Burson Soloist GT4 Deluxe Review by The Headphone Experience

William Murdock of The Headphone Experience has published his full review of the Burson Soloist GT4 Deluxe, a Class A headphone amplifier with a built-in preamp. Burson loaned him the unit, which has V7 Vivid op-amps, SP02 Silent Power modules and the Super Charger power supply. He quotes $2,499 for the Standard and $2,999 for the Deluxe.

Design, Controls and Build Quality

William highlights the dual-mono design with two volume controls, one per channel. Volume moves in 0.5dB steps, so you can fine-tune it precisely. He welcomes the third gain setting: the middle gain suits most headphones, and high gain is for hard-to-drive planars. Crossfeed is selectable (off or three levels), and there is a headphone + subwoofer mode. The display rotates 90 degrees, so the GT4 can stand on its edge.

He found the menu easy to use. He called the build quality “superb”, with a clean, wire-free internal layout that is among the best he has seen.

Soloist GT4 Sound Quality

William describes the GT4 Deluxe as slightly on the warm side of neutral and slightly V-shaped, which he attributes to the V7 op-amps. In his words, the detail and clarity are “outstanding”, and the soundstage is large in both width and depth.

Power for the HIFIMAN Susvara

His main test headphone was the original HIFIMAN Susvara. He also used the HIFIMAN HE6se V2, the HE1000 Unveiled and the Susvara Unveiled. On high gain from the balanced output, he says the GT4 has plenty of power for both the Susvara and the HE6. The balanced output hits a little harder than the single-ended one. His sources were the Topping D70, the HIFIMAN Serenade (as a DAC), the Benchmark DAC1 and the Audio-gd R8 MK2.

Comparisons: Conductor 3 Reference, HIFIMAN Prelude and Audio-gd Master 9

• Burson Conductor 3 Reference (V7 and Super Charger): very similar, but the GT4 has a slightly wider stage, a blacker background, a little more dynamics and more sub-bass weight.
• HIFIMAN Prelude: on the same level overall. The Prelude has a slight edge in clarity and focus, while the GT4 has more inputs, three gain settings, crossfeed and more accurate volume control.
• Audio-gd Master 9: similar in clarity and detail. The Master 9 has a slightly wider stage and slightly more bass weight.
• Against a $125,000 reference amp, William says the GT4 gets about 90% of the way there for a small fraction of the price.

Drawbacks

• The internal cooling fans are faintly audible with open-back headphones when no music is playing. He calls this very minor.
• He could not get the balance control to make an audible difference on his unit.
• The single-ended output has half the power of the balanced output.

Verdict

“This is up there with the best amps I’ve heard.” William highly recommends the Soloist GT4. He calls it a great headphone amp at a very reasonable price for what you get.

Watch the full review on YouTube.

Discover the full features and specifications on the Burson Soloist GT4 product page.