[betula]

Well, let me put it short and simple - I think that the Soloist 3XP is not an aggressive amp. Powerful - yes, but not - aggressive.

Clean, dynamic, fast, energetic, yes. Aggressive, no.

The person you're responding to wasn't the one who called the Soloist aggressive, that was me (and I was talking mostly about others' descriptions of power amp mode). Let me clarify because I know that was an oversimplification - I meant the Soloist has a very quick attack - though it hits the peak in smooth way - and a punchy sound, and supposedly in power amp mode that is even more pronounced, so I can imagine pairing power amp mode with headphones and a DAC that are also fast and punchy, you could get a sound that's "too" dynamic for some and it gets fatiguing. I acknowledge that's just speculation on my part, as I haven't heard neither the Composer nor power amp mode.

While there is logic in your theory, I do not think it is too valuable to share speculations and hypothesises. Better to stick with experience.

 

[Sharppain]

Your talking about running the soloist in power amp mode, right? With the volume dial disabled?

Anyway

 

[betula]

I usually switch my 3XP off at night and switch it on when I am back from work in the evening. This usually gives the amp 30-40 minutes warm up time. Last night I forgot to switch it off, and when I put my headphones on in the morning, I felt the sound was smoother and warmer than usual. Thinking about it, later at night after about 4 hours of listening I have the same sensation.
Officially, the 3XP's warm up time is somewhere between 15-30 minutes, so I am doubting my perception and thinking my ears might cheat me in this case.
Anyone has similar experience with the 3XP, that the sound becomes smoother after 3-4 hours of being switched on?

 

[David222]

I usually switch my 3XP off at night and switch it on when I am back from work in the evening. This usually gives the amp 30-40 minutes warm up time. Last night I forgot to switch it off, and when I put my headphones on in the morning, I felt the sound was smoother and warmer than usual. Thinking about it, later at night after about 4 hours of listening I have the same sensation.
Officially, the 3XP's warm up time is somewhere between 15-30 minutes, so I am doubting my perception and thinking my ears might cheat me in this case.
Anyone has similar experience with the 3XP, that the sound becomes smoother after 3-4 hours of being switched on?

I agree with you that after some sustained run time the 3XP achieves "peak performance". Personally, I find the 60 minute mark is near the sweet spot. I power-down when finished at night.

 

[MardukSonofEa]

I finally got a chance to plug in the Bifrost 2 (coming from the Modius) and listen last night, and wow, first impression is the Soloist probably doesn't need power amp mode when paired with the Bifrost and driving the Arya V3. There is quite a bit of punch and slam already - bass guitar + drum lines in rock songs like Bleachers' I Miss Those Days have nice added thump to them, while metalcore like August Burns Red's Paramount is absolutely smacking me in the face and taking my lunch money.

 

[David222]

Shameless plug for introducing Tube(s) upstream of the Soloist... wonderfully musical experience for anyone curious



I recall a few folks on this thread with Freya+ (pre)

 

[akelew]

Could someone please measure the length of the 3x for me? I know the official specs say 25cm front to back, but im just wondering if that includes the volume control and the RCA ports sticking out. I'm curious to know the measurement of just the case itself without those two. Trying to see if it will fit where im wanting to put it and its pretty close. Thanks!

 

[betula]

Could someone please measure the length of the 3x for me? I know the official specs say 25cm front to back, but im just wondering if that includes the volume control and the RCA ports sticking out. I'm curious to know the measurement of just the case itself without those two. Trying to see if it will fit where im wanting to put it and its pretty close. Thanks!

The case itself is 21.5cm. 25cm includes the RCA ports at the back and the volume knob at the from as well.

 

[akelew]

The case itself is 21.5cm. 25cm includes the RCA ports at the back and the volume knob at the from as well.

Thanks so much! Fits to the exact millimetre.. My OCD is very content with that.

