Hi guys, just a quick cautionary note on the Soloist.
I picked one up last weekend to use with my Susvara, and was comparing it directly to the GS-X Mini. I had a strange episode upon first using the amp - it initially produced a static hiss that rose louder and louder until I actually disconnected my headphones out of concern. When tentatively checking again after it had been powered on for a while I found that it was completely silent. I wrote it off as being something to do with the amp never having been used before and used it as normal, encountering no issues.
My first impression was that the GS-X sounded more dynamic, more engaging, a little wider and a bit more holographic. I instantly thought the Soloist sounded slightly flatter, and that’s factoring in my bias towards a shiny new toy. I wanted it to sound better, but it didn’t. I thought the best thing to do would be to spend some proper time with it before making my mind up, so I resolved to use it as my go-to amp for a couple of weeks.
Then came a few days away from home. I got back today, and fired up my system and the Soloist - it’s worth noting that the Susvara was plugged into the amp at the moment of me switching it on. I’m not in the habit of disconnecting my headphones from any amps I’ve used upon shutting them down, and I frequently leave things connected and ready for future use. If this makes me a moron, what happened next is just my fault. However, I suspect that many of us probably leave our headphones plugged in, switch off an amp, switch it back on again the next day etc. Also worth noting that my Soloist (which was bought new from a UK dealer) shipped without a manual. I used it as I’d use any other amp.
I switched on the amp and heard a popping sound from the headphones - they weren’t on my head at the time. I wouldn’t say it was a particularly loud pop, but I had a bad feeling straight away and threw them on to check that everything was OK. To my horror, upon trying to listen to anything with the headphones, I found that one of the drivers was dead. So I’m now going to have to send my Susvara back to the manufacturer to get the driver fixed/replaced - they’re under warranty and only a few weeks old, so hopefully it’ll go smoothly for me.
So yeah, don’t leave your headphones connected to this amp.