I have been a member of this forum for last six months, never knew such a wonderful forum existed with so much of information and expertise from forum members. Until about an year ago, I had a decent entry level setup using Vienna Acoustics Bookshelf speakers, Peach Tree Nova Class D amp and OPPO Bluray player BDP 95 for the source. I was satisfied with this setup and my music listening is mostly South Indian Film Music - IR, ARR, western classic instrumental, 70 & 80s pop and Jazz.
I have always earned/craved for listening music in a good setup but had limited knowledge in going about setting up and improve my components. About an year ago, my peach tree integrated amp stopped working and I was unsuccessful in getting it serviced in Chennai. I then started looking out to replace the amp by reading & researching online and visiting a few audio shops in Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and during a short personal trip to Singapore. I demo'd ARCAM, Unison Research, Vincent Audio, NAIM, Hegel & Rego. I don't remember the model numbers but I have written another post in this forum on the brands I demo'd. All of these amps were great amplifiers each having a distinct quality and features but I wasn't satisfied with any of them as I was looking for something a real experience. May be years of listening to certain configurations and setup have conditioned in certain way.
Then, I finally found another store in Chennai Avlounge and spoke to Mr.Venkat over there. I visited the store with my speakers and had a chance to listen one of the amps they had, it was the Soulnote A1 integrated amplifier. https://www.soulnote.audio/soulnote-en/series-1/a-1
I wanted to listen to a few Genres that I know of but unfortunately they did not have any of them and the setup did not have a streamer as a source. I ended up with one Ilayaraja CD from the movie Bharathi and when I listened to the songs from the movie, I was stunned. It was a new experience for me. The sound was so natural I felt hearing all the vocals and instruments live without any audio gear in between. Offcourse, the studio had the best of the Source as a CD player "ElectroComponent" I believe, the speaker cables, the setup of the room and the power gear are all the real high-end ones. I knew that I may not be able to reproduce the exact sound at home without all the high end and expensive gears. But I felt something with the amp as the sound clarity was so wholesome and natural. Though it was way over my budget I purchased the amp and it took few weeks for them to get them imported from Japan. Mr. Venkat was super helpful in the whole process and helped guided me with the right set of cables etc.,
I received the Amp around end of April. It has been over two months since I started using the amp regularly. Here is my experience so far
-- The sound is so natural and real, able to hear all of the instruments distinctly. The bass is quite good, it does not add anything other than the source. If I feed music that has good recording it reproduces it exactly. There are certain instruments that I am able to hear so distinctly which I have never heard before.
Personally, moving from a Class D to Class A/B amp I see the real difference. The vocals are so transparent and clear. There is no artificial bass added to the music. There are couple of instances while listening I felt I really hit a zone, it is unexplainable in words, may be you audiophiles have experienced this before but it was new to me.
Reasons I chose SoulNote
-- I was looking for an amp without a DAC or streamer etc., as I can customize them and mix and match later
-- I am always biased towards Japanese Electronic products
--Matched well with my current Vienna Acoustics Speakers
--Experience working with Venkat and AVLounge
The only negative was the price as it was more than my budget. I took the plunge because listening to music in a good equipment and experiencing it is something that I always looking for. Next I wanted to improve the setup by investing in a good DAC and then an audio source.
This is my current setup
OPPO BDP 95-> Soul Note A1 -> VA Book shelf speakers. OPPO BDP supports TIDAL and I am streaming music from TIDAL using my cell phone. Since it is primarily a BLURAY player, I am not sure how good the DAC that comes with it. So my next investment is going to be a DAC and then power equipment to protect the components.
I am thankful to the Forum members for sharing their knowledge and providing helpful tips. In fact some of the forum members offered me to visit their home in Chennai and listen to their setup before I make a decision on the amp.
I have always earned/craved for listening music in a good setup but had limited knowledge in going about setting up and improve my components. About an year ago, my peach tree integrated amp stopped working and I was unsuccessful in getting it serviced in Chennai. I then started looking out to replace the amp by reading & researching online and visiting a few audio shops in Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and during a short personal trip to Singapore. I demo'd ARCAM, Unison Research, Vincent Audio, NAIM, Hegel & Rego. I don't remember the model numbers but I have written another post in this forum on the brands I demo'd. All of these amps were great amplifiers each having a distinct quality and features but I wasn't satisfied with any of them as I was looking for something a real experience. May be years of listening to certain configurations and setup have conditioned in certain way.
Then, I finally found another store in Chennai Avlounge and spoke to Mr.Venkat over there. I visited the store with my speakers and had a chance to listen one of the amps they had, it was the Soulnote A1 integrated amplifier. https://www.soulnote.audio/soulnote-en/series-1/a-1
I wanted to listen to a few Genres that I know of but unfortunately they did not have any of them and the setup did not have a streamer as a source. I ended up with one Ilayaraja CD from the movie Bharathi and when I listened to the songs from the movie, I was stunned. It was a new experience for me. The sound was so natural I felt hearing all the vocals and instruments live without any audio gear in between. Offcourse, the studio had the best of the Source as a CD player "ElectroComponent" I believe, the speaker cables, the setup of the room and the power gear are all the real high-end ones. I knew that I may not be able to reproduce the exact sound at home without all the high end and expensive gears. But I felt something with the amp as the sound clarity was so wholesome and natural. Though it was way over my budget I purchased the amp and it took few weeks for them to get them imported from Japan. Mr. Venkat was super helpful in the whole process and helped guided me with the right set of cables etc.,
I received the Amp around end of April. It has been over two months since I started using the amp regularly. Here is my experience so far
-- The sound is so natural and real, able to hear all of the instruments distinctly. The bass is quite good, it does not add anything other than the source. If I feed music that has good recording it reproduces it exactly. There are certain instruments that I am able to hear so distinctly which I have never heard before.
Personally, moving from a Class D to Class A/B amp I see the real difference. The vocals are so transparent and clear. There is no artificial bass added to the music. There are couple of instances while listening I felt I really hit a zone, it is unexplainable in words, may be you audiophiles have experienced this before but it was new to me.
Reasons I chose SoulNote
-- I was looking for an amp without a DAC or streamer etc., as I can customize them and mix and match later
-- I am always biased towards Japanese Electronic products
--Matched well with my current Vienna Acoustics Speakers
--Experience working with Venkat and AVLounge
The only negative was the price as it was more than my budget. I took the plunge because listening to music in a good equipment and experiencing it is something that I always looking for. Next I wanted to improve the setup by investing in a good DAC and then an audio source.
This is my current setup
OPPO BDP 95-> Soul Note A1 -> VA Book shelf speakers. OPPO BDP supports TIDAL and I am streaming music from TIDAL using my cell phone. Since it is primarily a BLURAY player, I am not sure how good the DAC that comes with it. So my next investment is going to be a DAC and then power equipment to protect the components.
I am thankful to the Forum members for sharing their knowledge and providing helpful tips. In fact some of the forum members offered me to visit their home in Chennai and listen to their setup before I make a decision on the amp.
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