Integrated Amplifier/DAC Reviews

Device Type: Integrated Amplifier
Input: 2 × balanced (XLR) 2 × unbalanced (RCA) 1 × Phono MC (optional) DAC (optional) USB, SPDIF, AES, LAN
Output: Speaker, Preamp Out, 1 x balanced (XLR)
Dimensions (W x D x H):430 x 490 x 142 mm
Weight: 66lbs.
Availability: through Authorized Dealers
Price: $20,100.00 USD
Website: www.soulution-audio.com

Solution 330 integrated with anCnoc 12

Whisky pairings.

Some prefer to pair their whisky with food and while I am a fan of that, a good whisky with some outstanding high-fidelity gear is a pairing I often prefer.

This is something I’ve explored before in my writing elsewhere, but it’s just too good not to continue on with here, so when I had the chance to take on a short-term review of the $20,100 USD Soulution 330 integrated amplifier, I couldn’t resist swapping out my personal reference all-valve Audio Note Soro Phono SE Signature integrated amplifier and pairing the brand-new 330 up with an appropriate single malt for some of my listening sessions.

Considered an “aperitif-style” single malt, the anCnoc 12 Year Old is – like the beautifully designed and constructed chassis of the 330 – something to behold.

Liquid gold to the eye, especially so in an appropriate tumbler, this $65 USD Scottish Highland effort is out of the Knockdhu Distillery. Named anCnoc after ‘Knock Hill’ which is Gaelic for Black Hill, its subtly-flavourful complexity is only revealed after time.

The whisky mimics the 330 because while initially seeming austere, perhaps even antiseptic, it proved itself to be a warm companion with surprising and mature depth and resolution.

This wasn’t revealed in the first few sips to me – because there is no linger on the tongue here – but started to pervade my palette near the end of the first glass.

The solid-state 330 played out much the same story, requiring some significant investment time-wise before becoming properly bedded-in and opening up.

Aged in well-saturated and used Spanish and American oak barrels, it hits the mouth like a slap and elicited a quick exhale of exhortation for another. Citrus comes on strong first, which turns to a bready, fruity, butterscotch-like pudding with hints of field grass, earth and a crisp smokiness that bites as it slides back over the tongue.

Mouth feel is decidedly acidic (hence the citrus) and had me “sup-sup-supping” with my tongue on lips after every roll back of my head knocking it down. But if I let it linger in my mouth, it was as if the anCnoc wanted to be taken as more of a sherry-casked Speyside than a Highland oak flirt.

This was a direct reflection of my experience with the 330 which seemed far more inclined to have me believe it had glowing thermionic valves at its heart instead of transistors. A very neat trick if it can be pulled off believably, which the 330 consistently achieved while with me.

Keeping circuitry separated and in its own bailiwick is a priority at Soulution, as are independent power supplies. The 330 is a fully dual-mono implementation and has no less than six separate optimized power supplies – four of which are switched-mode designs with 1,200 VA of direct current via custom Solution high-speed voltage regulators.

Like the Series 5 amps from the company, the 330 features three-stage, high Class-A operation and gobs of capacitance storage: 160,000µF to be precise. It also features a Theatre Mode preamp by-pass, but I did not use the 330 in this capacity during my time with it.

The 330 puts out 120 watts into eight Ohms and 240 watts into four Ohms, has a measured <0.0001% of THD+N, a >120 dB signal-to-noise ratio, features two XLR and two RCA inputs and can be specified with both an MC Phono stage and internal DAC (this unit was not). It also comes with one pair of XLR pre-outs. It is also not svelte in anything but looks.

Weighing in at 66 lbs the 330 is a substantially constructed unit and features a wonderfully designed (and playful) remote control unit that was a pleasure to use and reminded me of the ‘Weeble” toy people I had as a child (Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down).

I did all my listening through a totaldac d-1 integral (outfitted with dedicated totaldac ethernet-filter cable and USB GIGAFILTER as a source streaming Tidal 16/44 and Master files via Roon.

