Soulution 727

AImost 14 years have passed since a review of a Soulution product appeared in the pages of Stereophile."

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PREAMPLIFIER

Given the Swiss company's steady ascent in the high-end pantheon, it is high time that we again reached into the German-speaking region of Switzerland north of the Swiss Alps to evaluate another of the reference products from a company equally renowned for its sonic achievements and refined and elegant design aesthetic.

Enter the full-function Soulution 727 preamplifier ($74,975),² whose optional MC/MM phono section ($11,975) will be evaluated in a future issue.³ Because Soulution claims that the 727 "sets benchmarks in terms of noise, phase errors, common mode rejection and distortion," one would hope that there's far more than 62lb of classy casework and an easy-to-handle lightweight remote to account for its price.

The 727 is the top-level preamplifier in Soulution's threetiered lineup of Series 7, Series 5, and "entry-level" Series 3.

Its front panel is intentionally simple: three large, slightly raised Power, Mute, and "Prog" (program) buttons on the left; a display in the middle, whose readout is clearly legible from a distance of 12', and a large rotary knob on the right that handles volume, input selection, display brightness, and programming/configuration adjustment.

The rear panel, whose layout is almost as elegant as the front's, includes a 15-amp mains input, two pairs (one for each channel) of balanced outputs, one pair of RCA outputs, three pairs of balanced inputs, and two pairs of RCA inputs. Add in an RS-232 port; two "LINK 3-Series" sockets for use with Series 3 units; link-in, firmware, and link-out ports; and a model-identifying panel that includes the serial number, and you know what's on the surface. Settings and configuration choices include balance, phase, ground lift, start volume, maximum volume, and input selection/deactivation/naming.