[rmsanger]

Since it's Noctua, I'm less worried. Highly regarded as CPU or case fans in the PC world.


Might be to keep the size sane or to allow vertical operation, but it looks packed, I agree.

Any fan regaredless of brand will fail at some point 5 years 7 years maybe 10. But will you know when it fails if silent and when it does Will it turn the amp into a doorstop from heat issues. Just concerns in my mind at this point.

 

[Alcophone]

Any fan regaredless of brand will fail at some point 5 years 7 years maybe 10. But will you know when it fails if silent and when it does Will it turn the amp into a doorstop from heat issues. Just concerns in my mind at this point.

It's a fair question. I hope it has overheating protection just like some (or many?) speaker amps have, just in case.

The $25 fan itself should be easy to replace.
https://noctua.at/en/nf-a12x15-pwm-chromax-black-swap
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-A12x15-PWM-chromax-Black-swap-120x15mm/dp/B0813X9G8T/

6 years warranty, 150,000 hours MTTF, that's an average of 17 years of continuous operation before it fails, I think.

 

[Pashmeister]

My OG burson timekeeper has a fan. Been using it regularly. It’s almost about 8 or 9 years old. Still sounds phenomenal. I hope the GT will be just as tanky

 

[alekc]

Since it's Noctua, I'm less worried. Highly regarded as CPU or case fans in the PC world.

Just because particular part is highly regarded in different market like PC with very different demands and design requirements does not mean it will make a perfect match in audio world automatically. Both devices are electronics, true but the objectives and design decisions are quite different. For me this looks like a cheap DYI hack just using a bit better component. Don't want to criticize - just sharing my 5 cents from technical perspective. As a rule of a thumb I keep away from all "audiophile" equipment with internal fans. Makes no sense to me. Obviously unless... it sounds so great that I will forget about fan running inside it

 

[Alcophone]

Just because particular part is highly regarded in different market like PC with very different demands and design requirements does not mean it will make a perfect match in audio world automatically. Both devices are electronics, true but the objectives and design decisions are quite different. For me this looks like a cheap DYI hack just using a bit better component. Don't want to criticize - just sharing my 5 cents from technical perspective.

Interesting take. A gaming PC is a hostile environment with lots of dense, power hungry components and lots of heat generated and Noctua builds the most reliable and quiet fans in the industry, as far as I can tell (I only pay attention every few years when building a new PC).

I would be surprised to find any audio gear with a fan of nearly as high a caliber as that. From what little I've seen, they tend to use cheap, generic fans. So if I got audio gear with a fan (actually, any gear), I'd seek to replace it with a compatible Noctua fan and I'm really impressed (as you can tell) that I don't have to worry about that here at all.

Noctua offers various types of fans for different purposes, I imagine Burson did their homework before picking this particular one. I'm not an expert when it comes to their lineup, though.

Not sure what would be so unique about an amplifier that it requires a novel type of fan. You distribute the heat over a sufficiently large area with heatsinks, then you dissipate it with a fan - done. The unique part would be the airflow and possibly cooler design, not the fan - I think.
Where you do see lots of engineering effort go into fans is, well, computers, specifically laptops and graphics cards because they are incredibly energy dense and space constrained.

I suspect an amp that would probably be fine with passive cooling in the winter is well served with a premium PC case fan like this one.

As a rule of a thumb I keep away from all "audiophile" equipment with internal fans. Makes no sense to me. Obviously unless... it sounds so great that I will forget about fan running inside it

Yes, a fan certainly raises my eyebrows, this would be my first audio product that has one. But with more power, passive cooling quickly becomes very challenging, requiring lots of metal, increasing the case size and weight and thus the production and distribution cost of the product. If the fan is sufficiently quiet (so that I can't hear it when the amp is idling 2 ft away from me with my headphones off), it could be a viable alternative - time will tell.

I suppose if the fan becomes louder in use that could be a factor with open back headphones and for those who listen when others are around. I look forward to the reviews, I'm sure people will cover it.

 

[Pashmeister]

Lachlan has been firmly in the camp of “all things equal, more power will not yield better SQ or better frequency response”. Based on his responses in the comments in his YT teaser, he will not at all attribute the Susvara’s SQ improvements to the added power at all— he mentions evident sonic improvements, but it will be because of all other changes implemented to the GT version except the added power. Guess that’s where it gets controversial with Susvara/TC owners. But regardless, at the end of the day if the SQ improved then it’s a win.

