Preamplitude. It took little time to hear my assumptions borne out. Inserting multiple extra gain stages into my minimalist signal path slowed things down and fattened them up. Image specificity particularly in the depth domain softened. So did overall separation, air and top-end sheen. Simply put, resolution slipped down the ladder by a few rungs.

One of my tracks to weigh the evidence was "Aatiny Al Naya Wa Ghani" from the Ayoub Sisters' inspired Arabesque album. There's a lot going on especially when at the final 4'00" chorus the string orchestra really leans in. Though one big heaving organism, it also expresses attributes of very many sun-refracting ripples on a windy lake. Those show off multi-paralleled forces of grouped instruments. The Soloist emphasized their oneness. Pasithea solo teased out their multitudinousness, surrounding air, space and overtone sprays.

This difference also had harder edgier flavors. Having started with Raul Rodriguez's Razón du Son album to hear his virile tres, I soon went back to the well i.e. 2004 when Son de la Frontera dropped their eponymous album and introduced Raul's Cuban timbre to Flamenco long before Buika and El Cigala looked west of Spain. This 2005 live performance of "Bulería negra del Gastor" was a lovely shot in the arm. It's charged with musical electricity and machismo starting with the powerful transients of the foot stomps. That whole display of snap & sizzle, crack & pop, blister & bluster was far more keen amp direct. Adding the Soloist civilized the rawness and toned down the guitars' metallic overtones.

Flipping sides, hanging meat on the bones or chilling tension is often desired or necessary when inherently lean zippy systems feel a bit haggard or nervy. It's irrelevant in the end where we collect our pound of flesh. Source, preamp, amp or speakers, any station will do as long as it all adds up in the hot seat. My solid-wood monitors with classic AlNiCo/paper widebanders in bronze baskets augmented by 2×15" paper-based bass from 80Hz down to 20Hz already ace tone, density, weight, blackness and body. The remainder of the stations which the signal must traverse are all curated for speed and lucidity. It's really no surprise that the Soloist didn't bed in. It just didn't mean that it didn't do exactly as told. Wrong place, wrong time was the culprit. Curiously—or perhaps not?—I thought that high gain had most gumption and energy. After exploring all three settings, that's where I ended up; then back to Susvara as my favorite match in how I see Soloist's prime métier: driving stubborn headphones.

A children's game asks what animal each would be. Were the Soloist a speaker, it'd flout a silk-dome tweeter and 10-12" paper-cone mid/woofer, not the quasi ribbon and 6" diamond-coated ceramic over aluminium of Raidho's TD-1.2 I just reviewed. Softer drivers don't define transients like ultra-hard membranes. A fabric tweeter won't sparkle as high. An unusually large midrange like a classic Tannoy, Zu or Andrew Jones' latest for MoFi prioritizes meatiness and impact over resolution and speed. Because it must still meet its tweeter, it actually won't be as hung in the very bottom as its size could promise. Voilà, the Soloist's midrange-out not bottom-up or top-down profile as I heard it. No wonder that this tuning made such a terrific tonal and control match with Susvara, my orthos of electrostatic ambitions. Those also were the only load which could reasonably tap the extreme gain. Most were happy in 1-watt mode to move 9/10th out of reach. Soloists on 'normal' headphones will fly in the overkill zone but enjoy come-what-may compatibility with polite mobile sources that don't manage 2V out. Now this narrative goes on 'pause' until the matching amplifier rings my bell. It's an ideal pitstop to reiterate how on looks and metallurgy as smooth as a baby's bottom, the Soloist nails it. It's intuitive how Burson fell in love with their own casework to design around it with that external power adapter and internal always-on cooling fan to fit it all in, then use the same packaging for the power amp and DAC all united on the Mothership stand. I'm told a sample of that will accompany my loaner amps for a domestic 3-up photo op.

… to be continued when the matching Timekeepers arrive…