Soulnote E2 – reshaping the landscape

You may not have heard much about Soulnote but that is soon going to change. This bespoke passionate company, headed by ex-Marantz genius Hideki Kato in Kanawara on the outskirts of Tokyo, first came to our attention in the Spring of last year when our friends and UK importers Kog Audio lent us a small unassuming and modestly priced £6800 Integrated amplifier named the A2.

We had a brief listen and were quite startled at the performance for the money. We also put it into a customer home up against a secondhand Vitus 010 integrated. The Vitus is a very old amp now but usually a great buy on the used market at the £4000 mark or so; it used to retail for about £15,00 back in the day and eventually became the SIA-025 several revisions later. The A2 was the better amplifier for sure, more true, more accurate and transparent and whilst it wasn’t as alluringly sweet and soapy as the Vitus, it still was in the organic and honeyed camp, thankfully devoid of any of the brittleness and brightness that plagues many a cheap solid state amplifier that attempts to be detailed.

My customer that day purchased the Vitus, its unique vintage blend of Class A romanticism was preferred in the target Avalon system and it was a few thousand pounds cheaper too but we both agreed that the Japanese amp was not only better objectively, but would be the pick for many other people and their systems. Not to take anything away from the 010 of course, today it takes the form of the highly accomplished SIA-025 mkii and would be naturally compared to the bigger A3 which is the best integrated amplifier Soulnote make, but what this tale does illustrate is the rate of progress over 13 years or so. It’s not very often when a used item that is some 25% of its original cost can be compared to a brand new unit close to that same cost.

The piece you are reading about here though is the E2 phonostage from the same “2 series” range (there is a cheaper 1 series range and a flagship 3 series as well) and there is possibly no better way of introducing this brand to you than with a closer examination of this even more startling piece. Let it be known from the outset that I have been microscoping the E2 here for 3 weeks now and it’s also been on 2 customer demos and made 2 very quick sales and my feeling is this phonostage not only mirrors but significantly amplifies the giant killing ability we witnessed last year in the A2 amplifier.

Now we get pieces fairly frequently here that punch above their market positions and you will find that a lot of Soulnotes equipment does this too, but with this E2 I am honestly not sure if I have ever met a more potent David amongst Goliaths. I have put it up against the other stages I sell here – all of which themselves are highly respected market leaders – and my customers have AB’d it against some much more expensive rivals as have importers Kog Audio and other dealers too. Now its obviously not cricket to actually compile these results but the headline you need to know is that the E2 in my opinion has pretty much torn up the phonostage market. It arguably rewrites the landscape. Yes I’m a dealer and I naturally punt my wares, but read anything about this unit online, whether it be Ken Kessler in Hifi News, the Naim forum, Whatsbest or anywhere else, and the gushing and superlatives will soon start to make you feel queasy. Come and borrow mine – that is free of charge – and I guarantee you will feel the same way too. Feel free to borrow some other more expensive rivals from some other dealers as well if you like, the results will almost certainly be the same.

Leaving the sonics to one side for a moment, to make matters harder for everything else out there in the market, this unit has a feature set which is so exhaustive that it’s literally a last phono that you can grow into with every possible specification and piece of functionality that you would ever need or wish for. Four inputs, a DS optical input, Balanced and RCA, Balanced and RCA outputs, adjustable RIAA EQ controls, phase inversion, low cut, degauss/mute, -10db low gain mode, low capacitance controls for moving magnet, they have thought of just about everything and certainly no phono that I have ever handled has ever offered so much, regardless of price.

How does it actually sound though ? What’s its character ? Well the first thing that hits you is simply how bold, definite and dynamic music is through the E2. This is a stage that fully develops everything it is fed in a very confident manner. Nothing is faint, underdeveloped or weak. You don’t have to raise the volume to make the system sound alive or vibrant. It’s ALL there, huge amounts of resolution, space, air and soundstage. It actually reminds me of the new Wadax Studio Player digital source in this respect, there is no holding back, the music is fully matured and synthesized beyond the system and into the room. Nothing is half hearted and nothing is left in the speakers. Other stages by comparison sound like a wet lettuce … flat, narrow, threadbare with weaker levels of nuance and expression.

The energy character then is extremely self-assured and dynamic. There is none of the faint delicate murkiness you can get with many a valve phono stage in the sub £10,000 region, this unit resolves like a demon and explicitly presents the music right there in front of you. Will this be too much or the wrong flavour for some people ? Well there might be the odd customer who has cultivated a soft, stongly laid back and indistinct type of system but these people are generally outside the catchment net of Lotus. Some customers might have to take a day or two to get used to the new high levels of information and pronunciation but then that is often the same with all sorts of component upgrades. Most customers will be amazed though and slot right into the E2’s assured and gutsy fingerprint and reference levels of performance. This is right where I want equipment to be these days, fully alive, revealing and transparent to source. It should also be noted that when the music is gentle and more restful the E2 conveys this beautfully as well. It does not lack finesse and a gentle touch just because it is so dynamic and present.

Analysing the Soulnote further, it comes as no surprise that nearly all other areas are standout too. The unit is neutral with no shaping of the EQ, getting out of the way of the music and telepgraphing it to you in the most direct and faithful manner possible. You are definitely not listening to a piece of equipment here.

Soundstage width and depth and imaging in general is also a notable strength. The E2 layers and does ambience, space and air like a tube phono. Tonally it also carefully tips its hat to the warm organic way of doing things. The Soulnote house sound isn’t coloured or over egged tonally but served with a very well judged subtle sprinkling of upper end sweetness and mid bass richness.

Timing is another trump card, not just with the E2 but with the brand in general from what I have experienced so far. The E2 has extremely well defined bass that is dexterous, solid and three dimensional. Music with this stage has speed, propulsion and a superb turn of foot. Rhythms and basslines are unravelled with a very pleasurable sense of coherency and drive. All of this without any timing tricks being performed like sharpening of edges, bulging out any part of the response curve or removing flesh to increase the sensation of tempo and interlocking. So called “flat-earth” afficionados will love it too then, but they will get a shock when they also hear senior league harmonics, 3d layers and cavernous imaging !

If it sounds like I am gushing, then its because I am. The full Thrax system with Hemingway Z-core wires I trialled it extensively in, is hyper transparent and the Lyra SE speakers in particular are as resolving and revealing as anything up to a Rockport Atria II. That the E2 shone so brightly in such an open and demanding system tells a story in itself.

Indeed the E2 is one of the pieces that compelled me to add Soulnote to the Lotus roster. I don’t collect brands here and most people know that I am extremely selective and it takes a lot for something to make it to my website and demo rooms. We have been specialists in Phono stages since first being appointed the UK Allnic importer some 11 years ago and these have since been joined by other remarkable examples from the likes of Vitus, Brinkmann and Thrax Audio, so we know a thing or two about this most crucial part of the Vinyl chain. The E2 has kind of ability that you only normally obtain after spending well into 5 figures. It really is that good but the even more exciting prospect is there are plenty more similar delights from Soulnote to come, the A3 Integrated, D3 dac, the E1 Phono and indeed the 3 series preamp and mono blocks. There is lots more to come then over the course of 2025, it is sure to grow fast here at Lotus and I am really looking forward to introducing you.

System shows Thrax Yatrus with Lyra Kleos, Soulnote E2, Thrax Enyo vaccum tube Integrated amplifier, Hemingway Z-core Alpha XLR & Speaker cables, Thrax Lyra SE standmounts with Thrax Hades low frequency stands, power courtesy of Shunyata Typhon 2.