[Blackbriar0216]

In what way, does the it get better after burn in period?

 

[HiFiDJ]

Yeah i found the same experience as yours. I am using universal pad and black dragon cable with it at the moment and find tonality bit thick than i am used to it. I want a bit airy presentation. Probably swapping pads to verite pads or using silver dragon cable may help?

Verite pads will probably make it sound less intense but I personally like the autuer lambskin the best. It does still sound a bit thick so at that point I'd rather swap opamps. Or if your DAC has volume control, I'd suggest trying power-amp mode. I find it removes some of the coloration a bit.

Uhhh, if I remember correctly everything just tightens up. I do remember it being very thick sounding and bloated in the beginning. Just give it more time and go from there is what I'd suggest. I definitely didn't like my VC at the beginning.

 

[Blackbriar0216]

Verite pads will probably make it sound less intense but I personally like the autuer lambskin the best. It does still sound a bit thick so at that point I'd rather swap opamps. Or if your DAC has volume control, I'd suggest trying power-amp mode. I find it removes some of the coloration a bit.

Uhhh, if I remember correctly everything just tightens up. I do remember it being very thick sounding and bloated in the beginning. Just give it more time and go from there is what I'd suggest. I definitely didn't like my VC at the beginning.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will wait until it finishes burn in period and go from there. Does sparkos opamps fit in soloist easily? Do you have to change all 4 ? I have got burson new supercharger power supply as well. Does sparkos bring anymore benefit inspite of having supercharger too?

 

[HiFiDJ]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will wait until it finishes burn in period and go from there. Does sparkos opamps fit in soloist easily? Do you have to change all 4 ? I have got burson new supercharger power supply as well. Does sparkos bring anymore benefit inspite of having supercharger too?

I don't have Sparkos opamps but I've seen plenty posts of it fitting well inside the Burson stuff. So no worries there.
No, you don't have to change all 4. As long as you don't change just 1 or 3. And make sure you're looking at dual opamps, not single opamps.
Oh, if you have the Supercharger on the way I'd definitely hold off on getting other opamps. You might end up liking it in the end because the Supercharger does improve the Soloist.
Generally, most things will benefit from cleaner power delivery so I'm sure the Sparkos would benefit there. But I can't comment on that specific pairing as I don't have Sparkos.

 

[Blackbriar0216]

I already am using supercharger at the moment and still find vc bit thick for my taste. I will wait until it finishes its burn in period and see how it sounds then. Lot of people do say they open up after burn-in.

 

[HiFiDJ]

I already am using supercharger at the moment and still find vc bit thick for my taste. I will wait until it finishes its burn in period and see how it sounds then. Lot of people do say they open up after burn-in.

Ok, that's good. Yeah give it some time.

If you do decide to get some Sparkos, you can get a discount if you subscribe to their newsletter. FYI...

 

[spw1880]

Depends on your preferences. I think it pairs nicely with ZMF headphones but it can be a bit too much of a good thing imo (mainly in the bass and mids) for some. I've heard great things b/w the sparkos aries amp paired w/ VC but you are paying more than double the price vs a Soloist. So if you are deciding b/w Soloist and Aries I'd probably go with the Aries. But if you are on a budget then getting the Soloist wouldn't be a bad option. If you think the pairing is a bit too much then I would swap the opamps for Sparkos opamps or Staccato opamps for a more neutral tuning. So, depends what you are after.

And, yes, it does get better after burn-in in my experience.

I find the the soloist and VO combo can get a tad hot in the treble and upper mids. In your opinion, would the staccato dual hybrid or v6 classics opamps be a better fit on either input or output atage, better help smooth it? I already havr superC btw

 

[krude]

I had a problem with hot and sharp treble on a 1266 TC + Soloist 3xp pairing. Changing the PSU to Supercharger changed a lot in the treble and dynamics in general. Supercharger should be bundled with the Soloist to be honest, or there should be a bundle available. It's so much of a difference on a sensitive set like the TC that it almost sounds like a different amp. It's one of thoese, where you do the first round of a / b testing and you don't need to do anymore.

 

[rmsanger]

I had a problem with hot and sharp treble on a 1266 TC + Soloist 3xp pairing. Changing the PSU to Supercharger changed a lot in the treble and dynamics in general. Supercharger should be bundled with the Soloist to be honest, or there should be a bundle available. It's so much of a difference on a sensitive set like the TC that it almost sounds like a different amp. It's one of thoese were you do the first round of a / b testing and you don't need to anymore.

IMO if you still are not completely happy then buy 2 sparkos op amps (dual) and roll them into the output stage. If should Flatten those 10k and 12k peaks with the phi tc. If you like that then buy 2 more for the volume stage.

