šŸ”· Burson Soloist 3X

Did you get the spring 3 KTE with preamp ?

If so you might want to test the soloist in power amp mode.

I did. Not the biggest fan. I like the bit of color that comes with the op-amps in the volume control stage. Sounds transparent though!

Thanks for the feedback I was hoping the preamp volume stage in the Holo would be better than Burson so that In power amp mode youā€™d get significantly better performance.

I was told the two op amps on the input / output stage were more important to the overall sound that the volume stage.

The pre-amp is technically better on the Holo. It doesnā€™t sound like anything at all; no coloring I can detect. The Burson, on the other hand, adds a bit of flavor. I just happen to like that bit of flavor. Iā€™ll probably try it out again since I didnā€™t spend that much time on it.

Yeah the change is more obvious at the input buffer stage, but sometimes you want less of that change in which case you change it at the volume control stage, is what I found.

how does the he6se sound on burson? how does it compare to something like topping a90 or thx 789? Curious if the class A discrete nature of the amp adds much better bass?

The soloist is still my favorite amp for it. I donā€™t own an A90. But I tested the 789 for a bit and found it did an okay jobā€”assuming you donā€™t have an issue with the 789ā€™s treble. The soloist gives better bass performance and has a warmer, thicker sound. Which is also the case when paired with most headphones.

Hereā€™s my post with impressions on the HE-6se
šŸ”¶ Hifiman HE6SE - #416 by marcgii

I have both an a90 and a soloist 3xp and itā€™s not even a close race. Soloist drives with far more authority and is way more musical. I never plug my he6 into my a90 anymore.

lol I feel like my purchase decisions are always the same as youā€¦ How does the GL2000 sound on the burson soloist? I currently running he6se v2 and GL2000 on smsl su-9 and topping A90

Gl2k sounds amazing on the soloist. I could say with a fair amount of confidence that for different use cases I could be totally content with the burson for music with any of my headphones, the parasound a21+ for my he6se when I really feel like letting it stretch its legs, and the a90 for specific listening and I donā€™t have any amp itch at all. The a90 gets a lot of hate these days but itā€™s solid. The soloist is a firm step up in musicality and driving power over the a90 but I donā€™t see myself abandoning the a90 altogether anytime soon though, it has its place.

So do you like the he6se better on the parasound than the Burson? Also I assume Burson more musical does that mean it has less detail than a90?

Hmmā€¦thatā€™s a touchy question. I would say that I do enjoy my HE6se on the soloist 3x performance with super charger the most and though Iā€™ve heard a lot of speaker amps through my he6, speaker amps arenā€™t just a ā€œfixā€ for the power needs and most Iā€™ve heard sound like garbage. I remember m0n recommending it a long time ago and itā€™s the only speaker amp Iā€™ve heard that I donā€™t have a single issue with synergy wise with the he6. The burson is definitely close (and honestly for most people close enough not to warrant the behemoth that is the a21+) and I donā€™t want to say the burson has less detail than the a90, just that itā€™s presented a lot differently. Exclusively with the he6 I feel like the a90 is lacking on power from time to time but the he6 isnā€™t the reason I still own the a90 (though it was the reason I bought it :stuck_out_tongue: ) and the reason I keep it around is the super low noise floor while still having enough power for basically every headphone out there. Itā€™s nice for ripping apart tracks to actively listen and for gaming I love the complete lack of noise. All of the detail is there on the soloist, and more importantly leaps more resolving power which from what I can tell comes mostly from the class a driving power it has. I would say the burson is a solid choice for everyday listening, a90 for analyzing, and the a21+ for the overall experience. But with the super charger, Iā€™d put the soloist as my number 1 pick. Flawless synergy with the he6 and most hifiman products in general.

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Oh and the burson has a big leg up on soundstage over the a90.

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thanks for the info its very helpful!!

ok so the super charger is amazingā€¦it should come with their products. noise floor (that was very there before) is completely absent now. bass is tighter, highs are more tame, mids are ever so slightly fuller. solid product but it with how big of a difference it made it should definitely come with the amp.

edit: detail is noticeably improved as well.

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have your rolled op amps? Just wondering if you found that the op amps to make a larger impact or super charger.

they definitely make a bigger difference but i ended up liking the vivids the best anyways and this is just a huge step up in clarity and overall performance and the noise floor completely disappeared.

I just got my Soloist and love it. I canā€™t wait to pick up a Super Charger now!

iā€™m starting to understand their claim of charging the capacitors twice as fast and i never thought this amp was ā€œrunning out of steamā€ in some songs (after the :30 bass slam and onward in kill jill by big boi) but just wow its so much more held together. i initially thought that was a bit of bass overlap in the song but it absolutely is not. noise floor is substantially lower than my a90 now (both high gain and max volume attenuated by my passive preamp volume knob) and that was honestly one of the only reasons iā€™ve kept the a90 around other than the no frills/no fun perfect flatness.

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Well just got this email:

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Burson Soloist 3X Grand Tourer - 10Wpc Headphone Amp / Preamp

https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/soloist-3x-grand-tourer/

The GT is a result of collaboration between us and every audiophile who loves the Soloist lineage. It tackles engineering challenges and rejects industry assumptions.

The resulting Soloist 3X Grand Tourer is nothing the industry has ever seen before. It is a new level of musical experience.

Main Features:

  • Inside the GT, there are two independently powered mono amps outputting 10Watts pc for headphones. They are placed in mirrored symmetry to achieve the highest possible channel separation.

  • Five sets of Burson proprietary Max Current Power Supplies. (MCPS), Each tuned to maximise performance, so much so that they need active cooling.

  • Combining a new resonance-free enclosure with the quietest cooling fan money can buy, the GT is quieter than the ambient noise of an empty recording studio.

  • To eliminate cross channel interference, each channel has its own MUSES72320 + V6 Vivid discrete buffer volume control.

  • It can emulate speaker listening through three levels of hardware-based headphone crossfeed.

  • Its preamp allows the volume of each output to change separately. We call it soundstage centring for speakers.

  • The GT also allows Headphone + Subwoofer listening.

Limited production:

Due to a global shortage of IC chips (The GT uses two MUSES72320 and a range of controller chips and quality components), We can only produce a limited number of Soloist 3X GT in 2021. So get in quick and pre-order the GT before it runs out.

Ship from Early November 2021
MSRP: 2499USD shipping worldwide

Pre-order Offer + a free Cool Stand:

Webshop Link: https://www.bursonaudio.com/product/soloist-3x-gt/

2249USD + 55USD delivery* worldwide

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yeah i saw that and it hurts. itā€™s calling me.

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