šŸ”· Burson Soloist 3X

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories [Official] Headphone Amps
388

Yep the 909 is awesome on the Burson, the only amp i have heard it sound even better is the Quicksilver tube amp. And yes i do enjoy having both the HE6 and the 909, the HE6 is the only real open back i kept in my collection, the 909 is more of a semi-open back imo.

I am listening to the 909 right now after spending a couple of weeks exclusively listening to the Verite Closed and the 909 is still super good to my ears, i switch between sets depending on both mood and genre, for me it is like 70% mood 30% genre.

The sets i decided to keep as my endgame are:

Fostex TH909 (unique bass slam)
Hifiman HE6se v2 (best overall technical performance of all)
ZMF Verite Closed (sweetest sounding set, holographic presentation)
Sony MDR Z1R (unique stage and imaging, big bass but lacks slam)
Kennerton Gjallarhorn (incredible fast and strong bass slam, huge stage, impressive detail retrieval)

Those are all keepers

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389

Iā€™ve got the same amp combo with the with the quicksilver on the way.

Did you prefer the Vc with the soloist or QS?

Did you try adding the Burson to your chain and running unbalanced out to serve as a pre? If so did you notice a meaningful change in SQ with Burson as a pre vs running QS directly from DAc?

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390

Oh yes, the VC is better on the QS no doubt.

I have never tried to use the Burson as a pre for the QS, what would be the theoretical benefit? I may give it a tryā€¦

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391

Thank you for the the thorough reply! Exactly the type of breakdown I was hoping for. Sounds like both the HE6 and 909s are on my list :sunglasses: The Kennertons are intriguing too. I might have to find a place to demo them.

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392

Just ordered a Bifrost 2/64 to pair with my Soloist 3XP. Anyone have any experience with this pairing that have Arya S? I have been using an SMSL SU-9 up to this point.

393

I donā€™t have experience but from my understanding OG Bifrost 2 with Soloist 3XP is a super popular pairing with that headphone. Have seen it discussed on various forums as a very synergistic chain, and I imagine Bifrost 2/64 with Soloist 3XP will also be great.

Let us know how you like it when you have things set up - I have an Ananda which Iā€™m using with OG Bifrost 2 and Asgard 3. I love the Ananda sound (though I have a new niggles) and probably will upgrade it along with my amp at some point, so Iā€™m curious how Arya Stealth is like with your setup.

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394

Thanks for the info. I will post my thoughts on the new setup once I have spent a week or so with it. The DAC is arriving next week. I also used to have a Asgard 3 to power my Sundara.

395

Itā€™s a good idea to pair the Soloist with a dac with solid volume control and use the soloist only as a power amp on high gain for the best dynamicsā€¦ Or you can just add a separate preamp

396

Thanks for the info, I will keep that in mind. I am looking at preamps for my speaker setup so I can also try it out on my headphone setup once I pick one up. It will be a little while until I make my next purchase though.

397

I believe the 3xp has a power amp mode so I donā€™t see why you couldnā€™t do that.

398

I love mine with my Gungnir Multi-bit! Different thing I know, but allā€™s to say lots of people enjoy the Burson and Schiit pairing. The Burson renders the stage, dynamics, and transients that Schiit DACs do so well beautifully IHMO. The emphasis on a detailed, but natural sound plays nice with the sweet, but transparent delivery of the Soloist. Synergy that deserves some audiophile mumbo jumbo.

I hope they announce an upgrade module for the Gungnir soon, but Iā€™d bet itā€™s on its way to being phased out since I believe they need to be shipped in for upgrades. The new Bifrost may be replacing it. Alas, itā€™s an awesome unit and I should just be happy theyā€™re not tempting me to spend more money! :joy:

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399

In theory, the Burson has a pretty stellar volume pot and you could leverage that to really get the most out of the QS if the Bursonā€™s volume control is nicer, maybe lol!

Iā€™d definitely try it. Something Iā€™ve heard mentioned in some reviews of the unit by more speaker centric reviewers is how much they love it as a pre for powered monitors or power amps, even over much more expensive units.

Itā€™s one of those things where the traditional knowledge says less components is better, but electrical amplification of analog signals is complex and you never know how things might play in practice till you hook ā€™em up. My first thought would be to go the other way and run the QS into the Burson to tube planars that struggle on the tube amp because of the low current delivery. Interested to hear your impressions if youā€™ve tried it! Could very well make no difference or be bad too.

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400

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Just arrived, I will hold off on commentary until I have had some time with it.

