Burson Soloist 3XP Review (Headphone Amp)

[Wegi76]

Thank you, solderdude. So, when we ignore the amp for a moment, would it be fair to say that on the source side (ADI2) there should not be a relevant degregation of the signal quality when reducing the analogue levels largely (i.e. -50 or even -60db with more sensitive headphones)? Isn`t there a point when the difference between the actual signal and the noise floor is becoming to small? Again, sorry if these are stupid question... Just trying to understand how this all relates.

 

[solderdude]

Isn`t there a point when the difference between the actual signal and the noise floor is becoming to small?

Yes, but as long as you don't hear a noise floor it's all good.

 

[Ismapics]

So an Apple dongle is better.

 

[sarumbear]

This amp performs in producing power, yes as Amir said, it's a niche need, but at least there is a niche part of the market that would benefit from this.

There are speaker amplifiers much more powerful than this one which is orders of magnitude quieter and cleaner. Just because it is powerful doesn’t mean it has to lack on everything else. There’s no technical need. The designer is simply incapable.

 

[Kegemusha]

Reading the Burson webpage it seems a good hobby project for a teenager. Can have the loudest amp around and it's class A with roll able OP amps. Currently selling in USA for $1200.00 + tax.

...and 5 start reviews.

 

[Snoopy]

I was actually saving up money for a Soloist 3XP.

Let's just say I'm probably going to spend a lot less on a topping A90D in the near future, And will invest the difference into something else.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

I was actually saving up money for a Soloist 3XP.

Let's just say I'm probably going to spend a lot less on a topping A90D in the near future, And will invest the difference into something else.

Yes. Take the money and spent it on better speakers, room EQ or headphones... much better invested and more likely to make an audible difference.

 

[Snoopy]

Yes. Take the money and spent it on better speakers, room EQ or headphones... much better invested and more likely to make an audible difference.

Exactly.. room treatment like Absorber panels.. nice headphone cables... A second subwoofer. So many options.

I could probably buy a Topping A90D + D90LE + topping XLR cables and end up paying less.

 

[bac]

hello everyone and thanks to Amir for the reviews I find them very useful.
I had an smsl sp200 and then a topping a90. as a dac I had an smsl su-8. Then I bought a soloist 3x and a composer 3x. I love this pairing and it wins hands down over the devices I had previously, with the other devices the music was there and heard, with these the music sounds and sounds especially good. This is my personal opinion, I am neither a measurement or music expert nor a fan of one brand or another. Reading the previous posts you have made me very curious about the rme adi and I hope to test it and if I like it better I will be happy to substitute it for both but the only conclusion I come to is that measurements only matter when there are problems during listening and you are looking for the cause of that and not to define the quality of musicality of a device. Perhaps reading this review prior to purchase I would never have purchased it and that would have caused me to miss out on a good listening experience.

 

[SirYabadaba]

So why do they label the PCB socket MIC2? And picture a headphone with a mic on it?

View attachment 209194

View attachment 209195

Gotta agree with Amir on the front panel. It's putrid. Not even Topping can mess up horizontal alignment that badly.

The Soloist offers a headset passthrough. It's supposed to do something to reduce noise you might otherwise get if you split the trrs connector to a normal stereo plug and a mic output separately. Least that's what the marketing says.

 

[srkbear]

I cannot fathom this price point. I would love to see the calculus that leads to the list prices of these things (for many high priced units reviewed on here).

The process must be feloniously arbitrary—irrespective of material costs—and completely disconnected from any honest algorithm. Because folks in this market seem apparently willing to pay anything, and believe anything—defensively so. I’ve never seen anything like it. They should be forced to publish their total production costs per unit.

 

[Caliban]

Oh, one more thing not to like !

That OLED display.
But to be fair, It does not just concern this unit / brand, but why this obssession for OLED displays lately ?
They fade over time (a lot) and suffer from burn-in as well. All that in a few years. Even if powered off (they fade anyway).
Google Naim streamers and Agilent OLED multimeters if you don't believe me.
I ditched the Moon 390 because of that.
What´s wrong with backlit LCD or LED matrix ? Is it a price question ?

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

I cannot fathom this price point. I would love to see the calculus that leads to the list prices of these things (for many high priced units reviewed on here).

The process must be feloniously arbitrary—irrespective of material costs—and completely disconnected from any honest algorithm. Because folks in this market seem apparently willing to pay anything, and believe anything—defensively so. I’ve never seen anything like it. They should be forced to publish their total production costs per unit.

