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burson new soloist headphone amp - Page 6

post #76 of 931
7/10/12 at 2:29am
To me it seems too expensive for what it offers.
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post #77 of 931
7/10/12 at 5:16am

More steps?  72 is a ton in a world where 24 is normal :p  But did the Soloist beat your memory of the B22 on technicalities or tonal presence?

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post #78 of 931
7/10/12 at 11:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlsan View Post

Out of curiously, anyone try the Burson Soloist with the HE-6?

Yes, I already tried them. (had comparing Soloist and HA160 using HE6 in page 4th)

 

I think for 1000 bucks amp in market right now I will pick up Soloist to pair with HE6, it's really live up the HE6 with very good dynamic sound and smoothness in upper midrange to treble (still not as refine as Darkstar, but it's already in very good level). Still wondering how Mjolnir will keep up though.

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post #79 of 931
7/10/12 at 11:57am

Do you guys know a place where to demo this new unit on the Us? my friend have the LCD-3 and its looking to upgrade from his tube amp. He doesn't want to spend over 1k on another amp. tongue.gif

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post #80 of 931
7/10/12 at 4:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solude View Post

More steps?  72 is a ton in a world where 24 is normal :p  But did the Soloist beat your memory of the B22 on technicalities or tonal presence?

 

Sorry Solude. All I can say is that on a short listen I liked it more. The little B22 I had did not run my LCD3 well, so the competition was not that tough.

 

We need impressions from those who have spent more than 30 minutes with the Soloist :-) I'm sure there will be a lot more nits to pick.

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post #81 of 931
7/10/12 at 4:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duckman View Post

I'd brought in my own DAC

 

Have you settled for the PDX Level 2? I mean you have had a lot of DACs in the past year. 

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post #82 of 931
7/10/12 at 4:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MomijiTMO View Post

 

Have you settled for the PDX Level 2? I mean you have had a lot of DACs in the past year. 


Yeah, I like it so far.

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post #83 of 931
7/10/12 at 5:03pm

Any other impressions of the Soloist? As for the stepper, the HA160 I had didn't 'snap, crackle or pop' and I thought the steps were fine. I do remember another HA160 which felt like I needed a wrench to change the volume. That was a PITA. Up 3 down 2 sort of action. 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Duckman View Post

Yeah, I like it so far.

 

I think I'm going to have to stop by Lenehan HQ.

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post #84 of 931
7/10/12 at 5:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solude View Post

And like all things Head-Fi a 180 from the other impression ;)  Now if Headfonia could put up their review we'd have 2 "pro" impressions.

 

Since you mentioned this a while back.

 

here’s his impressions (not a review yet so it isn’t on the site). Perhaps it’s expected that his first impressions be shockingly glowing these days...

 

http://www.facebook.com/notes/headfoniacom/burson-soloist-first-impression/433479496696753?comment_id=88741322&offset=0&total_comments=5

 

 

 

Quote:

Burson Soloist amp arrived last Saturday.

 

Power: Just as good as the RSA Dark Star for the HE-6 (well maybe 98%).

Sound: This is the best sounding solid state I've listened to.

 

There is something about how simpler designs correlate to a more organic sound, and indeed the Soloist has given me that. When I bought the Dark Star, I did so one because it was a simple design with few parts that gives me the organic sound I don't get with the more complex designs, including the Burson HA-160D/DS and that big solid state amp that everyone says is supposed to be the king of solid state headphone amps. Two, because it was such a versatile amp that just works well with many different headphones.

 

Personally I have a soft spot for tubes but they are often hit-and-miss in terms of headphone combinations (i.e good with Senns and bad with orthos, etc) and so that was a big minus for someone like me who reviews many different headphones. If I have the budget for 5 different high end tube amps each for one headphone (5x $5,000 = $25,000) tubes are the way to go for me, but I don't have $25K to spend on headphone amplifiers.