 

[HiFiDJ]

I find the the soloist and VO combo can get a tad hot in the treble and upper mids. In your opinion, would the staccato dual hybrid or v6 classics opamps be a better fit on either input or output atage, better help smooth it? I already havr superC btw

I do know what you're talking about in regards to the mids, where it can get a bit shouty (at least on the VC).

The Staccato don't really smooth things out but it is more linear. It might be a better match for the VO (I don't have VO btw). But the Staccato does have some trade-offs I talked about in one of my earlier posts here somewhere (you can just search it). So, if you're okay with that then it's worth a try.

I wouldn't get classics tbh. Although they have a much more overall smoother treble response, they have an emphasis in the lower treble which make it prone to sibilance. It's also very intimate in the mids so that might not help there.

In regards to the input/output, I'd say experiment. From my testing, placing them on the output offers a more noticeable change/difference. Placing it on the volume input stage, offers minimal change. But that's not to say it's not worth trying. Because if you, for example, prefer the Vivids the most but want just a little tweak with its tuning then I would generally place it on the volume input stage as it will slightly shift it while keeping most of the Vivids' qualities.

But all that being said, if you're thinking about replacing all 4 opamps (roughly 400USD), I would personally just save up to upgrade my DAC. You'll hear much more improvement than swapping opamps imo once you shop around for hi-end DACs. You could pair it with a smooth DAC to inject some warmth on the Soloist (along with many other improvements). I went from the RME DAC to the Holo Spring 3 DAC and it was a much better experience all around (night and day difference), more than any other opamp can provide.

Hope that helps!

 

[Blackbriar0216]

Ok, that's good. Yeah give it some time.

If you do decide to get some Sparkos, you can get a discount if you subscribe to their newsletter. FYI...

Thanks for letting me know.

 

[Blackbriar0216]

I do know what you're talking about in regards to the mids, where it can get a bit shouty (at least on the VC).

The Staccato don't really smooth things out but it is more linear. It might be a better match for the VO (I don't have VO btw). But the Staccato does have some trade-offs I talked about in one of my earlier posts here somewhere (you can just search it). So, if you're okay with that then it's worth a try.

I wouldn't get classics tbh. Although they have a much more overall smoother treble response, they have an emphasis in the lower treble which make it prone to sibilance. It's also very intimate in the mids so that might not help there.

In regards to the input/output, I'd say experiment. From my testing, placing them on the output offers a more noticeable change/difference. Placing it on the volume input stage, offers minimal change. But that's not to say it's not worth trying. Because if you, for example, prefer the Vivids the most but want just a little tweak with its tuning then I would generally place it on the volume input stage as it will slightly shift it while keeping most of the Vivids' qualities.

But all that being said, if you're thinking about replacing all 4 opamps (roughly 400USD), I would personally just save up to upgrade my DAC. You'll hear much more improvement than swapping opamps imo once you shop around for hi-end DACs. You could pair it with a smooth DAC to inject some warmth on the Soloist (along with many other improvements). I went from the RME DAC to the Holo Spring 3 DAC and it was a much better experience all around (night and day difference), more than any other opamp can provide.

Hope that helps!

I agree here. I had RME too. Now i am using Holo spring 2. It sounds more natural.

 

[MakubexGB]

The new Supercharger from Burson Audio will tame the harshness of soloist even more but still retain treble detail beautifully. Totally worth the extra cost for Supercharger.

I've got a supercharger on both my Composer and Soloist 3XP but I haven't swapped the Vivid opamps back into the Soloist. I'll have to give it a shot.

 

[Blackbriar0216]

Yeah i like the vivid opamps sound. Depending on your headohone, like others have said here, you can always fine tune sound by changing opamps to sparkos as well.

 

[MakubexGB]

Yeah i like the vivid opamps sound. Depending on your headohone, like others have said here, you can always fine tune sound by changing opamps to sparkos as well.

I do have a pair of Sparkos but I have them installed in the volume stage. Not because I wanted to change the sound but because the stock Vivid opamps from the volume stage were defective and so while I waited for a replacement (which Burson issued without hesitation), I installed the Sparkos opamps and just left them there ever since, even after receiving the replacement Vivid opamps. Idk if they make enough of a difference to matter but I've loved the sound of my current setup (Classic V6 in input stage and Sparkos in volume stage) so much that I haven't bothered to switch back to Vivid to test it out. Now that I have the Superchargers I should switch back and try it out. I normally drive a pair of ZMF VC and DCA Ether 2 with this setup. The VC especially can be sensitive to sparkly treble.