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401

Looking forward to your impressions. Iā€™ve been close picking one up but never got around to it due to other ā€œprioritiesā€. Iā€™ve also got a Bifrost 2.

Also, whats the black Schiit next to the Burson? Jotunheim 2? Lyr 3?

402

Lol, It is a dead Asgard 3.

403

Any update? I also have a bifrost 2 with a Jot 2, and am wondering if its worth the upgrade with my Arya V2.

404

Sorry for not posting my thoughts sooner, but life got in the way. This will be a short one, but let me know if you want me to elaborate on anything.

Vocals, and instruments have an air about them. They seem to extend past the borders of the headphones, and flow through the space unimpeded. Live recordings (well recorded ones) give you a sense of the space in which they were recorded, reverb and all. The way Piano sounds with this setup is as if someone is playing a piano within the room. I grew up with a Piano in the house, so I can honestly say that this combo is able to reproduce the impact & natural decay of the notes. Acoustic Guitar, as well as other stringed instruments are reproduced in a similar fashion. The combination of Bifrost + Soloist 3XP + Arya SE donā€™t do poorly recorded/mastered tracks any favors as all the imperfections come through loud and clear (many rock recordings unfortunately). The Bifrost is able to extract just as much detail as the SMSL DAC I originally used, if not more, but it does so while still sounding natural. While I wholeheartedly assert that this combo sounds amazing, I donā€™t know if it is the best combo for everyone now that there are newer options available. A lot of buzz around the Topping A90D (including pairing it with an R2R DAC) is causing me to have a hard time recommending the soloist to most people. Will it sound exactly the same as the Soloist? Most likely not, but it is a valid consideration given the performance for the price. As for me, I am happy with my choice of gear, and I am planning on enjoying my music and games on this setup for years to come.

Some Tracks I Listen to often on this setup:

Vu de la-bas (Soha)

Drole dā€™idee (Soha)

On The Run (Selah Sue)

Number 5 (Jesse Cook)

Hey! (Jesse Cook[Feat. Fethi Nadjem])

Going to California (Led Zeppelin)

Try To Get it Right (Avi Kaplan)

Get Lucky (Daft Punk)

Fear of the Dark (2015 Remaster) (Iron Maiden)

The Unforgiven (Metallica)

Good Riddance (Green Day)

White Wedding (Pt.1/Remastered 2002) (Billy Idol)

Pray (Sam Smith)

HIM (Sam Smith)

Sons of Plunder (Disturbed)

Deify (Disturbed)

Trade Mistakes (Panic! At The Disco)

Goodbye Goodnight (Andra Day)

Cracker Island (Gorillaz [feat. Thundercat])

Tom Sawyer (Rush)

Courage to Change (Sia)

No More Time Machine (LiSA)

Unholy War (Jacob Banks)

Back To Black (Amy Winehouse)

Road to Hell (Andre De Shields & Hadestown Original Broadway Company)

Shivers (Ed Sheeran)

Silver Springs (live at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, CA 05/23/97) (Fleetwood Mac)

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405

Just an FYI, I am using the optional 3A supercharger for the Soloist. Just in case I have not mentioned that before. As for other things of note. The Arya V2 are supposedly more power hungry than my Arya SE, so you may notice a bigger difference with the upgraded power supply than I did. That granted, I did notice an improvement to the sound when I upgraded the power supply, but that was before I got the Bifrost. There has been a noticeable improvement in sound moving to the Bifrost of course, but in different areas. The power supply seemed to improve bass for one thing, while the Bifrost gives the music a more natural presentation vs delta sigma DACs. I got my Arya SE after buying the Burson Soloist so I canā€™t directly compare their sound while hooked up to a Schiit headphone amp since my Asgard 3 in non functional. That being said, there was a noticeable improvement when listening to my HD 660s and Dekoni Blue headphones. Better dynamics, and overall clarity of the tracks I tested it with. The HD 660s was running off both the Balanced and SE connections (got the XLR Cable for them later on). I have had my HD 660s for a while so they have seen me through several upgrades, and I have noticed the improvements along the way. Let me know if you have any questions.

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406

Thank you for taking the time to explain all this. It is much appreciated!

407

Currently using the Topping L70 as a preamp for the Soloist 3XP, but I was just wondering if there was a better option for a future upgrade? Or should I stick with the L70? Thanks in advance!
AMHD>PC/Wiim Mini>Bifrost 2/64>Topping L70>Soloist 3XP & SMSL A300