Soulution 760 D/A Converter

[wisnon]

Hi Norman,

I agree with your points about the break-in of the Lampi GG in your first paragraph. It certainly should sound better with more break-in time. However, it doesn't make much sense to try and pass judgement in any way on the Soulution 760 until you've had the opportunity to listen to it firsthand. Based on my experience as an owner of the Soulution 520 Pre and 501 mono amps, I would expect top notch performance out of the Soulution 760 DAC, especially considering how great the 541 sounds. But until I hear it for myself, I won't really know either.

Ken

Ken that is fair enough and if you read my post again, you will see this part:
"but will keep an open mind and will make sure to listen extensively in Oct at the Zurich Show."

This clearly showed that I passed judgment on the public domain info, features, specs and price ...BUT NOT FINAL judgment.
How is that unfair?

[FlexibleAudio]

Yygdrasil, Hugo, Dave, Allnic Dac, 2ute, Trinity, BMCPure Dac, Direct Stream, Ariesetc and these are just Dacs. Amps: Jobs, Graaf, Arions, Viva, Rowen monoblocs, Lampi GM70 and 211s, Kondo, Telos 5000, Lansche, Onda Liguera, Fisher and Fischer,Kaiser Kawero, etc. Same for speakers,Polymer, Tidal La Assolutas, Goldmund Apologue and Metis Tower, Vox Olympian, etc.

I am not sure what this is about. You said "I see you have commented on many pieces of equipment long before you heard them." I ask you to elaborate on when I have done this and you respond with examples where you have done it not me. I am confused.

You keep referring to Lampi, AS IF THAT HAS ANY RELEVANCE HERE.

Dude you are the one that referred to the Lampi GG 6 times in your first two posts on this thread. I just made note of you doing so.

I will end here as this is getting circular and my point has long ago been made.

I completely agree about the circularity and I am happy you made your point.

[Alpinist]

Bringing this thread back on its original track, I am going to make a point of auditioning the 760 DAC at a local Soulution dealer as soon as he gets it in his showroom. I'll do a head-to-head comparison with the 541, which we already know is a terrific sounding DAC in its own right, and I'll report back my findings. It should be a very interesting comparison, plus it will give me an excuse to sit in his high-end room and listen to the 725/711 preamp/amp combo again.

Ken

[FlexibleAudio]

I look forward to your comments Ken.

[highEndguy]

My new babies arrived !!!


Burn in time



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[joeinid]

Absolutely stunning Nelson! I love it.

[socfan12]

Euro gear, love it!!

Congrats, Nelson! Awesome stuff!

[Audioseduction]

Just awesome but why such huge amps for such tiny speakers?

[highEndguy]

Just to burn them for 200hours


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Alpinist]

Just to burn them for 200hours


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Congrats! Those are incredible amps. I love the 701 monos. What speakers do you plan to connect to them? I have the 520 preamp and their little brothers, the 501 monos, hooked to Raidho D3's. I can't say enough wonderful things about Soulution components and their synergy with Raidho. I'm so glad I went in this direction.

Ken

[Vapor1]

Just awesome but why such huge amps for such tiny speakers?

Maybe he wants to see how fast he can fire the woofer cones against the opposite wall?

[FlexibleAudio]

My new babies arrived !!!


Burn in time



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very nice Soulution stuff!!! BTW, do those speakers also make toast? I prefer mine lightly browned.

[highEndguy]

Those SF TOY speakers never sounded like now , just WOW
They are 8ohm speakers and handles the 701 with respect



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Odyssey]

Nelson, congrats on the 701's! They are phenomenal mono blocks. They are also a great match for 8 ohm speakers being a bridged design of the 711 stereo amp.

Is that a 725 pre on the left side of the photo? Being in the Dom. Rep. are these 220V or 110V? After you pass 200 hours tell what speaker you are going to pair them with!

I am currently experimenting with bi-amping the 711's over the 501's and vice versa and having great fun switching back and forth.

Is there a 760 somewhere in the mix too? Please enlighten us!

[highEndguy]

Le Roy,
Yes, that's a 725 and the voltage is the same as in USA ,110v
After the 200h I'm going to connect them with a pair of Grand Utopias

There is no 760, is a 751 with external PS
Was not available when I ordered.

[Alpinist]

Le Roy,
Yes, that's a 725 and the voltage is the same as in USA ,110v
After the 200h I'm going to connect them with a pair of Grand Utopias

There is no 760, is a 751 with external PS
Was not available when I ordered.

