I received my new Sooloos a little over two weeks ago, as promised here is my initial impressions on the Sooloos system.

My new Sooloos system is a Control 10 and a Twinstore. The Twinstore comes with 2-1TB hard drives, one for content and one for a forced backup. The first thing I did was swap out the hard drives with some 2TB Western Digital Enterprise class drives. For the cost of 2 hard drives ($650) I doubled my storage capacity, this is much better than getting a second Twinstore for $3100. The new drives were no problem to swap out and have not caused any problems so far.

On my initial setup of the Sooloos I had 2 days of frustrating troubles. The biggest problem is the Sooloos came with an old version of the operating system, I did not realise this at first because I tried to do a software update and it said no updates available. After having the system on for 2 days I got a message that an update was available, I think they verify your registration info before they send you the update (this could be problems for people buying used Sooloos systems). Once the software was up to date everything worked great except the sound quality was a little off.

I'm sending a digital signal from my Sooloos to my McIntosh MDA1000 DAC. I do the same thing with my MS750 server so I expected the 2 servers to sound the same but the MS750 sounded a little better. The problem was the Sooloos digital output was set to upsample 88.2, my MDA1000 DAC also upsamples so I figured this was the problem (you don't want to upsample twice). Once I turned the Sooloos upsampling off the 2 servers sounded basically the same.

Now that I have all my setup problems figured out I'm concentrating on loading my music. I'm loading the music from my MS750 backup (FLAC files), this is taking WAY WAY longer than I thought it would. The Sooloos has lots of room and sections for entering extra info like reviews, credits, genres, tags... This extra info is what makes the Sooloos user interface so cool and the more info that is entered the more you can take advantage of the interface. Sooloos gets its meta data from All Music Guide which is great but does not always pick up the correct info and only loads small 200x200 pics. It's taking me a long time to import my files because I'm trying to be perfect with them. All the files need a new high rez pic, about 60% get the incorrect label, about 20% don't find reviews or credits, and about 10% have track name problems. If I don't find the pics on amazon I'll look on the net for a good pic (I'm trying for all 500x500 or better). Sometimes the AMG has the credits but they won't transfer in (even with the AMG# being manually entered), when this happens I'll type the info in. If it does not find a review I'll look on amazon or I'll enter an artist's bio in if I can't find a review. It's much easier to fix the track problems on import because you can select "revert to user data" which will fix it all the problems with one click. All these things take A LOT of time. So far I've loaded 375 titles in about 18 days, this puts me on a pace to have all my music loaded by the end of October.

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So much music, so little time.

OK, you see my setup info in the above post, so how do I like the Sooloos?

To sum it up simply, the Sooloos is by far the coolest server I have used (I've used iTunes, Escient, McIntosh, Olive, Envive and Cary servers). Using the Control 10 touch screen to control the Sooloos is lightning fast and very slick. Selecting music is a breeze, there are dozens of ways to search or cross reference the music database.

I did sign up for Rhapsody and this online music sounds better than I thought it would. I'm sure I'll find lots of good music on Rhapsody. You can add Rhapsody CDs to the Sooloos just like they are a CD you loaded yourself (it has all the meta data and shows up in your music library just like all the other music).

The iPad app works great and makes a great wireless control for the Sooloos but you loose MANY of the features of the Control 10 touch screen controls. I was thinking of just getting the Ensemble Sooloos system and an iPad to control it, retail price on this would only be $4500 compared to the $8600 for the Control 10 and Twinstore. I'm so glad I got the Control 10 instead of just an Ensemble, the magic of the Sooloos system is in the Control 10. I did get a nice discount on my system but even without the discount I would recommend getting the Control 10 for the extra money.

All this being said, the Sooloos system is very expensive. Is the cool interface worth all the extra money? After using the Sooloos for a little over 2 weeks I'm not sure if it's worth the extra money but I would probably buy it again based on my experience so far.

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So much music, so little time.

