Solo SRG II Beta vs SRG impressions from a layman

I was a beta test member of the Solo SRG II earlier this year and compared it to my SRG I. I was both excited and disappointed when I heard that a new Solo was released as I acquired mine just over a year ago. I was excited by the promise of the possible improvement on my already excellent Solo SRG I, but also disappointed at the idea of spending more money if the improvement was indeed significant.

I must say that I was surprised when the SRG II was released with the promise of improved bass as I never found my SRG I wanting – admittedly if I had one complaint about my headphone rig, it was that my HD650 became a little boring and too laid back, something that the HD600 improved, although I still don’t think that they are the most transparent or base heavy headphones out there. (although some people say that they are bass heavy?)

I connected my CDP to the two Solo’s in the following configuration

·         Cambridge Audio Azur 840C CD player -> Van den Hul d102 III XLR to CA Azur 840E preamp -> Zu Gede RCA to Solo SRG II

·         Cambridge Audio Azur 840C CD player -> CA Azur IC RCA to Solo SRG I

I equalised the volume level by ear (the CA preamp adds 12dB of gain). I also swapped the Solo’s  in the above configuration to see if the preamp and IC’s made a marked difference. It didn’t

I also used my TT (Technics 1210 MKII, Jelco SA750D, Cartridgeman MM3, GA2SE (also borrowed a Reflex – older version with red LED), Cusat 50.

Headphones I used were HD650, HD600 and Sennheiser PXC450 (noise cancelling cans- with noise cancelling bypassed). I used the HD600 for the majority of the time as they are more transparent than the HD650 and find the bass on the PXC450 (closed back) too boomy when driven by the Solo.

To be honest, to my ears (and through the 2 HD 6x0s) there wasn’t that big a difference. I could hear a slight increase in bass, but it wasn’t massive (but you wouldn’t expect a massive improvement on an already excellent product). I found the better bass not in heavy metal type of music, i.e more slam, but rather in more complex bass like the voices of a Leonard Cohen / Chris Rea / Mark Knopfler etc in the form of fuller bass with more detail and texture. I asked my girlfriend (who knows less than nothing about hifi) for her impressions and without prepping her in any way, she told me that the SRG II sounded “fuller” which I thought summed it up pretty well. To her eyes, she only saw two silver, identical boxes, but she picked the SRG II out and preferred it for its “fuller” sound every time in multiple blind tests. No arguing that. When she put me through the blind tests I preferred the SRG I every time for what I felt was greater transparency and separation in the midrange. Also no arguing that. I believe however that I preferred what I experienced as greater transparency and separation due to the Sennheiser’s “veil” which I was growing increasingly frustrated with the more I heard better headphones.

Since test driving the SRG II I invested in a pair of Grado PS1000 which lacks nothing in the transparency or bass departments and it would be really interesting to see which one I would pick in a blind test now!

Based on the above tests with HD600 – would I invest in upgrading to the SRG II? No, not now, I don’t think I would get the true value with the above system and I think there are other components in my system which would yield a bigger performance improvement – like getting the PS1000 – Now that the “veil” that obscured many details with the HD600/650 has been sorted out with the PS1000, I can truly hear details never heard before, eg, the improvement  the PSU 1 brings over the SMPS with both the Solo and GA2SE and like I said, the comparison may be more interesting and revealing now.

But…

I do have a new problem though, I am not sure whether the PS1000 are exceptionally bright, but I do find every ssss sssshredding my ears to pieces and find some cd’s and almost all mp3’s nearly unlistenable! Will the ultra-linear Solo sort this out by taking some of the edge and shine off…? I don’t think it is the SRG’s fault, I think for the first time compressed music’s shortcomings are shown up by the PS1000/Solo combination.

I hope this was of some use.