Thank you for your kind words Peter. I usually tend to see things on the positive side too.
As soon as an interesting opportunity shows up, we’ll move. If we’re lucky enough, I’ll have the chance to build a dedicated room.
In the meantime, I’ll enjoy what I have, which is rather good all things considered (including measured acoustics).
I’m glad you’re happy with your room. It not only sounds good, it looks great! You did a excellent job.
As for the Soulution electronics, we’ll see.
A used Naim Statement is on sale in Germany for about 130’000 euros. It crossed my mind once or twice. Considering we’re no longer in a rush for the house, it could have been an option. But the thing is really too big and heavy. And my best half doesn’t like the idea of buying second hand. So I forgot the idea.
Soulution’s electronics sound astonishingly well. They are particularly good at retrieving details and reproducing the space in which the pieces were recorded. In terms of airiness and separation, it is the best I’ve heard.
My impression when I first heard them is that they also provide something Naim offers: fullness. This was not the case with their previous amplifiers.
The new version of their top line 701 monoblocs and 711 stereo amps (701 and 711 are roughly the same) have some traits in common with the 500 series. The 760 DAC is… well, I believe it has very little competition.
In addition, Soulution is located in Switzerland, which is convenient for both the warranty period and later for a possible service.
But, at the same time, I also love my Naim 500DR system. I spent an hour this afternoon listening to the piano. While not being the best in terms of details retrieval or airiness, Naim electronics has this ability to grab your attention immediately and drowns you into emotion.
While I appreciate all those audiophile attributes, for me, music is about relaxing and emotion. So it’ll be hard to decide if I’ll keep the 500 DR system or not.
I’ll take my young daughter to Zürich. She’ll decide!