 

[rmsanger]

Review is out

 

[Gavin C4]

In the 2 channel world, any virbration that goes into the analogue section is consider undesirable because these virbration may be ampified by the analogue circuit. With an internal fan, any moving parts will have some sort of movement. Especially in the amp section, it maybe possible that the vibration goes into the music. If adding a fan is such a good choice, then I gues all 2 channel amps that goes up to 500w would add a fan. But none of the ultra high end 2 channel equipments are equiped with a fan. All of the power amps are passive cooling. You either make the case larger with better passive cooling. and Not introduce more vibration into the design.

 

[rmsanger]

Soloist 3X Grand Tourer world premiere review + 2 days Special Offer​

We thank Lachlan from Passion-For-Sound for his very kind and detailed review of the Soloist 3X Grand Tourer!

He has compared it to several competitions globally, some retailing at 6000USD, others at 3000USD and he concluded by saying,

"To me, sonically, the GT is the best headphone amp I have heard".

Suprise announcement​

All pre-ordered GTs will start shipping from 10th November, and we will upgrade their power supply units to the Super Charger 5A featured in this review

The SC-5A takes the GT to "Ludicrous Mode"! and we want our most loyal supporters to experience it on day one. : )

Passion-for-Sound 2 days Grand Tourer offer​

For the next two days only, every Soloist 3X GT order will come with a free Cool stand and our upcoming Super Charger 5A.

The total value for freebies is over 500USD.

Offer ends 29th October.

Webshop Link: https://www.bursonaudio.com/product/soloist-3x-gt/

* This is a direct order offer only.

* Delivery in chronological order.

* You can cancel your order before it ships. Burson will refund the order via Paypal, less 5% transaction fee. (the part that we don't get refunded by Paypal)

 

[qsk78]

I would pre-order it right now but you guys do not ship to Russia, and your local dealer doesn't have the GT even listed on their web site yet...
And it will be no free cool stand + Super charger with it anyway.

There is no justice in this world...

 

[Pashmeister]

Oh wow I am getting rewarded for blindly preordering back in September. Awesome! Exciting!

 

[Pashmeister]

In the 2 channel world, any virbration that goes into the analogue section is consider undesirable because these virbration may be ampified by the analogue circuit. With an internal fan, any moving parts will have some sort of movement. Especially in the amp section, it maybe possible that the vibration goes into the music. If adding a fan is such a good choice, then I gues all 2 channel amps that goes up to 500w would add a fan. But none of the ultra high end 2 channel equipments are equiped with a fan. All of the power amps are passive cooling. You either make the case larger with better passive cooling. and Not introduce more vibration into the design.

i wonder how the sound will differ between a GT with a fan vs. without (e.g. a GT that uses a massive heatsink instead of a fan). I guess one can quite easily experiment by manually disconnecting the fan and have a comparison of the SQ with and without the vibration from a fan. My guess is there would be no difference. Anyway, I chose the GT over the Volot because of the form factor. I wouldn’t get this GT if it got rid of the fan and became the size of the Volot.

I can understand that people will have reservations on the GT. I am not one of them, and after Lachlan’s review I’m even more excited and glad I pre-ordered.

 

[Womaz]

I keep thinking I have made my mind up to go for the niimbus us5 pro but then I see that review High praise indeed. As I already have a Burson I kind of know what to expect

 

[mfgillia]

i wonder how the sound will differ between a GT with a fan vs. without (e.g. a GT that uses a massive heatsink instead of a fan). I guess one can quite easily experiment by manually disconnecting the fan and have a comparison of the SQ with and without the vibration from a fan. My guess is there would be no difference. Anyway, I chose the GT over the Volot because of the form factor. I wouldn’t get this GT if it got rid of the fan and became the size of the Volot.

I can understand that people will have reservations on the GT. I am not one of them, and after Lachlan’s review I’m even more excited and glad I pre-ordered.

I'm in the same position considering Volot versus GT since Ferrum ORR seems to have a series of quality control issues and Holo Audio's Bliss not expected until first quarter of 2022 at the earliest.

Volot seems to have better specs than the GT at a similar price but damn its huge and would take some ingenuity to figure out how to set it up on my desk.

 

[rmsanger]

I'm in the same position considering Volot versus GT since Ferrum ORR seems to have a series of quality control issues and Holo Audio's Bliss not expected until first quarter of 2022 at the earliest.

Volot seems to have better specs than the GT at a similar price but damn its huge and would take some ingenuity to figure out how to set it up on my desk.

I think at a certain point the “specs” makes less of an impact on sound quality. Or perhaps we need to start looking at alternative specs and not just watts.