may actually be a pro to some people.

Mid-Bass - This is the area I feel the SRG excels most at. First thing I said about this amp was "Wow this amp has great bass weight and most importantly control!". I later realized that I was actually referring to mid-bass and not bass/low bass. Bassy string instruments sound superb with this amp.

Bass - Good quality, not flabby or boomy. However, I think I would like just a tiny but more quantity and lower extension. If Graham can find a way to wring out 1 dB around 60 hertz, that would truly help here. As you see, this shortcoming is a very small one, any more than 1dB I think might be too much. On a positive note, I wanted to add that while it could use more bass, it presents whatever bass it has in an excellent manner; it doesn't sound like it's trying too hard.

Overall Impressions - Let me start by stating that I prefer tube amps. In fact, I've never owned a full-sized SS amp though I've tried a few different ones at meets.

The SRG has a slightly forward character while the Extreme has a more laid-back but sweeter/more euphonic presentation. However, as I have stated earlier, the Extreme can use a little bit of the extension that the SRG has.


Will this amp convince me to switch to SS? Unfortunately not. However, no SS amp has convinced me to do so anyway. I can't really see myself totally abandoning tubes but I can see myself owning a SS amp to complement my tube amp. But if I really had to go SS under $1000, I would put this amp in my shortlist together with the TTVJ FET-A. I tried the FET-A at a meet and liked it's sound signature enough to want to try it again; as a matter of fact, I signed up for the loaner program.

I would also not hesitate to suggest this amp to someone who is looking for a mid-priced SS amp. If I had to guess, I think that this amp would synergize well with laid-back and bassy headphones like the HD650, D5000, etc.

Again, thanks to Miguel for loaning me this amp; I am enjoying it as we speak

Personally I don't think the SRG mates as well with the HD650 as the 2007 Solo. It does seem slightly warmer which the Senn's do not need. The K701 does sound bigger and warmer with more bass though.
Maybe the SRG is still burning in, I don't know if playing music through it makes any significant difference or not, but has been powered up almost constantly for 7 weeks.
Had about 50 hours playing time so maybe not quite finished yet.

Thanks mrarroyo, this is my 3rd Solo and I knew they need a fair bit of burn-in but I was not certain as to whether that needed to be with a signal passing through or just powered up. Been given conflicting advice on that in the past. Still sound great though, especially with the K701 and ALO-780. I have heard a few comments though that the SRG is warmer then the 2007/Green version even though I never felf the 2007 Solo was lean but I have never heard a tube amp!

Thanks mrarroyo, I don't know if its a good or a bad thing the SRG being warmer. Its has benefited the K701's but has not done the HD650's any favours.
However I never bothered with the Green so I don't know how that fared compared to the 2007 version.
One headphone I am interested in is the sa5000 so it might be a good thing.