Customer System – OePhi and Soulnote

I quite often publish blogs introducing new products and sometimes do a bit more of a deep dive on a specific product or range, but I thought it might be interesting to showcase a customers system that was recently purchased so people can see an example of a great system in a real world room.

I had a call from a potential customer who wanted a chat about a system and but he wasn’t familiar with any of my brands and wanted some advice.

This customer was looking for a complete new system, a pair of speakers, an integrated amplifier and either a new streamer or a DAC to complement his current source. We had a long chat about his existing system, the room, his music tastes and his likes and dislikes. Based on the customers budget I suggested he should listen to a pair of OePhi Lounge 2 and also the Soulnote A-1 ver 2 amplifier plus the partnering DAC the D-1 ver 2.

I must say after our initial conversation, based on the fact he’d never spoken to me before and I’d suggested listening to 2 brands he’d never  heard of he was a little wary of both myself and my recommendations! I suggested that should he go away, read some reviews and taken in some of the information on my website and that if he wanted to come for a demonstration he’d be most welcome.

The following day the customer called me back to arrange a demonstration of the aforementioned equipment for the following week.  Once the customer and his wife arrived we had a good chat and the customer admitted he was initially dubious but both my website and the various reviews he’d read had allayed that doubt.

The system for the demonstration was as described above, with the addition of the Metronome DSS2 Network Streamer and the DST CD Transport feeding the Soulnote DAC.

After listening to a couple of tracks the customers initial reaction was one of shock at what he was listening to, he said that he was hearing additional details, subtle cues and nuances in the music which he’d never experienced previously and with one particular track it was pretty obvious to see the customer was rather overcome with emotion at what he was hearing!

After listening for maybe 30 minutes the conversation turned to the Lounge 2.5, these are the floorstanding version of the Lounge 2, the same cabinet width and depth, but standing at a metre tall. Given the price increased from £2695 to £4495 I swapped the Soulnote amplifier and DAC for my demonstration version 1 equivalents, to help keep his budget on track.

The differences between the two speakers is not subtle. The Lounge 2 is an incredible speaker for the price and the size of the cabinet but the 2.5 has a scale and authority the smaller speaker can’t match.

The low-frequency articulation was immediately apparent — controlled, tuneful bass that serves the music rather than drawing attention to itself. The soundstage had greater width and front-to-back depth, and everything that makes OePhi’s approach so compelling — that sense of timing and coherence, of everything arriving together — was only amplified. The customer and his wife listened for a good while longer and, by the time we’d finished the customer knew the Lounge 2.5 was the speaker for him.

This customer was local so I offered him a home demonstration so he could have a few days with this system in his room to make sure he was happy with all of the various elements before committing. Loudspeakers always behave slightly differently in one room compared to another so it’s always best to listen at home if possible. A few days later I set my demo Lounge 2.5’s up in his room and within 24 hours the customer had confirmed the order for the entire system.

The Soulnote pair is fast, dynamic and very see through but it is also imbued with a real sweetness and delicacy and they tend to get on very well with OePhi, which isn’t surprising as the two brands share a similar approach, both more interested in timing and musical truth than in flattering colouration.

To keep the budget on track we opted for Entreq Hexa loudspeaker cables and customer maintained his previous interconnect cable. This is one

The customer decided to maintain his existing CD player (a Naim CD5) for occasional use and we connected his Cambridge Audio Streamer into the Soulnote DAC. The customer already has his eye on a new interconnect, a Metronome DSS2 Network Streamer to replace the Cambridge and some Shunyata Power Cables once finances permit.

This is a great system, it both looked and sounded superb in the customers room and I’ve one incredibly happy customer, all the more rewarding given his initial scepticism!

If you’ve been curious about OePhi or Soulnote — or both — please do get in touch and organise a demonstration!