I started off with Radiohead’s fourth studio album, 2000’s Kid A which is basically part one to Amnesiac’s part two (both albums came from the same recording sessions) and features the band’s initial foray into deep electronica/experimental rock following singer/songwriter Thom Yorke’s mental breakdown after the gruelling promotion of 1997’s OK Computer.

On “The National Anthem” Jonny Greenwood’s guitar hook comes in with guttural authority as Philip Selway comes crashing in on the drums and a synth-laden wall of sound featuring disparate keyboard/effects over Yorke’s electronically-tuned vocals get injected into the gorgeous sonic mess. At about the 2:40 mark I’m physically startled by the chest-thumping punch of several alto, tenor and baritone saxophones as they come online amidst the cacophony of rhythm samples, trombones and trumpets. I’ve listened to this LP many times over the years, in particular through a number of EL84 and EL34 integrated tube amps and it’s been a great one for seeing how amps/sources are able to distinguish the constant amorphous splashes of instrumentation from one another.

Being familiar with the totaldac’s presentation of this album through my own valve-based gear, I couldn’t help but notice the smoothness to some of the more ragged-edges on horns from this cut that the 330 was introducing. The track still had the guttural slam to bass lines, lower registers of piano, keyboards and percussion I was used to, but there was an increase in speed to leading edges of notes that had me sitting up taking notice. This immediacy to attack shifted my enjoyment of the album into a higher gear as it helped to further emotionally communicate the frenetic vibe which the band was soaking the track in.

Etta James’ 1960 Argo Records debut LP At Last! is a favourite of mine for it’s simple R&B, blues and jazz arrangements, outstanding new material (“At Last!,” “Trust In Me,” All I Could Do Was Cry”) and its classic standard covers (“Stormy Weather,” “A Sunday Kind Of Love”). It’s also an album that has James close mic’d on several cuts which can cause lesser gear to struggle with sibilance and a spike in levels when she hits her consonants hard or gets shouty in parts.

My Dearest Darling has several studio musicians arranged in what presents as a horseshoe-shaped motif behind James’ alternately breathy and belted-out vocals which if not given proper air/space in the recording gives the impression of crowding the front/middle of the sound stage. Here the 330 rendered the recording effortlessly with every player locked into place and plenty of room for James’ to overwhelm the microphone with her powerful vocal pressurization. Timbre, tone and pitch was spot on, as was the hyper-realistic decay to vocals, cymbal splashes and piano notes. The presentation was so natural and smooth it had me grooving to what I was perceiving as lush second-order harmonics, non-linear clipping and a warmth to the sound that kept reminding me of an EL34 amp. I had to keep pinching myself: this was transistor-based output.

The Soulution 330 integrated amplifier exceeded my expectations on all fronts, whether it was in its spatial presentation of musicians within the recorded space – which varied from recording-to-recording as it should – or with its ability to present lush harmonics, true tone, timbre and pitch in a way that created an emotional connection to every song I played through it regardless of genre. Powerful dynamic swings, massed instrumentation, subtle vocal and instrumental inflections were all handled with a smoothness, effortlessness and solidity throughout the frequency range that not only reminded me of some of my favourite valve amplification, but also combined the speed and sheer grunt of solid state which I covet. A combined preamplifier and power amplifier of the highest order, the 330 is an integrated to seek out if your preferences lean towards the traits I just mentioned and you’re looking to turn away from a high box count in components. With its optional built-in phono stage and DAC the 330 could be an end-game solution for those looking to stream computer audio or play vinyl and CDs through a single-chassis amplifier.

Associated equipment

• Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE loudspeakers
• totaldac d-1 integral streamer/DAC/pre-amp
• totaldac ethernet cable/filter and USB GIGAFILTER
• Audio Note Lexus/ISIS interconnects and speaker cables
• Audio Note ISIS AC/Mains cables
• PS Audio Direct Stream P20 Power Plant