Solo UL reviewed, bottom up

Before you can appreciate a product review, my experience is that you must know were the reviewer is coming from. In the case of audio products, it matters if its a magazine reviewer, an audio professional, or a die hard hi-fi enthusiast. I'm none of these. In Alice style I have fumbled down the rabbit hole and if you find yourself in the same situation, you might come to find this review interesting.

In my childhood I was listening too… Fast forward, my first introduction to a mediocre music experience that I knowingly took part of was when I went out and bought a pair of Denon earplugs. Yes they sounded fantastic to my ears! (Obviously because the only comparison was stock plugs on discmans and later iPods). After loosing them at a hotel I went out to get another pair, this time more money was spent and more pleasure was received by my ears. A wonderful time. Later I got a Denon 710AE amplifier and a pair of B&W DM685 and I was about to unknowingly step out of mediocre territory.

In a stroke of luck I was recently able to obtain a pair of the otherwise overpriced Denon AH D7100 for a low introduction price. But having no dedicated amplifier obviously left them lacking, so…

Hours of google-foo resulted in me ending up here at Graham Slee Projects Limited, product line seemed intriguing seemingly headed by an audio guru. Before I knew it a headphone amp for loan was at its way.

I was told that even though the product was likely burnt in by now, It could take some time for it to settle. Could very well be, but right off it gave a new dimension to the same tracks I had listened to so many times before. I still gave it the courtesy of a few days before starting to evaluate it.

The soundstage and separation of the different elements was taken to a new level on (almost) all kind of music, but more so on tracks like Florence+the Machine - Drumming Song MTV unplugged 2012, while before I had Florence in my house, the Solo UL now made me end up in the synagogue (actual recording location). The improvements was huge, and the clarity and warmth of the vocals was improved with relatively huge margins.

The whispering part of Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing gave an disturbingly life like "I'm right here whispering in your ear" kind of experience that was quite cool and intense the first time around, really tricked my brain.

Classical music saw much needed improvements as well, an area that the D7100 is lacking in, but with the help of the Solo pulled trough impressively. The violin was probably the instrument that saw the biggest improvement, as a layman I don't know how to describe its rebirth, but closing my eyes I could feel it in the room, extremely natural and transparent.

Other tracks did not get any help from the Solo, like the electronica band Boards of Canada with the track "Amo Bishop Roden", overall improvements on this track was minuscule, but some of the electrical pops was given more "ump" and power, in a good way, and the few bass elements was handled excellent, which brings me on to one of the real strengths of the Solo UL+7100 combo.

There is no secret the 7100 is a killer when it comes to drums and base. The sound produced from tracks like Sbtrkt - Hold On are good examples of a heavy bass beat that avoids being a complete mush because of the Solo's transparency and Denons focus on bass. I would also like to mention the album Black Sands by Bonobo, an album that really needs this level of "hifi" equipment to be worth listened to, because the elements and instruments get their own place in the sound stage clearly separated, and not mushed together.

Across the board improvements. Mr soundstage. Clarity and transparency in vocals. Bass balanced and under strict control. Great improvement to my headphone set up, probably to yours as well.