Congrats Nelson! 751/725/701 should be a tremendous combo with the Focal Grand Utopia. Please circle back when everything is in place and let us know your impressions.

Thanks,
Ken

[Alpinist]

Nelson, congrats on the 701's! They are phenomenal mono blocks. They are also a great match for 8 ohm speakers being a bridged design of the 711 stereo amp.

Is that a 725 pre on the left side of the photo? Being in the Dom. Rep. are these 220V or 110V? After you pass 200 hours tell what speaker you are going to pair them with!

I am currently experimenting with bi-amping the 711's over the 501's and vice versa and having great fun switching back and forth.

Is there a 760 somewhere in the mix too? Please enlighten us!

Hi Le Roy,

How are you? How's it going with your bi-amping of the 711 and 501's? Are there any special music choices that you could share that are knocking your socks off?

Best,
Ken

[FlexibleAudio]

Le Roy,
Yes, that's a 725 and the voltage is the same as in USA ,110v
After the 200h I'm going to connect them with a pair of Grand Utopias

There is no 760, is a 751 with external PS
Was not available when I ordered.

Nelson,

Doesn't the 725 have the ability to power the 751 like the 720 could?

[Odyssey]

Le Roy,
Yes, that's a 725 and the voltage is the same as in USA ,110v
After the 200h I'm going to connect them with a pair of Grand Utopias

Nelson, have you passed the 200 hr mark yet? Have you hooked up the Grand Utopias? Please give us your impressions of the big Focals w the 701's

[highEndguy]

[bzr]

holy shitzinhousin, now that is some serious entry level right there. H
Nelson, hows the sound compared to each other.

[highEndguy]

Stil burn in the Soulution but now they are installed on the right environment

[bzr]

Please update when you can.

[Odyssey]

The new Soulution 760 D/A Converter is going into production in October of this year. The 760 is going to contain a preamp function. Here is an excerpt of a communique from Cyrill Hammer of Soulution:
The 760 does have a digital volume control. There is a powerful DSP which does all the signal processing for the volume control, the upsampling to DXD and the zero phase technology. Due to its 32 bit floating point calculation process we do have enough headroom for providing an extremely precise and audiophile digital volume control. However this is only half of the story, for a good volume control we need as well a reference grade output stage which are capable of driving long cables and the (pre)amplifier’s input stages. Therefore we use the same high speed, ultra precise and powerful output stages as used for the 725 preamplifier and they get powered by the same analog power supply as used for the 725.

Digital volume control has a quit bad reputation among audiophiles. They are criticized for reducing the resolution of the music signal and therefore to sound bad. Many DAC’s or CD players on the market, with digital or analog volume controls, do in fact sound worse when connected directly to the power amplifier while using their volume control, than when using the same product through an additional preamplifier. Usually the output stages in these products are rather weak and cannot drive the amplifier properly. The preamp resolves this issue. So it is more a problem of the analog output stages than a problem of the volume control technology used. Anyways, the digital volume control does of course reduce the resolution of the music signal no matter how you do that, in the worst case just truncation the least significant bits, but it also reduces resolution with more sophisticated processes as we use. The reduced resolution of the digital music signal translates to a reduced signal-to-noise ratio. Exactly the same thing happens when reducing the volume with an analog volume control. The residual noise of the analog stages remain constant independent of the music signal. Whenever you reduce the volume on an analog volume control you will reduce the signal-to-noise ratio and this will of course reduce the resolution of the music signal as well.

The 760s volume control will perfectly drive any directly connected amplifier. Although the difference is not big, but it is still sounding slightly better when using the 725 preamplifier in the system as well. This might also depend on the system (cables speakers etc.). So far we did not have the chance to test this intensively.




Cyrill Hammer
Member of Executive board

[vagabundo]

So far we did not have the chance to test this intensively.
Cyrill Hammer
Member of Executive board

Ive heard and read this sentence a couple of times and my question is... how the #%&K it is possible that ultra high end manufucture like Soulution (and a few others, MSB last time) released something with price about 40-100k dollars/euros and then they say something like "we dont have the chance to test it intensively" ?!?! So what is the point? How do they know that this particular DAC/AMP/SPEAKERS is great and make high price? What were they doing? Do they randomly choose interior components and think how to determine the price? Or perhaps a gypsy girl foretold them how this DAC will play? Sorry but this is ridiculous.