 

[MardukSonofEa]

So, the Soloist and Bifrost 2 stack gets pretty toasty when they're right on top of each other - too much so for my liking, even with some spacers between them. So I ended up getting a small set of shelves for them. Now I'm comfortable that the Soloist is not gonna cook the Bifrost! I'm sure it would've been fine either way, but this gives me more peace of mind.

The sound of this pairing continues to be fantastic. I was listening to Hiromi's Move and the low end piano notes had such nice weight to them. The soundstage became larger and more realistically shaped as well, which makes live albums that much more immersive.

 

[akelew]

So, the Soloist and Bifrost 2 stack gets pretty toasty when they're right on top of each other - too much so for my liking, even with some spacers between them. So I ended up getting a small set of shelves for them. Now I'm comfortable that the Soloist is not gonna cook the Bifrost! I'm sure it would've been fine either way, but this gives me more peace of mind.

The sound of this pairing continues to be fantastic. I was listening to Hiromi's Move and the low end piano notes had such nice weight to them. The soundstage became larger and more realistically shaped as well, which makes live albums that much more immersive.

That bamboo/wood combination looks great!

I did a lot of searching for something to hold my new bifrost/soloist 3x + Lcd-3, and i came across these. Im going to just run the Bifrost 2 and 3x next to each other with a small gap on top of this.. I like the fact that its all aluminum and that everythings silver. Aluminum is one of the best heat conductors so it should also act as a bit of a heatsink. I Figure it also might aid as an EMF shield to all the power gear below it.


Amazon link


Silverstone EBA01 Headphone stand

 

[MardukSonofEa]

That bamboo/wood combination looks great!

I did a lot of searching for something to hold my new bifrost/soloist 3x + Lcd-3, and i came across these. Im going to just run the Bifrost 2 and 3x next to each other with a small gap on top of this.. I like the fact that its all aluminum and that everythings silver. Aluminum is one of the best heat conductors so it should also act as a bit of a heatsink. I Figure it also might aid as an EMF shield to all the power gear below it.


Amazon link


Silverstone EBA01 Headphone stand

Nice, looks super clean!

 

[Kozwoz]

Can someone explain the relationship between voltage and dynamics or higher gain. I’m finding higher gain on the Soloist results in a more dynamic sound but at the same time it sounds brighter, which is what I guess comes with increased dynamics. Similarly if I set my Benchmark DAC3 to output a higher +dBu / Vrms to the soloist it results in a brighter sound and lower voltage smoother and mellower. What exactly is happening, anyone have a clue? Is there an optimum output impedance to the Soloist from the DAC?

 

[Donald Russell]

Can someone explain the relationship between voltage and dynamics or higher gain. I’m finding higher gain on the Soloist results in a more dynamic sound but at the same time it sounds brighter, which is what I guess comes with increased dynamics. Similarly if I set my Benchmark DAC3 to output a higher +dBu / Vrms to the soloist it results in a brighter sound and lower voltage smoother and mellower. What exactly is happening, anyone have a clue? Is there an optimum output impedance to the Soloist from the DAC?

I agree with you. I like high gain the most on the soloist. I have tried to like medium gain but if I turn it to high gain I just like it more even with non Hard to drive headphones at a very low volume setting. Also no matter how much I want to like it in normal mode using it’s volume control it just sounds better to me in headphone amp mode.

 

[David222]

So, the Soloist and Bifrost 2 stack gets pretty toasty when they're right on top of each other - too much so for my liking, even with some spacers between them. So I ended up getting a small set of shelves for them. Now I'm comfortable that the Soloist is not gonna cook the Bifrost! I'm sure it would've been fine either way, but this gives me more peace of mind.

The sound of this pairing continues to be fantastic. I was listening to Hiromi's Move and the low end piano notes had such nice weight to them. The soundstage became larger and more realistically shaped as well, which makes live albums that much more immersive.

You might want to consider keeping the feet you have (previous photo) under the Soloist...just to provide a little more space to cool between bottom of AMP and the wood shelf/surface.