The $20K Soulution Audio 330 Integrated Amp is a Bargain ?

Strictly a product for the 1% crowd! 

Soulution is very overpriced and sounds sterile and dry.Good luck!

“Strictly a product for the 1% crowd!”

These comments always make me chuckle. An easy swipe at a group that most likely ignores high end audio in general and certainly ignores a flavor of the month brand with a pattern of significant discounting. The 1%’ers aren’t purchasing Soulution or they wouldn’t have to discount right? 

In New Mexico, about $250k/yr gets you in the 1%, about $750k/yr in Connecticut. Alot of Audiogoners blow through these thresholds.

@d2girls I wasn't missing the point. Your post was intelligent and well thought out.

It's just that I get a little tired of the "one percenter bashing".  I take some posts to mean "they" are obviously not smart enough to know they are overpaying.  Surely "they" aren't that gullible.

That's all I was trying to say.

Companies look to market very expensive top of their line products so others in the line look like a bargain all the time.
No $20k integrated amp is In fact a bargain though IMHO.

They May be worth it to some and better sound very good of course just like all the rest but claiming to be a “bargain” is utter nonsense.

I guess I am a .0000025% cause I just bought 8 of these one for each of the staterooms on my yacht.

lol!!!!

..I can think of a lot of other solutions for 20K$....

A weekend that would make 'Fear and Loathing' look like a Baptist picnic, for one...👀🤪.

No

Put some diodes. caps, resistors, transistors and transformers in a nicely-machined billet chassis and voila - you have a five-figure amp!

Production cost is probably less than 10% of list price! 

Unlikely. If you are a quest for audio perfection, you may go broke. If you have a basically nice sound, just enjoy.

@maxwave: Years of R&D! For what? A NASA planetary probe? 

A bargain compared to an $80K AN Ongaku!

A bargain is all relative. I think the newest Corvette is a bargain compared to Ferrari. I think Ferrari is a bargain compared to a Bugatti.

+ @ speedbump6

"Bargain" is both subjective and relative.  Just because it's priced beyond one's means currently (money flows, times change, fortunes also) doesn't equate to being a non-bargain for all others.  

For instance, while shopping for my bucket list high-end audio system, the speakers which consistently sounded ideal for me was Magico and YG Acoustic speaker house sound.  YG is generally more expensive and few are available used, so I'm more focused on Magico.  

Magicos:
S5 mkII sells for ~$40k and a used Magico M3 ~$50k.  Last year Magico came out with the $10k (now $12.2k) A3 which was touted a bargain "relative" to their other offerings.  To me, the A3 sounded a bit light compared to their pricier offerings.  Now Magico has introduced the A5 at $22k which I read surpasses the $28k S3mkII sound and greatly surpasses the A3.

So for $22k you get the Magico sound from their custom cutting edge (to a price point) components along with their herculean vibration-deadening cabinet structure (180lbs each).  Seems like a bargain to me.

@ highend666
Audio gear often has a "house sound" as the products are tested/voiced by the same individuals who design the product.  Some manufactures such as Magico start with price-no-object goals, then latter try to find ways to cut manufacturing costs  thru cheaper parts, alternate engineering, less features, simpler executions, etc. while trying to maintain the sound quality as much as possible.

If you love the Soulution Audio house sound, find that their higher priced offerings relatively expensive for you, then their $20K Soulution Audio 330 Integrated Amp may well be a "bargain" for you.

If you are shopping for an integrated in this $20k ballpark, T+A  PA 3100 HV (and older PA 3000 HV) got great reviews and is considered a "bargain" - competing with expensive Swiss equipment. 

Also Constellation Audio Inspiration 1.0 integrated $15k is listed on TAS "50 Greatest Bargains in High-End Audio-2020".   A couple of years prior
Constellation Audio Inspiration separates preamp ($10k) + amp ($11k stereo,  $22k monoblocks) also made this same TAS list.  

I know this may be controversial, but 
How good does the sound have to be for you to enjoy it?

To elaborate, each person will answer this question differently. 
Is a $20,000 amplifier a bargain?  If that’s the sound you need, then it is.

With quite a few $20k+ integrated amps around vying for attention there are great options for those wanting to de-clutter their system without compromising sound.

I went for an Analog Domain integrated and it's a remarkable thing. I've not heard the 330 but I have some experience of the 725/711 combo. The AD gives little if anything away and I like the big Solutions. Worth noting Soulution needlessly get a bad rap. I've heard that same combo sound awful through incredible, all down to set up and system matching. 

For the poster looking for speakers for his 330, best I've heard with Soulution were Verity Parsifal, a brand worth investigating 

Would 509X be a better choice for less money?

I've heard plenty of good things about the 509X. Only you can say whether it would suit your needs and the needs of the rest of your system and budget

I would think the Analog Domain plays more in the realms of a C/M900u combination. The following review offers a good perspective

https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/analog-reviews/amplifier-reviews/analog-domain-m75d-and-m75p/

I've not heard the 330 so couldn't say how that'd compare

@highend666 Soulution gear is pretty damn good.  Better t9 get it discounted.  I have the 540 SACD player / Dac. Very HAPPY.  Excellent source.  My reference was the resonessence Mirus pro signature dac. I got the player below 10k which you rarely see. But I’m set as a source for life I run it through using my Melco music server. I’m in a great place 

What i call a bargain is a used Gryphon Diablo 300 for 7.5k

Boulder integrated and vinny rossi comes to mind. Solution is very very nice..up to the listener.