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Soulution 710 Amplifier and 720 Preamplifier

Friends:

I am just curious how much better these ultra-reference, ultra-expensive Swiss units are than well respected American reference products like Pass Labs, Spectral, Boulder, Clayton Audio on the SS side or VAC on the tube side.

I am driving German Physiks Carbon mkIV omnidirectionals.

I am told the Soulutions are ultra neutral, ultra-transparent,and ultra musical, sharing the finest characteristics of tubes and SS, yet high bias class AB I'm told by a dealer.

I realize all is in the ear of the beholder, but are these swiss designers using better parts, more innovative circuitry, etc to generate a level of musicality and purity a notch above the finest US brands?.

I am looking for a final purchase as I approach retirement, and am actually considering the Soulution 710 Amp and 720 Pre (an almost mind-boggling cost of $85,000 retail, less a fair discount)..yes I am most fortunate to be in this position, but I do not wish to pay $40,000 extra for 3% difference in sound quality. (I realize this is the nature of purchasing ultra-reference high end gear)

Any strong opinions about the Soulution line would be greatly appreciated (including reliability) Yes, I am planning a trip to NYC in less than 5 weeks to audition, but your thoughts would be a helpful foundation to my audition.

Thanks in advance
Brian
audiobrian

Showing 3 responses by classicjazz

classicjazz
153 posts
 
At the level of gear to which you refer, I am not sure that there are clear superiors or inferiors. I would imagine that in well-optimized systems each brand provides an array of virtues. The combination of each may differ slightly and ideally you would pick one that suits your own taste. Certainly, the cost of different gear can be attributed in part to the build quality, levels of supply chain markup etc. If you read through reviews of Soulution, you will see that the list prices have risen dramatically from 2005. I believe the 710 preamp began around 14000 Euros and now it is closer to 27000.

I have owned top Levinson, Rowland, ARC, Pass, Brinkmann gear and now have Boulder and Goldmund (second go round with G for me). There are differences between the latter two; how they mate with your speakers will also be critical.

Paul at Goodwin's told me that they will eventually be bringing in Soulution gear and they can order it but given the state of the economy, they are not ready to show the equipment on the floor just yet. This may change and I'd advise inquiring with them.

Stanton Sound and Vision (Thomas) is also a very even-handed and thoughtful person and he can provide an informed perspective on Soulution and Boulder.
classicjazz
153 posts
 
I perused the reviews on the Soulution website. I made a mistake regarding the unit to which I was referring. The review from Stereo magazine June 2006 listed the 720 preamp at 13,900 Euros. The 710 is of course the amplifier and Bvdiman is accurate in his price quote.

For those of us living with a currency that is weak against the Euro, the Soulution gear is quite expensive.

Boulder gear offers a bullet-proof build quality and sophisticated materials and design, a pro-audio background and apparently, a "build it then figure out the price" approach for its 2000-series gear. I would say the Boulder gear is liquid, has tremendously rooted bass and is really non-impeachable.

The Goldmund gear I have (current Ultimate class stuff) is different. A sense of air and lightness of touch, tremendous treble purity and lack of grain but at the cost of a little loss of body from the midbass down (attribute this to the amp and not the preamp). My Goldmund gear is not optimal for my current speakers but I will keep it for some future second pair of speakers.

I have been told that Soulution gear is closer to Goldmund than Boulder in sound. Having been on the merry go round with new entrants into the high end audio arena, I now tend to stick with long-lived companies for service, resale etc.
classicjazz
153 posts
 
Hi Bvdiman,

8 Goldmund amps are incredible. I don't find anything lacking in my Goldmund gear but I know my current speakers are not the right fit which is why I am using Boulder gear. I would imagine Goldmund would work well on Verity or Wilson Benesch (two brands of gear I had in the past).

To Brian, how would you characterize the sound of your speakers? I would probably put Goldmund on one side and Boulder on the other and perhaps MBL to the warm side of Boulder (by some margin). From what other have said, Soulution might be between Goldmund and Boulder.

To Bflowers,

I would imagine your system to be pretty darn excellent. The most radical change would be to switch speakers and keep everything else. Don't know that I would do that though but if we assume the B gear is solid and you want to really change the sonic presentation, speaker change would be the fastest, most radical way. And it would still be cheaper than a Soulution pre/power front end (assuming buying used top-notch speaker vs. new Soulution).
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