This might sound like a broken record at this point, but we all know this is just never going to work out.
Audio products at a certain price range above the average price bracket of basic, consumer products can be considered as luxurious items. Kind of like fancy watches and fancy cars, sure we might get crap performance or actually great performance here but we are guaranteed to pay more for the designers/brand (which may or may not deliver). And if you are even more alarmed of diminishing return, then even the highest offerings of beloved companies like Topping will still fall in comparison with their cheaper products.

 

[srkbear]

I

This might sound like a broken record at this point, but we all know this is just never going to work out.
Audio products at a certain price range above the average price bracket of basic, consumer products can be considered as luxurious items. Kind of like fancy watches and fancy cars, sure we might get crap performance or actually great performance here but we are guaranteed to pay more for the designers/brand (which may or may not deliver). And if you are even more alarmed of diminishing return, then even the highest offerings of beloved companies like Topping will still fall in comparison with their cheaper products.

Indeed, my wish I knew up front was a pipe-dream. The alarming part is that the folks who shell out big bucks for these “luxurious” mediocre products insist that they sound better than fairly-priced equivalents that outperform them, and over at Head-Fi they’re speaking authoritatively about this as they encourage others to fall for the same shill. Which not only reinforces the price points but perpetuates the quality myth these “luxury” brands enjoy.

I always marvel when people refer to ASR and Head-Fi as two equal resources that simply differ on “opinion”—and sadly Head-Fi has historically been the more popular for reasons their denizens don’t understand—it’s corporate-funded and completely infiltrated by industry plants perpetuating the myths. Head-Fi is one big marketing cesspool where folks think they’re getting useful information because they think they’re getting unbiased advice from peers. They don’t realize that their peers are passing along the promises made by one sheets created by manufacturers, who are not bound by truth in advertising laws…

 

[Wegi76]

Oh, one more thing not to like !

That OLED display.
But to be fair, It does not just concern this unit / brand, but why this obssession for OLED displays lately ?
They fade over time (a lot) and suffer from burn-in as well. All that in a few years. Even if powered off (they fade anyway).
Google Naim streamers and Agilent OLED multimeters if you don't believe me.
I ditched the Moon 390 because of that.
What´s wrong with backlit LCD or LED matrix ? Is it a price question ?

There is truth to this...

The Bursons display is not that bad so far. But the burn-in effect is visible here too (hard to see in the picture). On the MiniDSP Studios OLED below the burn-in effect is dramatic already. Both untis are being used for less than 12months :-o

 

[edahl]

Indee

Indeed, my wish I knew up front was a pipe-dream. The alarming part is that the folks who shell out big bucks for these “luxurious” mediocre products insist that they sound better than fairly-priced equivalents that outperform them, and over at Head-Fi they’re speaking authoritatively about this as they encourage others to fall for the same shill. Which not only reinforces the price points but perpetuates the quality myth these “luxury” brands enjoy.

I always marvel when people refer to ASR and Head-Fi as two equal resources that simply differ on “opinion”—and sadly Head-Fi is the far more popular for reasons their denizens don’t understand—it’s corporate-funded and completely infiltrated by industry plants perpetuating the myths. Head-Fi is one big marketing cesspool where folks think they’re getting useful information because they think they’re getting unbiased advice from peers. They don’t realize that their peers are passing along the promises made by one sheets created by manufacturers, who are not bound by truth in advertising laws…

I don't think head-fi is actually that much bigger than ASR anymore

 

[Caliban]

There is truth to this...

The Bursons display is not that bad so far. But the burn-in effect is visible here too (hard to see in the picture). On the MiniDSP Studios OLED below the burn-in effect is dramatic already. Both untis are being used for less than 12months :-oView attachment 209494

I might very well be wrong here - but it looks like you are using the Burson in pass-through / power amp mode - the display always shows the logo for that, does it not ?
If so - you won't see the burn-in effect, right ?
Edit - yes, you stated burn-in was visible here too, ok !

 

[Wegi76]

I switched on the bypass mode the first time today because of Amirs test results. Before that it displayed the volume. Where the pixels were lit before I can now see a slight hint of fade in the logo. Similar to the miniDSPs display, but much less pronounced so far... Here you can see it a little better

 

[The Jniac]

Yes, but not that much (i have both):

RME ADI-2 FS Version 2 DAC and Headphone Amp Review

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www.audiosciencereview.com

And, last but not least, both also work as DAC/preamp...

And they have built-in EQ. Really, they slaughter this thing.

 

[Caliban]

OLED - they look good while they last.
I bet they are popular is because they are cheap, available with I2C (as others are) for easy interfacing to PIC/ Arduino with free software.