8W @ 32 ohms.
Burson Soloist 3X Performance Head/Pre Amp - 8Wpc XLR with MUSE72320 volume control
- Thread starter raoultrifan
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Knee Deep In Epoxy
500+ Head-Fier
not according to the Burson website - 8W @ 16Ohms / 4W @ 32 Ohms. Sorry to disappoint - in truth I made the same mistake.
https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/soloist-3x-performance/
Ups. You are right. The 8W is into 16 ohms and not into 32. Sorry, my bad.
Knee Deep In Epoxy
500+ Head-Fier
No worries...but going back to my original question, is the wattage actually delivered dependent on gain level?
They call it 'power amp mode', not 'headamp mode'. Just to be clear. Most headphones will run comfortably in medium gain, and a lot will produce hiss in high gain due to the power of this amp. Only the very few most hard to drive headphones will benefit from high gain on the 3XP.
Gain does not control output wattage, think of it as a 'volume setting' for the input stage. The gain setting also depends on the output voltage of your DAC. As long as the input voltage to your amp is high enough, the amp will put out full power. However if the gain is too low, the amp might not reach full power. In a nutshell; medium gain is the way to go with most full sized headphones.
It is a lot more complicated than this and there is a lot of useful articles online, if you want to educate yourself in this topic. I am only scratching the very surface here as I am just a simple hobbyist. There are a lot more knowledgeable members around.
Common mistake. Most manufacturers publish the output wattage of their amp at 32Ω and not at 16Ω. Burson has been somewhat cheeky here. Not like 4W wouldn't be more than enough for pretty much any headphone.
I have run the Susvara and HE6 from the Soloist, power isn't something this amplifier lacks!
What power capabilities Burson writes don't correlate to whatever Chinese amps write (MAX POWER at peak for a short duration)
My Topping A90 clipped when driving my HE6, and sounded like garbage. The soloist wasn't ever near clipping limits even with heavy EQ, and sounded 100x better, it took me 10 seconds with the Soloist to decide that the A90 was going on my local marketplace.
What power capabilities Burson writes don't correlate to whatever Chinese amps write (MAX POWER at peak for a short duration)
My Topping A90 clipped when driving my HE6, and sounded like garbage. The soloist wasn't ever near clipping limits even with heavy EQ, and sounded 100x better, it took me 10 seconds with the Soloist to decide that the A90 was going on my local marketplace.
True. Burson is known for intentionally not taking part in the ridiculous and misleading number warfare mostly Chinese manufacturers do...
On a side note, I have just recently come across this review.
An interesting quote from the linked review:
"...so far, this is the best headphone amplifier I’ve tried with the notorious Susvara. I don’t know exactly how Burson measured it at 8 Watts, because a friend of mine measured its output at 15 Watts and my first-hand experience tells me that Soloist 3X is a lot more powerful to its official specs."
helloh3adfi
1000+ Head-Fier
Is Schiit also better on real power?
Sorry, I am not sure what you mean.
helloh3adfi
1000+ Head-Fier
I mean if Schiit also provides high power for longer duration? Comparable to Burson?
Donald Russell
New Head-Fier
Agreed. I have run the he6se on a singxer sa-1, thx 789, asgard, and a 100w per channel speaker amp and the most powerful sounding amp, and the best sounding amp, is the soloist. It powers all my headphones very easily and it’s hard for me to believe that the singxer has almost as much power. I have to turn its volume almost to the max on high gain but the soloist on high gain in power amp mode will absolutely make you deaf if you turn it up all the way. With my Arya and all other planers I have used you just can barely turn it up any before it’s too loud in high gain, and I can’t hear any noise or hiss with it. I have to use medium gain and all my headphones except the he6, but I enjoy the dynamic sound of high gain and power amp mode. I have had many mid priced amps and the soloist seems to have a lot more power than any other amp I have had. I don’t know how much power it really outputs but it sure seems like a lot.
I have no idea what you mean by "high power for longer duration". Perhaps someone else can chime in.
I think he’s asking if it’s true for Schiit what you mentioned seems to be true for Burson. That they don’t intentionally exaggerate their power specifications on their amps.
I don't know is the short answer. Burson is quite open about communicating their approach regarding measurements, I haven't seen such communication from Schiit but definitely Chinese manufacturers are the best at the number war on paper.
Yes, most manufactures are mentioning just the peak power delivery. E.g. the ifi micro iDSD Signature should have 4.1W according to ifi. But this is just for a really short period of time. The standard power output is 1.5W. And this applies for a lot of amps from several manufactures.
I have no possibilty to test this and I am not aware of any messurements, but I have the feeling, that the Soloist 3XP delivers the power constant and always.
I have no possibilty to test this and I am not aware of any messurements, but I have the feeling, that the Soloist 3XP delivers the power constant and always.
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