WoollyGeezer
100+ Head-Fier
I have loved the Soloist with every pair of headphones I've used them on prior to this (hd650, 800, arya, ananda, he6, psb m4u1, akg q701 OG austria, focal clears, dt1990).I have a Burson Playmate 2 in my office rig that powers an LCD-2 and an HD650. In stock form, although the treble was sweet and quite extended, the overall signature was thin sounding in nature, noticeably recessed in the upper bass / lower mids. In other words, distinctly lacking in punch and impact when called for. I was ready to bail out of it, but I decided to see if I could make it listenable to. So, in went the V6 Vivid opamps.....which improved things somewhat, but still short of what I'd hoped. Then I went for the Supercharger 3a power supply. Let me just say, that Burson should include this as a stock item, and charge accordingly. It completely transformed the unit. Plenty of body and impact now, yet retains that excellent treble portrayal.
Yes, the cost of the mods start to approach the price of the stock unit, but in the end, I have a smaller sized Dac/Amp combo that works perfectly in a compact space, and will competently drive all but the most stubborn of headphones.
As the innards of most of their stuff are similar, I'd wager your Soloist would be transformed in a similar manner. Whether or not they can extract the most from the LCD-5, well...that's hard to say. I'd guess they are pretty revealing of what comes before, therefore YMMV.
Again, I do not recommend the Playmate 2 in stock form. But if you willing to invest a bit of expenditure, you just might find a diamond in the rough.
My $.02
These have the vivid op amps in them.
The HIGH gain setting actually improved everything significantly. I have no idea why or what is going on inside this thing. It still cannot keep up with busy passages but with slow passages it is 100% improved.
Last edited: