Soulnote

Soulnote were founded in 2004 by several former employees of Marantz, they are located in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa, Japan.

Fast forward to today and they have 50 employees, since 2016 their chief sound designer is Hideki Kato, highly regarded from his time at NEC and Philips during the 1980s where he designed several landmark products.

When Kato joined Soulnote he was entrusted with everything from product planning, electrical design, structural design, sound quality management, and promotion, all in one place. At that time, there was one overarching aim…Make Soulnote the best audio brand in the world.

Kato spent considerable time trying to understand why the improvement in measured performance and sound quality during playback did not always correspond. He hypothesised a counter-concept which he called dynamic performance. He implemented technology into Soulnote prodcuts such as non-oversampling mode for PCM playback in their DACs and non-NFB (no negative feedback) in their amplifiers and although these worsen the measurements they dramatically improve the real world performance delivered from their products.

When Kato is developing a product listening is prioritised over measurements. Every aspect of the product is scrutinised by listening, from circuit design, component layout and chassis innovations with their unique method of the way in which their products are ‘floated’ (Series 2 and 3 only).

Soulnote first came onto my radar at the Munich High End Show a couple of years ago, they had a superb room and since then I’ve kept half an eye on them at a distance and I’m thrilled to have them onboard.

There are 3 distinct groups of products, Series 1, 2 and 3. There is visual consistency within each Series in terms of chassis size and appearance. Series 2 is a larger, superior version of Series 1 and the flagship Series 3 is larger again. Build quality, technology and performance improves as we move through each Series.

Series 1 is their entry level range which comprises of three products, an integrated amplifier (£3300), a DAC (£5400) and a phono stage (£3600). For the price points the build quality, fit and finish is excellent, the front panels are made from thick, milled aluminium.

When you step up to Series 2 the chassis size increases, they introduce their innovate floating chassis with this range and overall build quality takes a sizeable leap forward as well, the whole case is made from milled aluminium, not just the front panel. In terms of products within Series 2 it follows the same theme as Series 1 with an integrated amplifier (£6300), a DAC (£7700) and a phono stage (£6800).

Series 3 is Soulnote’s flagship range of products, true reference build quality and a no compromise design, with a fully floating chassis and performance that comfortably allows Soulnote to go head to head with products from Vitus and T+A HV. Compared to Series 1 and 2 there is a wider range of products available within Series 3, as well as an integrated amplifier, DAC and phono stage we also have an SACD player, a preamplifier, both stereo and mono power amplifiers, a network transport and also a clock generator.