HiFi News review of Solo - better late than never
Printed From: Graham Slee Hifi System Components
Category: Headphone Audio
Forum Name: Write A Review
Forum Description: Satisfied with your Graham Slee headphone amp? - share your experiences here
URL: https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1956
Printed Date: 27 Mar 2026 at 4:02am
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Topic: HiFi News review of Solo - better late than never
Posted By: morris_minor
Subject: HiFi News review of Solo - better late than never
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2013 at 2:59pm
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I've just stumbled across http://ourlistenersclub.com/2013/04/test-graham-slees-solo-headphone-amplifier-christopher-breunig/ - this link . It's the text of a Solo review by Peter Breunig written in 2004 (  ) that was never published due to a change of editor at HiFi News, and it's now come to light.The writer finds it "the most revealing device of its kind I have heard", and it's "a true audiophile product". Quite how he would describe it after 9 years of further development is anyone's guess, but he did note that "Andrew Harrison’s November 2004 Hi-Fi News review of the GSP wideband cartridge pre-amplifier system, the Era Gold V and Elevator EXP, suggested that audio designer Graham Slee was capable of something rather special."  ------------- Bob Majestic DAC/pre-amp Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50 2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links |
Replies:
Posted By: BAK
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2013 at 3:20pm
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The writer finds it "the most revealing device of its kind I have heard", and it's "a true audiophile product".
What the consumer has to wait for and therefore miss since 2004! ------------- Bruce AT-14SA, Pickering XV-15, Hana EL, Technics SL-1600MK2, Lautus, Majestic DAC, Technics SH-8055 spectrum analyzer, Eminence Beta8A custom cabs; Proprius & Reflex M or C, Enjoy Life your way! |
Posted By: morris_minor
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2013 at 4:27pm
------------- Bob Majestic DAC/pre-amp Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50 2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links |
BAK wrote:Posted By: suede
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2013 at 4:33pm
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Not unlikely that the competition had a hand in this omission. A rave review suddenly dissappears, sounds dodgy. |
Posted By: Graham Slee
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2013 at 2:08pm
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How different could things have been over the last 9 years? Nobody can know, and I couldn't say, but reviews are the lifeblood of a budding high fidelity business, and back in 2004 we could have done with that review. The same magazine gave me the Era Gold V/Elevator EXP award that Peter mentioned, but some considerable confusion surrounded it... something like "if you don't pay for and attend the awards dinner it will be given to somebody else". That was how the then distributor interpreted it to me. I refused to attend because that would be a bought review which I won't do. Somehow I got the award - I think the distributor may have had to pay - I just don't know... On receiving the award via the distributor it had a chunk out of it, and I wasn't too pleased that it said Eva Gold instead of Era Gold. I remember Stuart Wennen sending me his draft copy of his Era Gold review for Hi Fi World. Reviewers often do that to ensure accuracy of facts and I was sworn to secrecy and I never leaked a word. After publication I didn't bother using a single quote from it. Why? Because the entire review had been re-written in favour of a Trichord product! Stuart Wennen couldn't stop phoning me to apologise and after the event became a good friend. Not so the editor, and I'll not mention his name here. I may have been imagining it, but I could swear a "closed shop" was closing in on me when other reviews painted a black picture of the Era Gold V: Choice and TNT's Werner Ogiers gave it the thumb's down (later re-written by Ogiers in a more favourable light). I gave the Choice Era Gold V sample to Rome Castellanes (my US distributor) and he liked it so much he sent it to Michael Fremer who told America that it was miraculous and that he meant miraculous, but then he loaned it to Bob Reiner who gave it a thumb's down in favour of Creek. Michael Fremer wasn't at all influenced by that and continues to use that same Era Gold V - and recommend it - to this day (as some will have noted from his cartridge tests). TNT's Geoff Husband couldn't understand the negative reviews either and requested it along with the Elevator EXP, so it made it a different test to the lone Era Gold V test by Ogiers. He wrote that it was the best MC combo he had ever heard. What Hi-Fi also gave it five stars but then went on to list it as a four star product... I asked why, and it was duly corrected to five. Maybe I thought there was a conspiracy against me or the Era Gold V, or both? Or perhaps it was just a matter of taste? All I know is that 10 years later it's still a highly sought after phono stage. Yes, I suppose it could have been different, but I'm not in the business of making accusations, although I' feel that with such a miraculous phono stage, as well as the Solo, I could have reaped a little more benefit. ------------- That none should be able to park up and enjoy the view without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps |
Posted By: BAK
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2013 at 7:08pm
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I am thinking (getting in trouble again) how do we get more honest reviews in front of potential GS customers? I found the reviews on the Graham Slee home page http://www.gspaudio.co.uk/ - http://www.gspaudio.co.uk/ are buried on the individual products pages. Put a REVIEWS tab on the main home page. Maybe ask the GS distributors to direct customers to that same home page. Just thinking ( or getting in trouble). Bruce ------------- Bruce AT-14SA, Pickering XV-15, Hana EL, Technics SL-1600MK2, Lautus, Majestic DAC, Technics SH-8055 spectrum analyzer, Eminence Beta8A custom cabs; Proprius & Reflex M or C, Enjoy Life your way! |
Posted By: BAK
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2013 at 7:12pm
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I saw where you have a reviews section on the home page, but down the page
where one has to scroll down. ------------- Bruce AT-14SA, Pickering XV-15, Hana EL, Technics SL-1600MK2, Lautus, Majestic DAC, Technics SH-8055 spectrum analyzer, Eminence Beta8A custom cabs; Proprius & Reflex M or C, Enjoy Life your way! |
Posted By: marshmid
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2013 at 10:18pm
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I completely agee with Bruce that the home page should have a TAB for REVIEWS. I found it very difficult to find them today. It was the technical discussions in the forum that alerted me to your products, probably from a google search, not the reviews. You could perhaps explain that small specialist manufacturers find it difficult to interest major HiFi magazines,or some such wording,in reviewing their products. I'm sure that those of us who have praised your products on the forum would not mind being quoted. I would suggest some hyperlinks to these complimentary statements. I would also suggest a TAB with links to Graham's major PEARLS OF WISDOM. This might attract more technical readers to the forum, but might involve a substantial amount of work collating the information. I hope this might help raise your & your product's profile. Marsh |