Great to hear Victor, when you have a chance throw up some pics.

Congrad's!

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FLORIDA
MX136, C15, MC206, MC162(2) MC402, MC1.2KW(12) MC2KW(2) MQ109B, MR88, MS300(2) MCD301, MCD1100, MS750(2) MVP881, MCD1000, MDA1000, C1000C, C1000P/T, MPC1500, HT3F(2) WS350(2) XRT2K, XCS2K, XR27(2) XCS350(2) R778, OPPO-BDP95, GRACE M902 AMP, PS AUDIO PPP(8) PUREPOWER 1050(4) RGPC 600(8) RGPC 1200(20) RGPC POLE PIG(4) JL GOTHAM SUBS(2) LUMAGEN RADIANCE SCALER, SONY VPH-G90U PROJECTOR, SVS LIFT, STEWART STUDIOTEK 110" MOTORIZED SCREEN, ASC ACOUSTIC PANELS & BASS TRAPS, CINEMA-TECH SEATING, SONOS ZP90-W4S MOD, SYMPOSIUM ROLLERBLOCKS, SENNHEISER HD800, GOLD LION TUBES, WIREWORLD GOLD ECLIPSE CABLES & SILVER ELECTRA PC'S
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CAPE COD
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Victor.......Reading about the loading chores returned memories of my MS750 loading. It is time consuming at best, and in your case requires constant watching to ensure the cover art, and meta data are correct. I don't envy the event. There is satisfaction at the end of the tunnel, though. Congratulations on an amazing piece of legendary audio gear.

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Dan


Living Room System: McIntosh C2300, MC601 (2), MCD1100, MS750, MR85, Sony DAT 60ES, Nakamichi BX-300, Micro Seiki DD-40, Ortofon 2M Black, Sonos ZP90, Oppo BDP-83SE Blu-ray, PMC EB1i, Fathom f113 w/ Sound Anchor stand, Power Plant Premier (2), PS Audio Soloist Premier SE (3), Rollerblock Jr.'s, Wireworld Silver Eclipse IC's & PC's, Kimber 8TC with WBT Solid Silver Angled Locking Banana Connectors.
Studio System: McIntosh C1000C/P, MC2301 (2), MCD1100, MR88, Michell Gyro SE w/SME 309/Ortofon Cadenza Black, Sonos ZP90, PS Audio Power Plant Premier, PS Audio Soloist Premier SE, Sonus Faber Amati Anniversario, Rollerblock Jr.'s, Wireword Silver Eclipse IC's & PC's, Wireworld Silver Eclipse speaker cable.
Studio Home Theater System: McIntosh MX120, MC452, Oppo BDP-95 Blu-ray, PS Audio Soloist Premier SE, JBL LSR-6332 (2), JBL LSR-6328P (3), McIntosh XLS112 (2), Sony 52XBR9, Tributaries Silver IC's, Wireworld PC's.
Vintage: McIntosh MA5100, MR74 tuner, JVC XL-Z1050 K2 CD player, Wyred 4 Sound DAC2, Tandberg 3008A and 3026A, JBL4312A , McIntosh 4300V for deck speakers.

Victor,
Thanks for sharing and the well-written account of your setup. You're absolutely doing the right thing with getting the metadata right - just went through the same pain-in-the-*** process with a 70-disc set of Vladimir Horowitz recordings on iTunes/Gracenote. It will pay off over the long run, and at the end of the day there is no rush to have it all done if other, more important things come up (another lesson learned from rushing a different boxed set of classical music on the server).

The Sooloos system has always been attractive for the interface and cutting edge yet not bleeding edge technology. The one time I had a demo from a factory rep it sounded terrific through a pair of Wilson Duettes, a McIntosh MC252 & Mc preamp.

Enjoy!

