SOULNOTE, “The Clue is in the name”

We first engaged with Soulnote in the Spring of 2023 when our good friends and UK importers Kog Audio lent us a small, humble and modestly priced integrated amplifier named the A2. At under £7000, significantly less than our offerings from Thrax and Vitus, we didn’t expect too much but you can probably guess the storyline from here; we were so impressed or indeed startled by what the unit could do, that we vowed to investigate the brand more deeply at some point.

Here we are then ,over 12 months on, and we proudly bring you the very best of the Soulnote range. Technologically unique, bursting with cool factor, individual and alluring aesthetics, superb build and a sound to die for, this cutting edge and very present brand from Kanagawa, South Tokyo, have products to delight almost every customer.

Once again – as we see so often in the environs of Lotus – here is a company that is not hell bent on world domimation, exponential corporate growth or the aggressive pursuit of wealth. The love of music and the art of the craft are the guiding forces here and much like the company name, it shows in the sound. If ever there was an electronics manufacturer who epitomsed the somewhat over used adjective “musical” then you are looking at it on this page here.

” Imagine a river that has been dammed up in several places. If you continue to remove the weirs little by little, the river will finally open up to its full potential, and the original flow of the river will be restored. This is the only work that SOULNOTE does.”  chief sound designer, Hideki Kato

We love the sound then, effortlessly see through and true, a perfect fit for how we typically build our low noise systems that exude naturalness and realism. Timing and dynamics are standout but then the flavour balance is judiciously rich, delicate and with strong tonal colours; it will delight those who want to focus on the beauty and intimacy of the music as well as listeners who are more tuned into structure, attack and transients. Soulnote’s superb neutrality and high performance factor means their units can be very easily employed as staunch and dependable building blocks when creating a superlative setup. System building with Soulnote is a walk in the park.

In todays market it is easy to become utterly lost and confused within the metric of retail pricing. Unlike most other categories of commercial goods, audio equipment is open to huge abuse of its pricing whether that be elicited from the manufacturers, distributors, or indeed the target customers. Some markets around the world demand that their Hifi is splattered with carbon fibre, gold and other such frills, is twice the size it needs to be, and three times the price it really ougtht to be, or else it lacks enough pub bragging rights and will be overlooked. And so this is how say a £29,000 9kg Class D amplifier can crucify a £60,000 set of fancy monoblocks or a Phonostage under £7000 can almost tear up the entire sub £15,000 marketplace. Customers are often shocked when we demonstrate these sorts of revelations, but of course the reality is there are many inconsistencies like this throughout the industry.

Let it be know then that Soulnote are very much on the value side of the spectrum. You could argue that some of their pieces are priced far too generously vis-a-vis the median seen across the industry. We know this because we are already selling product here and ourselves and our customers are already comparing it favourably to other equipment at much greater money. You are in for a delightful and wallet friendly suprise when you too come and investigate.

Further Reading