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Inside the Sooloos Source:One

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Poster:	John_Atkinson (see this users gallery)
Views:	695
Rating:	(1.00)
Date:	Thu Aug 21, 2008
Filesize:	57.0k, 126.4k
Dimensions:	959 x 687
Description:	As reported in Jon Iverson's and Kalman Rubinson's review in the September 2008 issue, the Sooloos Source:One, which is the component that outputs analog and digital audio, uses a high-quality soundcard from German manufacturer RME. We didnt have room to publish an interior shot in the review, but I thought readers would be interested in seeing one, nevertheless. Looking at the Source:One, at the front center you have the network interface card; on the left you have a switching power supply; at the rear center is an industrial PC with its familiar but unused I/O jacks at the front and its vertically mounted RAM board at the back; and at the right is the RME Hammerfall soundcard plugged inot the PC's PCI slot. The RCA jacks at the front of the photo were incorrectly wired on both our samples, with their grounds galvanically connected to the chassis. Jon Iverson's sample was corrected before he performed his critical auditioning The significance of this photo is that what ostensibly is an audio component is actually a PC dedicated to one specific function. I think this is increasingly what we will see in high-end audio components—in fact, we already are!
Keywords:	Inside Sooloos Source:One

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Bob B

Registered: Sep 2005
Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania
Posts: 84

Fri Aug 22, 2008 10:26pm

At $13,000, the word 'underwhelmed' comes to mind. Publishing that picture doesn't do Sooloss any favors. Judging by the hardware, the software must be pretty magical to justify that price.

crazymf

Registered: Aug 2008
Posts: 9

Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:06pm

Rating: 1.00

I agree with Bob B, without some magical software this is nothing more as my home PC with external sound card (80$), witch also has external power supply (bought in industrial shop for 50$)- a goooood one Wink

TDA1541

Registered: May 2006
Posts: 97

Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:22pm

This is the saddest piece of equipment that I've ever seen. :-(

Jim Tavegia

Registered: Sep 2005
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 1157

Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:47pm

I guess the question is does your $10K cd player do or sound as good as the Sooloos does? Most of us who look inside CD players don't see very much either, with the drive mostly stock CD-ROMs only.

When the price comes down, as it most assuredly will, what is an acceptable price for what the Sooloos does? $3000 to $4500? The slick software and the user friendly touch screen offers more than most $10K cd players.

I have no doubt this type of device is the future. It will be something up front of a Benchmark, Apogee, Lucid, RME, or some other great DAC.

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Jim Tavegia