 

The Dark Star gave me that sound that is refined enough (though not high end tube level), powerful enough for even the HE-6 and K1000, and most importantly sounds good with almost everything I plugged into it. However I do wish that the Dark Star comes with a little bit extra low end oomph and mid body. The Burson Soloist is exactly that sound that I've been wanting. The $3.5K Dark Star still sounds bigger ultimately, but I don't mind trading some of that soundstage and articulation for more low end oomph and mid body that I get from the $1K ($999???) Soloist. Of course the Soloist doesn't offer balanced in/outs, but I rarely use balanced these days anyway. I can't help but think how the cost of the Soloist would skyrocket had it been offered with balanced in/outs as that would easily make the amp twice the size and price. A bonus that I get is that with the low impedance Audio Technicas W-series, I get zero noise level with the Soloist at low gain setting, something I can't get with the Dark Star (I'm asking Ray if it would be possible for me to change the gain on the Dark Star to lower values as I never use the high-gain setting).

 

Physically, the Soloist reminds me of the first amp from Burson, the HA-160. I do think that the wider base of the HA-160D and HA-160DS gives it a better look than the narrower base of the HA-160/Soloist amp.

 

So far I've used the Soloist with:

Hifiman HE-6, HE-500

Senn HD580, HD650

ATH W5000, W3000ANV

Alessandro MS-Pro

All with very good results.

 

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post #85 of 931
7/10/12 at 5:55pm

I agree with the reviewer that the bass of the Soloist is bigger than the Dark Star, but whether that is good or bad will depend on listening preferences.

 

Upper mids were a slightly rounded too; so the sometimes sharper edges of electric guitars and voices were easier on the ear, but without sounding muffled or dull.

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post #86 of 931
7/10/12 at 6:06pm

Oops sorry Duck thought you owned it, my bad.

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post #87 of 931
7/10/12 at 6:12pm

Good find LC.  Not surprising its better than the DS.  Sub double digit distortion will do that :P

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post #88 of 931
7/11/12 at 2:02am


So today I tried W3000ANV and W5000 through Soloist. Just like their sibling (HA160D), I think Soloist also has good synergy with ATH, through the lowest gain, I use volume pot exactly at the same level like HA160D in low gain mode. (same power at low gain mode perhaps?)

 

Compare to inner amp of Lavry DA10, both headphones got "easily" noticable improvement like bigger sound, better definition for each note, better image and layering, with cleaner sound and more musicality. Full bodied and smooth sound from Soloist combine with sweetness of both japanese is really great experience to relaxing my mind :D

 

It's always amaze me how burson can make powerful yet very quiet amp, they start from HA160, and now Soloist is on higher level as Soloist can give much more power yet still has the same quiteness as HA160.

 

 

 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by MomijiTMO View Post

Any other impressions of the Soloist? As for the stepper, the HA160 I had didn't 'snap, crackle or pop' and I thought the steps were fine. I do remember another HA160 which felt like I needed a wrench to change the volume. That was a PITA. Up 3 down 2 sort of action. 

 

 

I think I'm going to have to stop by Lenehan HQ.

 

For crackle or static sound from Burson discreate volume pot, it's already common problem for Burson's owner, but actually it's really easy to remove them as we only need to open the case and use contact cleaner at there.

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post #89 of 931
7/11/12 at 7:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMiddleSky View Post

 

 

 

For crackle or static sound from Burson discreate volume pot, it's already common problem for Burson's owner, but actually it's really easy to remove them as we only need to open the case and use contact cleaner at there.

 

I got a 160D recently and will need to open it up soon to replace a malfunctioning input switch... would like to clean the attenuator as well at the same time as I do have that pop and crackle problem. Which part of the pot do I need to clean?

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post #90 of 931
7/11/12 at 10:25pm

Just jumped on a Soloist for $864 shipped. 

Front End Audio is selling them for $960, they have a Facebook promotion on front page for 10% off.

After you like their page, you get a coupon for the 10% off.

http://www.frontendaudio.com/

Not a bad deal at all for a brand new recent $1000 list amp, imho. 

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