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B&W 802D(2) B&W HTMD2 B&W 803D(2) B&W ASW825 McIntosh MC501(3) MC402 MX-136 MVP-871 Benchmark DAC1 Apple Mac Mini Rega P3-24 RGPC 400 pro WireWorld interconnects

Victor.......Still no Sooloos photos. We are such visual creatures. Please don't deny us this pleasure.

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Dan


Living Room System: McIntosh C2300, MC601 (2), MCD1100, MS750, MR85, Sony DAT 60ES, Nakamichi BX-300, Micro Seiki DD-40, Ortofon 2M Black, Sonos ZP90, Oppo BDP-83SE Blu-ray, PMC EB1i, Fathom f113 w/ Sound Anchor stand, Power Plant Premier (2), PS Audio Soloist Premier SE (3), Rollerblock Jr.'s, Wireworld Silver Eclipse IC's & PC's, Kimber 8TC with WBT Solid Silver Angled Locking Banana Connectors.
Studio System: McIntosh C1000C/P, MC2301 (2), MCD1100, MR88, Michell Gyro SE w/SME 309/Ortofon Cadenza Black, Sonos ZP90, PS Audio Power Plant Premier, PS Audio Soloist Premier SE, Sonus Faber Amati Anniversario, Rollerblock Jr.'s, Wireword Silver Eclipse IC's & PC's, Wireworld Silver Eclipse speaker cable.
Studio Home Theater System: McIntosh MX120, MC452, Oppo BDP-95 Blu-ray, PS Audio Soloist Premier SE, JBL LSR-6332 (2), JBL LSR-6328P (3), McIntosh XLS112 (2), Sony 52XBR9, Tributaries Silver IC's, Wireworld PC's.
Vintage: McIntosh MA5100, MR74 tuner, JVC XL-Z1050 K2 CD player, Wyred 4 Sound DAC2, Tandberg 3008A and 3026A, JBL4312A , McIntosh 4300V for deck speakers.

There's no doubt that loading the music is a huge pain with any server, box sets are the worst! I have a few 2:1 CDs that I have split into 2 different titles, these can be a pain finding pics and info for also.

I know the extra effort now will pay off in the long run but I'm greatly looking forward to the day that I'll be done loading.

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So much music, so little time.

I did take some pics but I can't figure out how to upload them. I don't think I have permission.

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So much music, so little time.

Victor,
How is the web interface with the SooLoos? I really like the GUI but having to get up and walk across the room to use the touchscreen defeats its effectiveness. How are you handling this?
Jim

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AMP's: D'Agostino Momentum's
Pre Amp: Mcintosh C-1000 & C-1000P
Sources: McIntosh MCD-1100 & MS-300, Olive 4HD, SonoS, Pro-Ject 6 PerspeX
Speakers: MBL 111F
Cables: Transparent Ultra MM2 & Reference MM2 & Powerlink MM2x

The iPad and PC web interface is just so-so. It's a little better than the Olive web interface but not much better. With the Sooloos iPad interface you can easily view and create play lists and see what is currently playing but you can't view the cool meta data features like reviews, credits, track/CD ratings...

My "sweet spot" listening position is the left seat of my couch in my listening room. This spot is close to the middle of a 26'x19' room, the right side of the couch is close to the corner. Initially I setup the Control 10 touch screen on a table next to my main listening position, with this setup obviously the Control 10 is in easy reach. With this setup I felt a little crowded by the big Control 10 screen (and it makes a little heat and just a faint transformer noise). So, I decided to put the Control 10 on a table at the right side of the couch. This new spot for the Control 10 kind of hides it in the corner but the seating position on the right side of the couch is still over 8 feet from the corner so it still sounds pretty good in that position. If I'm listening in the sweet spot I can easily slide over to the other end of the couch to play with the Control 10 touch screen. If I don't feel like sliding over on the couch I can grab my iPad to control the Sooloos. This is working out pretty good so far. I have the Twinstore in a second bedroom that I'm using for an office, this keeps the hard drives out of my listening room.

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So much music, so little time.