[Odyssey]

Ive heard and read this sentence a couple of times and my question is... how the #%&K it is possible that ultra high end manufucture like Soulution (and a few others, MSB last time) released something with price about 40-100k dollars/euros and then they say something like "we dont have the chance to test it intensively" ?!?! So what is the point? How do they know that this particular DAC/AMP/SPEAKERS is great and make high price? What were they doing? Do they randomly choose interior components and think how to determine the price? Or perhaps a gypsy girl foretold them how this DAC will play? Sorry but this is ridiculous.

If you read the very first sentence of the post you will see that the 760 does not go into production until October of this year. Presumably it is still being tested.

[vagabundo]

Correct. But this DAC was showing and playing in Munich. So what? "You only live once! We will see what we just have made"?

[bzr]

Correct. But this DAC was showing and playing in Munich. So what? "You only live once! We will see what we just have made"?

Or maybe, he is referring to the scientific explanation where it should sound better on paper but they haven't actually made this a clear cut & definitive answer yet with many different listening tests. Sounds like he's being honest to me because he knows he is leaving himself open for criticism with a statement as such.

[vagabundo]

Or maybe, he is referring to the scientific explanation where it should sound better on paper but they haven't actually made this a clear cut & definitive answer yet with many different listening tests. Sounds like he's being honest to me because he knows he is leaving himself open for criticism with a statement as such.

And thats the point.
With all due respect for Mr Cyrill and all Soulution Team - this is a bit unserious To be absolutely clear Im familiar with Soulution gears and Im sure that this DAC will be great. But this situation is like a... for example car industry. "This is a new Ferrari. We dont drive it for now, but we are absolutely sure that its great! Well.. our computer say that at least" Can you imagine situation like this?

And ok, I need to add that I have no idea how its to make some audio gears and maybe Im wrong. Just I cant imagine the situation when Im a producer of... anything and Im not 100% sure that my 'baby' isnt complete and absolutely perfect AND proven over many maaaany hours.

[FlexibleAudio]

Ive heard and read this sentence a couple of times and my question is... how the #%&K it is possible that ultra high end manufucture like Soulution (and a few others, MSB last time) released something with price about 40-100k dollars/euros and then they say something like "we dont have the chance to test it intensively" ?!?! So what is the point? How do they know that this particular DAC/AMP/SPEAKERS is great and make high price? What were they doing? Do they randomly choose interior components and think how to determine the price? Or perhaps a gypsy girl foretold them how this DAC will play? Sorry but this is ridiculous.

And thats the point.
With all due respect for Mr Cyrill and all Soulution Team - this is a bit unserious To be absolutely clear Im familiar with Soulution gears and Im sure that this DAC will be great. But this situation is like a... for example car industry. "This is a new Ferrari. We dont drive it for now, but we are absolutely sure that its great! Well.. our computer say that at least" Can you imagine situation like this?

And ok, I need to add that I have no idea how its to make some audio gears and maybe Im wrong. Just I cant imagine the situation when Im a producer of... anything and Im not 100% sure that my 'baby' isnt complete and absolutely perfect AND proven over many maaaany hours.

I am reading Cyrill's comment very differently than you. I take his comment to relate specifically to whether the 760 always sounds slightly better through the 725 rather than run direct to amps. He has simply said that his findings (based on a limited number of cables and system components) show the 760 run through the 725 is slightly superior but he speculates this finding may be system specific and he has not run the comparison against an extensive list of systems and cables.

I do not take his comment in any way to imply that he has not tested the 760 extensively as it relates to its performance generally. Unless your point is that a manufacturer should know categorically how their electronics sound against an extensive list of cables and systems in all sorts of different permutations (which I think is kinda silly) then I think you are misrepresenting his statement.

[bzr]

Paul, thanks, I gave up trying to explain!

[Anatta]

72k lol

http://www.stereophile.com/content/s...rHK7zhUGWS0.97

[still-one]

Wow!! 30% cheaper than the MSB Select.

[Odyssey]

760 D/A Converter in production now:






















Not much empty space inside the case! Looks like amazing build quality.

[klesken]

The 760 arrived in my system yesterday. The result is a truly lifelike music experience.

[Odyssey]

The 760 arrived in my system yesterday. The result is a truly lifelike music experience.

Wahoo!!

What was your previous DAC?

Which input are you using? Ethernet (LAN), USB, AES/EBU, SPDIF?

Please tell us more!

[klesken]

I was previously using EMM Labs as well as the soulution 541. I have so far tried AES/EBU only and BNC for word clock synchronisation, all connected to the latest CD transport from C.E.C. In terms of Ethernet, I will wait for a dedicated music library from MELCO. The quality of the NAS unit makes a rather audible difference.